Green cardigan

In my last post I mentioned that I had finished my green cardigan. So, here are the pictures!

The pattern is Kitten, from Kim Hargreaves' book Smoulder.

The pattern gives two options for yarns, you can use Rowan Angora Haze or Pure Wool 4 ply. I love angora but the fact that it fluffs everywhere drives me a little crazy. My clothes always seem to be covered in fluff as it is (I don't know where it all comes from). So, I choose to use Pure Wool 4 ply for this project.

Generally I'm pretty happy with how it worked out. I made a longer version of the cardigan than was directed in the pattern. I knitted until the back and sides were 39cm in length rather than the 28cm specified in the pattern, as I wanted a full length rather than a cropped cardigan. As there is no side shaping in this pattern, it was easy enough to increase the length.

I'm quite happy with the way the body of the cardigan fits. It's a bit roomier than the yellow cardigan I knitted recently, but the pattern is made that way. The only thing I was slightly unhappy with in my finished garment was the sleeves - they are a little more loose than I would have liked. If I were to make this pattern again, I think I would probably go down a needle size to 3mm, just to make the cardigan a little bit more snugly fitting.

I think it looks pretty nice next to my yellow cardigan!

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Dear Prudence

Although this blog is now mainly about crochet projects, I was a knitter long before I learnt to crochet. And, occassionally, I still like to get my knit on!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been knitting up a sweater, from a pattern called Prudence from the Kim Hargreaves book Amber. I have used Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK yarn. The Bamboo yarn used in the original pattern has long since been discontinued, and besides, it was a horrid yarn! I remember washing my first Prudence, made using that yarn, to find that it grew seemingly inches in every dimension, becoming unwearable!

I love this pattern - this is the third time I have made it now. This time I decided to try and modify the sleeves a little. The sleeves in the original pattern were a little too pouffy for my liking, a bit too over the top. I decided to try for something more subtle.

I am pretty pleased with the finished result. The sleeves still appear wider at the bottom - they are not close fitting around the wrist and lower arm, but they are much less pouffy than they were!

My modifications were as follows, for anyone interested.

Cast on 71 stitches. Work 4 rows in stocking stitch, followed by 2 rows in reverse stocking stitch, 6 rows stocking stitch and another 2 rows reverse stocking stitch. This retains some of the reverse stocking stitch design detail that was originally present in the sleeve design. Then work straight in stocking stitch until the sleeve measures 40 cm. Now simply follow the raglan shaping instructions as given in the original pattern.

For the cuff, at the cast on edge of each sleeve, pick up and knit 71 stitches (with the right side facing), using 3.25mm needles. On the next row, work knit 1, knit 2 tog, *knit 2, knit 2 tog. Repeat from * to last 3 stiches, then knit 3. Work in garter stitch for another 5 rows.

At the moment, I mainly follow blogs and Instagram accounts of other people who crochet. However, lately I have seen some of these people begin to branch out into knitting. I did it the other way around, and I have to say that some aspects of crochet (such as the way to hold the hook etc) came much more naturally to me than the equivalent aspects of knitting did (not that I am brilliant at crochet - I still struggle with some things!).

However, I still remember the difficulty I had in grasping the basics of crochet (especially working in rounds and turning chains at ends of rows!), and I imagine the experience is similar for those learning to knit. Well, if you are a crocheter learning to knit, and reading this, all I can say is - Don't Give Up! You will get there in the end and it will feel fantastic to have mastered a new skill.

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Longing

It's been a couple of weeks since I was last here - longer than I normally like to leave it, but things have been so busy.

I've finally finished my course (well provided I passed the last assignment, which I am not convinced that I did). It means no more studying for me though! I can just relax and look forward to Christmas.

As you can imaging there hasn't been a lot of action on the crafting front in the last couple of weeks - I have literally been working every spare hour to try and finish my final assignment. Managed to lose about half a stone in weight doing it! Stress always does take away my apetite.

Anyway, I have managed to do a couple of things. I finished the next Kim Hargreaves sweater I was making - called Longing, also from Enchanted. The fabric is a lovely open work design, and I've chosen a dark red colour to make it.

I've only tried it on once briefly - I do like it, it just feels a little chunky. There is no side seam shaping, which is fine, its that kind of design. But, with the lack of shaping and the open work fabric it feels like the fabric should be gracefully draping. However, at the moment (probably because it hasn't been washed yet) its not draping, just being fluffy. I just feel a teeny bit too chunky - as I've said before I'm petite in size and figure (even more so than usual after the stress of the last few weeks!) so I have to be careful about clothes overwhelming. I think I'll reserve judgement on this one until after its been washed!

So, what do I do now, now that I have finished studying (at least for now)? Well I have plenty of planned crafty projects to keep me busy. Some are Christmas related, some not so much. I'll try and share them with you over the next few weeks!

Kim Hargreaves "Fionn"

I have been temporarily distracted from all my various crochet projects by the publication of Kim Hargreaves' latest pattern book, Enchanted.

To me, this is one of the best of Kim's pattern collections that I have seen in the last 18 months or so. I always like her designs - unlike many other designers, her garments usually have a good amount of shaping detail, meaning that you don't always end up knitting front and back pieces which are just rectangular shaped! Being petite in stature and figure, I don't find anything too baggy or rectangular to be particularly flattering, so Kim's pattern shapes suit me down to the ground.

As soon as saw this book in John Lewis on Oxford Street on Saturday, I had to purchase both the book and yarn to make 'Fionn' the wrap over cardigan.

So far I have already knitted the back and left front, and made a good start on the right front (shown in picture above) - just since Saturday night! Acutally it is quite quick to knit up on 5mm needles.

The pattern is a lovely, simple, elegant design, which I think will be very wearable and go with lots of things in my wardrobe. True to type I have chosed a dusty purple shade to make my version - purple is one of my favourite colours. The design calls for one strand of Kid Classic yarn and one strand of Kidsilk haze yarn to be knitted held together throughout the pattern. My one complaint is that this makes this garment pretty expensive to knit, though very luxurious!

The colours I have chosen for each yarn blend with each other - you can hardly see the Kidsilk Haze in the knitted fabric, unless you look closely. I like it that way, but I think you could also have lots of fun using shades of Kidsilk Haze that contrast more sharply with your chosen shade of Kid Classic. The shades I have used are:

Kid Classic shade 835 Royal
Kidsilk Haze shade 659 Ultra

Here's the knitted up back piece! Its speedy knitting, so I hope to have this completed by the end of November or thereabouts!