a new project

 Yes, I have a lot of things I could be working on, but I decided I wanted a bigger new project. And I got thinking about Incunabula, from "That Thing of Paper," and how I KNEW I had the yarn for it in my stash, and how I had the right sized needles tucked away, so when I got home I dug out the yarn and the needles and the book.

Initially I was going to use the punk-rock method and not even swatch, just start the piece and then rip back if I gambled wrong, but after (a) realizing the yarn I have is VERY different; it's a blend of recycled fibers (some silk, some linen, some nylon) and (b) that it's a complex pattern that involves casting on 200-some stitches for my size (it's knit all in one piece, from one front edge around the back to the next front), I decided to swatch instead.

This is a partial swatch. The fabric is a little looser and drapier than I anticipated but I do not dislike it. And I have gauge, at least over stockinette (I might try a few rows of the small-cable pattern just to be sure). The yarn is Berroco Remix, from the very short-lived yarn shop in downtown Sherman - so maybe bought around 2018? I forget.

That's not the best photo but it's a nice old-gold color with small lighter slubs in it. I think it will work well. I anticipating this being a long-haul project, it's complex, but maybe if I can do even one row a day I'll see some progress on it. This is also a challenge to myself to prove my brain isn't broken from being able to do (a) big projects and (b) complex project. 

 And anyway, I follow the designer (Karie Westermann) on Twitter and she follows me so if I have a question I can probably ask her DIRECTLY, which is pretty cool. (Though usually I am okay at figuring things out, and other people I know have knit the pattern, which tells me it's correctly tech-edited - that's usually the time when I run into problems with a pattern, when they weren't edited well and there are either errors or very unclear places). She even provides instructions to lengthen the waist, which I will do (I bought extra yarn when I bought it)

I do also have Pocketses; I really should take and block the fronts and back this weekend so I can sew it up and put the bands on and make the pockets; then it would be done.