stash busting Paulie

So I’ve finally finished my stash busting Paulie cardigan and I love it!

Well, it is minus buttons but that can wait until the perfect buttons show their face, and a lack of buttons has never stopped me wearing anything in the past!

I decided to do this project to use up a chunk of my left over sock yarn as well as having a new summer cardigan!
I gathered together a bunch of colours that I thought worked well together a basically worked the colours until they ran out,
you can see in the pictures the change in colour stripes as I went along but as I kept to a strick colour pattern I think it works.
Using the same three colours for the thinner stripes helped keep the pattern together.
I decided to do rib cuffs and bottom band as I personally prefer the rib to the garter stitch for the way it sits but I kept the garter stitch for the collar section.

I really wanted it to include a hood so I worked a bunch more short rows in garter stitch after the collar until I go my desired shape!

I think it will be well worn and my stash is tidy and organised with will a few remaining left overs to work those little baby booties and socks that are akways needed at short notice!

The best thing is that whenever I wear it I can look at the different yarn colours and fibres and think about the projects I made originally!!!!!!!

fo: larch cardigan

After a mere nine weeks, my Larch cardigan is ready to wear! This project actually started way back in the depths of last year when I contacted Lyndsey from Countess Ablaze to ask her if she could custom dye me some of her DK-weight blue-faced Leicester, Bluefaced Baron DK. We back-and-forthed over the colour for a few weeks until she hit upon the single most amazing emerald you have ever seen.

This is the emerald that makes you think of rolling hills and mythical creatures and burial sites full of untold riches. It is lush.

I knew almost immediately that it had to be a Larch cardigan. Larch, for the uninitiated, is an Amy Christoffers design. Amy occupies a place of deep affection in my heart. She is an incredible designer. (I’ve heard several people say that it’s like Amy designs just for them, but they’re wrong. She designs just for me.) Her cardigans are exactly my aesthetic.

I did a few small mods that others might find helpful.

1. I tend to find long, loose cardigans gape around the small of my back (because my bum sticks out and I have little natural waist), so I spread the decrease stitches evenly rather than at the sides where they would traditionally fall (every 50 sts for the first set and then immediately above [i.e. so they're stacked] following Amy’s row count). This seems to have worked very well.
2. As usual, I knit my sleeves until I thought they were long enough and then added an extra inch and then added ten rows. This seems to be the only way I ever manage to get sleeves that fit. NOTE: I did NOT do this for my Acer or my Tinder and my sleeves for both projects are definitely a bit too short. I think it works rather well with the vintage feel of the Acer, but I have a good mind to hack into the Tinder and add some rows.
3. I extended the sleeve caps and arm holes by about 6 rows. Amy’s main criticism is that her sleeves tend towards the tight side, which I noticed in my Acer. These sleeves fit perfectly. They are deep enough to be able to comfortably wear a couple of layers underneath (which is totally necessary at the moment! When will it be spring?!).
4. Amy suggests using a double-knit BO around the shawl part of the collar, which is super stretchy but looked very unfinished and amateurish when I attempted it. I stuck to my regular BO (k2, sl 1st st over 2nd, * k1, sl 1st st on right needle over 2nd, repeat from *), but looser than normal.

I am very pleased with the result.

On the needles now: not another Amy (I just couldn’t decide!), but my long-awaited Perfect Christmas Jumper! About time, no? Lou finished her’s years ago.

ooooh I like that!!!

This week I’m totally loving stripes!

I go through phases of stripes versus polka dots but for a while now striped have been on top……

So this yarn is right up my street

Mind the Gap from Trailing Clouds

This week I’m also dreaming of sunshine and getting outside to begin painting my garden furniture.
My plan is to try and re-create this beauty from NeonVintageDesigns

My new kitchen tiles have to be on my love list this week, my dad spent the weekend creating this masterpiece

More on the kitchen next week………..

too many shawls?? – never!!

When I decided to knit my sister a shawl for her 30th birthday I didn’t think it would take me this long to pick one!

Her birthday was on 28th Feb!!

I knew I was leaving it late as I still hadn’t finished my brothers socks, (due 19th Jan! Still waiting to be posted!) but even though I’m never normally on time with knitted gifts, this is even late for me!

The first point I was stuck at was picking the yarn. I gave Jen six options and she got it down to two……

Wollmeise Pure in Petite Poison

And

Madeleine Tosh, Tosh Sock in Moss

Eventually I decided to go with the Wollmeise as Amethyst is her birth stone and I wanted a shawl with more delicate drape than comfort squish.

Other than finishing Adams socks and picking a yarn, my main issue was that I couldn’t decide on a pattern. I had a few ideas in my head but wanted it to be special and perfect for her. So I took to Ravelry to see if it would help.

Looking through Ravelry just made it harder, there are so many amazing shawls out there, all pulling me in different directions!

So I decided to put together my favourite five shawls and compare them all together to help me decide.

