Christmas is over. I survived just fine, my hand-knitted gifts (a Palindrome scarf for dad, and a Coronet for mum) were very well-received, and I got some lovely knitting-related pressies. Hurrah! To be honest, there wasn’t much to survive. My holiday has been quiet and comfortable, which is just the way I like it. I’m glad I restricted myself to only two small knitted items, as it cut down on stressful knitting time (though I must admit I was knitting on Xmas Eve!) and it meant that I could splash out on some really delicious yarn for the scarf and hat (RYC Cashsoft Aran and Cascade 220, respectively).

Now, of course, I’m free to knit for whoever I please, and at the moment I’m pleased to knit entirely for myself! One of my presents was “Heartfelt”, the new pattern book from Kim Hargreaves. (It’s available from her website and eventually should be in stock at amazon.co.uk.) This book is my pattern Mecca. It contains twenty-one patterns and so far I definitely want to make fifteen of them. This should come as no real surprise to me, because Kim is my favourite knitwear designer, but I think she’s outdone herself here. The shapes are classic and flattering, chic and sleek without being too avant-garde. Everything is wearable, even the asymmetric poncho, Nightshade. I have a horror of ponchos, but I can imagine myself wearing this one (it really is more of a capelet in my mind). The garments all have little touches of femininity—delicate cables, hints of lace, the occasional flounced hem—but don’t descend into frou-frou.

So, armed with a bag of RYC Cashcotton DK that I snatched up in the Liberty sale, I’ve cast on for Erin. The recommended yarn is Rowan Calmer, but Calmer was not on sale in colours I liked, and I can meet the gauge requirements with the Cashcotton. I am a little concerned about the width of the back at the moment, because it seems awfully wide! The ribbing will pull it in and there are some decreases later on, but I’m worrying more about the shape than the pattern. I think it will be flattering on me, but I don’t know for sure. (I should perhaps mention that I’ve never knitted anything for myself bar a pair of fingerless gloves, so I’m a little nervous!) It’s a pretty big ‘first’ for me.

The other ‘first’ would be the colour… as shown in the photo above (taken when I was swatching), my Cashcotton is a rather luminous turquoise-blue. I like it a great deal, but I have this tendency towards a monochrome wardrobe that I’m trying to break out of. It’s taking some doing. Black is a safe and flattering colour-stroke-absence-thereof. I like black. I have been wearing mostly black for years and years. Introducing colour—in fact, even realising that there were colours I liked—has been a slow process. I realise I’m jumping in the deep end with this yarn and the eventual cardigan, but it’s quite fun. (Every so often I find myself glancing at my knitting and thinking “Turquoise! Wow! You rebel, Rhian! You daring, adventurous person!”. I am clearly in need of much, much more excitement in my life.)

I’ve got another cardigan on the needles too, but I’ll talk about that one another time.