Friday, October 10

to cut a long story short ...

i started knitting my first ever cardigan
the maths was done to make it smaller than the pattern
the yarn overs turned out to be make ones
yet i carried on fearlessly.
my phobia for double pointed needles
and lack of 'magic loop' knowledge
left me no choice but to use 12" circular pins
when i came to the sleeves.

suddenly my loosey goosey knitting ways
became quite tight and tortured
 yet i carried on fearlessly


one sleeve finished and Mr Lurgy came to call,
i lay in my bed, hot and bothered
with little knitty cogs racing inbetween restless sleeps.
on the 3rd day i arose
bedraggled with bird's nest and no sense of smell 
thus skipping a shower
and taking up residence on the couch
to stare blankly at the telly.

my cardigan called from the other room
my head and my hands told me to ignore her.
i happened upon Outlander set in the wilds of scotland
two hundred years plus, ago.
i cared not for the naked bodies nor violence
i cared only for the knits.
after a while a need to make the knits before my eyes
became of the utmost importance
and thus i declared surely a light hearted knit
nothing too taxing 
would be perfect for my recuperation period upon my couch.

after a ganders through ravelry
i noted i was not alone with wishing to own Claire's Outlander knits.
i found the capelet, 
i found some yarn in my stash, 
two different colours of wool
and set about a bit of knitting therapy,
all the time ignoring my one armed cardigan.
after some knitty time and some telly time
i came to the conclusion my capelet was very zizzy
and also after much studying of Claire's capelet on freeze frame
it needed to be bigger than the pattern in my hand suggested.

i fell in love not with the capelet
for honestly lost on the highlands, 
i felt my cowl would be most fitting
lost in my local grocery store
it may well not be quite so fitting
but i did not care, for what i loved, 
what made my knees go weaker than Mr Lurgy had left them
was the two tone yarny fabric growing in my hands.


i knew nothing else that day except
 i knew i needed to make a cardigan 
with such lovely zizzy qualities.
one that did not require sleeves knit in the round
with tricky dicky yarn overs and whatnot.
surely resplendent in a zizzy cardigan
life could only be grand
in the highlands or the local grocery store

yesterday i found two woolly worsted weight sweeties
one cream, one gray/sludge, 
both with flecks,
together they created a match made in heaven.
i crafted a swatch when i should not have been, 
i had 12 stitches to 4 inches
and now i needed a pattern to match my lovelies.
by this time i had put my one armed cardigan in a basket
hidden from view.
out of sight, out of mind.
i went a searching in the late hours,
gripped by a need to know what was out there.
i happened upon the perfect fellow,
one who sensibly  has her sleeves knit flat
and then i fell down the rabbit hole
and i never ever wanted to leave.
i have become a fan,
a fanatical fan
i would like one of every cardigan please
i would like them today
i would love them all so equally 
i would wear them all at the same time
so none would feel left out.
i am wondering if Celily would adopt me.
i have been practicing her name 
for it is most marvelous
just like her knitting ways.

but then i would have guilt
if i wore all those cardis all at one time.
guilt for the one armed cardigan tossed aside 
by my 'sleeves knit on 12"' avoiding ways.
so as of this morn,
i have struck a deal with myself.
i may allow myself to finish up my Outlander capelet
by sewing in the ends, 
felting it a tad, not a lot, just a tad


and i may also allow myself
to plot and plan my zizzy cardigan
from the world of Celily Glowik MacDonald
but then i mustly must get over
my second sleeve syndrome phase
and finish up my mustard misses in time for
Tolt Yarn and Wool's anniversary big day
or....
perhaps i could find a sleeve lying around the place
and stitch it on.
 oh yes, then i could just get on with my zizzy knit
by jove!  that does sound like a stroke of genius 
in the thinking department

to cut a long story short:
i lost my mind