A Sweater for Me

I haven't been knitting at quite my usual pace this fall.  The move, other projects, and, well, I've kind of been enjoying my own little sabbatical from teaching knitting.  So I was sort of surprised the day after Christmas when I finished up all the knitting I'd brought with me on our travels.  Needing more yarn gave me an excuse to stop in at Fiber Nooks and Crannies, which is a fabulous yarn stop, online and off.  And I should have picked up a ball of sock yarn or the makings of a simple hat--but the after-Christmas make-something-for-me bug had hit, and there was a beautiful display of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool.  And I am sucker for silk yarn.

So, as of tonight, I am halfway through a sweater for me.  A whole sweater, knit on size 3 needles.  Crazy.  But pretty.  The first half of my progress happened in those last days of travel after Christmas, I've slowed some since then.  I'm struck by how January brings out the craving for miles of stockinette.  More time indoors, more time in the dark.  Time that I want to curl up and just knit without thinking.  Or knit while watching the whole first season of Downton Abbey in one week, thank you Netflix.

There's a fun cable detail on the yoke of this sweater that will be a bit of a challenge, I think.  But I've still got another sleeve to go before I get to it, and there's a lot of plain knitting in the round in that sleeve.  This should keep me in a stockinette fix through the rest of January.