Sweater goals

I took a break from the blog for a bit. What with the holidays, and remote learning, and a bunch of home remodeling projects, I hadn’t been doing a lot of knitting. Not to worry – a couple weeks ago I picked up the needles again, and now I want to make all the things. In an effort to see some immediate progress, I finally cast on a No Frills Sweater by PetiteKnit. I bought yarn for this project more than a year ago, and it seemed like the perfect time to get started.

The first sweater I ever knit was the Sunday Sweater, also by PetiteKnit. It was a major undertaking because I had just started knitting about a month earlier. True to form, I didn’t want to make anything reasonable like a scarf, or a dishcloth. No. Why do a beginner project when you can knit a sweater? It was definitely a stretch, considering I had to look up how to do everything: knit a gauge swatch. in the round. how to separate for sleeves. what’s a dpn? Looking back it was fairly ridiculous. But I got a finished sweater out of the project that fits me reasonably well.

I was hopeful that with some more experience, knitting the No Frills Sweater might turn out to be a breeze. Turns out, my intuition was correct. I am a week and a half into this project and it is flying off the needles:

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I am using Filcolana Anina, a fingering weight merino in colorway 225 Red, held double with Filcolana Tila, a lace weight mohair silk blend in colorway 335 Peach Blossom. The No Frills Sweater is a straightforward raglan pullover with a few German short rows in the back. It is knit entirely in stockinette. And it is a complete breeze. I am pretty sure that I can knock this out in two more weeks. Unheard of! I made the next size up from what I usually knit, because I really want this to be oversized and comfy. Also, it would be nice to wash something and just let it dry without stretching it to kingdom come and frantically measuring the whole time.

In other news, it is January and a good time for taking stock in what I’d love to accomplish this year. I don’t have many knitting goals, but I would love to try knitting a seamed sweater, and perhaps steeking. (!!!) I don’t have a sewing machine, despite falling down the Project Runway rabbit hole a decade ago. So if there is a good way to secure the steek without machine sewing, I will give it a go. Other than that, I’d love to make a bigger shawl, and amp up my colorwork. I have been ogling all of the beautiful Scandinavian mitts and socks on Instagram, and I think I have to try.

What are you working on these days? What are you planning for this year?