knitting neels http://www.knittingneels.com all things woolly Tue, 10 Oct 2023 11:21:25 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 Reversal completed! http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1985 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1985#respond Tue, 10 Oct 2023 11:20:08 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1985

You might recall from a post a few weeks ago (‘Reversing Jumpers’) about two old jumpers that I hadn’t been wearing because of literal shortcomings. The first, pictured above, is Seascape. I overshot it on the cropped look and as a result, couldn’t really wear it with anything other than my most high-waisted skirt.

According to the annals of Ravelry, I knit this during June ’21, and I clearly recall enjoying the pattern and the colour interplay so much that I wanted to extend it as much as possible. Ironically, this meant cutting the jumper short and trying to keep wool over to make a matching hat.

Of course, you know how these things go – I never got around to making the hat, and the jumper ended up too short to wear much! Argh!

Anyway, it was an easy enough remedy, especially since I knew that I had enough wool to knit at least one more pattern repeat.

What I needed to do was rip out the hem of the jumper, pick up the stitches and then continue the colourwork pattern. As it turned out, each round of colour didn’t take much at all, and I was able to add an extra 5 bands before working the ribbing.

It is the ideal length now. I think I underestimated just how warm a jumper worked in an all-over colourwork pattern – in effect, a double layer throughout – and as a consequence, didn’t properly think through when I would most be likely to reach for this.

Its warmth makes it more suited for hiking and outdoor activities, rather than skirt-and-jumper activities, which was how I had originally envisaged.

All in all, I am delighted to have this in fresh rotation for the Autumn and Winter, and it was a quick fix, taking me only a day or two.

You might also recall from that previous post that I had another jumper up for amendment: Anaashah by Jennifer Steingass. I wore this a lot when I first completed it at the end of ’18 but it shrank a bit when I freshened it up in the wash, to my ‘shrank-grin’ (chagrin)… as well as that, the neckline had been finished with just a rolled edge, which stretched out quite a bit over time.

Thankfully, I had a decent half a ball of Darnie leftover, so I opened the sleeves back up, ripped out the cuffs and knit about 10cm more on each. The length of the body was fine, but the sleeves were so short that I couldn’t really wear it.

I found it interesting just how the yarn had bloomed and meshed back into itself after washing. It gives truly the most beautiful texture and is wonderful for colourwork! But ripping back once it is felted a bit? Now, that’s a bit of work!

The other thing I needed to do was add a ribbed neckband. That was easier than opening up the sleeves because all I had to do was pick up the stitches and then work up the way.

It made such a difference! I didn’t deliberately cinch it in, but the neckband pulled the whole neckline into the right place, and that extra bit of height puts it at the perfect place for me.

All in all, the amendments took me about 5 or 6 days/knitting sessions to get through. They were easily done once I made room for them, and I am so glad to have them back in rotation.

I love the slow change of every season, and I don’t think that I am alone in finding the move into Autumn inspiring. I am looking forward to moving on after my degree. With that anticipation comes a renewed energy for all things woolly and textiley. I hope to share some of my ideas here soon.

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Things for a baby that I haven’t met yet http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1969 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1969#respond Tue, 26 Sep 2023 16:19:12 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1969 I am sure that there are plenty of new arrivals into the world every single day, but this has been the only that I have been aware of recently. The relationship is a little distant: a friend’s brother’s wife’s baby. Whilst, like babies’ arrivals, there are many knitters in our midst that go unnoticed, I did not detect a knitter within this baby’s midst and on the whole, thought it best to be on the safe side and make sure there was at least some handknits in its vicinity when it arrived.

Isn’t it small! The pattern is the Classic Cardigan (link to the website) from the Basics Collection by Tin Can Knits. I like TCK patterns very much because each pattern has a huge size range, from newborn to very XL. In this case, the size range is from newborn to 6XL. They give the numbers for a 4-ply/fingering weight, DK and aran weight gauge, so even if your gauge somehow falls outside of that range, you should have enough options to be able to manipulate the numbers of another size to get what you’re after. For this pattern, I knit the 3-6 months size, because the recipient was born in September and I figured that it will be 3 months by the time it needs something woolly.

