Toasty- Progress

Toasty is a project I had in mind to design- inspired by a silhouette on the high street few years ago. Couple of months ago it was time to act. Outlines were drawn, details were added, schematics calculated and few swatches knitted. I chose lamb wool no. 1 by Patricia Roberts in charcoal- heavy fingering weigh.
I'm having a love-hate relationship with this design. Its not straight forward and my biggest challenge was the garter hem in relation to the stockinette fronts. I'm telling you , its so much easier to buy a pattern and follow instructions.

 

Toasty is double breasted jacket with plenty of versatility. The buttons placement on the collar and hem give it abundant wearing possibilities. You can wear it all proper and buttoned or to have it more open and fluid.

 

 I used German short rows to shape and curve the garter hem to create a natural slope for the neck line. The collar is also shaped using short rows and can be worn high up to guard against chill or totally open in a relaxed style or buttoned side ways to create a different look. It's up to my mood.

I added some pockets adorned with double rib and purposely placed back band to accentuate the waist.

Sleeves are knitted down after being picked from around armhole, again using short rows for the sleeve cup.

Another push to finish the sleeves and decide on sleeve cuffs.
Will keep you posted !

Funky grandpa in Crete



Almaryda, Crete

Here in the UK we are basking in an unseasonably warm weather. I moved to England about 17 years ago and built my life here but I always long for the Mediterranean Sun. We had our long deserved holiday in Crete last week, our first time in Greece and I enjoyed the food (too much I'm afraid), views and friendly people but soon after arriving, it was storming for four days with very strong winds and rain. The drainage system just could not cope with that amount of water and streets became rivers. Inconvenience to idle tourists like us.

I packed my newly finished Grandpa by the lovely Rililie which was light enough to wear the last sunny day of our holiday. Not for the first time I stole/copied/inspired by the version of my dear friend the cycling-knitter  with her permission of course. Part of the fun of knitting your project is dreaming and planning the combination of colors and I always look at other ravelry projects to get ideas. I just loved the light background with the subtle stripes of the variegated skein cashmere fingering in 'Fig'. The background is not white nor cream but like a light fawn or stone color. Yarn purchased at 'unravel' from Kettle yarns Co Beyul- nice blend of yak, silk and merino in fingering weight, not too floppy just with the right heaviness. The scrumptious skein in Fig has colors ranging from purple, pink, yellow and beige. The deep brown sleeves in uncommon thread tough sock 'Pitch' with the whimsical saddle sleeves give a bit of boldness. Can you see the long stripe of Brown on the beginning of the button Band? beautiful little details. Oh and the icord bind off of the cuffs, nice short rows on the button band and double the yarn on the bottom Rib.. It really is a funky fun knit !