Anhinga

May 2014

This is a record breaker of a project. It took me about three years to complete, but it's done! And now I can remember so little about it, that there's not very much of use I can say…

Kemps had Bamboo tape on sale. I'd used it once before, for Haru, and despite finding ribbon/tape yarns not much fun to work with, I couldn't resist the cheapness. And it does generally have beautiful drape.

I wasn't blown away by the pattern support Rowan had managed to produce with this yarn, but a bit of searching about on rav found me Anhinga, and I loved Norah Gaughan anyway AND I was pregnant (and thought this shape would work well as maternity wear) so it was a no-brainer.

I modified the neckline because v-necks flatter my shape better than cowls. Other than that I think I pretty much followed the pattern as written.

Tape yarn is a terrible chore to sew up with, being so prone to splitting. I think this would be impossible to frog because of that. If I ever use it again, I'll definitely find a matching cotton thread to do the sewing up with.

Pattern: Anhinga by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Rowan Bamboo Tape
Colour: Wedgewood
Amount: 8 Skeins
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

Anemone

January 2014

I've wanted to try some West Yorkshire Spinners yarn for a long time, what with them being a local company and all. When I looked into it and discovered that it would cost me about £20 - £25 to make this sweater I was very pleasantly surprised.

This sweater by the way, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a test knit of the just-released masterpiece by Svetlana Volkova, Anemone. It is just perfect.

See my project page on ravelry for all the useful things I spotted during the process of making it. I was initially worried that a straight up and down sweater might not be too flattering on me, being a little bit on the top-heavy side. Thanks to the fact that I worked some of the increases incorrectly, and ended up with a tighter fabric than intended, my size medium came out closer to small. This means a fairly clingy fit on me (about 5/6" negative ease) and so waist shaping wouldn't have added anything.

I love test-knitting. Being part of a group all working on the same thing is great motivation, and I always learn new things. I felt very lucky to have spotted Svetlana's request for testers in time to get involved with this one. If I hadn't, I would have been buying this pattern now for sure.

Pattern: Anemone by Svetlana Volkova
Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Airedale Aran
Colour: Light Brown
Amount: 4.25 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

Little William's Body

November 2013

This reminds me of a sweater worn by a character called Abney in The Adventures of Abney and Teal, and it made me want to have a go at making something even closer. One day!

This is a top-down sweater, which is knitted back and forth initially, in order to create a nice large neck opening which is then fastened with buttons. Very useful, but as the stranded colour work begins before it is joined in the round, you are forced to keep cutting your yarn and re-joining it again where you need it to be. So lots of loose ends to sew in.

My version of this is heavily modified. The original pattern is for a knitted body, and fastened under the crotch. I didn’t think that would be very practical, and so I modified it to be a sweater instead, so it can be worn over the top of a cotton vest if it’s really cold.

I also carried the fair-isle pattern on for longer than intended, placing the charts so that it ended up mirroring itself (that was the intention, but I got a bit distracted and missed bits).

Love the colour combination. It makes me think of blue skies and white clouds.

One note of caution: if you’re swatching for this, don’t rely on plain stocking stitch to be the same gauge as the stranded colour work parts. I wish I’d worked a few of the charts, and thought about changing needle size etc. This has come out a good size for a 6 month old, but it was originally intended for someone a bit bigger!

Pattern: Little William's Body / DROPS b21-32
Yarn: Regia Color 4-ply / Patons Fairytale Dreamtime 4-ply
Colour: 1932 Denim Blue / 53 Cream
Amount: 1.5 skeins of blue and less than one skein of white
On ravelry: here