The greatest thing about Ravelry is having the ability to see many knitters versions of patterns, it different yarns, weights and colours.

The pics shown are a mixture of the designers own and other Ravelry knitters projects.

I love the bold, determined style of Trilinear designed by Cindy Garland, but the thought of having to make another decision for the second colour has put me off this but has also put this at number eight in my Ravelry queue!

© Wild Prairie Knits

The delicate draping leaves of The Lonely Tree Shawl designed by Sylvia Bo Bilvia are just gorgeous and the border adds such a pretty finish but I didn’t want a block lace pattern for the entire shawl. (I think this would be awesome in another yarn in my stash too)

© Sylvia Bo Bilvia

The shape of Lazy Katie has me obsessed! Brigit Freyer has designed a work of art in this shawl but it needs a bold, colourful, variegated yarn to create the brilliant effect.

© BonnieRed

Semele Shawl designed by Asa Tricosa is practically perfect, it has a delicate drape a base of stockinette stitch and pretty lace border, I think it has made the final cut….

Knittimo

Whenever I think to knit a shawl my default designer will always be Susanna IC and Oslo Walk is fantastic. I love the dangling ice crystals and the yo’s breaking up the main section of the shawl. Susanna’s construction is always a winner for me so into the final it goes…

© OrangeLauren

The final decision has been hard but due to the weather at the moment being so cold and so icy I’ve made my choice…..

The winner is Oslo Walk!!

lots of love and stuff

Following on from all the love that was Valentines Day yesterday, I decided to share pics of a couple of things that I’m loving loads at the moment!!

First up are these fab fabric prints I’ve ordered from FabricWorm
Can’t wait till they arrive as I have big plans for home furnishings!

Monster Mash – Robert Kaufman

Jacqueline Savage McFee – Hot Chocolate

Unfortunately this little beauty was out of stock

Joel Dewberry – Primrose Midnight

Since we moved house last year we have been gathering together bits of furniture and this bookshelf has been on the wish list for a while

From Etsy seller A Little House in the Country

I would also love a pair of these sofa legs from Pretty Pegs to give our Ikea couch the final touch but just can’t decide which colour

I’ve been knitting my brother some birthday socks with this amazing skein of Wollmeise yarn. It’s a Nobody’s Perfect skein of Twin in Grapes for Sheri.

I’m excited to finish the socks however so I can cast on the Inspira Cowl by Celery Stalk as I’m in love with it’s depth of warmth and cosiness.

This final item only made my love list yesterday and unfortunately isn’t for sale as its an Ikea Hack!

Ikea Hackers – A Tertial Chandelier

yarn that makes the heart jump

Oh wow!!

I just opened the new Fybrespates news letter to be greeted by possibly the two most incredible colourways of Scrumptious yet!!

Jens Green in DK

And

Charcoal in Chunky!!!

Perfection

olympic heartbreak

My Ravellenic project has completed stalled. It’s the knitting equivalent to pulling a hamstring on the back straight, straining an Achilles tendon over the first hurdle, missing the bar completely and landing in the pole-vault pit shoulder first. With only two sleeves and the button band to go, I’ve had to rip out.

A week into the Ravellenic Games and I was flying along. My aim was originally to get as many WIPs finished as possible, but quickly turned into just getting my Tinder complete. I love this pattern and so although I have far less time than I did for the last Olympics, I’ve at least really been enjoying knitting on it. Which is a good thing seeing as I’m now going to have to reknit the entire thing.

My swatching had gone beautifully. I got just short of gauge on a thicker yarn, which means I would have been right on target for my size (MATHEMATICS!). On Monday, I had the back finished and ready to be blocked. On Thursday I had completed the left front. By Saturday I had completed the right front. Sunday I wound my second mega skein of Fleece Artist Organic Merino Aran and cast on my sleeve.

Notice anything?

These are not the same colour.

I bought them about three years ago from Purlescence back when it was run by Robynn, who was always super careful about this sort of thing, so even though there is no dye lot number I can be pretty sure they are from the same batch (NOTE: I’m not blaming the source in this AT ALL; it’s very clearly my fault as you’ll see). At the time, I untwisted both skeins and laid them between each other to check the colour and they blended in together beautifully, as though one. You couldn’t tell which strand came from which skein.

But a lot can happen in three years, including fading. I can only surmise that the paler skein is so because it used to live in the shelves that face my bedroom window, and our bedroom gets a lot of sun in the afternoons, which is what did the damage. Nonetheless, it’s heartbreaking. I’m going to have to knit the whole thing, as I should have done right from the start, interchanging strands to make sure the colours blend. Except now I’m worried that because these are So Very Different the finished piece will be noticeably striped. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I feel like such a dingus. I listen to the Knitmores, I should have known better: When gearing up for any major event like this, you have to put the hours into proper training. Lesson learned.

little knitting

With everything that has been going in with the move, the DIY, unpacking, the paperwork and all of the dull boring things that go along with changing address I’ve not had a lot of chance to knit anything or begin any new projects so when I realised that me and my love had a weekend free to ourselves I took the opportunity to cast on a gorgeous little baby vest top that I’ve had in my Ravelry queue.

