Of course I still knit, so it’s time for a knitting catchup.

I finally finished the Stars and Stripes cardi for my friend’s trip to New York and she had her grand try-on yesterday. She is very pleased with it and I am equally pleased with the finished object, though it did reinforce my feeling that I am happiest knitting from a pattern rather than trying to make things up myself. I can report that the Drops Nepal yarn turned out to be very pleasant to knit and the first thing my friend said was “Oh my god, it’s so soft”. I’m impressed with it for such a budget-friendly wool.

I held off saying much about my progress (or, more often, lack of progress) with this project. It was definitely a matter of “product knitting” as opposed to “process knitting” – I didn’t enjoy making it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed having the final product in my hands (in fact, I was quite loathe to let it go after I’d tried it on myself). In the later stages of the project, I found myself without any enthusiasm for thinking of other knitting ideas, but I’m glad to say that has passed and now I am awash with projects I want to pack into the near future.

I have made a start on two new items.

The first is a pair of socks which is the traditional palate cleanser after a big, long, drawn-out knit. I’m using a ball of Regia wool for these in a crazy combination of colours. This forms fairly undramatic stripes through most of the sock, but has pooled into a strange storm-on-Jupiter effect right at the ankle on the front of the foot as a result of knitting longer rows where the heel shaping is. So “Storm on Jupiter socks” they are. By now, socks for myself are a pretty easy option and don’t take much thinking about.

The second item is a baby cardigan for my hairdresser. I have received more compliments from complete strangers about my hair in the past five months than I have ever had in my life. This is because my hairdresser is complicit in my plan to have my fringe dyed in colours so bright that it looks like I’ve grown feathers. We’ve been doing bright pink and a very blue-toned purple, but next time will be moving to a combination of pink and orange so the frames of my newest computer glasses don’t clash as wildly as they currently do. To celebrate this, I’m knitting the baby cardi in pink and orange yarn. I’m holding a splash-dyed sock wool with a strand of a plain pink from my stash and knitting a pattern that I bought when my daughter was tiny. This one should be quite a quick knit, too.

My future plans include a top for my sister, and another baby garment which will be a case of finishing something started by someone else. More interestingly, I have a couple of projects in mind for myself. There will be stash enhancement as I have another batch of John Arbon “Knit by Numbers” wool on order. That’s the yarn I used to make the Big Blue Slouch – it’s soft, it’s squishy, and it comes in every shade I could possibly want. I intended to stick with a palette which would complement the lovely blue of the Slouch, but instead found myself going with a deep, dark, rose-red. I have a very specific knit in mind for this: a remake of the Gaudi cardigan. I love my version from a few years ago, but it is definitely one of the garments I can only wear when I’m at the lower end of my weight range which I’m not right now. It is lovingly put away for when I become a frail little old lady or, perhaps, can just be bothered to improve my eating habits. I can’t wait to knit this in a larger size, using the super soft John Arbon wool. My plan this time round is to make the body all one colour then use a contrast colour I already have for the yoke section. Oh, goodness, the knitting needles are calling me right now!

Before I start that one, though, I’m going to use up another garment quantity of wool that’s been in my stash for a while and that one will fit in with my existing blue theme.

The other little project I’ve got on my mind is to revitalise my knitting cabinet. I realised recently that I have a lot of inspirational wool stored away whilst the knitting cabinet seems to be housing things which don’t inspire me so much. Time for a switch-around to feed the creative impulses. It’s probably also time to cull knitting books and, most importantly, to put a bit more effort into my photography as I feel it’s been very hit-and-miss the past year or two.

All of which feels like I’m taking a deep breath after finishing my big commission project and getting things ready for the second half of 2024.