die Sonne kommt wieder

Greetings! I have been away in Vienna, and although I meant to do a thorough scour of the yarn shops there, I got no further than peering through the window shutters of a small yarnery late at night. The prices were in keeping with Vienna, i.e.: not small, and as you may have gathered by now, cheapness is of the essence in my yarn purchasing. Perhaps this blog should be called MiserKnits instead. Sigh.

I didn't bring knitting with me, but have been lashing into Soleil since I came back. It'll be finished by the end of the week, I hope - I most devoutly hope. I had entirely forgotten how utterly dull stocking stitch is, and even though I'm only slogging up the back of the neck at the moment, every purl row is torture. Never again.

Isn't it funny how one's idea of what is a nice garment changes once one starts knitting? At least, that's what happened to me. When I started, I wanted to knit what I saw in the shops: simple, stretchy stocking-stitch and rib knits, in this season's shape. And then, I knocked out a couple of boringly-shaped stocking-stitch jumpers, and realised that I probably never, ever wanted to knit that much predictable fabric again. Now, I find myself looking at knitwear and admiring fussy little details like fairisle, lacework, fancy shoulder shaping, neat waist details - none of which are fashionable, all of which would be both fun to knit and very instructive. Soleil is fine, it'll be a sturdy flattering vest in my wardrobe, but have I learned anything from it? No. Until I get to the crochet edging, of course.