I have put in the work on my sleeveless cardigan, growing it steadily, enjoying the knitting and, when it came to the border, the crocheting. Now it is as close to being finished as it will ever be. There are a few ends hanging loose, but that doesn’t matter because I’m going to frog it. Whilst there isn’t anything hugely wrong with it and I really love the concept, I’ve tried it on a few times and come to the conclusion that it’s not a style which suits me. The idea of loose, drapey sleeveless cardigans is fine and the people I see wearing them look effortlessly chic, off-beat, individual. I, on the other hand, feel haphazard, unkempt, frumpy. Since I have decided to remove the word “disappointment” from my personal knitting lexicon, I am not feeling diappointed by this turn of events. Instead I am looking forward to turning this object back into some balls of wool and deciding what form I would really like them to take.

So, this post is the closest we are going to see to any photos of the finished object.

I think my problem lies in that hoary old chestnut – layering. The loose, sleeveless cardigan is a fabulous layering piece but I am more of a structured outfit kind of person. I like to put on a skirt and blouse (if it’s summer) or a skirt and jumper (in winter) and just add an appropriate jacket or coat, and perhaps hat and gloves, when I go outside. All this having lots of different bits that I can add or subtract as the temperature fluctuates feels too fussy to me. Yes, that does mean I’m often either too hot or too cold, but we’ll gloss over that fact. Of course, putting a jumper or cardigan over a blouse works – although it’s not as comfortable as it should be – and I do have one layering piece that has been a great success: a sleeveless swing jumper from Masai Clothing. I think that works because I bought it with a long blouse from the same collection and they have been designed to sit properly together.

In the long term, I’m desperate to return to my core knitting preference – using 4-ply wools to knit neat jumpers or cardigans with nice button-up plackets. As I am currently at the top end of my weight pendulum, I just need to spend a few months knitting the things that suit me in a more appropriate size. It’s not rocket science.

I’m going to take a bit of time out and decide what I’m going to use this wool for. Having bought the extra skein to finish the body of the sleeveless cardigan, I have enough to broaden the scope of possible projects a bit. In the meantime, I am knitting consolation socks using the Rico Vintage wool. I noticed this weekend that one pair of my socks is wearing thin on the toes so by the time these are done the old ones will be ready to go. And by that point I’ll have decided upon another project for the pink wool and be raring to go.