Needles: 4mm for the body and 3.5mm for the collar, hem and cuffs.

Yarn: Drops Merino Extra Fine in Cream (2.5 50g balls) for the main colour, and in Red, Yellow and Green for the stripes (2g each). The blue stripe is Drops Baby Merino in Electric Blue.

Alterations: I didn’t add a button band afterwards, rather I knitted one in as part of the body, as you can see. I think I added 10 stitches on both fronts for that. I slipped the last stitch on each row with the yarn in front to make the edging nice and even – which it did, but it doesn’t work as well with stripes, as you’ll probably see as well. I added button holes every 5 ridges or so, but I didn’t think ahead as to how many flipping buttons that would add up to be. Hopefully the mum will just use it as a jumper and the upper buttons can be used to allow more room for the baby’s head, which is always much larger than one would expect, according to the frequent reminders I receive from those who have given birth.

The other item I made was the Beloved bonnet, also by Tin Can Knits. I have long considered making one of these for myself because, like all other TCK patterns, it comes with adult sizes, and it looks very snug! So I thought a baby version would be a good way to see if I enjoy the experience of knitting it. It is an extraordinarily quick knit!

I used the same needles (4mm) and yarn as I did for the cardigan. For the main colour, I think I managed to get it out of less than a ball. I used up the remaining half ball from the cardigan, and supplemented it with a bit of another. As you can see, it’s a great type of project to use up lots of leftovers.

The stripes looks pretty neat there now but the edges were fairly misshapen when I initially had it finished. It took some careful sewing in of ends and a vigorous steam blocking by the iron to get it all smoothed out.

This was my first time knitting from either pattern and I can recommend both highly. I am looking forward to making myself both a bonnet and a cardigan in the near future!

As for the yarn, it was my first time using the Drops Merino Extra Fine and I was really impressed. It is extremely soft and blocks out wonderfully, so crisp. I cannot imagine that it’s all that durable or resilient to pilling, but since the cardigan probably won’t fit the kid for more than a few breaths, I’m not overly concerned. I don’t think I’d knit an adult’s garment out of it, but it would be perfect for accessories and gift knits of all kinds, given its softness, price, and colour range.

I really surprised myself with these knits! My experience with babies is that you hear about their imminence, then the following week, they’ve already been born a few months, and then the week after that, they start secondary school. I knit both of these items on a whim between the first and second stages and it’s just as well that I did, as it showed up unannounced. I cannot describe the bizarre mixture of feeling smug and like I had unwittingly outwitted my unyielding procrastination as I posted the items off.

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Ilha jumper http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1961 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1961#respond Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:18:28 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1961 The last time that I shared this project, it was very near completion. I think I might have finished it the next day! I have worn it quite a bit and have found the fabric at this gauge (22st for 10cm) perfect for this time of year. In case you missed it the first time around, here are the details:

Pattern: Ilha, by Orlane Sucche (Ravelry link).

Needles: 3.5mm for the body, 3mm for the cuffs and hem, 3.75mm for the sleeves.

Yarn: Pure Silk by Knitting for Olive in the colour Deep Petroleum Blue, 3.5 balls.

I think I wrote a bit about the yarn the last time – it really is very nice, decent yardage (250m per 50g ball) and a good price for what it is (pure silk). And they have a pretty good range of colours – plenty of neutrals and plenty of strong, saturated jewel tones as well. I would definitely gravitate towards the dark blues, blood-red oranges and pinks.

Now that I have worn the jumper a bit, I can tell you a bit about what it’s like to wear. It is light weight, soft to the touch, and breathable in humid weather. I like the long sleeves because they give coverage on cooler or windier days. And so, in all, it is a good combination of pattern and yarn for my taste and needs!

The pattern is not difficult. If you have made a top-down round-yoked jumper before, you will be able to make this.

I did a few things differently. For the neckline, the pattern says to pick up stitches around the cast-on edge and to work a few rounds of stockinette before casting off again. This gives a rolled edge. I think it looks very pretty in the pattern photos, but from my experience with Anaashah, I know that that finish stretches out on me. Instead, I crocheted two rounds of double (UK) or single (US) crochet around the neckline. It did the job.

