I came to an executive decision last night: Boris is being put on hiatus for a while. I finished the front yesterday afternoon, which means that all that’s left are the sleeves before it’s time to block the sucker and seam him up. Except I haven’t written the pattern for the sleeves yet. And I really, really don’t want to deal with that right now. In fact, I’m feeling no love for this sweater at all at the moment. The yarn (Berroco Softwist Colors) is a pain in a donkey’s ass to work with because it’s so incredibly splitty, and the fabric it’s making is turning out a lot heavier and saggier than I thought it would. My swatch didn’t grow any when I blocked it, but I am so afraid this thing is going to stretch out to the point where it could cover China when I’m done with it. I mean, it’s already large to begin with… I designed it with a fair amount of ease, because I wanted it to be a baggy, kind of comfy sweater. But when you add lots of growth to lots of already-built-in ease, well… this thing is going to be ginormous, I fear.

So when I’m working on it, I’m hating it. And I’m dreaming of new projects I want to start, but I tell myself I can’t until I finish Boris. And that makes me dislike Boris even more - I start to feel bitter that I can’t work on the things I want to because I’m stuck knitting this disaster of a sweater. Ok, it’s not a disaster. Not yet, at least. But it’s not like I could wear it right away anyway, even if I did finish it in the next week or two. It’s just too warm to do that now. A short-sleeve sweater, on the other hand, has summertime potential. So… Boris is going on hiatus, and I’m starting Sahara soon.

I’m going to ball up one of the skeins of the merino/silk and knit up a swatch to see what my gauge is gonna be. From there, I’ll do the calculations - make any mathematical alterations I’d need to make to the pattern and figure out how much yarn I’d need for the body and for the neckband,cuffs, and bottom. And then I’ll start dyeing. My plan right now is to do the body in a variegated - nothing too wild - and the lacy edging in a complementary solid or semi-solid.

The hard part then is coming up with a color scheme. I’ve got a couple of ideas… My intial thought was a magenta/purple colorway, but looking back on so many of my recent projects, I realized that I’ve done so many projects in these colors. Another thought was a burnt-umberish orange and lavender combination, similar to my Autumn Fingerless Gloves, but if I want this to be a spring- and summertime type sweater, I’m not sure those colors are quite right - they have more of an autumn feel, don’t they? But maybe if I made the orange a bit less brown and a little more peachy, it might work (but can I wear peach?) Another thought was a light green (on the yellow side more than the blue side) and lilac combination… But I worry that such light colors will wash me out (I’m so pale). Decisions decisions!

I can’t tell you how free this executive decision has made me feel, though. I mean, there are still restrictions - I won’t start another sweater again until Sahara is done. But putting Boris on hiatus? It just feels right, and I feel like I can be allowed to have fun again.