Last week I started the Vagabonde Wrap Cardigan because I needed something to do with my two skeins of Plymouth Mushishi, a wool-silk blend worsted that is extremely squishy and luxurious. I knit my original swatch for Mushishi on needles that were way too large for the suggested gauge, but after blocking I fell in love with the loose, drapey fabric. Ravelry to the rescue! I found this pattern, which calls for a nicely variegated worsted weight mohair, and cast on.
Up until now the construction has been a very straightforward top-down raglan. I added darts at the bust (learning, in the process, how do do that on a cardigan (found this article from Knitty extremely helpful) but otherwise made no changes. Now I have reached the "do-I-really-have-to-finish-this" point (it usually sets in shortly after I separate the sleeves), and am grateful for the design elements on the back of the sweater that might hold my interest enough to carry me through to the coveted Finished Object.
I think that the reason I have so many UFO's at the moment has a lot to do with my confidence level at the pattern-choosing stage of the process. When I look at the array of projects I've embarked on I see very little variation in terms of texture, construction, shaping, color -- you name it -- and I believe it's out of fear that I have limited myself. It's gratifying, then, to make choices that are a bit more interesting and daring, and even begin to alter written instructions. Knitting becomes a cerebral experience as well as a meditative one, and life is that much more satisfying.
