One out of three

Well, I don't know quite what happened there.   Fresh starts are all very well, but one does have to continue onwards as well.  Hopefully I've got my act together regarding that bit, now.  

First - as several people have asked - I am well.  In fact I'm really well, better than I'd ever have hoped.   So is my lovely husband, and so is Jess.

Second - I have been knitting, and I've actually finished three pullovers so far this year.  Unfortunately I hated one of them and immediately unravelled the whole thing, and used the yarn to knit something else, so I've only got two finished pullovers to show for my efforts - and I'd only class one of those as a success.

My husband's Lima pullover was finished in January.  I have tried several times to take a decent photo of this, and failed dismally.  It is a very, very dark green with overtones of black - and incredibly difficult to photograph.  So, no picture here.

This was a basic raglan pullover, and I made the huge mistake of working it all in one piece.  Don't do this, people - not with Lima, not with a pullover as big as this one.  Lima is lovely yarn, and it makes a fabric that is beautifully soft and luxurious - and stretchy.  So, of course, it stretches, and a garment in this yarn needs seams to give it structure.

Structure can be added, of course - so far I have worked a line of single crochet around the neckline, which has helped a lot, and I shall probably do the same along the raglan shaping lines soon.


Next up was a design from Kate Davies, her Owls pullover.  This is a lovely pattern, very well written, and I positively zoomed through it - using Stylecraft Nature's Way Chunky, by the way, in Herdwick which is a blend of light and dark grey undyed wool, a bargain purchase from Kemps.  And I tried it on, and I hated it.  Fitted chunky pullovers, apparently, just don't work for me.

So I unravelled the whole thing, very annoyed with myself.  And immediately cast on for another pullover for my husband, with the salvaged yarn.

This time I made him a top down raglan, no particular pattern, very simple indeed.   The sleeves and hem are tipped with dark navy Peace Fleece Worsted.   It fits comfortably, it suits the recipient well, and it isn't going to stretch out of shape or misbehave itself in any way, I sincerely hope.

This pullover, finally, works. 

New Year

So the New Year is well underway now.  This always feels like a good thing - fresh starts, and all that.

I usually write a post listing finished projects during the year just finished, but this year somehow it does not appeal.  I am more organised on Ravelry than I have been in previous years, so instead I shall just link to my page of 2011 projects, here.

That's 28 things, in all.  Twelve of those - quite a lot, really - were sample knitting, and that did include a single-bed sized throw, in beaded intarsia.  I'm quite proud of that one.

Of the 16 projects which were my own knitting, only three were actual garments - fewer than I'd like.  Accessories, on the other hand, have been flying off the needles - hats, mitts, a cowl, a couple of rather nice wraps.  And there were only three pairs of socks, most unusual.  I do need to make a few more pairs than that, otherwise I shall find myself needing to do substantially more darning.

Right now I am focussing on my husband's Lima pullover.  This is a straightforward seamless raglan, worked from the bottom up, and I am using the numbers from Ann Budd's book - that's the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, and it is indeed handy as I don't have to do even the minimal amount of arithmetic that would otherwise be needed.

I've finished the body and the first sleeve, and am coming to the top of the second sleeve.  I wish I could be sure I was going to have enough yarn, though.  I started with 16 balls of Lima - that's 1600 metres - plus four balls in a different dyelot.   Ann Budd says that I should need 1580 metres for a 52" pullover, which is the size I am making, and that is running things extremely close in the first place.  However I've added a good inch to the length of the body, so I know I'll need more than that.

I've worked the cuff ribbing on both sleeves in the different dyelot, and the neckband can be in the different dyelot too, so that should give me a little bit of leeway, but I have a suspicion that it isn't going to be enough.  And I've tried striping the different dyelots in the sleeves, but I didn't like the way it looked, so that's not going to help.

When/if I do run out of yarn, I shall take off and unravel the ribbing at the hem, which was worked in the main dyelot, and then I can use that.  The ribbing can be reworked downwards using the different dyelot.

I hope it will be enough.....

