Isabel

August 2017

Having a few skeins of Baa Ram Ewe's Titus going spare, I looked around for something worthy of them which looked like a fun and interesting knit. This pattern definitely ticked those boxes.

Isabel is a pretty little project but all those cables and lace felt like a lot of work to me, since I'm so slow and out of practice. Too much colourwork (if such a thing is possible).

Titus looks beautiful with cables and lace. It’s not the softest, but great for a cardigan and very warm. Here I was subbing it for Rowan's Felted Tweed dk. Both contain wool and Alpaca, but as Felted Tweed knits up at more of a sport weight than a dk and Titus is a 4-ply all I had to do was go up a size and the fit was perfect (so an aged 2-3 size fits Lucy at 20 months).

This was my second project from Marie Wallin’s Timeless collection (see also Freddie). The designs are great but as much as I love Marie Wallin, the patterns are a little but fiddly at times - for example, why did the collar of this cardigan need to be knitted separately and sewn on? I'm sure it could have been picked up and knitted using short rows instead.

To save a little on the finishing work, I knitted the body, front and back in one piece and the sleeves in the round.

But seriously, though, who could resist cladding their little Yorkie girl in a Wensleydale blend in a colourway called Yorkstone?

Pattern: Isabel by Marie Wallin
Size: 2-3 years
Yarn: Baa Ram Ewe Titus
Colours: Yorkstone
Needle 3.00mm
On ravelry: here

Ink

March 2015

This gorgeous yarn was a Yarndale 2014 purchase, which I had originally intended for Stasis  but on swatching I changed my mind. I think Stasis needs something more tweedy or rustic. Instead I just about managed to my measly 300g into one of these instead.

This project taught me that in generally, but particularly with a slightly variegated yarn like this one, I really must alternate skeins. There’s no pooling but far more white patches in the yoke (first skein) than the rest of it. Well I can see it...

As I was low on yarn, I shortened the sleeves and had to cast off with another grey sock yarn because I ran out. I think it looks alright though.

I’m a total convert to blue faced leicester. It’s amazing. Light and soft as merino, but not so pricey. 

This is a totally gorgeous pattern, though at times the instructions felt slightly more wordy than they needed to be, and I ended up not referring to it very much once I got into the swing of it.

Thunder is a great name for this purpley grey colour. I'd say it's truest in the photo where I have my arm across my chest. I love the purpleness it seems to develop in shady spots, though.

Pattern: Ink by Hanna Maciejewska
Size: 34"
Yarn: Eden Cottage Yarns BFL Sock
Colour: Thunder
Needle 3.25mm
On ravelry: here

Owls

May 2014

I love Kate Davies, and I'm starting to love how yoked sweaters look on me. When my husband finally agree to let me recycle the Appersett he just didn't quite seem to be getting enough wear from, there was only one thing I wanted to make. Actually, make that two because I did briefly flirt with the idea of DownEast, but only very very briefly.

Owls is a flattering-even-though-it-shouldn't-be slice of chunky loveliness, which can easily be whipped up in a week or so. I totally made it at the wrong time of year, but come the winter time it's going to be getting a lot of wear (especially if I manage to drop that half-stone or so I've been meaning to do something about since forever).

This seems to be one of the most knitted patterns ever if ravelry is anything to go by, and so there probably isn't a great deal useful left to say about it. I made a size small, but added bust darts a couple of inches below the yoke.

The finished fit was a little on the snug side, but I think that's what makes it so flattering. I also worked mine top-down so that I could make sure I was happy with the length. It feels like length is the one thing I'm most likely to be fussy about in any of the projects I made for myself at the moment. Thinking about it, though, I could just have easily worked the pattern bottom-up as written with a provisional cast on to mess about with at the end. Must try that next time.

I'd already had a go at making the child's version of this when I embarked upon mine, and now of course I'm kicking myself about not making this sooner, before my son grew out of his. Perhaps it's time to think about making him another one!

Pattern: Owls by Kate Davies
Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky
Amount: Recycled, so who knows?
Colourway: Dark Gray Welsh
Needles: 6.00mm
Size: Smallest, but with bust darts
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

Frances

January 2014

Sometimes you see the name of a traditionally inexpensive yarn company slapped on the side of a ball of something of such quality that something in your brain short circuits and you shout "bargain" and buy a bagful. So it was with James C Brett and his pure merino dk.

So then, I needed a dk pattern which called for roughly 1,200m. I considered this top-down cardigan, but that called for a dk yarn to be knitted at a gauge of 18 sts to 10 cm, which is very loose, and I'm a bit wary of doing that.

How I settled on Frances, I can't recall. I must have been going through a bit of a cable phase, because shortly beforehand I embarked on Aidez, and there was a certain logic to making a transitional-weather garment with this merino, given that it just begs to be worn next to the skin.

If I appear to be regretting my choices, it's for one simple reason: this pattern is written so as to make it as unnecessarily-labour-intenstive as it could possibly get. Not only should it apparently be knitted flat and then seamed, but the cowl is then also knitted separately, and then sewn on (rather than picking up stitches around the neckline like any sensible person would do).

