Ringwood Gloves

January 2011

The Official Sexy Knitters Club on ravelry is currently having a "texture" themed knitalong, and whilst I umm and ahh about which of several eligible sweaters I'm going to make I thought I might as well whip up a pair of these.

I thought this was a pretty pattern as soon as I spotted it in the Deep Fall 2010 Knitty and since I needed a pair of gloves anyway, immediately queued it. It's written for a dk yarn, and originally I had planned to make it using Felted Tweed, but so many pretty variegated versions started to pop up on ravelry, that I changed my mind and dug this Freedom Spirit out of my stash instead.

I was happy with how these turned out, especially as I was very naughty and didn't check my gauge before I started (I just went down a needle size from the one recommended by Twilleys to get the gauge the pattern called for, because I usually knit a little on the loose side).

The only slight reservation I have is that tucking those bulky cuffs up into your sleeves is a bit of a faff, and I'll probably stick with tighter fitting, ribbed cuffs in future.

Still, it's lovely to see a traditional pattern being revived, particularly when it's available for free.

Pattern: Ringwood Gloves by Rebecca Blair from knitty.com

Yarn: Freedom Spirit by Twilleys of Stamford

Amount: 1.5 skeins

Colourway: 518 Desire

Needles: 3.50mm

Size: Small

On ravelry: here

Some Cloudy Day

January 2011

I found out just a little bit too late that my Aunt wanted a pair of legwarmers for Christmas. Luckily for me, her birthday is in January!

This shade of felted tweed, Paisley, was created by the legendary Kim Hargreaves, and I originally purchased it so that I could make Ginny for myself but - and this is the one real danger with online shopping - the colour wasn't quite what I was expecting, and so it never happened. I had a truer darker red in mind, but this is more of a salmony-pinky shade.

It's a lovely shade to bring a bit of warmth to those chilly months when legwarmers get worn, though, and Some Cloudy Day is a charming, simple little pattern. I did toy with the idea of making the ribbed section at the top a little shorter, but they fell down too easily like that, and so I re-did them. I should have seen that one coming, really.

Pattern: Some Cloudy Day by Tiny Owl Knits

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed

Amount: 2 skeins

Colourway: Paisley

Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm

Size: One size

On ravelry: here

Niobe

January 2011

If you don't want to be told you look like Robert Smith, you shouldn't knit things in black mohair, it turns out.

This pattern was designed to be knitted up with one strand of kid classic and one strand of Kidsilk Night held together. Kidsilk Night has now been discontinued, but I gather it was sparkly, and that's why it was originally used.

I decided to just use Kid Classic on its own, but at a tighter gauge than the pattern called for. In order to make up for that I made the second largest size, when I fact I usually wear about a 32". I did some rather complicated maths and worked out what size I'd need to make to get something in the region of a 32" sweater at my tighter gauge.

It worked, too. Alright, my lacy panel was a bit smaller than in the book (and it did occur to me that if I'd been very clever I could just have expanded the chart outwards and upwards a bit) but other than that, when this came off the needles, I was pretty pleased with it.

On blocking, it grew and grew, though. Maybe I shouldn't have wet-blocked it. Maybe I should have blocked my gauge swatch before I even started. Maybe I was just having one of those days. In any event, it's now much too big for me and not at all flattering. In fact it's only thanks to a few strategically placed pegs, pins and so on that I could stand to photograph it at all.

It sucks when you love a pattern but hate your own execution of it. Meh.

Pattern: Niobe by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes

Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic

Amount: 5 skeins

Colourway: Smoke

Needles: 5.5mm

Size: Custom

On ravelry: here

New York Cardigan

January 2011

I first spotted this pattern via the Testing Pool forum on ravelry.com - and had I been quicker I would have loved to test it myself. I have a real soft spot for long cardigans, and for lace so this is right up my street.

Construction-wise, this is a top-down knit, but the front lace panels are knitted separately and attached using mattress stitch, and then joined to each other at the back of the neck. This means that it's not as easy to check whether it's going to fit as you go along as top-down knits usually are, and despite being seamless, there's quite a lot of finishing. The effect, though, is entirely worth it.

It's designed to be fairly loosely knit - calling for a dk yarn but a gauge of 17sts to 4". Kid Classic is listed as an Aran weight yarn on ravelry, and Rowan recommend a gauge of 19sts to 4" but in fact it works great at anything down to 22sts to 4", just like a dk. I've also been impressed with how hard wearing some of my other Kid Classic projects have been.

This is a discontinued shade of which I picked up in the John Lewis sale around this time last year. I thought it was just the thing for a leafy looking lace pattern.

Pattern: New York Cardigan by Erin Harper / Strawberrie Blonde

Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic

Amount: 8 skeins

Colourway: Cordial

Needles: 5.5mm

Size: Small

On ravelry: here