The other thing I did differently was not do any of the texture patterning on the sides of the body or the hem. Again, I think it’s a finish that looks very pretty but I just didn’t feel like doing it. I think there is enough interest in the yoke alone.

The last thing I would point out is that you can see in the photo above there that the fabric of the body biased to the left quite noticeably. This tends to happen me when I knit stockinette in the round with plant fibres. It happens with cotton as well. I’ve thought about it and I think it’s because I tend not to rotate my work regularly enough. Basically, I’m lazy about it. I know that it will bias the fabric and I don’t care about it enough to change the joyous monotony of endless tubes of stockinette. It is not anything to do with the pattern or the yarn (other than the fact that it’s a plant fibre, which is hardly the yarn’s fault). Also, I haven’t blocked it yet – I wanted to wear it before the summer was out! So it might improve with blocking (though I doubt it).

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Reversing jumpers http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1942 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1942#respond Thu, 10 Aug 2023 15:03:14 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1942 I finished my Ilha, and I finished the birthday present jumper, and I am itching, positively itching, to cast on something new (and not 45″ in circumference). But I have come out in a rash of maturity – I really cannot explain where I caught it, I haven’t been swimming lately – and decided to tend to two languishing jumpers before I moved on to pastures fluffier. I love both, but I don’t wear them because I am unhappy with minor aspects. The benefit of doing this now is that I can share old, but regrettably unblogged, projects and catch you up.

I made this in the Autumn of 2019. I remember because I wore it to visit one of my best friends in Sweden just before Christmas and it was its first outing! Happy memories.

The pattern is called Anaashah (Ravelry link) by designer Jennifer Steingass. Her two-colour yoked jumper designs were extremely popular at the time! I have made a few of them and enjoyed the process, so I can recommend them.

The wool I used is Studio Donegal Darnie. It is 100% 4ply wool, with 410m per 100g. It is so incredibly soft and blooms wonderfully when you wash it. This is absolutely my desert island yarn. My only regret is that it doesn’t come in more colours, but they might start to add to the palette soon.

Anyway, it looks OK on the hanger there, but the neckline has stretched out quite a bit and now I find it just too wide for my taste. I have about 1/3 of a ball leftover so I think that I will simply pick up stitches around the neckline and put on a ribbed band. My hope is that it wouldn’t take more than an evening.

The next victim is this glorious thing! This was my very first all-over colourwork jumper, and I made it in the spring of 2021. I remember I got the yellow and the green (Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift) in The Constant Knitter just before she closed her doors for good. The pink is leftover Darnie from another jumper (actually one that I intend to replace this winter, as I have worn it into the ground). The navy is ‘A Chic Blend’ from Lanivendole. This is a beautiful yarn. I bought it directly from the women behind the brand at Woollinn festival in 2019. It is a 60-20-20 mix of wool, alpaca and mohair respectively. It is exceedingly warm and it is bright and colourful and striped and I love it!

But… I never wear it!

Maybe this photo will tell you all you need to know: the body is way too short. It barely touches my waistband. So, every time I put it on, I end up taking it off because I just need a bit more coverage.

Thankfully, I have a decent amount of all yarns left so what I think I will do is knit another repeat of the colour stripe sequence. That would add another 3 stripes, plus the hem as well. I think that should be adequate. Hopefully I have enough of the navy to see me through. I think what made me cast off prematurely when I initially made it was the fear that I would not have enough navy. OK, so maybe I have to finish off before I complete the sequence, it’s no big deal.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting this back on my needles because I really love this jumper. Looking forward to getting both back in rotation for Autumn.

Aren’t they colourful? I am taking a little holiday next month and I have been doing much wool wondering. Firstly, they will have wool there. Secondly, it’s the type of place that necessitates wool layers. And lastly, I realised that I could do with a few updates to my accessories bag that hangs by the door, and they would make good travelling projects, too. As for the first, much research has already been conducted. For the second, see the above two jumpers, as discussed! For the last, I present to you Exhibit A and Exhibit B.

