Knitting away the January doldrums.

I took down the Yule tree on New Year's Day.  Until this year, I have always left it up until January 6th -- Twelfth Night.  But it occurred to me that if I'm no longer practicing a religion that includes a twelve-day vigil, starting on December 25th, then I don't have a good reason, other than tradition, to leave the tree up 'til the 6th.  My holiday season started on December 21st and ended on New Year's Day.  So that's when the tree came down.

Still, no matter how brittle the tree gets by the end of the festivities and no matter how many needles shower onto the carpet 'twixt the stand and the door, I'm always a little sad to see it go.  It means a forced return to reality.  No more can we anticipate that things we will love will be handed to us, wrapped in shiny paper and bows.  Now we must face the hard work required of us, if we mean to reach those lofty goals we set for ourselves while still under the influence of holiday bonhomie.

copyright Berroco Inc.

So, of course, I'm stalling.

Pictured above is the fruit of my holiday labors.  It's the back (completed!) of a sweater that I began working on over the past couple of weeks. The pattern has been in my Ravelry queue for months, and I bought the yarn last spring, so I was very excited to finally begin working on it.  With any luck, the finished sweater will look like the picture to the right -- in blue, of course, instead of in the rosy-coral color in the picture.  The back has four different stitch patterns, which was awesome to knit.  The big problem with doing a whole sweater is what I call the "boring torso" -- the big swath of stockinette stitch (knit every stitch in the round, over and over, forever) between casting on the ribbing at the bottom and beginning the armhole shaping.  But this one was fun, because at about the time I was sick of the basketweave stitch (the big squares), it was time to switch to the diagonal stitch.  And when I couldn't bear another row of diagonal stitch, it was time to switch to garter stitch.  And then, poof, it was done.

The front will throw me a curve, I expect, because of that gigantic cable running up the front.  I looked at the directions already; it's one of those cables that doesn't use a cable needle.  I haven't had much success with such shenanigans in the past, but I'm willing to give it another try.  The sleeves will zip by -- they're just reverse stockinette stitch once you get past the ribbing -- and the neckline finish will be simple.  The whole thing will be a piece of cake...once I get the front done.  And I will get it done.  Look, I've already started the ribbing -- see?

Never fear, though.  Gravid is simmering away in the back of my mind, and I fully intend to pull it out and start working on it again this week.  But tonight, I think I'll put in a movie and knit.
***
Oh, right -- dates are up for the Orangeberry Big Bang tour for Tapped.  My first stop is on the 18th.  All the info is on the Tour Dates tab, and of course, I'll post a reminder closer to the start.  Have a great week, everyone.

***
These moments of knitted blogginess are brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.