Bough !

I first saw wool people 6 on my facebook page , liked it immediately of course and my like button action was spotted by my dear sister who inboxed me straight away for a nice green hat to match her eyes :)
It is indeed a lovely hat with just the right amount of cables and twisted stitches. It called for Jared Flood flag worsted yarn Shelter but I was in a mood for a springy and smooth MCN favourite by the uncommon thread lush worsted in Envy.
I followed my sis instruction to half the size of the ribbed rim so compensated by adding another cable repeat. Also no pompom was made.
My 12 years old reluctantly modelled the hat for me .However, I managed to get couple of cool photos out of her :)
Now my mother wants the same hat, dear dear..

Choclate stout - detail close up

I'm so loving this. The pattern is chocolate stout by Thea Colman from Baby Cocktails.

It just ticks all good points for me for this time of the year. Nice thick and springy aran weight with a shawl ribbed collar, quick but interesting textured patterning , comfy turned over cuffs and two useful front pockets.

 

 
 

It was hard to photograph as every small tilt of the camera totally changed the colour It is more dark purple , like a dried up purple grape, almost a raisin shade. Semi variegated dyed but the expertise hands of Beata from Hedgehog fibres. I just love all those purple and brown notes and the yarn quality is superb.

I used tubular cast on and bind off everywhere: on the bottom rib hem, cuffs, shawl long bind off and even the pockets' top edges. It take more time especially with the tubular bind off where you use grafting (I don't use sewing needle for that) but for me that little finish touch just lift the garment to another level.

 

Sleeves are done so I'm almost ready to show you the end result .. x

 

The lovely Rivington Cowl

 

All blocked and dry I ventured out in a chilly wintry day with my neck double wrapped in greyness and strawberry red.

 

 

I admired for a while the sample Loop made and had in mind to knit it in a twisted sock yarn similar to the uncommon thread's tough sock. I used stash yarn , a favourite hedgehog fibre twisted sock in 'winter thaw' which is a lovely pale shades of grey, lilac and sage as main yarn. I started knitting the cowl with a purple yarn but was encouraged by my knitting group to pair it with a bold red strawberry soft 4 ply from knitwitches.  

 

The main body is quick to knit but the edging need attention and is slow but is so worth the effort. Both edges are grafted together with life stitches.Very beautiful indeed.  

 

 I intend to re-knit it for my self as this cowl will be gifted to my nan, yes my 86 year old grandma fancies a cowl :) .I intend to add a lace repeat to the cowl to slightly increase its diameter and increase needle size when knitting the edging to make the cowl more flared at the bottom.

 

 

 

By the way the little red cardigan was blogged here.

 

 

Deer with little antlers hat

 About a month ago when doing the school run I've been asked to donate my time and knit Xmas puddings to the village Xmas fayre. I agreed but then changed my mind. First I just could not imagine anybody in their right mind buying silly things like that even for a good cause and 2nd I loath knitting objects you cant wear or cover yourself with.
Plan B was to knit something practical like a hat but with a Xmas feel to it, hence the red deer hat.

 

This is a pattern from woodland knits by tiny owl knits. I've seen this pattern and its canine and crochet variations go viral on the web...

 

 

 

 

I don't particularly enjoy fiddling with little stuff but I must admit the result is rather cute and adorable.

 

The hat and ears were knitted with rowan chunky Scottish tweed , leftover from this.
The inner ears were knitted with some hairy 4 ply alpaca and pink kidsilk haze I had in stash.
The antlers were lovingly soaped and massaged into felting by my son. The right antler somewhat less poised than the left. No matter as you can see it brought much joy to the wearer.. :-)

 

what is on my blocking mat ??

 

Mon petit gilet rayé !

All done , a charming cardigan with a delicate one row stripe alternating between variegated 4 ply yarn (Hand maiden Casbah sock) in light blue and browns and Madelinetosh sock in antique lace, cream. All those stripes really wore me down and I took lots of sabbaticals from this knit. As a result my tension was lacking in consistency but nothing that good blocking can't transform . My interest rekindled as I was approaching the cuffs with their big cream colour block.

The weather was dismal and grey so the photos are somewhat blurry..

The buttons are a simple thin shell type , but with the wrong size facing, goes beautifully with all the mishmash of the stripes.

 
 

The neckline expanded dramatically and I should have cast on less stitches for it. This type of construction, round yoke top down, has no stabilising seams so the weight of the cardigan pulls the fabric on the shoulders down. I also had the misfortune of finding two holes at the fronts which were hurriedly cursed upon and fixed- luckily all that striping concealed those little horrors.

Knit on ! x

Hane !

