Knit, knit, knit…

So, I finished the jumper I’ve been knitting, and which I mentioned here at the start of the year. If you’ve been following along, then you might remember that I messed up the sizes on the pattern, and ended up knitting a Large/Extra-Large jumper rather than the Large that I’d intended. All of which meant that I didn’t think it was going to fit my husband – the one for whom it was intended.

However, perhaps because I knitted a swatch and properly gauged my work, it’s actually not as huge as I was anticipating. I still don’t think it’s a great fit for him, but, I’ll find out when he gets home and can try it on. We’ll see…

Regardless, I’m actually really proud of this piece of knitting. It’s a beautiful garment. The tension is right, the stitches defined, the finishing refined. And now, having finished this piece, I’ve started knitting something small and sweet for myself – a new hot water bottle cover in a gorgeous yarn that I purchased from Ginger Twist earlier this week. The colour is called Puddle Jumper, and it’s hand-dyed 100% British Bluefaced Leicester yarn. It feels just exquisite.

And the pattern that I’m using is a design by Elly Fales which you can find over on Ravelry. I chose it specifically because it has a pocket knitted onto the front, so you can stick your hands in there to keep them cosy. Which is perfect on days like this when snowflakes swirled through the air catching in my hair and freezing my fingers.

I went out for a walk to the duckpond this afternoon, taking my camera with me to take some more photographs of the swans. Truly, if I were to be limited to just one photographic subject for the rest of my life, it would be swans. Just so fierce and wild and beautiful. They quite take my breath away with their white plumage and bright beak and elegant serpentine necks. So, yes, I took lots of photographs, only leaving to return home when I could no longer feel my hands for the cold. Needless to say, I was wishing that my hot water bottle cosy were finished already because it would have been perfect to warm me up!

Beyond the cosy, I’m not quite sure what is calling to me to knit next… Helen Stewart, whose wonderful podcast Curious Handmade I just love, is going to be doing a mystery knit-along for a 3-skein shawl. And I’m quite tempted by that. Her patterns are just so beautiful and so well-written. I’ve never done a knit-along before, let alone a mystery one! My knitting has always been quite the solitary endeavour. However, I am planning to switch this up a bit by attending a knitting group next Monday. Wish me luck!

Perhaps a more social knitting practice beckons… Certainly sharing my knitting here with you already feels infinitely more social than my usual. It makes me wonder about the nature of practice as an individual and as a collective. I imagine what it must have been like a hundred years ago or more when people would gather together to create garments, fabric, yarn etc. Sewing bees, quilting bees, knitting bees… Groups of makers sitting alongside one another, each engaged in his or her own practice, but doing so as a community.

There’s something about this that I feel a deep longing for… And recognising one’s longing is often the first step to claiming our heart’s desire.