Dahlia

December 2014

I’m mildly disappointed with this, as it’s a really beautiful yarn and a really beautiful pattern, but the finished product just doesn’t seem to want to fit as one would hope it to, and so it’s less enjoyable to wear than the sum of its parts should make it.

You start with the lace panel, which is knitted from the middle out. Then, starting from the middle again, you make stocking stitch strips to frame it top and bottom, which when they are long enough, and joined to the live stitches from the side edges of the panel. You do a little clever tinkering after a few rows, to take account of where the sleeves will need to go, but then you just knit outwards until you have two panels wide enough to make the front of a cardigan. It’s very clever, and nothing like any other project I’ve tackled.

I tweaked the pattern as I went, adding a bit of length, and short row shaping to try to bring the two edges of the cardigan a little closer to meeting when hanging at an angle. I also followed uncials notes with regard to the sleeves, but even so I find this is a little wider across the shoulders than it really ought to be.

The trickiest part was the collar. Initially I followed the pattern as written, but that gave me a really wide collar which seemed to always be facing the wrong way. So I ran a steek along about 20 stitches in from the edge (where the knit turned to purl) and cut a strip off. I sewed a moss stitch edging along to try to tidy it up a little bit, but it’s rather prone to wrinkling

So all in all, this was a real pain to make wearable. I love that lace panel, but I’d think twice about making anything knitted sideways again.

Pattern: Dahlia Cardigan by Heather Zopetti rom Interweave Knits, Fall 2011
Size: Second
Yarn: Supreme Possum Merino Possum Merino with Silk 4-ply
Colours: Red-purple
Needle 3.25mm
On ravelry: here

Chewie the Dinosaur

October 2014

I saw a made-up version of this at Yarndale 2014, and since the kits were selling for £6.50 I couldn't resist. Particularly as Christmas wasn't so far off, and I would love it if my little boy started to get into dinosaurs. I still think £6.50 for 3 balls of merino was an absolute bargain. There were even decent amounts left over.

George has christened his dinosaur Chewie, and he lives at the bottom of his bed. Occasionally when he glimpses Chewie's photo on my ravelry projects page he points to him and asks what he's doing out on the patio. I guess the world is a bit confusing when you're 3.

This pattern doesn't seem to have been listed on ravelry, and so I have to idea how many other Chewies there might be out there. I like to think of him as part of a herd, though.

Although undeniably cute, this wasn't the most enjoyable knit. Each spike was knitted separately, and then sewn on. Ditto the legs. As someone who hates finishing work it felt like a big ask. Full credit to my Mum for saving my sanity by offering to do the embroidery.

Pattern: Dinosaur in Merino dk by Wendy Yarns
Yarn: Wendy Merino dk
Amount: 2 balls green, 1 ball orange
Size: One size
On ravelry: here

Clara

April 2014

One of the very few downsides of a website like ravelry is that it exposes you to how the other half live. The UK has some very lovely locally produced yarns, but even so it's impossible not to look at some of the yarns available overseas and feel a little bit jealous. I NEEDED some Dream in Color Smooshy.

Having sweet-talked a friend of mine to spend a small part of his holiday as my yarn-shopping gopher (I let him choose the colour though - I'm good like that), all I then needed to do was find the ideal pattern. Having toyed with Henley Perfected and Hitofude - both of which I'll probably come back to - I settled on this. Not least because I've had it queued since 2011.

But it's one of those patterns which, if ravelry given a true representation, hasn't been knitted up by as many people as it deserves to be. I don't understand why. It's so so pretty, and one of those top-down seamless patterns which anyone with any sense prefers, construction-wise. Plus it's an endlessly wearable summer project, and heaven knows there isn't an endless supply of those.

I think the pattern and yarn combination works very well in this instance, particularly as I happened to hit upon a nice dark stretch when I was doing the finishing on the key-hole back, neckline and sleeves. I love that the variegation in the yarn doesn't drown out the lace or vice versa too, though.

This does feel like a project which is going to need to be washed and cared for VERY carefully, but that's the only reservation I have. I'm sure I can handle it!

Pattern: Clara by Ashley Fey
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy
Colour: It's a Cracker
Amount: 1.75 Skeins
On ravelry: here

Baby Cables and Big Ones Too

March 2014

I've spent a huge chunk of my knitting time this year on a project which seems to be cursed. It's a 4-ply grey dress with a fair-isle hem in white, featuring a skull and crossbones motif. The first attempt was finished, but shrank beyond redemption the minute I tried to wash it. The second attempt was going fine untilI accidentally dipped it in someone's coffee and permanently dyed one of the skulls brown. I'm trying to be stoical about it, but the truth is I can't bring myself to cast it on again for the time being. Perhaps in time for next Christmas, though.

And so to focus on the good news in the world of my knitting. Last year I won a competition run by Stylecraft, and in a very generous prize stash were the following highlights:

Some Special dk in virtually every colour imaginable (watch this space regarding what will become of that) and 8 balls of Alpaca dk in a beautiful shade of blue with navy and turquoise flecks called Mistral.
4.5 balls of which have now been successfully transformed into Suvi Simola's Baby Cables and Big Ones Too.

It's a pattern which is 6 years old, and which I have made before. Somehow, though, that version doesn't seem to fit any more - time, and my unsympathetic washing machine have rendered it too short in the body and too long in the sleeves. When it did fit it was a total wardrobe staple and so I felt it was high time I revisited the pattern.

I love this yarn. It's pretty, soft, warm and washable in the machine which is always a plus. The yardage is amazing and it's really brilliant value for money.

I reworked the shaping by adding bust darts just under the end of the yoke, by shortening the sleeves a little, and by only working about half of the waist increases and decreases. I'm pretty happy with the fit I got that way. 

I'm part of a group on ravelry with has signed up to the challenge of making 12 sweaters in 2014. This is number 4. I'm running out of yarn and drawer space already, but I'm far too committed a knitter to let a little thing like that stop me. 

Pattern: Baby Cables and Big Ones Too by Suvi Simola
Yarn: Alpaca dk by Stylecraft
Colour: Mistral
Amount: 4.5 Skeins
On ravelry: here