 
 
 

Last time I took photos Hane was sleeveless. I knew I wanted to continue with the asymmetrical theme so made one sleeve with a full cup but was not keen either on the ruffle or the sleeveless option so got inspiration from one of Kim Hargreaves designs -Blithe in which she uses little crescent shape of a sleeve knitted side o side. I calculated a similar shape but knitted the lovely folded hem and continued upwards.

The neck is finished off with an applied icord- so delicate with that linen lace.. The fabric feels stiff even after blocking. I heard linen get softer with more washes so perhaps in time it'll soften.
Love the result and I intend to wear it as much as I can before it all be too chilly :)

 
 

Hane-my progress

Hane drew me in the moment I saw it . Such a unique ,unusual pattern. I just love the way it hangs on the model- the asymmetry, the drape of the extra fabric on the side, the fit, and the fact it was knitted with linen- a medium I wanted to try for quite some time. It was the end of summer when I've started and it all cooled down lately, so much so that this project  will be probably worn only next summer.

My yarn of choice was linen lace from artisan yarns that Loop, London stocks and to thicken it , I decided to pair it with habu stainless steel silk in dark navy  I had in stash. The stainless steel blue gives the fabric a shiny blue glimmer.

The yarns together refuse to submit to the gauge of 23 sts per 10 cm and I had to drop to 2mm knitting needles to achieve it. I had quite few false starts to the pattern which took couple of weeks to sort out and was very disheartening to say the least.
Looking at finished projects on ravelry , I've noticed the top bit (i.e. chest and shoulders) usually looked great , no matter what type of sleeve the knitters chose but the bottom ( hem up to waist) is where the garment could look frumpy. I suggest to take extra care to make sure the hem is neat and fitted with , otherwise you'll have too much of extra fabric and your garment will lack in elegance.
To achieve a neat folded hem , my advise is not to follow the pattern -you really have to make a provisional cast on and then knit the two live stitches together, one from the cast on and one from your needle. I used crochet provisional cast on and then purled the first row in my linen yarn- don't count this row in your row count, otherwise the two sides of your hem wont be even and the hem wont lay flat.

Folded hem photo-

*this is the actual colour as I see it.

Another tip that came from bitter experience- don't knit from centre ball. My linen yarn stuck together horribly and created knots .
I followed the pattern with all those multiple short rows and more than once had serious doubts about the fit. It just did not resemble anything I've ever knitted before.
I wet blocked it in warm soapy waters after finishing the body. The linen was somewhat resistant to me stretching it, but the drier it got , the more I could pull and stretch.

This is a photo of the blocking.

I aligned the top bit that are the armholes and then pulled the front hem down to be parallel to the bottom back hem, measure and make sure you've got the right dimensions of your hips and chest.

This is pinned together on my dummy- no sleeves or icord finishing touches yet.
front-

Back-

 

I'm knitting a full sleeve on my left, just like the model but not sure if my short form can carry the ruffled feature so am trying something else. I'll get back as soon as I've done :)
Keep well !

Mon petit gilet raye- A big yawn ..

 

This is one of those projects that started with a lot of enthusiasm but the steam has lost it's power and it is now hardly touched. I was coveting this one stripe version in which a circular needle being used at achieve the single stripes so at times you have to knit or purl two times, each times from different needle end. The yarn was bought in loop - I used a neutral cream , Madelintosh sock in antique lace for the stripes and the more luxurious- skein in 'barley ' for the bands - neck , button and sleeve long cuffs. The brown , light blue colour is achieved by using Casbah sock in Bronze' . I like the subtle effects of the single stripes but oh dear , what a bore.. I left this project so many times that my tension is not the most even and it is a bit too loose on me. Just two sleeves now so really must get on with it..sigh

Summer Dawn or my little La Fosca Cardigan

Here is my Summer Dawn . It was almost all knitted up or rather down in  Spain and only the last two inches of the sleeves were knitted at home. It took me less than 2 skeins of 4 ply, 100 grams each to knit this. I have in my stash quite a few pairs of sock yarn from various clubs so to knit an elbow length sleeved cardigan is a wonderful way to use those.
The yarn is truly magnificent, Dear Viola please take a break from your Sabbatical, you were gone too long and we all miss you terribly :)  I saw it in Loop, London few years ago in this Sample and fell in love . The colour called Sea storm- blue, teal, green and gold- beautiful !

 
 
 

I was literally enjoying every minute of it. The lace at the back very easy to memorise and I love how it spills just a little bit at the fronts. Look at that shoulder seam detail, and the way the sleeves just happen to grow from it.

Got the buttons in a little haberdashery shop in Palomos. There's some tiny writings in the brass in the brass which says 'butter nature'- who cares , the brass goes nicely with those gold spots..

The sunshine brings out the green tones - its actually bluer than that.

Am really pleased with this one , so wearable .. and did I mention the colour?  ;-))
Knit on !!