Whippet!

If you're thinking to knit an airy, open cardi to throw on in a balmy day. Whippet is your match.
Another lovely design from Fallmasche.
Knitted from the top down, continguous set in sleeves, seamlessly with a bit of eyelet  Lace on the sleeves and body and collar. A flattering open top for any shape.

I chose to knit with my of my favourite 3 ply yarn, the merino silk lace of Uncommon thread in Naval officer, gorgeous deep blue bought last year in 'yarn over Berlin' online shop. Less than 2 skeins it took with elongated body and three quarters sleeves.
The only thing to be wary is how tight the sleeves are..
Here are more shots..

Very pretty eyelet lace detail.

Fits the back neck like a glove :)

 See that shoulder- so elegant

The following photos are from a working dye shop in 'yarn story' Bath. Carmen the shop owner is ever so brave with her carpet.. Oh and the table cover is not a real crochet blanket just a plastic cover :-)
  I had a very good day playing with colours under the friendly supervision of Daisy from Devon Sun yarns,. It's not easy to get the right colour on the yarn. I so much more appreciated all those fab dyers out there.

 My skein is on the left

Enjoy the rest of Summer! x

Tau !

My latest cardigan- TAU by Melanie Berg.

An asymmetrical front, knitted from the top down with raglan sleeve shaping, a basket weave pattern textures the front panel and sleeve cuffs.
The pattern states 4 ply yarn but I went for a sturdier, condensed fabric and chose to knit with Tosh sport, colour Calligraphy. Its difficult to photograph Calligraphy, but it one of the nicest neutrals I've ever knitted with. You can see some very pale peach and purple tones trying to come through , just lovely.

There is a large positive ease so I chose the extra small size at first, knitted down to almost sleeves separation and then noticed the neck line, much tighter and rounder than the other sizes and not at all flattering.
 Here it is before I frogged it all-

frogged!

I went the next size up with the neck cast on but kept the body increases in between size small and extra small. That worked much better.

I had only 4 skeins of Tosh sport which weren't quite enough so I sneaked in the sleeves some tosh sock in Calligraphy.

with regard to buttons I had these beautiful glass buttons purchased from fro the Mud buttons boot in Rhinebeck. I had only eight buttons so had to increases the gap between button holes. It looks less busy on the fronts.

 

Very pleased with the outcome- quite elegant I think.

On Saturday I'm travelling again to Bath, trying a dye work shop in 'yarn story' shop. Very much looking forward to.. update to follow..

 

So what's on my needles?

Couple of weeks ago, I took the train from Salisbury to Bath on a fine Saturday morning with the knitting cyclist- all for a good cause. I've been wanting to visit this new yarn shop in Bath-yarn Story and it is indeed a lovely spot for luxury yarn lovers.

The owner, Carmen knows her stuff and manages to get some excellent brands- Julie Asselin, Hedgehog fibres, Lioness arts, Kettle yarns, Shibui knits, Skein, Madelinetosh and much more . Of course you buy online but nothing beats to actually see the colours in reality and to feel the fluff :)

On the train I cast on for a new summer top- whippet by Anke.

I'm using uncommon thread merino silk lace in 'naval officer' which I think works well for the design. That blue is just gorgeous,  deep and saturated with darker shades. It is such an airy knit with some details to keep the interest whilst knitting.

At yarn story I had a good look at hedgehog sock yarn variety. A month ago I've started Beata's new shawl 'outline' which captures my imagination.

At first I went with her colours but it didn't work well for me so I cast on another.

Here is the failed version- The hi- vis yellow from uncommon thread just hurts my eyes.

 

and a new blue-pink version that will have to prove itself to me..

Last is Tau which I'm pushing with and close to finishing. More of it in the next post. See you soon !

 

Rhombing Around

Looking back at my projects I'm fast becoming a Rililist. I enjoy immensely and appreciate all her small details, technics and style. If I'm looking for some inspiration, La Maison Rililie's ravelry page is my address.
You've surely notice the dominance of cardigans in my wardrobe but this time I fell for a Jumper. Rhombing around just ticked all my fancies. An interesting texture for the main body and cuffs in a lovely 'seer sucker' stitch pattern that create multi little rhombus(es) hence the naming I guess. An interesting construction when you begin at the top, and I'm all for unusual constructions.
Color combination choice is fun and even more satisfactory when all is knitted from stash. And oh did I do well restashing- double fingering held together for body and kidsilk haze added to sleeves for extra luxury and fuzz.
I admire her collar cast off - so clever. And look at the cuffs, see how the seer sucker stitch pattern complement the body and completes the jumper. That is good designing.

 

Ok, firstly it took sometime to come up with the colour scheme. The decision to use white, yellow pink and grey together came from a recent trip to My John Lewis store. I have a weakness for scarfs and I totally loved this Ted Baker little number (colours on photo are too intense). Had to splurge and buy it.

 

 

Next stage was stash diving. A year ago in a weak moment I ordered 4 skeins of Cashmere merino fingering yarn from 'Skein' in Australia in Sterling (soft grey) and got painfully stung by tax and post office charges. Never again she says.. I knitted those double which created a lovely soft textured fabric. The white colour is Madelinetosh pashmina 'silver fox' plus some Rowan kid silk haze in cream. I introduced a bit  yellow on the top arm's fair isle- uncommon thread in 'London stock' a pale yellow that I enhanced with some 'Skein Queen' alpaca lace in zingy yellow. The peach pink is an amazing skein, BFL silk DK I bought in Brighton Unwind from the Walk collection stand. I think it is called strawberry cheesecake -A stunning mix of pinks and golden oranges. 

 

 

 

 

I had a setback with the sleeves, totally my fault. Looking at the knitted sample of the pattern pages I felt the armholes were too tight for wearing a light shirt underneath so increased the armhole depth and went one size up the sleeves. I was happy with the depth but not with the sleeve which looked too baggy on me. A third sleeve was knitted as you do..

Another mod to this jumper is connected to its shape. It is an A line jumper so I was careful and increase only once down the body. Its roomy but not too baggy on my tummy.

Success !

 

T O A S T Y !

 

Here is Toasty, all done and dusted! The fronts and back are knitted separately, while the sleeves are seamlessly knitted from armhole. It has been a challenging design for me and now I'm allowing myself to feel smugness about this. It is still not perfect and it needs to be recalculated to a heavier yarn with less seams but for now it will suffice. So here you have it- with my Toasty on a chilly spring day ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 !