Love Your Blog: Beginnings

Thank you so much for your kind messages and comments in response to my blog post last week. I’m feeling so relieved that you enjoy what I have to say! Thank you!

Have you caught up with the recent blog posts and podcast on Kate’s blog A Playful day? Kate is the brains behind this series of posts dedicated to loving your blog and I’ve been feeling motivated by what she and her guests have to say. If you’re a blogger (and even if you’re not) I recommend popping over for a read.

The prompt for the post this week was “beginnings” and when I first read it I have to admit I thought “oh no, not another one!”. Another beginning that is. My last year and a half has been full to overflowing with beginnings – moving halfway around the world, buying a new house, starting a new life, new school, new friends – you name it, we’ve begun it. My first reaction felt a bit like exhaustion – a part of me is kinda over beginnings.

But, then I played with the idea in my head a little. Maybe it’d be ok? I had lots of ideas – ways to cast on your knitting, tips for choosing new projects, maybe something about starting sewing? And then that ginger yarn in my photo caught my eye. It’s a fabulous wee ball of Romney yarn grown, spun and dyed with Henna, right here in New Zealand. I’ve had it less than a week and I’ve dying to cast it on but I’ve been forcing myself to hold back until I’ve finished at least one more thing … clearly I don’t have a problem with knitting beginnings ;)

“Don’t do it!” I told myself. I tried to walk away. I tried to resist. I tried really hard to think of something else. But I couldn’t. Whoops! As I grabbed my needles and the wool and cast on, I told myself it was all in the name of research. As I knitted row after row I told myself it was all for the blog. It’s a “beginning”, I just had to …

I’ve got a vision in my head of the perfect sloppy sweater. You know the kind? The curl up in front of the fire on a wet wintery day kind. The chuck it over your jeans to nip out to grab a kid from sports practice kind. The pull it down over your hands while you take an evening wander around your garden kind. The familiar, comfortable, favourite sweater kind. I’m sure you know it. Well, I want that gorgeous, sloppy, cosy, rustic, gingerbread, farm yarn sweater and I’ve begun designing one.

The yarn is totally different to anything that I’ve knitted with lately. For a very long time in fact. It’s harder and crunchier than a merino or blue-faced leicester. It sits exactly where it’s told, unlike an alpaca or silk. According to the blurb that came with the wool, this Romney worsted spun wool comes to life as it knits. It appears finer than other yarns (this is a DK) but after washing and blocking it blooms beautifully and settles into a more standard gauge for it’s weight. I’m told it’ll soften with wear and washing and it’ll hardly pill. Don’t these sound like fantastic attributes for a sweater I intend wearing day in and day out? I think so and I’m loving playing around with it.

Now I’ve begun I’m letting myself be swept along and feel super excited about my new project. I’ll tell you a bit more about the design as I go so you can enjoy the process too – I’ve got a bit more swatching to do yet, to see if my ideas will look as good in the wool as they do in my head and I’ve got a bit of learning to do to make sure this sweater fits and falls just the way I want it to.

In the meantime, if you want a play with some fantastic Romney wool too – check out Rosewood Wool on Instagram – I believe they’ve got some skeins available to buy right now.