Haps Still Happening . .

In the midst of all the walking, lots of hap knitting has also taken place over the last two weeks.  This is my finished Happenstance, designed by Romi Hill.  I now love the colours and how they all came together.  The yarn - a Wensleydale/Shetland mix from The Knitting Goddess is very, very warm, so this has been put aside until the autumn.

I'm about half way through Houlland, a gorgeous lace shawl, designed by Donna Smith.  The rows from here get smaller so I hope to finish this in about a week or so.  I love this pattern; the lace repeats are quite simple to memorize, so if you place lots of stitch markers, you should be able to keep track easily of where you are. The wrong side rows are all knit, giving your brain a lovely break. It looks like one big fuzzy lump at the moment, but can't wait to see how this Gotland lace from The Little Grey Sheep blocks out. 

One of the more intriguing hap constructions in The Book of Haps is the Hexa Hap by Tom van Deijnen.  This thing is huge, so I'm doing half a Hexa and using Kate's own Buachaille yarn. Each triangle takes about 1.6 skeins. Not sure yet if I will add a fourth colour for the i-cord edging. This is lovely telly knitting; once you have your head around the pattern, it's very simple to follow.  I love these three colours together. 

Last weekend I went to Birmingham for Yarningham, an inaugural yarn festival held at the Stirchley Baths in Bournville. I had signed up for a steeking class with Ann Kingstone whose gorgeous stranded knitting patterns I have long admired. We had to do some swatches ahead of time so I thought, why not kill two steeks with one cut?  So I cast on Hazel Tindall's Hamegaet Wrap. This is a very innovative design which starts with these two fair isle shoulders.  Stitches will then be cast on and picked up for the resulting shawl.  I think it will look fantastic in red though I may have to bring in another colour, as I only have about 500m in my stash.  I'm using Isager Tvinni Tweed which is a good sticky yarn that gave me extra confidence at the cutting stage, though I nearly cut through my provisional stitches. I'm really thrilled to have mastered this skill - my languishing Bowland, which stalled at the steeking point, can now hopefully be completed by Yarndale.

I'm loving all the projects from this book that are popping up in ravelry and in two current KALs.  There are some fabulous colour combinations out there and some imaginative knitters who are adapting these already very original patterns into new and exciting projects.  I'm hoping to finish these three haps in progress and then take a bit of a break and finish some cardigans in time for autumn.  But I think I will have a hap on the go for quite some time yet (13 in all to knit!)