Catboat photo shoot !

 As promised here are few photos of me wearing Catboat. I just love this cardigan . Hope you're liking it too :-)

 

 

 

 

My Sicilian knitting

I've just came back from a short break in Sicily. We stayed in an apartment in Catania with stunning views of Mount Etna. No matter how hot it was this revered volcano was always covered in snow and generated its own micro climate. It felt special to sit down on hot sand with my swimming suit on knitting and feeling the warm sun rays on my skin watching this magnificent white mountain.

There are a lot of shops selling tasty specialised  sweets. I took photo of those sugary woolly herds commonly seen in this time of the year.

There is not much to report on the wool front. I've encountered quite a few 'wool' shops but most yarn was a disappointing acrylic junk. If you're after cottons you'll be in more luck especially for the crocheters. Also it is very rare for a yarn shop to hold a stock of buttons or 'buttoni'. I've discovered a beautiful shop in the fabric street in Catania town centre with gorgeous buttons but they were horrendously expensive comparing to the ones in the UK department stores. I seem to be attracted to the 12 euro per button types which according to the shop seller was designer buttons. In the end I lowered my sight to more affordable but still ever so pretty black enamelled buttons surrounded by shiny 'stars' and a few interesting spotty blue glass buttons. Don't be shy to haggle even in established stores , I knocked off 10 euros off the shiny black ones..

As to my holiday knitting project I've packed two caked skeins of uncommon threads silky merino lace in 'toast' bought in the 'yarn over Berlin' shop. As you can see I'm well progressed with my Rocio designed by the talented Joji Locatelli which also happens to have her birthday today :-) Once the lace bit at the back in finished its pretty much mindless knitting. In 7 days I've  finished one ball or 600 meters worth of thread. The yarn is light and although it is single plied there is hardly any piling at all and is quite strong. I'm besotted with the yarn and planned to buy more as soon as the shop restocks. It is hand dyed by Ce, one of my all times favourite hand dyers. The silk just takes the dye beautifully and it is a sophisticated colour -you can see flecks of silver and bronze. The yarn comes alive and although lace , it has substance and grip to it when knitting it. 5 stars yarn in my opinion..

 

Here is my progress so far. The lace part is not blocked yet and you can see the start of the pleats.
Good bye for now , I took some photos wearing Catboat. It always helps to see a garment on somebody and not just the dummy..

Catboat !

I saw the potential in this garment as soon as it came out but the dark brown colour of the yarn and its wooliness in the model sample did not bring out , in my opinion all those lovely details. Use smoother yarn like the fabulous Sweet Georgia dk with its subtle hand dyed variegation and this cardigan just begs to be knitted..

 

I was wondering if to omit the stand on collar as was done by Caroline's beautiful catboat but decided to keep it . When its cold the collar can be easily be buttoned up to keep ones neck nice and toasty and when the sun is shining the collar lays obediently sideways.. 

I love those garter shoulders and the wide garter hem and the travelling cables. Its just the right amount to make this cardi wholesome.

Nice swirly buttons from John Lewis there-

 

So if you're after a quick satisfying knit, catboat is your choice, totally recommend knitting it and actually it is being carefully folded to be flown to Sicily tomorrow for a nice sunny break.. oh just wait till you'll see my holiday knitting..
Ix
 

Manchuria Jacket !

At last my Manchuria Jacket is done. Warning- there is a quite a lot of panel sewing involved.
I still love the patchy look and those colours together but felt that its way too baggy on my frame. There should have been smaller size option as seen on the model- the jacket looks almost fitted on the slim model with hardly any ease. The sleeves look as three quarters length. I do feel strongly this is misleading photo.

I changed the collar to be a  plain shawl collar as I did not understand the instruction in my English translation. Also I wanted to stabilise the fronts by way of buttoning them together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those beautiful buttons are vintage and were gifted to me by my equally knitting fanatic friend :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I almost finished another garment but waiting for one ball of yarn to be dyed for me. Its been a long wait but I think I'll have another FO soon. will keep you posted..

 

Follow your arrow !

 Here is my very colourful, stash basting , follow the arrow Shawl ! I went for sunset colours with a splash of turquoise and a dash of bright yellow- let the spring arrive please !
My lovely young models were just having a girlie party in which lots of crisps and assorted chocs were consumed until 3 am last night . Those faces are still as fresh as a daisy the next morning- aah teenagers..

 

Focus- the double knot !

I am a knitter and been knitting over thirty years . I think my learning curve has been at its most in last few years thanking to the Internet social media. Couple of days ago my good friend Elseline who have been coming to the Southampton stitch and bitch demonstrated an excellent piece of knowledge that she herself learnt from listening to the knitting pod cast 'knitting pipeline'. This has really made my day and I'd like to share that with you.

I was always taught not to knit with knots because mainly they are weak and in time might unravel. I think all of us  encountered annoying awkward knot in the middle of complicated row and then had the dilemma of how to deal with it. I usually choose to tink back to the beginning of the row and start it with a new knotless thread of yarn. But imagine this scenario - you are almost completed 350 sts of complicated lace row and there comes the dreaded knot- would it be wonderful to know that you can just continue?? and hey, no threads to weave after !

well just have a good look at this you tube tutorial by Jane Richmond. If you do it right you'll end up with two knots (hence the name double knot) which you glide towards each other until they join. Then pull together.. the yarn will break before the knot.. This is so exciting for me ..

I've just completed my Ysolda's follow your arrow shawl and had chosen to use the double knot method-
here is a sneak preview-

Good knitting !

Manchuria Jacket

Here is the photo of the Manchuria jacket , one of the beautiful designs in the 'map' collection by Amimono /Helga Isager.
The design immediately drew my attention. Those patchy blocks of colour assembled in an attractive way, the choice of colours, and of course the shawl collar.

 
 
 

 

I ordered the kit on line directly from Amimono website, and after a month when nothing arrived had to send a polite reminder which seem to do the trick .. I loved the design so much that I ordered the kit without the booklet in English. There are 5 colours in the kit of Isager Spinni, a three ply weight of what seems to be a twisted single spun ply. I would never have thought to put those 5 colours together- medium grey, dark brown, black, peach and light yellow but those colours are knitted together all the way through with a fine strand of peachy silk mohair which acts as mediator -quiets down the tone of the other colours. The result looks like high end fashion- just exquisite.

 

 I'm lucky to have a wonderful friend who knows Danish and translated the pattern for me. We knitters understand each others passions..

The designer chose to construct this jacket in stripes of which are to be sewn together.

Precision is key here so I've blocked the front and put lock markers to help with the sewing..

 

The sewing becomes part of the design as there are accentuated V's of slip stitches along those seams.

 

 

I hope the length of the jacket won't become an issue for me, as it looks slightly short for my liking.

I'll keep you updated of course..

Good knitting ! x