It made me cross, and I put it into hibernation for a long time. Thank goodness for International Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecation, or I might never have got it finished. I hate sewing.

Pattern: Frances by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: James C. Brett Pure Merino dk
Colour: PM8 Plum
Amount: 9 Skeins
On ravelry: here

Lempster

January 2013

In 2009 I joined a ravelry group called "International Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathlon" and over the course of the following year went on to complete 21 sweaters. Partly because I'm fairly obsessed with knitting anyway, but mostly because of the motivation, support and encouragement I got from the other members.

In 2010 and 2011 I did the dodecathlon all over again, and now, after two years of mostly knitting for babies and other people, I'm back. And I had to start with Lempster. It's a free Norah Gaughan pattern for heavens' sake. And whilst I was giving the pattern a first read through, my two year old looked at the model on the knitty website, and said “Mummy”. WIN.

This is a top-down, seamless knit, with some very unusual construction in order to give it set-in sleeve style sleeve caps, rather than the usual raglans. I got off to a slow start - it took me ages to work out how all the neck line and sleeve cap pieces fitted together, but then I always was a bit rubbish at thinking in 3D.

The pattern as written doesn't feature any waist shaping, but I went up to 5.00mm needles around the bust and added a few decreases and increases to make a waist line. Actually this ended up a bit baggy, and so I’m not sure I need have bothered. I'm toying with the idea of ripping back a few inches and re-doing the bit around the hips to make it more fitted. Probably won’t.

At the moment, the remaining 11 sweaters I have planned are: Dahlia (WIP), Frances (WIP), Poolside, Clara, Hitofude, Sassymetrical, Candy Stripes Raglan, Dorflinger, Baby Cables and Big Ones too, Habanera and Henley Perfected. I did have a bit of a habit of changing my mind rather a lot in previous years, mind you.

Pattern: Lempster by Norah Gaughan from Knitty Winter 2013
Yarn: Patons UK Wool Blend Aran
Colour: Airforce Blue Tweed
Amount: 7 Skeins
On ravelry: here

Aidez

August 2013

Once up a time this yarn was a Justina so hideous that I couldn't even bring myself to take photos of it, let alone blog about it. A lovely yarn and a lovely pattern, but they just didn't go together. It was rigid, and hung strangely, with not an ounce of drape. It just felt to me like the yarn didn't want to be quite so tightly knit, and after a bit of swatching with it, I discovered that I much preferred it at a looser gauge. So, what to make with the yarn that professes to be aran weight, but actually knits up rather beautifully at about 15 stitches per 4 inches? Why, Aidez of course.

THIS, I am happy with.

Mine is a pretty heavily modified version of the original pattern. I wasn't overly keen on the back panel, and so I replaced it with a freebie one I found here. And having read comments on ravelry to the effect that Aidez tended to come out a bit on the small side (possibly due to the schematic failing to take account of the way cabling makes fabric shrink in width as opposed to stocking stitch) I thought the addition of a button band would be a sensible modification to make. Also mine has waist shaping and was knit in once piece - the sleeves and body were joined at the armpit and decreases worked to reflect the raglan shaping. I'll try to put more detail on how exactly the mods were done onto my ravelry project page in due course.

I love this so much. The seed wishbone pattern on the sleeves and the two front panels is too pretty for words.  The pattern is a quick knit and a freebie. It's the first thing I've made for myself for ages, and I really think I'll get a lot of use out of it. It's warm, chunky but not unflattering. I can't recommend it enough.

Pattern: Aidez by Cirilia Rose from berroco.com
Yarn: New Lanark Aran
Colour: Pebble
Amount: 6 skeins
On ravelry: here

Gathered Pullover the Third

January 2013

Ooooooooold pattern, but still one of the most wearable ones I've ever seen. Here are the first and the second.

This one feels a bit tight, but I think that's just because I wanted to add bust darts but couldn't figure out how, given the placing of the cable. Plus it's been a while since I made something for me, and I'm a bit bigger than I was maybe...

I added a lot of length, but would have been comfortable with another inch or so even then. This is designed to be a much shorter sweater than I would ever wear.

This might have been better on slightly bigger needles, as the pattern is intended to be pretty loosely knit and drapey. Trouble is I've had one or two projects like that which grew and grew on blocking and ended up too big, so I'm not very confident about that sort of thing, and tend to go with the recommended gauge on the ball-band.

This yarn was bought back from Peru as a present by my Mother, so I'm a bit sketchy on the details. Feels excellent quality though. Hope I did it justice.

Sorry about the indoor photography, but it's much too cold to go out today, and I think we managed to get the colour pretty accurate anyway.

This is the first adult sweater I've made since I was pregnant, well over a year ago. I really need to remedy that, although I'm not sure that the 4-ply weight stocking stitch dress I have in mind next is the most sensible way to go about it. Ho-hum.

Pattern: Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason from Interweave Knits Winter 2007
Yarn: Michell & CIA Indiecita DK
Amount: 7 skeins
Colourway: 1018
Needles: 4.00mm
Size: 36.5"
On ravelry: here