Just like buses

Finished projects, in this instance - nothing for ages, then three come along at once.

First, Brier.

This is just lovely, I am very pleased with it indeed.

The pattern is from Rowan Magazine 36, and it is by Kim Hargreaves.  I used RYC Silk Wool, 14 balls of 305 Clay, which is a pretty silvery grey.

I had to make some adjustments because I used this yarn - the pattern is written for a yarn that works up at 5spi, and Silk Wool works best at 5.5spi.  So I followed the directions for size 40, with some additional rows at critical places because of my different row gauge, and ended up with a size 38 cardigan.

This pattern is full of interesting detail, little touches taken from dressmaking - it is all about the finishing, really.

There are the cuffs - divided, overlapping, and held in place with non-functional buttons -

I think they are a real highlight.  I very nearly worked an ordinary garter stitch cuff, and I am so glad that I followed the pattern instead.

Then there's the shaping, intended to be visible -

And of course the decorative seams, making ridges on the outside of the sleeves, made in two parts, and the back with its centre seam and neat little vent -

Really it works very well indeed.  If you enjoy finishing work, as I do, then I can recommend this pattern.


I've also finished my big blue cowl.

This used up the rest of the pack of Felted Tweed Chunky in Wode that I started with the Beech Mitts.  The pattern is a free download on Ravelry, the Gap-Tastic Cowl - more of a recipe than a pattern, really.    I used 9mm needles for a slightly loose fabric, and the only change I made was to use a sewn cast-off so that the two edges look the same, and have the same amount of stretch too.

Now, I have a strong dislike of tight things around my neck - scarfs and cowls need to be loose.  Also I like scarves and wraps to be reversible, ideally.  And this is perfect.  The fabric is very stretchy indeed, I can happily double it around my neck or indeed pull it up over my head as a sort of scarf/hood combination.  And the colour is lovely, I like the tweedy turquoise very much.

So, another pattern that I recommend.


Last - but not least, as far as my husband is concerned - I have finished his socks.

These are made to my standard sock pattern - I think I've linked it in the sidebar - with just one modification, I worked a graduated star toe instead of a wedge toe.  No grafting whatsoever, no ridges - perfection, I think, or something close to it.

On the needles right now - a pullover for my husband in Rowan Lima.  The colour is Pampas, which is actually a very dark green/black.   I am working this from the bottom up in one piece - current thinking is that it will be a raglan, but this may change.   Lovely yarn, by the way.

Also, I have cast on for Nancy Bush's Anniversary Socks in dark navy - very appropriate for the dark of midwinter.

The Cool Wrap is still in progress, there has been a certain amount of frogging and reworking, because I wanted to add some additional increase rows near the beginning to give longer tails.  I'm past that point now, and it is just garter stitch all the way.

Tomorrow is the solstice - we are looking forward to it.

Beech

I almost forgot about these - I finished them a couple of days ago.

These are the Beech Mitts from Rowan 50, pattern by Erika Knight.

I used 3 balls of Felted Tweed Chunky, with more than half of the last ball left over.  The colour is called Wode and is actually a lovely turquoise blue, rather than the denim-y version you can see here.  I am blaming my camera again.

I did alter the top a bit, because I like my mitts to actually keep my hands warm.  The pattern has the ribbing at the top edge starting immediately after the cast-off for the thumb.  Instead, I continued working in cable pattern until after the next cable twist.  I then worked the decreases over the top of the cables, and after that I started the ribbing - and I worked 5 rounds of ribbing instead of 5.  Not really a major change but the extra inch or so of fabric makes these much more useful, I think.

I've finished Brier, too.  Pictures soon....

Blake

Here, finally, is Blake.

This pattern is from Kim Hargreaves' recent book, Shadows.  It is written for Rowan Alpaca Chunky - I chose to use Felted Tweed Chunky in 282 Blue Midnight, and I used 20 balls of this.

