Evolution of an Evening.

Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attemped, something done,
Has earned a night's repose.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Last night was one of those nights perfect for knitting. The (afianced) beau was on call, I had a new DVD from Netflix, and nothing pressing. Time to knit. But what? The Chuppah is, of course, the biggest priority, but it's actually also portable and will probably be finished on my plane trip East this weekend. So I had the freedom to muddle with some of the other projects.

Last weekend I started, as you may recall, the Ballet T-Shirt from Loop-d-Loop. And last night I tried it on. It's down to the bust, and it actually looks better than I might have thought. But I wondered if I'd ever wear it. -- Brief comment: the pattern in the book actually has only two sizes, the largest of which is a 28" bust, with the comment that it is "stretchy." I'm actually using the pattern for the Ballet Sweater from Interweave Knits (Spring?) 2005 without the sleeves. -- But I'm still thinking that it'll never be a go-to sweater for me, that I'll never pick it up out of all the possibilities in my drawers and closet and actually wear it, except, perhaps, out of a sense of "should" . . .

So I pondered using this purple yarn (which randomly showed up in my mailbox one day and which I now like very much) for it's offshoot, Picovoli. This is a t-shirt that Grumperina designed, inspired by the Ballet T-Shirt, but to actually look good on a real woman. What a concept. And it seems to have worked - check out the gallery, where it's obvious it does look good on many women. But then I got lazy, of a sorts, and really didn't really feel like doing a provisional cast-on for the picot edge. So I contemplated Green Gable. . . so much so that I downloaded it. But somehow I just didn't feel like it either. And I didn't feel like ripping out the Ballet T-Shirt either. It is, after all, about halfway done.

So I then I turned to a completely different project with different yarn and a different pattern and actual sleeves. This is a sweater from an old Family Circle Easy Knitting, back when that magazine existed, written for Cotton-Ease. Ironically, the magazine hit the stands very shortly before Cotton-Ease was discontinued and has several wonderful patterns for the yarn. I've already made the zippered cardigan (which I wear all the time, in spite of the tragic zipper story here) and at the same time had photocopied this 3/4-sleeve sweater pattern and stuck it in a bag with an appropriate amount of Cotton-Ease in a lovely blue that is totally not captured by either photo (it's been very overcast in San Diego lately). I think I had intended to do it two summers ago when I was traveling, but never did. And then I intended to do it last summer. And then . . . last night just seemed like the night. And after a few false starts wherein I proved that I can't count to six, I've already knit about 6 inches of the back in a rice pattern (close up in the completely mis-represented color on the right). And I'm just loving it. Simple, but not boring. Relaxing. It's measuring out to just the right measurements. And Cotton-Ease has such a delightful drape. (I'm knitting this on US7s.) While it won't be the summer tank I was planning, I do like the way my evening evolved. Expect to see this one fly off the needles.

Given my not-inconsiderable number of UFOs - Why the quest for another sweater, you may ask? Rowena is blocking - and drying - and my only other sweater in progress is a Debbie Bliss Aran in denim. Which I can't really start until I'm done the Chuppah, so that the indigo dye doesn't transfer from my hands.

This post seems to have a lot of free-association in it, I realize. But so did my evening.