The Start of a Sweater--an aside

Some thoughts on a new project....

The yarn arrived in a bulging but remarkably lightweight box. It blossomed out as the box was opened and sits by my chair side. The darkest yarn, black yarn from black sheep, is rich and full of tones--black sheep yarn--yeah, that fits Mike!.  The 20 balls of yarn, squared off by the zipped, protective bag make a soft and fluffy pillow for the odd cat visitor. Next to it is the smaller square of lighter accent yarns--the pale creaminess of the white yarn and the lighter tones of gray for the patterned portion of the sweater. Tucked in one corner are two small balls of rich, deep purple, a subtle surprise. I will add a small amount of it, but it will make a large impression.

Now comes the beginning: the painstaking knitting of the test square, testing smaller, then larger needles to find the right size for the gauge. The yarn is soft and pliable, forgiving of a rusty knitting technique.

Then the casting onto the proper needle, one stitch added after another in the dark yarn. Every 50 stitches, I slip a crystal ornamented ring onto the needle to mark my progress. The bright crystal colors glow against the black yarn. They will travel up the body of the sweater with the needles, eventually marking the boundaries of the yoke's pattern.

But for now, I take up the needles with their 200+ stitches and start the tedious process of knitting the ribbing with it's own pattern--one knitted stitch alternating with the awkward pearled stitch.

I remember being told as a child to eat my peas before I got dessert--ribbing is peas. I must get through it before I can delve into the dessert of plain knitting, row after thoughtless row knit effortlessly, stitch after stitch, in an easy rhythm.  The calming, meditative repetitious knitting is yet to come: today....ribbing.