Monday 18 April 2016

A Week of Finishing Projects and Casting On New Ones. . .

I'm trying to use my knitting weeks to finish up projects before casting on new ones and my discipline is improving.

Before starting my socks for the no-nylon KAL, I wanted to finish my second Inglis Mitt.  And here is the pair.  I just love them. They are knit with Blacker's new Tamar DK yarn and are very,very cozy. The stitch definition is great as you can see.


It's a very clever pattern by Ysolda Teague.  I love how the inside rib runs right up into the thumb increases.


While not quite evening gloves, they still feel quite glamourous to wear.


I've had the pieces of this Driscoll  jumper by Martin Storey hanging around in a basket for some weeks, so it was time to take tapestry needle in hand and get seaming.  This was basically a stashbuster.  I had a few skeins of New Lanark DK lying around and I wanted to see how it knitted up. I've changed the pattern somewhat, adding a different colour on the ribbing (as I didn't have enough of the main colour), and knitting a much plainer neckline (the original pattern has a funnel neck which didn't appeal).  It's a wee bit cropped for my liking, but I do love the colour and it will work well as a casual autumn sweater.  And I did get to practice seaming set-in sleeves which is probably my least favourite thing to do in knitting.  Especially, as in this case, there is slightly more sleeve fabric than the arm hole seems to require.  That excess fabric needs to be "eased into the space" but I've never really understood the best way to do this.  Usually I just start at the middle point, pin it out and hope for the best.


Two projects done, I allowed myself to cast on two more.  I've decided to go with the Sea Wall socks by Tin Can Knits for Joeli's No-Nylon KAL.  This will take a while on 2.5mm needles but I'll do a few rows a day.


And I cast on an Inspira Cowl with some of my precious Daughter of  A Shepherd yarn. It has such a strong sheepy smell, that I thought a large cowl I could pull up and snuggle my face into would be the perfect project for it.  As always, I'm waffling over the contrast colours.  I want some beautiful, indie British yarns to accompany it and I've started with some Howgill Tweed BFl from Laura's Loom in the Dark Bracken colourway.  She has stopped creating this lovely marled yarn, so it too has to be used for the perfect project.  So far, I like how the two yarns work with each other in the corrugated rib, but I may try reversing them, so that the rich hebridean brown pops more in the knit stitches.  It could create an effect very much like Anna Maltz's marlisle,  which she uses in her Humboldt sweater.  I think I need to play around with this a little more, but this week is my non-knitting week, so it can simmer in the back of my mind while I work on other crafty projects.


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