Busy times in Casa Bookish. True to form I am working on lots of things I cannot show you - when you design for magazines they don't want any previews leaking out months and months before the actual magazine is published. And so I can only show one thing out of the .. eight? .. projects in progress.

This is the Stevie cardigan I mentioned previously. It is a Sarah Hatton design from Rowan Studio 24. I am knitting it in the recommended yarn(!) - Rowan Wool Cotton in 'French Navy' - and the real colour is a bit darker. It's a cracker of a pattern: a top-down, seamless knit which is always something I love knitting. The yoke is the only tricky bit and after you've completed it, it's plain stocking stitch all the way. I would probably have finished in within a fortnight if it weren't for all those other projects, but as it is I knit on it when I need to relax with my knitting rather than worry about maths.

Navy is a new obsession of mine. I recently did a massive wardrobe cull where I threw out clothes I hadn't worn in years, clothes that didn't fit, and worn-out clothes I couldn't justify wearing anymore. The cull made it easy to see what I actually have in my wardrobe and I was surprised to see a lot of navy. Navy is my new black, apparently.

And so I am knitting a navy cardigan. The style is classic and the colour will go with everything. I need wardrobe staples - I have plenty of funky cardigans and jumpers, but I need basics. Expect my rare moments of non-work knitting to reflect this!

I have had a look on Ravelry and inspired by Mooncalf's Pinterest board full of classic shapes, I'm thinking of  making a list of classic, basic cardigans and jumpers. I am terrible (terrible!) at sticking to resolutions but it'll be good to have a list around. So far I am thinking along the lines of Cecily Glowik MacDonald's River Pullover, Amy Christoffer's Acer Cardigan and Windsor Cardigan (she does fab basics), and Tanis Lavallee's Reverb.

Any classic/basic patterns you'd like to recommend?