The items of Exhibit A were purchased at least 3 months apart and yet, the colours could not be more identical! The yarn on the left is a Danish brand, which I bought whilst briefly in Copenhagen for a conference. I didn’t enjoy the conference much – well, the conference was grand, and some parts very inspiring, but the people I was there with were quite mean and rude, so I didn’t linger. The city is wonderful though and I enjoyed the visit very much. The yarn on the right is Malabrigo Rios and I bought it the day that I got the Studio Donegal Soft Tweed for the birthday jumper. It is superwash and extremely soft. I think that these will become a hat and a cowl respectively. The hat will keep its shape no matter what, I think, and cowl will be snug and warm and fun.

Exhibit B is proper stash yarn. The orange you might recognise from my traffic cone jumper – I have quite a bit left, nearly two balls – and the dark purple is Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift that I have had a good 5 years. I kept taking it out and trying to pair it with other colours that I have had leftover and I have to just accept the fact that it does not match anything else in my stash. So, if you think about it, this means that it must match everything (in theory, don’t quiz me on this). I think it will make a good pair of plain fingerless mittens.

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Current works in progress http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1940 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1940#comments Tue, 01 Aug 2023 07:05:00 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1940 I feel like I have so many old projects to share with you that you’re missing out on some ongoing works in progress! So let me catch you up on that today. One that I have been chipping away at for most of the month of July has been this lovely thing.

This is probably the darkest jumper I’ve knit in a few years! Here are the details:

Pattern: Ilha, by Orlane Sucche (Ravelry link).

Needles: 3.5mm for the body, 3mm for the cuffs and hem, 3.75mm for the sleeves (because my gauge always shrinks when I work on small circumferences. I’ve learned this the hard way!).

Yarn: Pure Silk by Knitting for Olive in the colour Deep Petroleum Blue, 3.5 balls.

It is technically still a work in progress because I haven’t finished the neckline yet, and all the ends remain to be woven in. For the neckline, the pattern has you pick up stitches and work a few rows of stockinette. I’m not really a fan of that because I find it stretches out a good bit on me over time – probably to do with how I put things on/pull off – so I’m wondering what to do. I could pick up and just work a 2×2 rib similar to the cuffs and hem, or I could take the very quick option of working a few rows of crochet. I think I will try it on and see how it looks before I make any decisions.

As for the yarn, I have wanted to try the Pure Silk for a long time. It wasn’t really on my radar. Silk tends to be fairly expensive and usually not produced in a sensitive or considerate way (i.e., they kill the silkworms). Knitting for Olive have the OEKO-Tex certification for this yarn, which means that the silk is harvested after the worm has emerged from its chrysalis. At some point, I realised that this yarn is actually very good value for a pure silk – about €9 for 250m – meaning that you’d easily get a summer top out of it for about €36. So I was curious to see what it would be like. I ordered some directly from the Knitting for Olive website. The colour range is mostly quite muted; the colour I chose is a bit strange! It looks very much like a basic grey, but it has a cool, green and blue tint to it as well. Whilst I would not class it within the ‘petrol’, or teal, colour family, it still suits me because of those cool tones. And, most importantly, it still fulfills the reason I chose the colour in the first place – to wear with my lighter-coloured skirts and trousers, the majority of which are some shade of pink.

If this looks fairly large to you, then you would be correct in your perception. It is a birthday present for a friend and it needs to be delivered in about two weeks! I always find it curious how I seem to finish other jumpers quickly when I have sleeves waiting for me on another, more pressing, work…

The pattern is called In Stillness 2 (presumably there is a ‘1’?) and it’s by Alicia Plummer. I have knit one of her patterns before, which I wrote about a while ago, and I figured that there would be no surprises with this one. I won’t write too much about this until it’s finished, but suffice to say for the moment that it’s going grand.

The wool is Studio Donegal Soft Donegal in the colour (wait for it!) 5502! It’s a sort of olive colour with a dark yellow undertone and a multitude of complimentary flecks throughout. 10000000% not my colour, but that doesn’t matter because it’s not for me. I think it will suit its recipient very well indeed.

