Linen! Right? I mean, it’s so sort of rough and crunchy in the skein, but then you start knitting with it and it gets all soft and drapey and wow, I’m a convert. I was worried its stiffness would make my hands hurt or tire out my wrists, but you know, I’m a third of the way through Kit (maybe more than that, actually) and I’m fine.

I will say, though, that the border took forever. I tend to feel like that about edgings (especially when you start with them) but this one really forever. I actually gave serious thought to skipping out early, but then I’d look back at the pattern pictures and admire the wide hem and decide the slog was worth it. And you know, if I can block the thing flat I think it probably will be.

The panel up the back is the same texture, and although some people chose to skip it and just knit the body in stockinette, I really like the detail it gives the piece. I also like how the decreases run up the back, rather than on the sides, making it feel a little swingier and less structured.

My version won’t actually be as swingy as I would have liked because my gauge swatch lied big time. Like, it was off by about six stitches. Sigh. I knit most of this on the train to and from Windsor (about four hours each way, minus sleeping time since we were up early both days) and on the way back, once I was well into the stockinette portion, I decided to check my gauge. With wool, my gauge is the same flat as it is in the round; not so with linen, it seems. I tried on what I had when I got home, though, and the fit is fine, but not quite as airy as the pattern photos.

I really like the fabric I’m getting, though (the stitches are close enough together that I won’t need to layer anything underneath), so to ad drape I’d pretty much have to rip it all back and knit another size. That is, quite frankly, unappealing. So I’m going to keep going, but alter the decreases a bit so it fits nicely across the chest.

It might be a little while before I get there, though, since in a week and a half we’re meeting our friends’ baby for the first time (she was born in March, and gifted this little hat and sweater) and dammit I’m not showing up without an adorable gift. That gives me about a week to turn this (still unwound) skein of Malabrigo Sock into a Sproutlette. That’s doable, right?