Category: sweaters

  • Belfour and Boden

    I have a couple of new spring patterns available from Harrisville Designs, part of the Lakehouse Collection. Both are knit in Harrisville’s Silk & Wool, a DK-weight yarn with a cool pebble-y texture and great yardage. The patterns are available through both Harrisville and Ravelry.

    harrisville-belfour-tee

    The Belfour Tee is worked seamlessly from the top down, mostly a circular yoke construction with a few raglan increases at the bottom of the yoke for a better fit. Short rows are used between the increase rounds to lower the front neck comfortably. The body works up really quickly in the round, with some side waist shaping that you could easily adjust for a smaller or larger waist – or just work straight for a casual boxy fit. The short sleeves, hem and collar are all edged with seed stitch.

    Fave, queue and buy Belfour on Ravelry.

    harrisville-Boden-cardigan

    The Boden Cardigan is worked the opposite way round – from the bottom up, with raglan sleeves worked in the round. The simple acorn lace pattern is worked in panels on the fronts and back, with stockinette sections at the sides to make the waist shaping easy. The three-quarter-length plain sleeves are great for covering your arms just enough without getting in the way! This is a great basic that can be dressed up or down, the kind of cardigan I wear every day.

    Fave, queue and buy Boden on Ravelry.

    merino silk 3ply handspun closeup

    I finished spinning and plying up this merino/silk roving from Woolgatherings, and I love it! I was trying to get a thicker worsted-ish weight 3 ply, and I think I succeeded, though I won’t know for sure until I knit it up. I’m definitely going to be keeping this skein for myself! The colours were so beautiful in the braid, so I chain plied the singles to keep the colours in long runs. 50% merino wool, 50% silk, 275 yds / 4oz.

    merino silk chain plied handspun

  • Fits and Starts

    I got a new jumbo plying head for my spinning wheel, and finally got to trying it out this weekend. It’ll definitely take some getting used to, and it takes quite a bit of muscle to keep it going!

    plying-head

    Fiber is another Targhee Top from FatCatKnits that I bought at Rhinebeck. The jumbo flyer pulls quite a bit, so it might be more suitable for thicker yarns than this one – I had a bit of trouble getting enough plying twist. But I think a good bath and roughing up will even things out and plump up the yarn. Here’s the finished skein, not washed yet:

    snowy-targhee

    garter-tdr

    I’ve gotten down to the waist of my garter stitch wrap cardigan, though you certainly can’t tell from this blob!

    grey-sock

    For some simple knitting to keep in my purse, I started a new pair of socks for Dale – I didn’t knit him any new ones this winter and the older ones are getting worn out. Unfortunately I can’t remember what yarn this is, and there were no tags! I’m pretty sure it’s naturally dyed, and I got it at TNNA some years ago. It’s got a nice tight twist that should make for hardwearing socks.

    checked-sleeve

    My colourwork raglan has been joined for the yoke, finally! The rounds are getting shorter, and I’m nearly to the top now. I keep going back and forth on what I’m going to do with the neck, but I should really get that sorted now.

    Last week:
    colourwork-yoke-join

    Today:
    colourwork-raglan

  • A Monday-like Tuesday

    Let’s catch up a bit!

    New Project: Top-down raglan

    I don’t think I shared here that I started a new sweater for myself, inspired by Ann and Kay’s “Bang out a sweater” knit along. I’m not knitting Mary Jane’s (lovely) Stopover, but instead one of my own design. It’s a top-down raglan wrap cardigan, worked in garter stitch – the grown-up version of my Mermaid Cardigan! I’m using Fleece Artist Blue-faced Leicester DK in a lovely deep brown-black, with hints of blue.

    td-wrap-yoke

    I’m past the yoke divide now, but this one hasn’t been getting as much attention as I would like – I have 2 other sweaters to finish before the end of the month for a deadline!

    I did a little more spinning.

    barn-country-handspun-2

    barn-country-handspun-3

    barn-country-yarn

    2016.5

    Fibre: FatCatKnits Superwash Targhee Combed Top, colour way: Barn Country 40
    Structure: split lengthwise, singles spun end to end, basic 2 ply.
    WPI: 14-15 WPI
    Yardage: 391 yards, 113g

    New Pattern: Polonium

    And I have a new pattern out as well! Polmonium is an easy, elegant hat and mitt set worked in super soft Miss Babs Caroline. The largest size set can be made with just 1 skein!

    mb-polemonium

    One last thing: cake! I made this hummingbird cake (banana, pineapple, and pecans) for my grandma’s 86th birthday, which we celebrated yesterday. I really wanted it to look nice for her, so I piped roses on top – it came out great. I didn’t have quite enough frosting to do roses on the sides as well, so I just smoothed it out and added some chopped pecans around the bottom edge.

    hummingbird-cake-1

    hummingbird-cake-2

    I used this recipe from Joy of Baking, but changed up the frosting a bit – I used equal parts butter and cream cheese, and a good amount of heavy cream (along with powdered sugar and vanilla). YUM!