It is the Stripy StashBuster Baby vest by Sheryl Greenfield and it was a quick pleasurable knit!

I didn’t even mind sewing in all of my colours!

I went for a 70′s style colour pallet using the left overs from Emmm’s Wedding Lamp and a purple merino I found in my scraps drawer.

What a cute little top! And it’s got me back knitting which was the main thing!

I’m now continuing on with the tie I was knitting as a thank you gift for a friend before the crazy-mad-new-flat-buying-craziness’ started!
This is made using the left overs from my other wedding lamp!

It’s going to be a long ongoing project but it’s fun to knit and is slowly but surely shaping up nicely!

mojo jojo

Despite my recent jumper/yarn posts, the evil, brainy monkey of knitting malaise had me in a headlock for months. Well, NO MORE!!! I’ve got that monkey beat.

June turned out to be an excellent knitting month — I finished Beatnik, I finished a sock and started its pair, I even nearly finished ripped out and am nearly finished again my Paulie! I think it’s partly because I started making myself make time to go running, or rather started making myself make time for myself!

I’m really hoping I can push this into July. The school year is almost to a close (no more crazy marking schedules, in any case!), so I feel like I can start fitting in yoga and knitting AND running without having to justify time spent away from planning, outlining, researching, marking, writing, reediting…

It definitely helps having a couple of projects waiting in the wings!

• I’ve already swatched for the Acer Cardigan by Amy Christoffers, in my gorgeous Bowmont yarn from Devon Fine Fibres (originally the nearly finished Welt and Rib Raglan sweater, which I tried on just before casting on the arms and decided it was NOT doing my waistline any favours).
• I’ve cast on Juuli by Suvi Simola in Fleece Artist organic Merino aran weight — I love the pattern, but I think the gauge is too loose and the lovely richness of the yarn isn’t quite working with the leafy stitch pattern. I think I’m going to have to wait to knit this one when I have a little girl to knit for, in a springier (i.e. seasonal, not textural) yarn.*
• So I’m now looking at Dark and Stormy by Thea Colman or Tinder by Jared Flood. Both patterns call for a worsted, and I think the FA will work better as a worsted yarn than aran!
• I’ve got the most AMAZING yarn from Countess Ablaze in the works for Larch, also by Amy Christoffers.
• And, last but not least, I’ve bought the Lakeshore Shawl pattern by Glenna C. to be knit up in the awesome Countess Ablaze aplaca/mulberry silk lace weight, as a present for Persons Unknown.

So basically, July will be full of Amy Christoffers and Countess Ablaze. It’s thematic (and they have palindromic initials — it’s thematic AND meant to be)!

Now I just need to get back on the yoga mat and I think by September I’ll start feeling like things are back to normal. Right in time for the school year to start up again!

* Incidentally, Juuli is part of the two-volume Hold Your Needles, a fab collaboration between Suvi and Mari Muinonen. There are so many patterns in that I want to knit! I ended up buying both e-books, and they are delightful. The children’s patterns are especially adorable.

** Also, the most fabulous post-grad secretary in my department pointed me in the direction of Park Run — has anyone participated in this? It’s a weekly (every Saturday) timed 5k through a planned route in a park, starting at 9 a.m. I’m so excited to do this!! I found running in the race really motivating, and I think this scheme will really help boost my performance. The first one I’ll be able to attend won’t be until 21 July, but I can’t wait.

fo! the glorious beatnik

In the midst of my Paulie debacle, I decided what I really needed was a complete change of pace. Something cable-y, in a thick yarn. Something that looked terribly impressive and was enough of a challenge to keep me interested.

Enter Norah Gaughan’s Beatnik. (That sound was the angel’s chorus.)

I LOVE THIS PATTERN! I love everything about it! But I especially love the yarn I paired it with! The one, the only, the most decadent yet sadly discontinued Elsebeth Lavold Classic AL. The yarn just makes the cables pop. It makes the seed stitch look complex and full of narrative. It makes the mistake ‘design feature’ I Very Deliberately went with look well-considered and carefully chosen (if you look not very closely, you’ll see the cables do not criss-cross — it’s to Norah’s credit that despite this, the jumper still looks awesome).

I finished it on the road in Wales, literally sewing in the sleeves as we pulled up to the Bunk House where our darling Simon was having his 30th birthday shindig. And I have to say, this jumper made that birthday hug super soft and squishy.

The jumper itself is super comfy and goes with just about everything. It should be too warm for summer, but thankfully it looks like we’re not having a summer in London this year, so I get to wear it whenever I want! SILVER LININGS.