Mon tricot

[darkemeralds]

At vampirefan's urging, I joined Ravelry a couple of weeks ago: all this shopping in my closet finally got me down to the Boxes of Yarn level, a stratum of clutter that I never cleared during Project Empty.

Last weekend I used Ravelry's "Stash" function to inventory my yarn. That forced me to quantify it (it's...not quite as bad as I was imagining), and of course got me thinking about all the things I could knit out of it.

After several years' absence, knitting seems like a worthwhile endeavor again: I haven't wanted to put that kind of effort into making the serious traditional sweaters that I like to knit, when I was going to look like a woolly mammoth wearing them.

(NB: This my neurosis talking and has no bearing on anyone else's reality.)

Now that I'm less mammoth every day, the creative possibilities are just flocking in.

Meanwhile, one of my old sweaters, which had lost its buttons as well as its fit, once again goes easily around the Torso of DarkEm, so today I sewed new buttons on it (ELEVEN of them!) and wore it out and about.

Today's "Isn't It Spring Yet?" bicycle-riding outfit:

In addition to the Norwegian sweater, closet shopping unearthed the pants and, oddly, the Doc Martens which, though they never stopped fitting per se, became intensely uncomfortable and too heavy to wear when I got fatter. Now they're the most comfortable things in the world again.

Comments

[karen_jk]

That outfit looks incredibly fab, and the whole thing has the skill of a professional photo shoot. :)

[darkemeralds]

Aw thanks. I think a professional might have actually put a person in the clothes, but I don't have a spare. :D

The rare sun coming in at the window certainly helped.

[donutsweeper]

I love your outfit pictures, they're just gorgeous. And what a nice sweater to have unearthed!

[darkemeralds]

Thanks! This finding stuff deep in my closet continues to amaze me. I mean, I know it's all there--these clothes have a sort of iconic power in my mind--but I've managed to make them vanish from my consciousness in the last few years. They're like wallpaper, something I don't notice anymore. Except now I'm looking again, and it feels like the magic endless closet.

The end of Shopping in My Closet is nigh, however: only a few items left for me to shrink into, and then it's New Clothes all the way down.

[despina_moon]

You know, I've met you in RL, and I never considered you as mammoth. XD But I have watched your terrific success and I am floored by your awesomeness!

Now this ... Did you knit that sweater? It's awesome, that's all I can say. Go you, DarkEm.

[darkemeralds]

It's a strange thing, self-projection, isn't it? I have a friend of quite average height who gives everyone the impression of being about six feet tall--and I'm not talking about high heels. Apparently I project more "grand" than "fat" in a general way, and I'm not ungrateful for that quirk of my physical presence (though on analysis I think it's owing more to my blessed dearth of face-and-neck fat than to any great mysterious "presence").

Nonetheless, the scale returns a number that appears on the "Class I Obese" table for my height, and I can say that having come down already out of the Class II Obese realm that there is a LOT to be said for leaving that territory!

And yes, I did knit that sweater--back when I didn't have a clue about what I was doing. I miss that beginner's luck and blissful ignorance, you know?

Oh, and I am in the vicinity of your place several times a week. Let's meet at Costello's or something soon. Any possibilities?