Hap and a Bit. . .

Here's my possibly finished Hap Cardigan, designed by Emily Williams and knitted as part of Knit British's Hap-a-long.  I say "possibly" because I may end up adding 3/4 sleeves to it.  It's the perfect summer cardi to throw over a t-shirt when the sun goes behind a cloud, but in that case, my arms get chilled too.  Unfortunately, I used Blackers 4ply alpaca and I can't see any more available on their website. I will be going to Woolfest next month, so hopefully I can ask them if they have any more. I'll keep it as is for now.

I used all British wool and it's really cozy.  I added twelve rows to the pattern and to mimic some of the lovely hap shawls being created in the KAL, I decided to just stripe a border at the bottom, using some happy colours from my stash.   I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

When I spread it open, you can really see the hap construction.  (You can also see that I totally messed up the lace pattern at one point so that the columns are one stitch off.  This only happened at the back though and it's not too noticeable when I'm not stretching it.)  This also counts as my third garment for my 12 sweaters in 12 months challenge this year.  I know, I'm way behind, but I have a few WIPs in the pipeline that should catch me up.

I've loved hap knitting so much and there's been such a lively group on ravelry, so I've started another project for the KAL.  This is Hap for Harriet by Kate Davies and I'm using Blacker Blue-faced Leicester lace weight.  It's a lovely pattern and easy to memorize making it the perfect portable project.

I also got a little carried away at the Black Sheep annual sale and bought quite a bit of discontinued Rowan Summer Tweed.  I've started Humbug by Carol Meldrum which should be a funky summer jumper.  The yarn is knitting up beautifully - it's 70% silk, 30% cotton.

And I've just finished Hexagon #5 in the Rowan CAL in which I learned the popcorn stitch.  My hexes are a bit wonky but I'm hoping they will even out with blocking. It was a very pretty stitch to crochet; I could see myself doing a whole blanket some day in this motif.

I can't wait to seam all these together!