Update on knitting
Back in July I discovered that Rowan had discontinued their Hemp Tweed, which is one of my favourite yarns, that I've used for three scarves like this, and so I found a few UK stores that still had a decent stock, and I bought small amounts in a large range of colours (enough for scarves), and also amounts large enough for sweaters in a light turquoise ("duck egg") that I'd used for the first scarf linked above, and in a greeny-brown ("pine"). See photo of all of the colours in my hemp tweed stash, though not the full quantity.
I'd intended to use the pine for the Havana sweater I posted about in September, but on receiving a few balls of duck egg I rediscovered how lovely it is and bought yet more for the sweater. By November I was ready to take on another sweater and I used the Ravelry website to see what other people had knit in Hemp Tweed, and thus found the Mycroft sweater, which I thought would suit me nicely. It's knit in one piece in the round from the top down, which means that you have a complete garment when you've finished knitting, and don't have the chore of sewing the pieces together. It was the first time I've tried this technique, and I love it. It took me a few sessions to get properly started as there is some fiddly stuff at the beginning to build up the back of the neck to be higher than the front and I cocked that up twice, but after I colour-coded the pattern to help me keep my place, I was fine. I finished it in just under a month, on the Monday before Christmas, but then a few days later I decided to undo the cast-off for the sleeves and make them a inch or so longer - because the length that had looked ok when I was standing in front of my mirror turned out to be too short when I was sitting at my desk. And then a few weeks later I decided I couldn't live with the way the hem was curling outwards, and so I undid that and used a different technique to cast off, and it is now well and truly finished. It's wonderful that you can make these types of correction with knitting. I really like the sweater and have been wearing it a lot. And I only used half of my pine, so at some point I will be looking for another sweater pattern.
On the Tuesday before Christmas I started work on my third version of the clever, double-sided Power Cables scarf. I made the first version for myself back in 2017, but I didn't buy enough yarn and it was too short to be really useful. I made the second version last July for Eugenie at the sourdough bakery. I see that I didn't mentioned in my post about the scarf that Eugenie had picked out a dusky pink yarn on a website when we were discussing patterns and yarns for a scarf, and so I had ordered some skeins of a dusky pink alpaca yarn that I thought had the same feel. However, Eugenie didn't like it, but she did turn out to love the light-brown alpaca that I already had in my stash, and having the pink yarn in my flat allowed me to discover that it's a very flattering colour for me when worn next to my face. So I didn't send it back to the shop, and instead put it aside for my next version of the cabled scarf. I finished knitting on the 10th of January and then blocked it last weekend. It's beautiful, and the colour is also quite striking against the pine colour of the sweater.
As soon as I'd finished the scarf I started a 5-colour hat in Hemp Tweed. I made a single-colour version of this hat pattern back in 2017 and gave it to Carlos. I don't know that he ever wears it, but I was ready to have a version for myself. It's a very quick knit and is proving a useful addition to my wardrobe, and I'll probably make a few more before the winter is out.
I'm currently in the final stages of yet another scarf, in a light-blue Chunky Hemp Tweed that also goes well with the pine colour. It is going to be a very large scarf.
The sweater on its own:
The sweater with the scarf:
The hat:
This entry was originally posted at https://helenraven.dreamwidth.org/489946.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
I'd intended to use the pine for the Havana sweater I posted about in September, but on receiving a few balls of duck egg I rediscovered how lovely it is and bought yet more for the sweater. By November I was ready to take on another sweater and I used the Ravelry website to see what other people had knit in Hemp Tweed, and thus found the Mycroft sweater, which I thought would suit me nicely. It's knit in one piece in the round from the top down, which means that you have a complete garment when you've finished knitting, and don't have the chore of sewing the pieces together. It was the first time I've tried this technique, and I love it. It took me a few sessions to get properly started as there is some fiddly stuff at the beginning to build up the back of the neck to be higher than the front and I cocked that up twice, but after I colour-coded the pattern to help me keep my place, I was fine. I finished it in just under a month, on the Monday before Christmas, but then a few days later I decided to undo the cast-off for the sleeves and make them a inch or so longer - because the length that had looked ok when I was standing in front of my mirror turned out to be too short when I was sitting at my desk. And then a few weeks later I decided I couldn't live with the way the hem was curling outwards, and so I undid that and used a different technique to cast off, and it is now well and truly finished. It's wonderful that you can make these types of correction with knitting. I really like the sweater and have been wearing it a lot. And I only used half of my pine, so at some point I will be looking for another sweater pattern.
On the Tuesday before Christmas I started work on my third version of the clever, double-sided Power Cables scarf. I made the first version for myself back in 2017, but I didn't buy enough yarn and it was too short to be really useful. I made the second version last July for Eugenie at the sourdough bakery. I see that I didn't mentioned in my post about the scarf that Eugenie had picked out a dusky pink yarn on a website when we were discussing patterns and yarns for a scarf, and so I had ordered some skeins of a dusky pink alpaca yarn that I thought had the same feel. However, Eugenie didn't like it, but she did turn out to love the light-brown alpaca that I already had in my stash, and having the pink yarn in my flat allowed me to discover that it's a very flattering colour for me when worn next to my face. So I didn't send it back to the shop, and instead put it aside for my next version of the cabled scarf. I finished knitting on the 10th of January and then blocked it last weekend. It's beautiful, and the colour is also quite striking against the pine colour of the sweater.
As soon as I'd finished the scarf I started a 5-colour hat in Hemp Tweed. I made a single-colour version of this hat pattern back in 2017 and gave it to Carlos. I don't know that he ever wears it, but I was ready to have a version for myself. It's a very quick knit and is proving a useful addition to my wardrobe, and I'll probably make a few more before the winter is out.
I'm currently in the final stages of yet another scarf, in a light-blue Chunky Hemp Tweed that also goes well with the pine colour. It is going to be a very large scarf.
The sweater on its own:
The sweater with the scarf:
The hat:
This entry was originally posted at https://helenraven.dreamwidth.org/489946.html. Please comment there using OpenID.