The turning of the year...

Finally finished Arboreal by Jennifer Steingass.  This is knitted top-down and the sleeves knitted in the round, so finishing only required the running in of a few ends.  This was fortunate because knitting the sleeves was a pain, with the whole jumper attached to be rotated as you go.

It's a neat fit and may need another inch added to the hem.  The weather is just on the turn, but it will be a few weeks before this will be an obvious choice.  I love the colour though and the yoke does work very well.

I've embarked on a more ambitious project.  No endless rounds of stocking stitch in this one.  It's Geiger by Norah Gaughan, well-known for fabulous cable designs.   The pattern, bought through Ravelry, runs to 30 pages.  Now wouldn't you think the first thing to include in the print pattern would be a really good close-up of the actual sweater, showing some of the unusual design features, so that you can see what you are aiming at?  But the sample shown is in a kind of dark indigo, so you can barely make out the main cables.  There is a mustard version, which I have printed off separately, but even that is styled rather than aiming for clarity.  

I've begun on the lower sleeve.  Even the cast on was a variant new to me, but You-tube makes all clear these days.  I don't know what we did without it.  In the pictures the cuff seems to come right to the knuckles of the model, so that needs to be shortened to be practical in wear.  I expect there to be constant issues of this kind to resolve as we go along.

Seasonal pictures from our walk today: the stubble being harrowed, haws and blackberries in abundance and the state of the forest ponds after our excessively dry summer. 

 So the year turns.