Two hats...

 

 

Two hats, same pattern, different yarn… 

Jean Genie

 

We in the middle of Autumn peak here, so Jean fits in perfectly as the trees are covered in yellow, mustard, orange and reds. These couple of weeks can be quite wonderful here, all depending whether we have rain or sun. This year has been a bit blended but on th whole quite nice. And it is also the time for putting on your woollies, so a nice pullover with nice cable work is just what the season calls for.

I spotted this sweater the moment it came out, it didn’t linger log in my queue either. I had some Holst Samarkand in a mustardy yellow that I thought would be a good fit. Now this yarn is one those that is a bit oiled for knit-machine purposes. It makes that it feels a bit more rough than it ought to do and while knitting with it, my hands get kind of moistured, which is kind of an added benefit. 

It is a rustic yarn, with nubby silk and I think it goes well with this pattern. I did not change much for this one, did an half-open collar as I thought that would suit me better. After washing the yarn became lots softer so that was good too...

So excuse my just-washed hair, and off for an Autumn walk...

Relax

 

and do it….

Teens do have specific fashion needs, at least my teen does. Her taste is actually pretty good (says mum), she likes relative simple shapes, sometimes a bit towards vintage like blouses with nice rounded collars or an old-fashioned dress. Or flowing things, not body hugging things and not too big either. Japanese fashion is also a big love, but think “Mori Kei” and not “Lolita”, so all in all not so bad. She also still likes that I knit for her, sometimes things she can cosplay with (see the Watson sweaters I have knit for her)and sometimes just things take take her fancy.

In any case, Relax (and in my head, I just have to add, Don’t do it, as I am of that kind of age)  was an item I had to make for her. It is a pretty simpe knit, as simple as can be actually. Just a lot of stockinette, a bit of increases for the kind of Dolman shape and some seaming. Some yarn-overs for a little bit of an visual effect, and there on goes...

Perfect sweater for S, perfect sweater also for Madelinetosh merino light… I didn’t do any alternating of the skeins and no pooling or anything. Just reminds me that I love TML, apart from the great colours, for a singly ply it is just an amazing yarn.

Off the wagon...

 

During the summer I really really wanted to start to make a good dent in my stash. This year I would like to see it shrink instead of growing. So I decided to go on a yarn-diet and knit only from stash. It shouldn’t be so difficult I thought, as I have plenty to choose from, both fibre-wise and colour-wise. However the moment i decided to do so and write about it, Quince & co decides to bring out a new cotton, Willet. And could I stand the temptation? Of course I couldn’t…. Quince make my favourite linen and their wool is very nice too. They have a good eye for colour and a nice pattern support too. The release also happened around my  birthday, so in the end I just couldn’t resist. So I bought two lots to make two cardigans. When I received the yarn, the pink I had chosen was kind of an old-fashioned colour. Somewhere between pink and apricot, nicely understated. There are no grown-up patterns yet for Willet, but this is a sport-weight yarn so plenty to choose from. Kim Hargreaves has some very nice patterns for Cotton Glace and I thought that those patterns would be a good fit for my new yarn and with very small adjustments it is!

So I choose  an “old” Kim Hargreaves pattern, Asta from the Rowan magazine 35. This is a pattern from the time that Rowan, in my honest opinion of course, was at its best. Classic patterns with a impeccable finish, good styling for the magazines and still 4-ply soft and 4-ply cotton were there main yarns…and Calmer...

Anyways knitting this cotton was very nice. Anyone who thinks that cotton is just hard on your hands, try this one, it is soft and nice. In the skein it does seem just a tiny bit fuzzy, but when knitting it, that disappears and you get some nice subtle sheen instead. The knitting seemed just slightly uneven (see picture above) but the stitches align very nice when being blocked so the result is just fine. The fuzziness might not be a good sign for wear, but somehow I don’t think it will be a problem as I had to frog the fonts several times as I couldn’t count and follow the pattern right. And even when frogs three times, the yarn didn’t really show it. 

My cardigan is done, it is warm and cozy and good for transitional days...

Now I will go back to my stash and really make that dent in it…..

Copy that.....

 I don’t know if other knitters have this, but I do find it somehow quite difficult to buy a knitted cardigan or pullover in a shop. Not that it is difficult as such, but mainly because I tend to think, oh I could make this myself and that would be “better”. Sometime in the spring M spotted a pullover that she really really liked and I was going, oh I can make that…. Normally what happens next is that I forget about it, it just tumbles down the queue of things to make and items to explore… But M wasn’t going to let that happen, and every so many times, I got the question if I had started her sweater….Now this sweater was really quite straight forward . It was a raglan in broad white and dark-navy stripes. The white stripes were in stockinette while the blue ones were in reverse stockinette giving a texture and also a 

bit of colour work . The yarn seemed to be a thick & thinnish one, and a cotton most likely (I didn’t have time to study the label inside….). So I started with the yarn, I needed the colours but also that slightly thick & thin feature and after a search on Revelry I came to Zooey . It is a 60% cotton, 40% linen and really the perfect yarn for a sweater like this. It gives a slightly rustic fabric, and it is fairly light so perfect for summer wear. It does have that think and thin quality and due to the linen it has a very nice drape. It is quite nice to knit with. 

For there the rest, it was an easy design, I made a top-down raglan with some short rows to raise the back. To get a bit more stability at the top, I picked up the neck finish later on. Long sleeves and a slightly longer body complete it. all in all an easy pattern, easy to make, easy to wear and play in….

M is happy and with school very much started again, this is just the item to have for still sunny days and play time, as it is just not that super warm anymore. And it is big enough so that it can be worn at the beach in the next summer…..

 

 

Last days of summer……...

Summer pains

 

I love summer, when it is warm and the crickets are going at night, just wonderful. If asked what is my favourite time of year I normally answer spring, and it is but summer is great as well. One good thing about summer is, is that it isn’t as hectic as spring so often is. So much always happens in spring (and autumn too) and one hardly has time to enjoy it. But summer with the shutdowns (our work has a shutdown of administration and our “machine”) makes that things slow down. And that is good since one gets a real rest, and even workwise you can do all those things that one never has time for during the normal terms.

But the last couple of days I have been plagued by some summer pains, mosquitos and ticks… We live in deer country so the ticks are a major problem and pain. It has been a cold year so until now there weren’t so many around, but now with the nice summery temperatures they are out and hungry… So we are on tick watch all the time. And then the mosquitos. I am covered in bites now, some swell up and I start to feel a bit “under the weather”. Ah well nothing is entirely positive (or negative…..)

However, summer is also the time for BBQs (we have been eating BBQ basically the whole week….), eating outside and waking up slightly later as there are no children that have to be at school at a specific time. So everything is easy, and so is my current knitting. Plain stockinette with some stripes in Hempathy. I am knitting Dubro for my daughter, an easy summer tee with just a bit of a Japanese esthetic feel about it. Really it is what this time of the year requires….

Bright days!

The wait for the extra yarn was over this week, so after finishing my own cardigan I could also finish M’s this week. As I had only the sleeves left to do, it went pretty quickly. I always tend to pick up speed at the end, it needs to get worn… On the other hand, I also need to decide what to do next and that can sometimes be a struggle… Anyways, I have not much to see about this one, cotton again, a nice lace pattern for the main body, some small cables too! And just that little bit of frill to really make M happy. The only change I made was to use an I-cord bind-off instead of the rolled hem border in the original pattern. I think this makes the lace feel lighter.

I love the bright blue colour of this one, makes me happy!