Zen and the art of stocking stitch

The Gathered Pullover is gathering pace I am pleased to report. Sometimes the thought of endless stocking stitch knit in the round is enough to send me cowering behind the sofa - at other times it's exactly the sort of project I need.

I think it is a combination of the beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed - the love affair continues with this yarn, and the simplicity of the pattern which means that this is the first knitting project I reach for whenever I get a chance to sit down.

I have just finished the centre cable section - just enough to keep my interest going and now I'm just working my way up to the neck divide.

I really hope that I love the finished product, as much as I love the WIP.

Since I started knitting I've always considered myself to be a process knitter rather than a product knitter, and some of my early projects were, to be fair, pretty dire. Some of them were sweaters for myself - I don't know why but in my early pre-Ravelry days I assumed that if I were going to knit something then it had to be a sweater. Needless to say that I rarely wear them, one has been frogged and one has been felted (on purpose) to be used for something else. I'm sorry to say that I also inflicted several sorry handknits on my closest relatives, none of whom complained, but I'm sure those items are quietly stashed in a drawer somewhere or made their way to the nearest charity shop.

Now that I am approaching my two-year knitting anniversary, I find myself being a lot more critical of the items I knit and and also who I give them to...

Something to bear in mind when compiling my Christmas knitting list this year.