Pam Alison Knits

It was way back in June when I last wrote about knitting, and I was working on the plummy version of my Gaudi cardigan. Well, that proved to be a non-starter. Oh, I all-but finished the back before I decided there was no point going on as it wasn’t going to be right. It was a trip down a dead-end road, but I wasn’t hugely bothered; I took the lesson from it and unpicked what I had done. It was enough, though, to put me off my stride and since that point I haven’t known what I want to knit. That’s partly because I don’t really know what I want to wear. I think as we move through the later part of autumn and into winter I’ll be perfectly happy in jeans and jumpers, but right now it feels like there is an awful lot more summer to live through before we get to jeans and jumper weather.

I also have the problem that I have rather a lot of different batches of wool, none of which are quite enough to complete a garment. I’m not sure what I’ve been thinking. Perhaps at one point I was planning to make a load of sleeveless layering pieces? That is such a nice idea, I should just find some suitable patterns and start.

In an effort to break the spell, I have recently cast on a gift knit for one of my sisters. She knows about it, so I’m free to write about my progress. It is very closely related to the Big Blue Slouch, but it’s a pullover version with three-quarter length sleeves (or not, depending on how the yarn holds out). This feels like a remake because I’ve already done the Slouch, and it also feels like a remake because it’s the second time round the block for this yarn. I originally knitted a cardigan with it, but it wasn’t the right yarn and I couldn’t bring myself to like the finished project. This yarn is a combination of silk and wool which produces a fabric with quite a lot of drape, so it should be perfect for this loose and flowy top.

I do enjoy working this patterned welt. The combination of cables and bubbly lace looks effective whilst being easy to memorise and to work. That is a bonus because there’s quite a lot of stitches on the needles and it would tax my patience if it was a difficult stitch pattern. Once I’ve knitted the welt, it will be straight stocking stitch which I find soothing to work. One thing I feel I need from my knitting at the moment is that it should be soothing.

This particular pattern wouldn’t be a bad option for using the wool I had started the Gaudi cardigan with, but I don’t think I’ll want to knit the same garment again straight away. We will see. I do have a pattern for a longer sleeveless cardigan which starts life very much like knitting a scarf before you add panels to the sides to make a garment. It might be the right time to explore that. I also want to knit a dickey before the cold weather sets in. My winter coat calls for something neat but warm to fill the neck. My good old multicoloured cowl – “Mama we’re all crazee cowl” – is very good, but it takes a bit of faffing to get it to sit right and I’m craving something that I can just pull on and forget about.

So you see – all I need to do is think about these things and there are lot of possibilities. It isn’t exactly prime knitting weather yet, but there are signs that it might be approaching. The days are still hot, but it’s starting to feel cool in the mornings and evenings. I found local-grown plums on the market this week, after a long, long wait. Someday soon there will be bramble and apple pie to look forward to.