a long time knitting

A long time ago in a city far away, I started a jacket.

Three years and three months later it’s finished.

It’s an interesting exercise to finish something that had a long hiatus in the middle of its making. I can see how much I’ve learnt in the interim.

For example, that knitting both fronts of a cardigan at once is a good idea, because then they are much more likely to be the same size and shape (even with aggressive blocking one of the fronts is shorter than the other).

And that yarns of different fibres will drape differently, which means if they are mixed up on one garment, unexpected things will happen. In this cardigan I used wool for the trim (the darker burgundy) and alpaca for the rest. The wool is heavier than the alpaca, so it tends to drag down the sleeves and the body. On the body I don’t mind so much as I like my tops long, but on the arms it has turned the bracelet-length sleeves into full-length ones.

Still, I like it enough to wear it. And I especially like the vintage buttons I found stashed away, which were the perfect colour for it. I’m not sure how old they are, except that they are advertised as ‘boilprooof’ (which would date them to a time when coppers were more common than washing machines) and marked in pre-decimal currency (which would date them to before 1966).

:: details ::

:: yarns :: Jo Sharp Classic DK (trim), Eki Riva Natal and Eki Riva Supreme Superbaby (main, held together)

:: pattern :: #21 Oxford Jacket by Joan Forgione, from Vogue Knitting, winter 2007-08

:: ravelry link :: because my wardrobe is too grey

:: inspired by :: Katherine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall – definitely a cardigan to wear while swapping witticisms with Humphrey Bogart

 

sneak peak

A sneak peak at something that’s finished, but can’t be revealed till after Xmas (unless you’re a Ravelry member, in which case just clicky-here and you can see everything).

And on the to-do list? I can report I’ve hemmed the pants, sent the fabric to my mum instead of making something for her (she’s made it into cushions), abandoned the silk scarf idea because the fabric was permanently stained, and started frogging the top.

to do list

:: to do list

Today I cleaned out all those corners and cupboards where the unfinished projects lurk.  That picture you see above shows the ones that I decided were worth finishing.

In order to avoid their becoming yet another tidy pile of things in a dark corner that I’ll get around to at some point, I’m making a sort of public commitment.  I’m going to finish ‘em. I’ve written a list.  I’m going to work through it. And one day it will be empty.

:: to do list of things that want to be finished

• The top I started three years ago, decided I didn’t like, and have now decided I do like after all
• The skirt I started last winter and lost heart with when I did something stupid (but fixable) with the zip
• The corduroy jacket that stalled when we moved house (yes that was over two years ago. Stop judging me!)
• The hem on that tweedy thing you see there
• A cardigan that stalled when we moved house (ssshhh!)
• A scarf that just took more time and patience that I though

And I should add

:: things that I’m committed to or would just like to do

• Another version of this, in dark blue and cropped
• Something for my impending nephew (due to enter the world in February) and his big sister
• A hand towel for my nanna for Christmas, because I promised it
• A Betty Draper skirt, because I want one, dammit
• Turn that funky spotted silk from Reverse Garbage into a scarf
• Frog this top, because it’s too big and the neckline’s wonky and the yarn could become something else
• Dye a shirt a different colour
• Hem pants that are too long, instead of improvising with safety pins as I have done for the last two summers
• Make that fabric from Formosa into something for my mum for Xmas
• Shorten this tunic which I’m not wearing much, because every time I put it on I take it off again because it’s just a little too long
• Keep working on green is beautiful (I’m up to the sleeves)
• Refashion my former favourite winter skirt into a new favourite winter skirt

Too much to do?  Probably…. But none of it is overly complex or difficult. It’s funny how it’s often little difficulties or things that get in the way of progress, no?

damn it all…

I am knitting like a mofo, I am a machine, a knitting queen, I am on a roll, I am so so close to finishing my surfaces and bumps cardigan (the first pic in this entry) and a couple of other things too.  But I’m going to Melbourne for three days this week and there will be no knitting time till Thursday lunchtime.  The fates, they conspire against me. Bah!