Finishings

I am spending a lot of time on very simple little baby sweaters. The knitting is very basic, the shapes are basic and the yarn is the focus.

Why would I do that when I can knit fair isle and lace, complicated sweaters of my own design and fantasitcal productions in wool?

I am enjoying the simplicity. At the same time I came upon a Lucy Neatby video at the library and I am charmed by her no nonsense and gentle approach to finishing.

Much of what she showed me was what I had been trying to do as the best choice from trial and error (lots of error) but I haven't been consistent because I never was sure.

I really felt that a "real" knitter would scoff at my finishing. I dreaded it and made a botch of it in anticipation of failure.

But now, when I'm rather exhausted from doing to much "out there", my knitting is simple and calming and I am free to gently and correctly match seams with the expertise of a great teacher behind me. What a joy.
In the past I have often charged that which I deplore. I became a crack nurse at gross dressings and the dying patient.

I'll do the nasty chores before settling in to get the nicer part of the job done- the equivalent of my oldest sister's "eat your peas first"

But finishing must be done last. It is so easy to go on to the next project with the promise of finishing later. I know people who pay others to do their finishing.

But now I have joined the ranks of those who accept finishing as part of a sweater project.

Just in time, too because I was brave enough to cast on the shawl collar of my diagonal sweater and I will have long raglan seams to finish as soon as I knit 4 more inches.

The scarf fit in a little plastic box. The kimono is ready for the mom's visit next month and the blue chunky sweater of Patagonian cotton will be ready to give our expecting skating coach this last week at the rink.

The cardigan collar is a fraction of what I thought it would be and I think I may work on my thistle lace shawl (also for myself) before beginning a nephew sweater of a birthday gift shawl. The Fleece Artist is awfully tempting. A siren rather than a muse.

I dipped into my extensive button collection to find buttons for this chunky cardigan. I finished it while watching Pan's Labyrinth. Not a great choice considering it is in Spanish with English subtitiles. But a wonderful fairy story told in a beautifully dark mood. Haunting music. I can still hum the tune.

This spate of finishing was foretold and I am not feeling any sense of loss. Rather relief to be caught up to my (artificially imposed) deadlines and expectation of future buffets of wool.

It is almost the end of the skating season, the school year, piano classes and Sunday School.

Aye Fond Farewell.