Monday 27 November 2006

About that Summer Tweed vow...

Well, this photo speaks for itself:

baby's first tweed

Yes, yes, I know. After all the bitching about the HCOH, and the swearing it would be a long, long time before I used Summer Tweed again...blah, blah, blah. What can I say, it's a baby sweater, it's unbearably cute, it's for the baby that will be arriving soon for one of the people I like best in all the world, and it only took me a couple of days. I had a fair amount of the brown yarn leftover from the HCOH, and the pattern only required a bit for the contrast, and two skeins of the main colour, so, what the hell. I love this sweater, it's a great pattern, and are those buttons cute, or what? So I made a baby cardigan in a silk/cotton blend. The mother-to-be will doubtless have plenty of practical things; I wanted to make something special. And I think I did.

I'll be updating every day in December, due to my annual participation in Holidailies, which also means I will be downplaying the knitting content, for the most part. My old DiaryX site (thank you SO MUCH for losing five years of my personal history, Stephen Deken) was much more of a general, old-fashioned online journal (hi! I'm old!) and that's probably what this place is going to look like for a while, anyway, although my knitting obsession is such that I'll probably be unable to resist the urge to blither about that, as well.

In other news of crafty import: I bought a sewing machine. Help me, for I am now acquiring a fabric stash as well. I really do need to get around to photographing what I am grandly calling "my studio," so the seriousness of my sickness will be evident.

Project-wise, I have made a pair of men's gloves in some yummy Yorkshire Tweed DK, which will be an Xmas present for my father-in-law, I have the first of a pair of Fuzzy Feet, for my dad, on the needles, and I am struggling my way through my first self-designed project, a tank top for my mom. Knitted in, god help me, Rowan Handknit Cotton, in a lurid shade of coral. Coral, she believes, is Her Colour. And she's right, and as she's my mother and prone to hot flashes these days, I have sadly concluded that anything I knit for her, beyond scarves and hats, had better not be too warm. I love her, but not enough to knit sleeves in 100% cotton, hence the tank. I really wish I enjoyed knitting with cotton more, since I do like the way it drapes, and the easy care, and damn, there is a lot of beautiful cotton yarn out there, but it is a challenge. It's helping me to loosen up on my death-grip gauge, though, so I'm getting something out of the experience besides tendonitis and the warm glow of filial devotion.

I need wine. And a hot bath. And for my Christmas knitting to be done. My knitting goal for 2007 is a wonderfully selfish one: I want to knit things for me. I will have my long-desired Clapotis, and I will have a jumper of some description before I knit a damn thing for everybody else next year. I've earned it.