Becalmed
Thank you for your many compliments on the Florence progress pictures! I ought to have finished it by now, but instead I started something altogether different.
For lack of a better name, I’m calling it my “wine-dark sea” pullover. Because of the dark blue and the wine-y brown. And because of the nautical stripes. Please humor me.
The color is pretty true in this picture.
I feel some remorse about beginning a new project when I was so close to finishing Florence, but I have a number of perfectly good excuses. First, David left town for a few nights, which always rather unmoors me. I wander aimlessly about the house, eat too many cookies, watch too many bad movies, and usually start a new knitting project. It seems I can’t help myself. (Indeed, this project was born as a swatch I knit the last time David left town.)
Second, I’m going to get the new Harry Potter book soon, and I wanted a project I could knit mindlessly while reading. I’m only an inch or so away from dividing this for the sleeves, at which point I can sail along through the rest with little thought, eyes focused on the gigantic book open in my lap.
While excuses #1 and #2 are valid as far as they go, excuse #3 is perhaps the most honest: I was sick of Florence. I had spent too many days looking at pink. Too many days knitting with dental-floss-like yarn. I need to work on something different for a while — something that offers a more pleasurable tactile experience. This yarn is 100% tussah silk. It’s fitting the bill nicely.
See this post for an explanation.
Sooner or later, I will most likely grow tired of knitting around in circles, return to port, and take up again with my lass Florence. For now, though, I’m quite happy to be becalmed with my stripey friend here.


July 19th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
That looks great - great to wear, and great to work on while reading.
You also get several bonus points for carrying the nautical theme throughout the post
July 21st, 2007 at 1:36 am
That yarn looks fabulous. If it came to me, I’m sure I couldn’t resist casting it on either!
July 21st, 2007 at 3:43 pm
The new sweater looks great! Sometimes you have to spend a bit of time doing something else, in order to come back to the old project. Florence is looking great too. I look forward to seeing the rest of your winter collection!
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 pm
I so wish I could read while knitting, but alas…. The pullover looks great!