I went into total hibernation this week and really got stuck into some work. I’m sort of paying for it a bit this weekend but it was worth it. I’ve been working away on some things, like my Austin hoodie.
This is coming along really easily. I’m nearly finished the front now and from there, I’ll be just two sleeves and the hood from a nice, wearable spring garment.
I did some tidying up and while I was at it, I found some handspun that was too nice to ignore. I had a huge pile of silk-merino singles from the summer. What better way to use it than for a shawl – Ishbel, another Ysolda classic.
I’m pretty surprised at how… normal… it is knitting up. I always have the impression that the yarn I spin is completely unknittable, but apparently not.
Yesterday was a truly attrocious day, with howling wind and rain from morning ’til night. Despite getting some work done, I felt like I never woke up properly. In that spirit, I cast on for just about the most mindless, chicken-soup-esque hat I could find.
Thorpe (pdf link) has been on my wishlist for a long time. I knit this on and off yesterday evening so that’ll tell you just how speedy a knit it is. Here are the specs!
Needles: 5.5mm dpns and then 40cm circular.
Yarn: Leftover Twilley’s Purity from my Heather hoodie (1 ball) and Debbie Bliss Soho (long discontinued, 1 ball). The Soho was the very first yarn I bought online along with the Denise Interchangeable needles. I got them for Christmas. I remember they were delivered on Christmas Eve and I was absolutely dying with a cold at the time. I’m going to hazard a guess that this was in 2003? Definitely time to use the yarn.
I made the medium size and it fits fine. I’m going to use the remainder of the Soho and Purity to make another in reversed colours. I will probably make the small for a snugger fit.
It was a lovely sunny day today and so nice to see such a stretch in the evenings already. I took advantage and got my resident photographer to take some of those modelled shots I was talking about. Stay tuned!
You are so lucky to have a resident photographer! I loved making Thorpe too. How do you like the fit? I found it a bit helmety, but maybe that’s because I made it in a smaller size?