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Mishmash Raglan http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1922 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1922#respond Fri, 21 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1922

I think it is endlessly intriguing how jumpers can kind of all look the same in one way, but all be completely different at the same time.

This one is no different! It is full of small things that I decided along the way. So, let’s start with the details:

Needles: 4.5mm

Yarn: BC Garn Allino, 6 balls, from Lanade.

Pattern: A rehash of this jumper that I made 2 summers ago, from Ann Budd’s fantastic The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top Down Sweaters. My gauge was 17st over 10cm.

Firstly, this yarn shrinks a bit when you wash it, so I decided to go for the floppy summer jumper look, and I knitted it with a decent amount of ease. It was soft and slouchy. Eventually, it needed a wash and, interestingly, it is not much snugger, but it is a good bit shorter. I imagine that it will loosen up with wearing. ‘Caveat Knittor’, right?

I used the same stitch pattern as I did before. I believe I found it in an old Barbara Walker Treasury. It is very easy: two rows of moss stitch. So, [knit 1, purl 1] repeat, and then purl the knits and knit the purls on the next row. Why anyone would feel the need to call two rows of moss stitch something else (like ‘roman stitch’), I have no idea, but that’s what people do. I think it looks really nice, whatever it’s called.

I worked 14 row repeat: 2 rows of pattern, and then 12 rows of stockinette. It seems to work pretty well. I think that if your row gauge was tighter, you could afford to work more rows in between pattern rows to get the same kind of spacing. I was going for about 5cm in between pattern rows.

Like the last sweater I made in this style, I finished the neckline with two rounds of single crochet. This type of finish can go either way. I’ve used it on other jumpers and it can end up being really inflexible and uncomfortable. It suits this yarn, though. The composition is… I need to look this up, hang on… 50% cotton and 50% linen. So there is a reasonable amount of give to it and it does spring back in the wash (as I can attest to!).

So that’s it for today. I’m glad to be catching up on my blogging again, I have so much to share these days <3

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FO: Smaragd http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1915 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1915#respond Tue, 18 Jul 2023 07:00:00 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1915 Smaragd. ]]> When I was editing photos of my Sugarbush jumper, I found photos of this lovely thing as well! I had forgotten I had taken them, and clearly, had forgotten to share it here. So let’s talk about it today.

Pattern: Smaragd (Ravelry link), by Svetlana Volkova.

Needles: 3mm needles for the body, 2.5m for the collar, cuffs and hem, and 3.25mm for the sleeves (maybe 3.5mm?).

Yarn: Holst Garn Supersoft in the colourway ‘Cool’, which is a really fresh, minty green. I used just over 3 50g cakes – it is 155g total.

The pattern is very straight forward and I think that if you have made a top-down jumper before, you would have no problem with this. However! I don’t think that I would recommend it to someone who hasn’t knit one already, because there is strictly no hand-holding in the instructions! Some people like that, and if you’re one of them, you probably won’t be too thrilled with this. But like I said, it’s grand.

I added extra short rows at the back of the neck. I need to do this on pretty much every jumper I knit. More details on what I do to make this adjustment can be found in my last post here.

I love the drapiness of the yarn, which I think is apparent from this photo. I really dithered over what length to make it – I wear a lot of high-waisted skirts and dresses, so it works really well with that style… but it’s a bit short to wear with trousers. You can’t have it every way, I suppose!

I know that I have already waxed poetic about the Holst Garn Supersoft, but really, it is such a mighty wool! It is 287m for a 50g cake and at the moment, it is listed as €3.61 on their website, so it is the definition of good bang for your buck. They have a huge palette of colours to pick from – truly, something for everyone. The wool itself is extremely warm and light. For me, I rank it alongside Alafoss Plotulopi in terms of warmth and lightness. If I am travelling, I will invariably pack a jumper made from one of these yarns, purely because of their lightness. They make ideal layering pieces.

