Loving Antalya

I'm in a bit of a love affair right now.


With my knitting. Yeah. Always try to keep it racy around here, right? But this friend of mine, one that had taken back seat for some time, has now come to the forefront and I am loving it though my wrists and fingertips are not.

It started with this hat designed by MJ.


I rarely peruse Ravelry right now, just not enough time. The lack of exposure to beautiful knits definitely cools the inclination to knit. But Julia linked up to the hat in a group email and I instantly fell in love. Interesting construction, cables, short rows. What is not to love? And then I felt up the test knit at our holiday meet up and I knew I had to commit. And I am so glad I did.

I am not done ... and I know people rarely actually blog about knitting anymore, especially without a FO to show, but man, I am loving this knit.

I am also finding myself highly in love with the recommended yarn, Valley Yarns Amherst. Warm 100% wooliness. The combination is irresistible and is helping my knitting mojo in spades.

The other thing spurring it is the fact that we might actually someday live in a climate that encourages the wearing of 100% wool handknit sweaters (for you non-knitters out there ...when you combine wool and hand knitting they tend to produce a very very warm garment). I have been discouraged in the past by knitting something that I wear only once or twice a year due to the lack of seasons in Southern California. Last weekend up in Northern California in the foothills hovering just below the snow line, all I could think about was thick knitted cabled cardigans, and cowls, and hats and scarves and mittens (oh my!). Highs in the 40s and lows in the teens make for knitted clothing options indeed.

And so in a possibly unwise, but I cannot help myself decision, I have recommitted to knitting this amazing, cable dense, hand wrecking love of a cardigan, the Saddle shoulder Aran cardigan designed by EZ/Meg Swanson and re-intepreted by Jared of Brooklyntweed glory. The ribbon, the horse shoe, the saddle shoulder. All so lovely, and possibly worn by myself in the future quasi farm setting perfectly complemented by my Hunter wellies. Ah the dreams we dream.

But to be honest, I have always wanted to knit that cardi and the hat I am working through is a reminder of the powerful beauty that is produced by the simple act of string on stick, loop and pull through. Those of you who do knit know the joy of watching a piece unfold and twist and turn in a language that is literally dictated by two bits, not 0 and 1, but knit and purl.

Those of you that do not knit, how I wish you could. If only to watch with fascinated eyes as your hands make this out of the hieroglyphs that is a knitting pattern chart.


Oooh, it feels good to have some knitting mojo back. And if I do work my way through the saddle shoulder cardigan and find that my mojo holds, how about this for a beauty of a piece. Alice Starmore has re-released her book Aran Knitting with a new pattern combining the joy of cables with the option of shaping to avoid that boxy sweater look that makes curvy girls look like sacks o'potatoes. Is it weird that I am dreaming of the knitting of Eala Bahn already? Probably.