Hazy Orkney - progress report

I'm not a fast fair isle knitter . I knit the continental way with the yarn held in my left hand. I have tried knitting with two colours at once both held in my left hand but it just did not work. At this moment I'm almost done with the second sleeve but already seamed the shouldered on the back and two front.

I suppose most knitters will make the neck and buttons band when all pieces are done but I'm too impatient, I just want to have an image of the finished product to inspire me to continue and knit further. so here the back and two fronts are first blocked . I am stopping and weaving the ends every 10 cm or so just to keep sane . There is no way I can face weaving hundreds of ends at the end..

 All looks pretty the way it should . I have picked up and knitted the ribbed neck band- not a problem.
And then started a big pig of a job- the facings. I mean this was one of the features that attracted me- the fact that there is no visible button bands but be warned, really is hard work. The first button band went OK and was sewn by slip stitch to the inside and some nice green ceramic buttons were attached to the outside with a counterbalance small vintage mother of pearl in the inside.

I painstakingly knitted the button hole facing to correspond to the button holes created on the front- all done whilst slip stitching the facing on the front. At this stage my green buttons fitted beautifully through the button holes. Then it was time to re-enforce the button holes and I've done it with the same yarn -rowan felted tweed.

If you look closely you should see two re-enforced button holes in the photo below. Having difficulties spotting them ? so do I ! They become so small I had to rip all my lovely green buttons away and go and look for some coconut shell  small ones .

Any way its all done and my sleeveless Orkney is waiting for its sleeves which  by the way are different in their fair isle pattern and have some really striking  bright yellow snow flakes..just wait and see , not long now :)

Hazy Orkney in progress

One beautiful fair isle cardigan stood out from Rowan magazine 52 . I knew I had in stash most of the felted tweed colours so immediately cast on the back, finished the rib, knitted few more rows and then encountered a slight problem- Celadon ,a greenish colour was missing and was only found couple of months later on. I find it really irritating when a magazine comes out but the yarn is not available. Why to publish the magazine then?

I have also a huge stash of kidsilk haze so when appropriate I paired it with the felted tweed. The result fabric is richer and there is a bit of halo caused by the mohair.

This is how it looks in the mag. My mods so far- I lengthen the body to look more like the length on the model.

 Back is done and one front. I contemplated of doing some waist shaping but did not bother- I may live to regret this decision.

Gorgeous isn't it ?!!

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 !

Eriskay photo shoot

This is a cardigan designed by Jean Moss. Its quite an oldie , traditional garment with lots of little cabling and geometric shapes . I used rowan's felted tweed in a rustic orange color-nice for autumn. It took way too long to knit... I promised to knit a scarf for my sister's dog and knitted it whilst she stayed at my house. What I did not realised is that she chose the cheapest green acrylic of a long thread (I dare not call it yarn, that would be a blasphemy !) It actually squeaked on my needles, and to top it all it had to be finished with a grisly pink. Ahem, that was not a labour of love.. I'll have to ask her for some photos of her beloved visla when she's back home ..