I have you convinced, right? Well, caveat emptor. I have learned a few things through ordering directly from them and knitting and wearing the wool. Firstly, the colours on the website aren’t always really what you get. They tend to be a little more muted. So if you’re really gunning for a strong, saturated colour, you might be disappointed. I know that it’s always a risk when you order online. Secondly, if you have never knit with it before, it doesn’t feel all that nice initially. This is because it is sold with the spinning oil still on it. This is to protect it during processing. Most commercial yarns have this washed out before they sell it, and I am guessing the fact that they don’t do this helps them keep the cost as low as it is. Ok, so it doesn’t feel great, but when you wash your work, the transformation is pretty spectacular. The wool blooms and becomes light and fluffy. Often the colour brightens up a bit as well. The upside to it having the oil still on it is that if you’re into weaving, this is a good thing, I think, because it makes the wool a bit more durable for that process.

As you can see, it has nice stitch definition. I wear this jumper often because it goes nicely with navy and dark teal.

And… surprise, surprise, I made another one! This time in a heathered navy, also in Holst Supersoft. I have finally found the perfect trousers to wear it with so I look forward to sharing it next time.

Until then, happy knitting!

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FO: Sugarbush http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1902 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1902#respond Fri, 14 Jul 2023 15:03:44 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1902 Sugarbush pattern.]]> This is a quick post to share some finished object photos with you of my completed Sugarbush jumper.

I so enjoyed this project! Everything about it was joyous. For a start, the pattern is really not that difficult. It would be a lovely first-colourwork-jumper project for an adventurous beginner. And then, the wool – I am so glad I got this wool for it. The colour is fabulous and is the best armour I have against grey days! Lastly, the resulting fabric from the small gauge is super snuggly but not dense or heavy at all. I can see myself being tempted to knit a Christmas version!

The wool is quite matt and sticky, and the colourwork blocked out better than I could have imagined. I used Sandnes Garn Tynn Peer Gynt, from Lanade, a German shop, and 3mm needles. You can read more about the details in my last blog post here.

You might be able to see here that I added in a wedge of additional short rows at the back of the neck. I do this on most jumpers because I have narrow shoulders. What I do is, leaving a section of about 10cm straddled across the centre back, I work short rows every 3-5cm back and forth until I almost meet in the centre. Then I continue working in the round.

The eagle-eyed among you might be able to spy the jog in the colourwork at the centre back! I don’t think it’s too noticeable. And anyway, if anyone is looking at it and they spot it, I won’t know!

That’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll share more again soon!

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March of many weathers http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1882 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1882#comments Tue, 28 Mar 2023 11:39:40 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1882 Let me tell you, trying to finish a full-time degree and maintain one’s Knitter status is no joke! But I keep trying! There have been so many creative things going on in the background here that I scarcely have time to document them all. The see-saw of pandemic lockdowns and life re-boot is gradually coming into balance. I have selected for you today two knitting works-in-progress and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I am enjoying working on them.

First up, we have an extraordinarily bright jumper. I assure you, it is even brighter in person. Forget sunglasses, you’re going to need goggles for this one!

Pattern: Sugarbush by Marie Amelie Designs (Ravelry link). Free!

Needles: 3mm (I cry, but it is worth it). 26st gauge for 10cm.

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Tynn Peer Gynt in red-orange, and natural white for the yoke. I ended up using just over 4 balls of the orange for a 36″ size and hip-length body, and about half a ball of the white.

The yarn is quite wonderful, but its wonderfulness really does depend on how you measure these things at the same time. It is a very fine, a true fingering weight, Norwegian wool yarn. The put-up is 205m per 50g, which is good bang for your €5.

I ordered mine from a shop in Germany called Lanade. I’ve ordered from them a few times, mainly because they have all of the colour of a variety of brands that are not so easy to get here, Sandnes being one of them.

I fell hard for this colour! And for me, the balance of woolliness, metreage, price and colour selection add up to it being ‘wonderful’. But I can see that if you don’t like working with fine needles, or with a slightly scratchy 4ply, then this might not be for you. It’s perfect for colourwork though, and I look forward to using it again down the line.

My other work in progress is a shawl. I ordered some yarn from Kate Davies Design before Christmas for three fairly equal reasons. Firstly, I have wanted to try out some of her yarn for quite a while now and I was convinced by the jewel tones. Secondly, I wanted to support a small business that in turn, also supports other small businesses. And thirdly, I wanted to try out ordering from the UK now that we are post-Brexit. The yarn is very nice, and I didn’t have to sort out customs, so I’m not sure what happened on that front – either I escaped or it was sorted out on their end.

