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
