In the pink!

I haven’t blogged about my knitting projects before but there has to be a first time for everything, right? And I’m celebrating because ... finally ... FINALLY ... F.I.N.A.L.L.Y! ... I’ve finished a project that’s been on the go since January 2015.

I have actually completed three other projects in the meantime – a bulky jumper with cables, a simple scarf using up the rest of the bulky jumper wool, and another Fair Isle project, a sleeveless vest (which was my own design and one I’m rather proud of) – but this other just seemed to linger somehow.

It’s a jumper / sweater / jersey – whichever you prefer – and it’s one of my own Fair Isle designs (or, more correctly, I should say that it’s my own combination of traditional Fair Isle motifs knitted to my own colour choice). 

I started the project during the six months I lived in Cheshire in 2014-15 and even took the part-finished jumper and all the wool back to New Zealand in April 2015, thinking I would get it finished during the few months I was back there. It was the New Zealand winter after all.

But no! I was too busy selling my apartment, selling off my goods and chattels, and arranging to move my life to Britain to knit a single stitch. And then, when I left New Zealand, I went travelling for a few weeks and didn’t have the space to carry the part-jumper with me, so it had to go into the boxes with all my other belongings, to be seafreighted to Wales.

My worldly goods finally got delivered in mid-October 2015 and I recall enthusiastically extolling the virtues of knitting and including a photo of the part-jumper in a blog I wrote then, entitled ‘Ten things I love about autumn’ – one thing being that the autumn weather meant it was cool enough to knit comfortably.

Still, it lingered.... I was busy getting my new life here in Cardiff under way, walking and exploring a lot. I joined the Glamorgan Fungi Club and the Glamorgan Bird Club and the Ramblers so was out and about with them as well. And, at the beginning of the year, I started a new daily nature blog that took / takes quite a lot of time to produce. And then I started doing voluntary work two full days a week....

Excuses, excuses, excuses! Finally, in the middle of summer, I got my knitting mojo back. 

First, I knitted the sleeveless vest mentioned and shown above, and then I finally got back to my lovely Pinky jumper. I told myself I wasn’t allowed to start anything new until it was finished and I set a date of 31 August to get it done. And I did! 

So here it is. I absolutely love it and can’t wait for the colder weather so I can wear it. 

And, in the meantime, another sleeveless vest is underway. My knitting mojo is well and truly back!