I guess I should know better...

 

I am working at a cardigan for me. It is from the book “The art of seamless knitting” and so far I am quite impressed with that book. Lots of information on all kind of things (from how the increase/decrease in lace) to better fit bits and so on. The Lace Cardigan was the one I really wanted to make, so that it was. Now I had some Madeline 80/10/10 sport in my stash, so I though with some adaptations that would do just fine. The main changes I made are that there is no extra lace panels in the sides and I made it into a long cardigan and not a more cropped one with long ribbing. The yarn is kind of “heavy” with loads of drape and it just goes better with a long cardigan than a cropped one… I did a “muizetandje” for the edging, goes well with the pattern I feel. It will be a nice bold cardigan. 

However this is handpainted yarn, and normally I do tend to knit hand painted from alternating skeins….you know to be able to cope with differences in colour. Except this time I didn’t  and yes it shows….

 

Now I will knit one sleeve and make a decision, pretend it is a design feature or frog and remake…. I should have known better I guess….

Warm hands

 

I am at home today, got ill during the night (food-poisening?) and after a not so nice morning, I got a bit better and lay in bed watching TV episodes of this and that. And yes I did a bit of knitting. So a pair of mittens to show. The pattern I used was Houndstooth Check Mittens and I just want to say here, that I do think this is an excellent pattern to learn stranded knitting. The pattern is easy to remember, there are no long floats and it isn’t too big. 

I was careful this time, so I kept one colour dominant, so for once I can show a neat inside too…

 

I did tinker a little bit as these are meant for M, so I made the hand-bit one repeat smaller and the thumb as well. They are still too big, but I think that is better than the other way around, and hey, now I can wear them too….

More fluff....

 

Some weeks ago, there was a small article in the Guardian praising the fluffy sweater. Now it is true, a nice fluffy sweater goes a long way, but another thing is also true, too fluffy and it is just ridiculous (at least in my eyes). The red sweater in Paris, Texas (as shown in that article) is for me, on the wrong side of a fluffy sweater. Just too hairy or maybe too many bad memories of fashion in the 1980’s (not to mention bad politics, but that is a whole other matter). Anyways fluff needs to be modest for me, but seeing a skein of Rowan angora haze in the shop, I knew this will give the right amount of soft cloudiness. Combined with a classics type of design by Kim Hargreaves, makes a nice elegant sweater. The pattern is Hetty and I do love the neckline. It is a simple knit but oh so rewarding….

 

For something completely different, sturdy and rustic, good for later in the winter… These will be for M, who has been asking for new mittens for some weeks now….

No yarn but...

It is not that I am not knitting, but this weekend was for other things… Autumn is really here, only a few trees still have leaves and th weather has been autumn as well, rainy, grey and very very windy. There was a real autumn storm last monday (I even had to send someone home since I was afraid he otherwise would get stranded, and indeed trains stopped working that afternoon…) and after that it has just been rain and more of the same. It is dark too, it is not even 16:30 now and it is getting dark outside. Not my favourite time of the year, except...

Except that the autumn harvest comes in and game can be bought in the supermarket and comfort food is at its best right now. So yesterday, big daughter and I baked… Apple slab pie, thanks to Smitten Kitchen. This one contain more apples so it is more a deep dish apple slab, but yummy it is. I love baking and cooking and this time of year, a warm kitchen is a nice thing.

Today I did something completely different. S is into cos-playing and there is an event coming up and she wanted to play Feferi. S had the idea how to make the costume and could I please help with the sewing? So we got fabric and notions and did a bit of research on the internet and I still don’t really know what and who Feferi is, but I think we did a good job with the skirt: 

I am not very good with a sewing machine, but I am kinda happy with this one.