Eris, and realisations
Cold weather is very motivating when you have an almost finished and definitely gorgeous cardigan on the needles. My Eris has been waiting for me:
Between knitting morning and quiet evenings, I'm making progress and I've finished and grafted the hem. I have sleeve decisions to make, whether to work flat and seam or work in the round, and where to put the decreases to avoid the floppy cuffs I hate. I'm also doing a ribbed cuff instead of the hemmed cuff from the pattern.
I realised some things about my knitting recently:
- I like knitting lace.
- I don't really wear lace shawls.
- I like finishing stuff.
- Big stuff takes me ages to finish, so I get demoralised.
- Socks are small and non-tedious, even the plain ones.
- I need to knit a variety of techniques, and colours.
I knit a lot of socks and wear most of them, the others I give to friends who appreciate hand knitted gifts. I knit lace but rarely wear it, though lace scarves stand more of a chance than lace shawls. I have a poor track record with sweaters and cardigans, though I was better in my teens when I had no other project to knit and no stash.
The lace knitting will continue, because I like the challenge and the results. It may turn into gifts, though again only for people who actually appreciate it. My next shawl project is Larix (Ravelry link), a half-circle non-lace shawl I'm hoping will be a nice wrap for when the office is cold. I have two cardigans queued for when I finish Eris because I wear cardigans and I like wearing stuff I've made. I'm not expecting to finish them quickly, but at least I have more understanding of why now.