When I headed out the door for Rhinebeck last Thursday, things were tense with the sweaters though I felt pretty hopeful. I was pretty sure I could finish, but I’d also made a commitment to myself to remember that knitting is fun, and Rhinebeck is fun and not to let anything get too crazy in the knitting department.  Turns out that there’s a wide range of what’s considered crazy though, and while I think that trying on an unfinished sweater in an airport lounge bathroom is pretty normal, I could tell that this wasn’t the prevailing attitude in that facility, though as a rule I’m pretty poorly understood as an artist, so that didn’t bother me much.

Neither did asking Kellee to put all our luggage in the backseat so we could block the Must Have Cardi as we drove…

as a matter of fact, I think it was her idea.

I rolled into Rhinebeck eve with two finished (but wet) sweaters, and they both dried by morning and do you know? That made two sweaters in eighteen days not as nearly dramatic and insane as I thought it would be. I did have to set aside other knitting and display a kind of knitterly monogamy that’s not really me, but still – look at this.

Sweater: The Must Have Cardigan.  I love this pattern, and knit it as written, with only two changes. I made it a little longer (because despite being rather on the short side, I still don’t really like a cropped sweater) and even though the pattern says to just hold the stitches for the back neck button band, I tried that last time and it was too stretchy.  This time I cast off and then picked the stitches back up again, and I am much happier with that.  Yarn: the very sadly discontinued Blackwater Abbey.

Sweater: Remi – oh do I love this, and I’m not alone. Two of my Rhinebeck friends said that this was their favourite, of all of the Rhinebeck sweaters I’ve ever knit, and I don’t know if I’d go that far, but mercy do I think it looks sharp. Yarn: Wingenhooven DK in Revival.

Good looking sweater, am I right? I’ve never thought that circular yoke sweaters suit me (in fact I’ve always thought that since I have shoulders like a quarterback, it isn’t really a good look for me) but I think maybe I was wrong.  It looks just fine, and I am going to wear the heck out of it.

I won’t be wearing the heck out of it over the next several days, because 36 hours after landing from Rhinebeck I got on a plane with Joe and headed out to visit his parents in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, and the weather here-  while well suited to my nature, is not exactly the sort of place you’d wear a wool/silk/yak sweater.  In fact, it might be dangerous.

More tomorrow – though my office couldn’t be nicer today, I’m going for a walk. Extreme sweater knitter, out.