Here’s the jumper that I mentioned last week in relation to garter stitch hems and cuffs. I finished this either just before or during Christmas. It was the perfect sofa knitting! The pattern is Altheda by Jennifer Steingass (Ravelry link). Now here is the woman that is almost single handedly responsible for the wave of colourwork yokes that swept over us in the last few years! A bit like Hannah Fettig of top-down-raglan fame, I think that, although she was in the right place at the right time, there is no denying the appeal and knittability of her patterns. I also think that much of her popularity is due to the fact that she regularly offers her patterns at a 30% or even 50% discount to make them more accessible. The going rate of a jumper pattern is about $7 – nearly $10 if you’re talking Brooklyn Tweed (which, I’m sorry, is just too much for one pattern). So, knowing that if you hang on for a while, you’ll probably snag one of her patterns for under $5 does add to the appeal.

As you will see in time to come, I have knit quite a few of her patterns. They’re grand: typically only two colours and all the fun usually being at the start, working from the top down, they’re that ideal intermediate knit. For me, I think much of the appeal is the fact that this type of construction seems to fit me a lot better than other types, like a raglan, so I can’t promise that I won’t be knitting more of this kind!

The yarn I spoke about here recently – it’s part of that pile of Lopi Plutolopi that I got last Hallowe’en. This pattern was actually the instigation for the order. I love how light, airy and warm it is. The astute amongst you may notice that my back neckline is different to the pattern. I did knit it as written but upon finishing, found the back of the neck far too low for comfort. So, I snipped a few stitches under the collar band and popped the stitches back on the needles. I worked a good 5cm of short rows across the back and then knit the collar again. The reason I cut it was because it had been worked from the top down and there is just no point in trying to unravel a cast on! It is probably partially due to my poor choice of cast on but I am often displeased with the final look of the cast on for a garter band, and much prefer the sturdier edge provided by a cast off for garter.

I love the long cuffs! So snug. I am also glad that I lengthened it the way that I did. This was mostly because I realised that I had loads and loads of wool, but also because I find that style of tunic-jumper to be snug to wear around the house. So yeah, it was a good match of pattern and yarn! I could be tempted to knit it again in a different colourway. Using a dark main colour would make it pretty different.

Wishing you all a lovely bank holiday weekend! Maybe you’re like me and you don’t expect any change of note in our current level of restrictions. Even so, I have noticed that the tendrils of new ways have started to grow – little cafés in my neighbourhood are re-opening and offering take away and small businesses are finding new ways to make deliveries possible. A small glimmer of hope! Hang in there.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a lovely weekend, whatever you got up to. I know that it is easy these days to dwell on what is currently out of reach – I guarantee you, I miss my flat white and quality library time as much as the next student! – but there is still much to enjoy.

I knit these in January but didn’t really get into the habit of wearing them until the quarantine really kicked in. They’re slippers!

You might have spied them in my post last Thursday. They’re the Simple House Slippers by Temple of Knit (Ravelry link). The basic pattern for these is free and there is a $3 pattern which gives multiple sizes. Obviously, if you go looking online, there is an infinite number of simple slipper patterns. (Total tangent: I learned a while ago, through the BBC’s brilliant series, A Brief History of Mathematics, that there can be different sized infinities. So, in defence of my hyperbole, I’ll say that the infinite number of slipper patterns is probably a small infinity…).

As you can see, they’re a pretty easy make. Actually, they would be a great beginner project to get used to knitting in the round. What makes these special for me is that I spun the wool that I used to knit them. Unfortunately, I have no evidence of the tops or the yarn when it was spun! I can tell you though, that I bought the tops, which is Exmoor Sock Top from John Arbon, from This is Knit some time in the last year and I spun it up immediately. I love John Arbon’s tops. Because it’s tops, as opposed to roving, practically no preparation is needed to spin it other than splitting it up into the thickness that you want. I also love the ethos of their mill. They’re a small independent company that sources its fleeces from local breeds and herds. I wish we had something similar here but I don’t think that we have the same diversity of sheep breeds that exists in Britain. In any case, I like to support them and I find that their products are quite reasonably priced.

The Exmoor Sock Top is 60% Exmoor Blueface, which is a fairly hardy type of fleece, 20% Corriedale, which I know is very hardy and ideal for socks, 10% Zwartbles, which gives it that dark heathered touch, and 10% nylon, because socks. It spun up really light and bouncy for me – I love it.

You can see that they’re getting a bit worn now. I knit them on 4mm needles but I think that if I went down to a 3.75mm or even a 3.5mm, a slightly denser gauge would help with wearability and warmth. They’re not exceptionally warm, more like an extra pair of socks.

Where I find they really win is that they are perfect for travelling. They roll up like socks and are great for when you’re on a plane or overnighting in a friend’s house. I think that the plain foot lends itself to lots of variation, from cables to lace to colourwork.

I referred at the beginning there about being a student. Yes, I took the plunge! I left my job in the university, where I had worked full time since 2015, and started a doctorate full time instead. I have found managing my time surprisingly difficult. This has been in large part due to the fact that 2019 and into the start of 2020 was my busiest concert year to date and that was in fact my full time occupation. So although that was easier to balance having left my university position, it was not easier to do the amount of reading that I wanted and needed to be doing. In a way, Covid has solved that for me, as I can’t see myself being busy with concerts for the foreseeable future, and I now not only have the space to concentrate fully on this aspect of my work, but also to return to pursuits such as writing here and taking photos.

