Long sands !

Finally we all have had here couple of weeks of blazing sun. Summer arrived with full force. Some of you in the south may have encountered an odd lady knitting with a chunky alpaca on Poole sandbanks beach. She looked as if she was enjoying herself immensely and every so often her knitting was thrown to the side whilst she hurried up to baste herself with some sea water..

So in the hottest days of year a chunky cardigan was born. It was really a quick knit and pure love because only love could make me handle this beautiful chain like Rowan chunky alpaca in the scorching heat. The one Saturday early morning that rained and the weather slightly cooled down I was able to wear it for the photo shoot without melting down..

 

The summer sale in John Lewis department store coincided more or less with the publication of Long Sands. My squishy balls went down by 50 %- just perfect, I bought 9 but used less than 7.

 

 

Its a really simple knit and Amy plays with bands of purls and knit stitches. Its about texture and the layout of the cardigan. I love the way the fronts meet up at the back of the neck . Its cosy and warm for autumn, something you can just slip quickly and go and still radiant luxury. Amy Christoffers is a one to stalk ;-) I just love her style.

The cuffs first felt too tight but I blocked the two sleeves with long wires and stretched them slightly, they are perfect fit now. Also don't graft the the fronts together at mid back neck point until you sewn  front extensions to the back neck. Than you can add or take away a row or two for a perfect fit.

Tommorow I'm on a flight to Spain and my travel project is packed -viola yarn with some lovely ebony needles to go with for the flight. From past experience I dont expect to find good yarn but hey I've got stash beyond life expectancy.. happy knitting !

 

My Maxfield !

Maxfield cardigan by the talented Amy Christoffers from Savoury knitting was my last project of 2012. It did not start well at all. First was the yarn issue . I really liked the combination of the original main color in dark blue with the glowing bright stripes but the original colors in lorna's laces Honor could not be found. Instead of waiting for new supplies I decided to sub it with blue sky alpacas- alpaca silk color 140 (blueberry ?) which is a bright  navy blue as the main color. For the stripes I liked the malabrigo silky merino 850 archangel . I bought all the archangels I could find in the UK but had to import one from the states. Unfortunately dye lots did not match at all  :(
The other annoying issue is some pattern erratas and the fact that the pattern instructions appeared to be different from the photo on the model. So I made a few mods mainly to lengthen the body. I got slim arms but still felt the sleeves could benefit from some extra width..

Once I got to the yoke all my grudges disappeared and I started to enjoy the pattern immensely. This is a fantastic fluid open cardigan to throw on. The silk and the aplaca give that fluidity.Those stripes are really eye catching and I love how it all joins together with more intense part at the fronts.
The color is not that electric blue as it appears below but a bit darker like a blueberry.

I also love the extra warmth for the back neck created by grafting the fronts at the back. Its almost like wearing a scarf. I was thinking perhaps to add buttons but it looks much better opened.

A bit of a tip- when picking up stitches for the ribbed band on the fronts try to pick up bit more stitches at the bottom as there is some extra gathering of fabric and you don't want it to pucker.

Choices of colors are endless and there are some pretty combination out there on ravelry. Go on and make a Maxfield !

Happy new 2013 everyone !!

The Galvanized Cardigan

I just seamed today the underarm live stitches and absolutely adore this little cardi. I like the color combination -so elegant. I like the simplicity of the construction and I'm  happy with the fit.

A few slight modifications; decided to knit only 39cm of the sleeves before joining to the body. The sleeves grew in length during blocking. I always let the garment soak in a mild bath and then spin it 1600 in my washing machine to get all excess water away. The felted tweed bloomed as I knew it would. Also shortened by half an inch those corrugated cuffs. My sleeves gauge is tighter than the body gauge  because this is how I knit with dpns but as I have slim arms it works for me.

If I was to knit it again, I would add about 6 more sts to the button bands , I feel it pulls in the fronts a bit, and cast off tighter the neck band. All in all  I'm very happy with the design :) 

I used 8 different  buttons from a vintage set.  So pleased .

Well done , Amy Christoffers !