Welp it’s been a minute!

I got hit with a horrible cold/flu/lurgy from Mars and was in bed for a week – and it’s been a whirlwind of things ever since. You know like in The Wizard of Oz where the tornado picks up the farmhouse and there’s also other stuff in caught up in there, spinning past the windows? Cows, trees, a witch on a bike… just all sorts of parts of Dorothy’s life whizzing around her, and I’ve felt a bit like that.

I’ve also realised that I don’t necessarily *remember* that scene from The Wizard of Oz so much as have a general impression of it. The witch on a bike was definitely there though.

Many of the things whizzing past have been great, primarily my 40th birthday! I had an extremely marvellous time and a whole week off work to enjoy it.

In between times, I was able to plug away at a sweater of my own design (while watching the Golden Girls, very soothing even if many of the cultural references are a mystery to me).

After my Cardigan of Theseus, I felt like I wanted to abandon all pattern and figure something out for myself, or at least try and see what happened. I also had a rainbow yarn cake (My Happy Place link), bought on impulse (because it was only THREE POUNDS!), and much left over grey yarn that I thought would pair up nicely to balance the… well let’s say the confidence of some of the rainbow colours. The yellow in particular was very confident.

I’m not sure at what point the idea of marling came to me. Probably in a pre-sleep mulling session. I love a marl – but then I didn’t have enough grey, since I’d need a whole sweater’s worth. But then! I remembered some left over 4 ply black yarn, and what better for knocking back an assertive colour than marling with black?

I swatched to get an idea of gauge, then measured my arm at different points and cast on according to some maths. It turned out that the gauge was OK for the sleeves but I had to restart the body a few times. After that I guessed at decreases and increases, trying it on with my mega cable needle, and adjusting accordingly. I knit bottom up, then joined the sleeves in the round using the raglan technique I learned on the cardigan pattern.

Considering the lack of pattern, and the lack of planning, I’m delighted with the end result! The only thing is the neckline – it kind of rumples up under my neck. I think I need to unravel and re-knit with some short rows for shaping? I might get to it – but it’s not unwearable as it is, and I really enjoy wearing things I’ve made so I might simply style it out.

Once that was finished, I picked up my Wingspan (Ravelry link) by VectorKnits (Designer’s site) and unravelled my existing version of it that I’d been toiling with and ultimately dropped so many stitches that I couldn’t figure out where I was any more. This attempt is going much better and I’m looking forward to sharing!