So, the shawl!

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl (Ravelry link) by Evelyn A. Clark. Also free! This was not free once upon a time – I think I even had the hard copy of the magazine – but it’s downloadable now.

Yarn: Milarrochy Tweed in ‘Foxglove’ from Kate Davies Designs. This comes in 25g balls, 100m each, single (i.e. not plied). I used 3. It is very much a fingering weight yarn. I have grave doubts that I will have enough for the full shawl, but I don’t mind too much. I’m going to go as far as my 3 little balls will take me.

Needles: 4.5mm needles to try and make my yarn go as far as possible.

As far as the knitting experience goes, it is soft, and the colour most pleasing, as are the bright tweedy flecked spun in throughout. It is on the more expensive side of yarn. At £4.50 for 100m, that works out to be £18/€20.50 for 100g/400m, which would be a typical metreage for a yarn that thin.

That’s pretty pricey, definitely compared to Tynn Peer Gynt (€5.50 for 50g; €11 for 100g/410m), and even compared to Studio Donegal Darnie (€13-14.50 for 100g/410m).

So, whilst I wouldn’t be using it for everything, it is still a reasonably affordable treat yarn, if you’re into your jewel tones and woolly-wools!

I’m looking forward to finishing up both projects and moving on. I am really enjoying exploring lots of colour in my wardrobe these days. This is definitely a pandemic, or post-pandemic, side-effect! And is in part connected to the fact that I have been a full-time student, and will almost certainly not return to the way of living that I had been rooted in before the degree. It’s all very interesting, the possibilities that lie ahead, not least with wool.

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Another work in progress! http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1879 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1879#comments Fri, 10 Jun 2022 07:00:00 +0000 http://www.knittingneels.com/?p=1879 Ahoy! It was my birthday recently and I got some birthday wool. Wouldn’t you? I decided to order from a place in Germany because 1. no brexit rubbish with customs and 2. anything I’ve ever ordered from Germany has arrived in about 2-3 days. I got 3 different yarns and I’ve already knit up one of them (I’ll show you the next time!). The yarn for this is linen from BC Garn in the Fuschia colourway. I was so happy with my experience with this yarn last summer (see here) that I couldn’t shake the desire to make something else in it.

The last… good while, a good long while really, I’ve been getting more and more knitting ideas. Some of them are just tiny elements, others are inspired by patterns that I want to make in a different way. This top is the latter. I was initially inspired by Leila Raven’s Deschain top (Ravelry link here) but it had two big drawbacks. Firstly, it was designed for a much heavier weight yarn, which didn’t appeal to me at all. Secondly, it is positively brobdingnagian. The smallest size is something like 54″ and the largest is 88″. I understand that it’s intended to be worn with a certain amount of positive ease, but I just don’t like that kind of look, even if I did knit it at a smaller gauge. Finally, I don’t like that square body, dropped shoulder construction. It doesn’t look very good on me. But I loved the old shale pattern down the front, and how it shaped the neckline and the hem.

I decided to use this as the impetus to finally try out a top-down contiguous construction, and incorporate an old shale pattern. I did the maths and casted on and, to be quite honest, I had no idea how it would go. The shoulder shaping in a contiguous construction is interesting to work: first you increase quickly to develop the sleeve cap, then more moderately to expand the sleeve, and lastly, increase on the side of the body to bring the shape of the sleeve in under the arm. This construction fits me very well – better than the Barbara Walker top-down set-in sleeve method – and is much less fiddly to work.

The yarn does not disappoint. I adore the crisp texture of the old shale pattern. I casted on 20 stitches at the centre front when I joined the work in the round, and just turned those 20 into the pattern. I found a very similar-looking pattern in the Drops catalogue (here), and I used the chart from there, minus the cables on either side.

I tried it on last night and to my delight (and frankly, astonishment), it fits pretty well! My main concern now is having enough yarn to finish. I only ordered 4 balls. Eeeeeek!

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