When I updated my knitting progress on Wednesday, I was looking forward to getting to the armhole shaping on the back of my Coconut Ice Sweater. Then, towards the end of the week I mentioned the sudden resurrection of interest in my DSLR camera and we all know what havoc a sudden new enthusiasm wreaks on all the other projects we’ve got on the go. Which begs the question, was there much time to knit over the weekend?

Indeed there was. In fact, I got the back finished quite quickly; I was right about how rapidly it goes once you start decreasing for the armhole shaping. The first photo in this post shows a sleeve I started on Sunday night and I’m pleased with the amount of progress I’ve made on that.

So, the back finished and a sleeve started, I’d be pretty pleased if that was the sum total. But I have to confess that I’m being tricksy because this photo doesn’t show the back and a sleeve at all – it’s two sleeves.

Yes, this is my real progress – the back is finished, one sleeve has been completely knitted and the piece on the needles is the second sleeve. I’ve been racing along, exceeding all my expectations. The jumper is practically knitting itself now. My progress has been aided by a long crime series on Radio 4 Extra which I’ve listened to via the BBC Sounds app. That’s done now and I’ve moved on to other, less immersive side-dishes to accompany my knitting.

I’m not setting a target for finishing this jumper because once the pieces are knitted I’m going to have to give some thought to exactly what I think the cowl neck should look like. If I knit it using both strands of wool it will be quite sturdy and the jumper will be suited to winter. One option would be to knit with just one strand which would result in a more flimsy finish; perhaps that would allow the jumper to be worn during spring and autumn. I’m not entirely sure which would be most appropriate and I feel the need for quite a bit more research which should keep me amused for a while.

I don’t expect a massive amount of progress between now and Wednesday, but you never know.