Alpaca Chunky and Felted Tweed Chunky very conveniently work up at exactly the same gauge, the only difference is that Alpaca Chunky needs 10mm needles and Felted Tweed Chunky needs 8mm ones - and apart from using different size needles, the only alteration that I made to the pattern was to add some length to the body.  If I hadn't done this, the sleeves and the body would have been just about the same length, and I don't think that would have been a flattering look with this pullover, not for me at any rate.

I made size 38, and used spliced joins throughout, so the only ends to weave in were at the beginning and end of each pattern piece.   The pattern is of course very well written, and I found no errors.  The finishing details are lovely, even though this is a chunky knit  Kim still pays attention to all the little things.

This would be absolutely gorgeous worked in the recommended yarn, Alpaca Chunky - thick and soft and luxurious.  In this yarn, it is of course not so luxurious - still lovely, though.

It is a lovely warm garment, very comfortable to wear and ideal for throwing on over a long sleeved top - I've worn it already, and when the weather gets colder again it will be getting plenty of use, I am sure.

Well, darn.

I have just realised that I forgot to take any pictures of my Fair Isle project before it went in the post.  I must be getting absent-minded.

I've finished knitting Blake, and I'm zooming along with the last sleeve of Brier.  I must pause and do a bit of blocking with the steam iron, then I can start the seaming.   But it is apparent that very shortly I shall have no actual garment on the needles - quite unusual for me.

Next will be a  basic raglan pullover for my husband in Rowan Lima, probably with a shallow V neckline - I shall take my numbers from Ann Budd's excellent Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.

Still thinking somewhat about the stash, which is taking up entirely too much room - I have two large metal shelving units, and if it was all on there, neatly tucked away in nicely labelled plastic boxes, then I'd have no problem with it.  Unfortunately it is not - the plastic boxes are indeed full, but they are not on the shelves, as the shelves themselves are full.

I am going to focus on knitting up the heavy yarns, to start with.  This seems logical, as they take up a lot of room.  So after the Lima pullover for my husband, I shall finally cast on for Wild Saffron.  I seem to remember saying something along these lines last year - the best laid plans, etc......   We shall see.

Fingerless mitts

I have actually finished something else, in my current pause from sample knitting.   Am I starting a run of accessory knitting, with two sets of fingerless mitts in a row? - I hope not, and in truth it isn't very likely.  I like knitting garments.

These are the very straightforward Fingerless Mitts from the book Knits Men Want.  They really were an extremely quick knit, and a good thing too as all the fingerless gloves and mitts that I have knitted over the years for my husband seem to have disappeared with the start of the colder weather.

I used less than one ball of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran, bought long ago from the bargain bin at Fabric Magic here in Trowbridge, and 4.5mm needles for a nicely dense fabric.  I made the second size, no changes to the pattern at all.

That's quite a good book, actually.  The blurb says that it has the only 10 patterns you'll ever need when knitting for a man, and it could actually be right, or almost right, at least.  Basic stuff, but sometimes it is nice to have it all set out for you.  I think the best thing is that all the patterns are written for a range of different tensions, so you can use whatever yarn you like, pretty much.

I still haven't finished Blake.  I decided in the end to reknit the back - my tension was definitely adrift at the beginning, and the easiest way to deal with it was to pull the whole thing back and reknit.  I'm about half way to the armholes, at the moment.

The stealth knitting is nearly done.  I shall talk about it after Christmas, once it is with the recipient.

Currently I am longing to make myself a Korsnas sweater, as seen on the front cover of Knitting Traditions - much like this one, on Lene's blog.  And like the one you can see in this post, in progress - scroll down past the (completely gorgeous) gloves at the top.   These pullovers are mostly worked in tapestry crochet - the knitted part is just the central section with the lice patterning.  At the moment I am wanting one to a quite unreasonable extent - it would take me ages, and I've never made anything of that size with tapestry crochet, and I've got lots of other things I'd like to be getting on with, already.  And I have no suitable yarn, either.   I think I'd want to change the colour scheme, though, even though it would be going against tradition -  maybe a very pale grey for the background, and an indigo blue instead of red?