What I Like

No appointments, dates, meetings, plans, obligations, duties, chores (well, I have those, but I chose to ignore them): a day when there's nothing I have to do but what I choose, when I choose.

And I chose beading in the morning.

I know it's not startlingly new, clever or refreshing, but I've been wanting to make star-shaped donuts forever (I keep finding older and older sketches) so it was time.

And I chose knitting in the afternoon and evening, punctuated by reading, exercise and playing with a cat and a kitten. I also visited a bead store, briefly (they were about to close).

All pretty idyllic, really.

I'm really enjoying the way this cardigan is turning out. It started off green, but then I realised that I have at least three green cardigans already, so I added some teal and some smokey blue to move it away from the warm fall tones, and added in splashes of pink and purple and brownish-red - basically any small amounts of handspun that vaguely seemed to coordinate in even a small way.

I started off changing colours on right-side rows, but I much prefer the blending that happens in garter stitch when you change colours on wrong-side rows, so that's what I switched to.

This is my favourite type of knitting. The only preparation I needed before starting (apart from picking out yarns) was to decide what size needles would yield the fabric I wanted (not too dense, but not so loose that it would stretch and lose integrity).

I started knitting a triangle until it was big enough (the back neck width), then made another three the same. I joined two together and knitted until it was as wide as the back, then knitted each of the other two until they were half as wide (plus a front button band) and then joined them all up, and now I'm knitting until the front bands (oh yes, I just realised that I forgot to make buttonholes. Oh joy. I guess it won't have any buttons. No more than two, anyway) are long enough, then I'll knit until the side "seams" are long enough, and at that point I'll work each sleeve separately, all the while switching colours and using up those vaguely coordinating odds and ends.

I'll knit on a neckband, and depending on how impatient I am to wear it and whether or not I have any coordinating yarn left (I'm guessing I will), edgings along the bottom fronts and cuffs.

No swatching and no stitching seams. The only needle-and-thread work I'll do will be sewing on one or two buttons.

My favourite.

The kitten seems to like it too: he purrs whenever he sits on my lap while I'm knitting. Truthfully, he purrs on my lap even when I'm not knitting, but still, I choose to take it as a sign of approval.