Part One | Part Two (Mild Complaining)

Céleste and I have had a journey. She’s been very patient, especially given that she’s had to wait around in a bag quite a lot since I cast her on in June (eight months ago).

I have taken her on train journeys, which is often peak knitting time, but for a long while it seemed that she truly would never be done.

As is always the way, though, she did get bigger, stitch by slow stitch, and now I’m on the second sleeve and nearly done. I’ve even attached the first sleeve and seamed that side and neck.

Not to make a personal remark, but she is very short and wide! I’ve tried her on as best I can, with only one side seamed, and I think it’s going to be good. I won’t finish seaming the shoulders till it’s all put together, as I suspect I’ll need to sew up a bit more than the pattern suggests. I don’t care for a wide neck.

The pattern has you mark the bottom and top of the armhole as you knit. I made the smallest size of sleeve, as opposed to the third (of five) size of body, so I thought it might be too small for the armhole as marked. Quite the opposite – I had to stretch the body to match it up with the sleeve width.

Sidebar: the third size of sleeve was extremely loose and billowy and would have driven me utterly insane within minutes. I’d have scooped board game pieces up with the cuffs, and dipped them in my soup, and all sorts.

Back to the knitting: I don’t love how the sleeve join looks. There’s a particularly gappy section – maybe I was too rough when I was shaping? The yarn is very fuzzy and I’m hoping a wash and block will even it out – if not I can always go in and even the stitches with a crochet hook.

I’m likewise uncertain about the side seam. I was trying to mattress stitch but I was also watching Alien vs Predator, so I think I’ve wandered between different columns. I don’t mind it being visible, I just don’t want it to look super homemade.

It’s never been my main project, but it’s been something to work on when stockinette was the best option for my brain. And if it looks good, it’ll be a lovely homemade souvenir from a trip to Bruges.

It looks like I’ll have a lot of yarn left over, and I’m wondering about combining it with leftover lace from my Blended Wedges scarf and my First Promenade. Could be an interesting mix of texture and colour. Could just be a riot. Sometimes it’s so hard to tell in advance.