A thing what I made

In between the impossible busying of the last few weeks/months/did I ever have a life ever, I have managed to do a teeny bit of knitting. One stitch at a time. Which, it seems, is all it takes to eventually finish a Clapotis.

It’s rather lovely, and is going to look stunning on the recipient, and I would dearly love to have one of my very own. But, dear lord, it does go on rather, doesn’t it? I like a little shaping and a little textural stitching in my knitting. Still… I have another four skeins of Lion & Lamb, all wound up and ready to go, and maybe I’ll get around to it before next winter. For now, I’ve started a little summer jacket thing.

I’ve never really been interested in knitting denim-type yarn (this is Rowan Denim), but suddenly a week or so ago I was bitten with the absolute, frenzied need to make a casual, jeans-jacket inspired cardi. Maybe because I never had such a jacket before; the classic style is generally not cut for the busty, but relatively slim-waisted woman — so this was an opportunity to get my own, custom-fit version! It took me about five minutes to go from “ooh, there’s a nice idea…” to “confirm order”. The inspiration may or may not show through clearly in the finished product… but it’ll be a fun, relaxed, wearable garment, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it fades. That piece is just a swatch; yeah, I believe in making big tension swatches, especially when shrinkage is such an issue.
That picture is totally faked, by the way. I do not sit around drinking tea out of pretty china while I knit. I wish I could, but I don’t. Most nights, I get in around half an hour of knitting in front of the TV, as we finish watching whatever show we started watching over supper. (Usually Medium, Ugly Betty or the West Wing; we’re working our way through the whole (borrowed) box set. Beloved has ruled Heroes out as too drama-y, after a promising start.) …But it makes a pretty picture, no?
The other time I get to haul out my needles (or hook, more often; I find crochet better suited to public transport than knitting) is on the train. But I don’t do that very consistently; the train is also the only time I get to read. Which explains the slow progress on Gecko Ridge. But we’re nearly there.

Now I’m at the panicking-that it won’t-all-go-together-perfectly stage. Especially since my tension seems to be way less regular in crochet than in knitting; that, or the gauge varies quite dramatically between different shades of Kureyon. My squares are not all the same size. Still, I can always fudge it with some extra trim… I think. It’s going to be interesting.
Only one other thing to report. That fair isle cardi… that’s taken a trip to the frog pond. Sad, but there you go. I’d let it languish for far too long (Christmas knitting and that infernal Clap), and when I came back, the magic was gone. I think the fair isle and the colours were a poor match, actually; although I had swatched a different fair isle pattern that worked really well. So I’ll probably go back to it at some point with a different stitch pattern pasted onto the same cardigan.
Probably.
When I’m done with all the other knitting I have lined up.
Like this.

Italian silks, bought in Venice. Not as soft as the Jaeger or Debbie Bliss, but such beautiful, subtle, lustrous colours! (You’ll have to take my word for that. I’ve been playing with the Big Camera, but alas, I’m still not much cop. Also, the light in our front room is crap, and there’s nowhere to take pictures in the bedroom. Yeah. Let’s blame the light.)