Off the Needles and On the Needles. . .

Whew, my knitting seems non-stop these days. It feels wonderful to be finishing projects, but I know I need to slow down a little as my wrist and fingers have been feeling a little sore of late.  The beautiful spring weather we have been having lately is helping - we've been out walking and working in the garden.

I never posted a finished photo of my First Fair Isle jumper, but here it is and it's the perfect thing to wear for spring weather. It's a wee bit tight around the hips as the colourwork pulled the knitting inwards. I did go up two needle sizes for the sleeves though and am very happy with the looser fit.  I loved knitting with the Rowan Tweed which makes a lovely, smooth fabric that is warm but not stifling. I would really recommend this pattern for those wanting to knit a fair isle garment but aren't comfortable steeking. The pattern is very well written and as it's top down, you can try it on as you go.

I also finished my Marled Magic Mystery shawl as part of Stephen West's KAL.  Gosh, this was fun to knit and I'm really happy with the final look and how all the colours play with each other.  I can definitely see more marling in my future. The shawl IS quite warm though, with all the mohair in it, so I've packed it away until next autumn. So cozy.

I'm really in need of a summer cardigan so have cast on Hitofude by Hiroko Fukatsu. I have had this pattern in my queue for years and though the first part is quite repetitive, it will be a lovely garment to throw over a t-shirt and jeans. I'm using some gorgeous 4ply from Northbound Knitting, in a colourway called Sencha which seems appropriate for a Japanese design. It's full of silver and rust colours and should drape nicely.

I'm still working my way through all the projects in The Book of Haps.  April's project in  A Year of Techniques was the gorgeous Brambling  intarsia shawl by Bristol Ivy.  It's lovely and I definitely will knit it someday, but instead, it seemed the perfect time to cast on her Harewood Hap.  I'm adding three more colours to mine and going for a Mondrian inspired shawl.  It has proved a bit tricky, keeping all those balls of yarn from getting hopelessly tangled up, but it's such a clever pattern and the majority of it is simple stockinette, so I'm about half way through.  I'm using Northern Yarn's Poll Dorset which is a lovely, crisp white, while the other colours are all shades of Baa Ram Ewe's Titus 4ply - Coal, Wesley Bob, Brass Band and I will be adding Eccup.