Northdale

February 2017

I took an awfully long time over this sweater, primarily because when I first cast it off it was too small and too tight, with a neckline that wouldn’t lie flat and all in all it made me very cross.

After a good few months of neglect, I managed to motivate myself to tackle its flaws one at a time. First I unpicked the neckline and re-cast it off knitwise rather than in rib, which tightened it up immensely. Next I blocked the heck out of it to add some width, and finally I unpicked the hem of the now wide enough but still too short sweater and added two extra stripes’ worth of length.

There may also have been a bit of dieting involved which helped with the fit.

None of the issues I had are due to errors in the pattern - I was just unfortunate and didn't think enough about sizing before I started.

Ultimately the additional work was very much justified by the end result, which I absolutely love. It just took me a while to get there!

This is my second knit from the Shetland Trader Book 1, if you count my heavily modified version of Nikka Vord.

Pattern: Northdale by Gudrun Johnston from the Shetland Trader Book 1
Size: 34"
Yarn: Baa Ram Ewe Titus

Colours: Coal, Filey, Crucible
Needle 3.25mm
On ravelry: here

Rainbow Dress

April 2017

I had loads of Sparkleduck rainbow miniskeins left over from making George’s fabulous vest, and so I thought I’d improvise a little tunic dress for Lucy.

The end result is very bright and cheerful, but with hindsight I wish I had made the shaping much more a-line so it didn’t cling so much around her tummy.

Visiting the Sparkleduck stand was very much the highlight for me of an otherwise rather overwhelming Yarndale 2016. I had my little boy with me, and the nice man running the stall gave him a little toy duck. Its funny how the random acts of kindness like that can stay with you.

This is such a beautiful yarn that I’ll most likely frog this dress once Lucy grows out of it and recycle it into another project. It’s worn very well so it would be a shame not to.

Pattern: improvised
Yarn: Sparkleduck Galaxy rainbow mini skeins.
Size: 12 months
On ravelry: here

Saffran

April 2017

A worsted weight stranded pure wool cardigan is not the most clever of projects to be knitting in April, particularly if you don’t factor in enough growing room, which I didn’t.

Consequently this didn’t get quite the wear it deserved, although with a bit of determined stretching it did see us out until the end of the winter.

I really rate Rowan’s pure wool worsted. It’s cosy, knits up quickly and washes very well. It’s not the cheapest, admittedly, but in baby cardigan sized amounts it’s manageable.

Saffran is supposed to be steeked, but since I was using a superwash wool, I was worried that any steeking I did might not have held properly. I just knitted my version back and forth instead, and was pretty pleased with the result.

The pattern for this little cardigan is very well written and I don’t remember spotting any issues with it at all. Plus you’ve got to love a pattern which includes a recipe for saffron buns at the end just because.

Pattern: Saffran by Nicolina Lindsten
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool Worsted in mustard (mc) and ivory (cc).
Size: 12 months
On ravelry: here