Way Back

M loves owls. She thinks they are incredibly cute and the sound of owls hooting in summer nights is a welcome sound. So when I said I would knit some mittens for her and she looked through patterns, Horatio and Oren was a real winner. I needed another small project to knit on the plane back, so these were it. Now honest, it wasn't the best choice for plane knitting. Not that the pattern isn't great, but mainly it needs attention since every round if different and that isn't that easy on a plane. But hey, nothing for a challenge….

I did knit the adult size, but I used a sport-weight yarn on smaller needles and ended up with child size mittens. I kept the cuff at adult length to provide a mitten that goes just under a coat's sleeve. The yarn is an old stand-by; Quince and Co. chickadee. 

Stash update

Being in New York and only 1 street away from a great yarn shop has its effects…..

 

Way out

We are back from a splendid week in New York. Seen a lot, done a lot and had some very nice meals too…. And done some knitting too, mainly on the plane to and from. Just before we left, I rooted some more in my stash and found two skeins of Shilasdair luxury 4-ply that I had bought in Glasgow last summer and very much in the mood for another hat using stranded knitting, I started to sketch a colour design for it. One of my ideas was that it had to be easy stranded knitting since it should be a good travelling project. So no floats longer than 3 sts and easy to memorise. Tow-tone hat is what I came up with. Modern, somewhat geometric looking and I think a good project to learn stranded knitting with.

I almost finished it on the plane out (10 hours flight), so I could take the project pictures at an appropriate place for it. We had some cold blustery days un New York, and the double layer of this hat provided some good insulation. The yarn itself helps too, soft and luxurious in lovely bright colours.

Too scared?

I'm not really a scared knitter. I have used a lot of different techniques and I think there is place for both seamed and seamless items. There is however one thing I have not tried, and I probably will one day, but that day has not yet come. And that thing is of course "a steel". Knitting colour work in the round and then "steel it open" to make a cardigan or to attach sleeves. I'm not that afraid of the cut itself, it is just that I don't see the point for myself. I like my purl, I can purl my colour work just as well as I can knit it, so why the trouble?

It is just me of course!

Anyways S like to have a colour work cardigan and I spotted Voissour and thought, that she might like…. and she did. O-wool had really good prices for their yarn and after some thoughts it had to be blue and bray. So I got the pattern and discovered it was made with steeks. But the main part of the body is just stockinette and the colour work is only two colours with no extreme floats, so I decided to knit it flat instead. That means some small alterations and probably some more threads to seam in the end as well. But so far so good and I'm happy with knitting it flat….

 I do like the pocket very much, neat….

 

I might be a bit silent for the coming week, I'm off to New-York tonight (and no it isn't the end of the world, not even as I know it). I will not knit further on this cardigan during the flight (too big), so probably another hat coming up.

 

But finally Happy Solstice and holidays! 

best laid plans of mice and men…. Thistle Tam

Last summer we were in Scotland for a week or so to visit my husbands family and during that stay we went to Edinburgh twice. One me and the big one alone and once with the whole family. On one of this visits I bought some Shetland Spindrift without really knowing what to do with it. Well a cardigan I thought for the small one, with stranded knitting as its their "heritage" (well not really as the family comes from Ayrshire and not the hebrides, fair-isles or highlands) and using a thistle as a small motif. So I knitted a cardigan with charts I came up with and I was pleased with it. So pleased I knitted it again using a different yarn. I made copious notes to get into a pattern, but…. life happened, work was hectic and free time went to family, so I never made the notes in text and I never did the grading…. 

But I did have some left-over yarn and I did have the charts. So I reworked a little bit and voila a small scottish tam. This pattern was not that hard to work out, so I have put it on Ravelry today….

and the mice & men do come from Ayrshire of course…..

Ruffled

 

Sometimes, all what is needed is a real simple cardigan with some unexpected woompf. I think that Marilyn's Not-So-Shrunken Cardigan by Wendy Bernard is such a cardigan. Well with one side remark, it is a bit cropped in the original pattern. So after years in my queue, I finally started this one at the end of last month. It is a good design to knit in dark days, as it is mainly stockinette and doesn't require any attention. So for my dark trips to work (both mornings and evenings) it is the kind of project that is needed. But it was very clear to me that I needed to make it longer. So I added one more decrease, followed by a series of increases to get a nice fitted cardigan. I made the hems slightly bigger and for the sleeves I decreased according to the pattern, until a couple of rows before I wanted to cast-of. Then I decreased even more and cast-of using a I-cord cast-of. The result is nice bracelet 3/4 sleeves. 

Brown is a nice neutral colour so I am pretty sure that this cardigan will get worn a lot. The yarn (Silky wool) helps, since it has this slightly nubby look which gives it a slightly rustic feel. It is quite a lightweight yarn, but surprisingly warm.