One of my favorite parts of knitting--probably my very favorite part, actually--is choosing my next pattern. There's a delightful giddiness about it. Like a kid in a candy store, there is limitless opportunity ahead of me, innumerable possiblities, and I love them all. I can choose any project, any yarn, any color. I haven't committed to anything and the whole world of knitting is wide open before me.
I always try to put off picking a project as long as possible. I like to go through my Rav queue, look through old knitting magazines, peruse my books. I try to draw out the process as long as I can while I wait for inspiration to strike. Today I held out a good 15 minutes.
My next sweater will be based on
this one. It meets my current requirements: soft wool, simple shape, lots of plain stockinette, and totally wearable. Sometimes I knit a project just to experiment with a neat shape or a cool stitch pattern, knowing that I'll probably never wear it. But that's not what I want right now. After Buggy, I feel like making something cozy and simple that I can wear to death.
I've been looking at this one for a week now. I even picked up some yarn from a Rav destash just for it (Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which, to my shock, I've never used before). I would have just knitted it from the pattern, but when I went to order it this morning, I discovered it is only available in hard copy, and I am not waiting four or five days for snail mail to kick in (impatient much?). Besides, it's such a simple design, it really doesn't require a pattern.
My version will be almost the same as this one, only with garter stitch edges, because I like garter stitch edges, and with more buttons, because I don't care for winter sweaters that don't close full length. I plan on making it a modified A-line, with a little extra shaping for the waist. I'm going to work it bottom-up in one piece to the underarms, with button bands knitted along with the body, do shaping for set in sleeves, work the hood in one piece as part of the body with short row shaping for the top, and pick up and knit set in sleeves in the round with a short row sleeve cap. That should limit my seaming to just the top of the hood and the tops of the shoulders. I think I can live with that.
I've already wound the yarn, swatched, and washed the swatch. Now I'm just waiting for it to dry so that I can get a final gauge measurement and work out the numbers. I'll be casting on tonight!
So tell me, how do you choose your next project?
I love seamless knits.
It doesn't get you out of blocking, of course, which is why these are still not modeled shots. When I finished knitting Morgaine this afternoon, I gave her a nice bath and then hung her on Bertha to dry. (That's what constitutes blocking around here.) As I expected and planned, she has grown significantly in length, and I think she'll fit perfectly once she's dry.
I have some pretty ceramic buttons I've been saving for a while which I think will work well on this. I just need to sew them on and make a few button loops, and this one will be an FO. 