I hope that, whether you are a new or returning reader, this finds you safe and well. I never imagined that I would be returning to this space under these conditions, but it just goes to show that you never know what lies around the corner! Thankfully, knitting, sewing and all the making that we so enjoy, always remain the same, even if our methods and regularity fluctuate.

I have lots to share with you! Let me begin by sharing my first quarantine knit of the season – a basic, round yoked jumper. The pattern is Hannah Fettig’s Basic Round-Yoke Pullover (Ravelry link) and is taken from the e-book ‘Yoked’. You can find it digitally both on Ravelry and on the Quince & Co. site. (I’m a big fan of what Quince does – their aesthetic is clean, elegant and pretty, and their patterns tend to be straight forward and unpretentious). Published in 2013, I think this e-book, which comprises five patterns, was a bit ahead of its time. Since its release (but not due to it, I think), the top-down yoked sweater has been one of the big knitting trends of the decade. Although I have knit three of the five patterns in the book, this basic pullover pattern has hit No. 1 in my most re-knit pattern of all time.

To the details! The yarn has a funny story. I fell foul of a Lopi sale at Hallowe’en – maybe it was a Black Friday sale? – and ordered what I thought was enough Plutolopi for two jumpers and a pair of armwarmers for my friend. Plutolopi is pretty cheap for the yardage you get: it usually retails for €6 for 300m, and the sale, being 50% off, made up for the €15 shipping (I see that it’s currently on 50% sale again. Sorry?)(Maybe just a quick look). Anyway, I totally overestimated what I might need for a jumper and so far have knit 4 jumpers, including this one, and have enough still for 2 more – possibly even a vest as well! Luckily, the colours that I ordered – navy, pale blue (shown here), plum, heathered pink and white – all go nicely together and are colours that I traditionally gravitate towards anyway. No regrets! For this jumper, I paired it with a mohair/polyester yarn which I picked up in Tallinn a few years ago and had fermenting away in the stash. Whilst there is no visible difference in the fabric that resulted from knitting the two together, the jumper is significantly heftier and warmer than if I had used just the Plutolopi.

You’ll see that I worked garter edgings on the collar, cuffs and hem, instead of the 1×1 rib that the pattern recommends. I recently tried this out on the Altheda sweater that I made before Christmas (will show soon, promise!) and I really liked the effect of it. Perfect for a house jumper. You can see here on the back both how I worked short rows to raise the neckline, without which it would be a good 3cm lower, and how visible the increases are. The pattern uses a very simple k1fb to make the increases and honestly, I’ve never been bothered to change it. I know that some people are bothered by how visible that type of increase is, but I don’t mind it at all. Now that I think about it, it would be nice to knit the sweater in a thinner yarn and use yos for the increases. It would make a very simple and effective summer sweater.

This will give you an idea of the length of it. You can see that age-old problem with yoked jumpers, which is occasionally too much fabric in the back. I have sort of solved this by omitting the last round of increases across the back section. It works fairly well. (Better than another solution that I tried on another jumper. I divided for the sleeves giving more stitches to the front than back. Sounds great in principle but simply transferred the ballooning effect from the back to the front… not so great!)

Knit on 4.5mm needles, I made the smallest size (32″ I think) and it was quite a speedy knit. I worked some waist shaping in as I went. I worked four sets of decreases between the armhole and the waist, and then increased again evenly until I hit my lower hip before working the garter hem. So the hem is wider than the chest measurement. I don’t know what it ended up being but it fits fine. I probably should add that I haven’t blocked it yet because despite the blazing sunshine, the air remains quite chilly here and I wanted to wear it!

Thanks for reading here today. I hope that you will join me on Monday for my next Quarantine Make! In the meantime, have a lovely weekend and may your making bring you joy and peace.

I finished something! Or more specifically, I finished something and I have gotten around to sharing it with you. I managed to spend a morning taking lots and lots of photos only to discover this evening that 1. I positioned the camera in such a way as to give a peculiar view of my knees (you’ll see) and 2. I either look deathly tired or murderous (I seem to forget that even though I’m only taking photos of clothes, my face kind of matters too). So, there’s my disclaimer! Onto the actual content.

I finished my Abria cardigan a few weeks ago. I love it and it is surprisingly warm for such a small garment!

There is a nice small amount of lace detail at the front. If you follow the link to the pattern, you’ll see better on the sample there how the shoulders are shaped. It’s a bit like a hybrid between a saddle shoulder and a raglan. I quite like it, I have to say. It required quite a lot more attention than I was expected, to be honest, but it was worth it. (I’m sorry, my facial expression was so preposterous, self-decapitation was the only way forward).

The yarn I used was Zooey, by Juniper Moon. I’d never used it before. It’s a 60-40 cotton-linen blend. Linen can be a little hard on your hands to work with but the high cotton content in this made it quite manageable. There are some beautiful jewel tones in this yarn and I imagine it would make a really nice summer top or shawl. I used three balls, almost entirely, and that includes lengthening the sleeves signficantly (nearly to 20 inches in total length) and the body a good bit too (not that you’d think it to look at it).

The skirt and blouse I also made. They go well with the cardigan I think! There is enough detail in both to qualify for their own post so I will follow soon with that. Wishing you all a lovely weekend full of knitting, coffee and sunshine!