Phew

Billie
I finished Billie and I'm very happy with it. Phew. This is what I sat down with.

I like sewing, and there are no horrors associated with sewing with this yarn (sewing with Bamboo Tape scarred me a bit) so I was quite contented. I kept on going through and trying it on as I did each bit (going through to a room with a mirror, that is) in happy anticipation. I grafted the hood first and it didn't look right so I did a three-needle bind-off instead. I think I didn't do the grafting properly, and I like doing three-needle bind-offs, so that was fine.

I then had sleeve panic when I discovered that the sleeve caps were far too long. This isn't Kim Hargreaves' fault; it's mine because I used a slightly larger needle in order to size everything up a bit, and the sleeve caps is the only place where this mattered. So I ripped them back and with some pins and a bit of experimentation I adjusted them in situ. In the end, I did what I often used to do in my sewing days, and took a larger seam on the body (I have narrow shoulders) and sort of cobbled it. A knitting inspector looking at the inside would be horrified, but with any luck no knitting inspectors will ever see it.*

It's looking a little rumpled in the pix because I've been keeping it on the sofa beside me so that I can admire it, but it's carefully tidied away now. The three stitches of garter stitch on the fronts are curling inwards so that you can't see them, but I expect they will be revealed once it's been washed and dried flat. I changed the cuffs, which were ribbed, and used the cuffs from the same designer's Georgie instead. The sleeves came out a little long but they can roll up.

Every time I try it on, it gets a little bit longer, which is fine. The hood is huge, which is also fine, and there is lots of wrapover. I'm wondering about wearing a pin on it, although I'm nervous about putting pins near knitted things. It so often ends in tears.


What next?
I have been contemplating Christmas knitting. Scarves are so fashionable this year, especially those infinity scarf loopy things which are shorter and much quicker to knit than ordinary scarves.

Infinity Scarf by James Perse 100% Cashmere $250

Or perhaps a Citron. Or I could finish that Karius. Or some more Miss Marples. I was planning to do a few and had actually started one with some of the leftover Kid Classic from Billie, and then I started to have doubts. I went through my stash and nothing was the right colour and the right weight. Maybe I would just spend a lot of time producing things that weren't really the right colour or in some other way not what is wanted. Maybe they would rather have shower gel or a good book. I'm not sure if these thoughts are produced by a waft of depression or by a breath of clarity. I'm rather tempted to put my newly discovered ability to knit vast swathes of Kid Classic to my own advantage and make another cardi. Teal is nice, and I have the book.

I have a little time to think about it, because the new Australian baby has arrived and I have to make her and her big sister a pair of Daisy Hats. That's the fourth and fifth Daisy Hats this year alone. Phew again.


* You'll hardly credit this, but I wrote that before Mary Lou had her Knitting Inspector dream. We are a worried lot.