Car knitting

 I have a funny relationship with knitting.

I actually really enjoy the process of knitting itself but hate the process of sewing up, always looks so messy to me no matter how hard I try, and I have trouble getting gauge and keeping it there.

Very few of my sweaters over the years have been happy projects, which is turned me to sock knitting more than anything else, which has frustrated me because, let's face it, I am a garment sort of person.

So finally inspired by Ann Budd's excellent book on top-down knitting, where she gives more formulas than patterns, I brought some hanging-around-the-house yarn and tried to knit without a real pattern, just a sense of the starting formula. (Because someone always asks, there are never any affiliate links on this blog btw).

The beauty of top down seamless sweaters is, you guessed it, no seams to sew, and you can keep trying it on as you go to see if it fits, and if not you can self-correct.

I did just that with this wearable muslin of a sweater, ripped back the sleeves for example and made them wider once I realized my first attempt was too tight.

I had a lot of fun doing this sweater as we zoomed along the roads and finished it today - hence the lovely pose in front of the back of a hotel door with the sign of what to do if there is a fire.

I am excited to try to knit another one this way now - it's just too easy. If you look at the book I used the modified drop shoulder version as my starting point.

This picture reminds me of some travelling advice a friend of mine once told me.

This fellow travels a lot for work and he once told us to always make sure to pack decent nightwear. He was once in an actual hotel fire and had to evacuate down to the lobby. He said he was amazed at how everyone looked in what they had worn to bed under the bright lights of the hotel main entrance - obviously many people had packed under the assumption that no one would ever see them after hours on the road.

Anyway it's something interesting to think about, and the reason why I bought new slippers for this trip.

Wedding tomorrow, more later.