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!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

African flowers

As well as frantically knitting my mossy, zesty green cardigan for autumn, I've been making a few African Flower hexagons.

I have the back and both front pieces of my cardigan complete now - the shot above shows my placements for the buttons using pins (you can just about see) so that I know where to make corresponding button holes on the other front half.

These are the african flowers. I do love them, but I'm not sure what to do with them. I have about 20 at the moment, and I'm not sure I can summon up the motivation to make enough for a blanket. I'm also not sure I can summon up the motivation to figure out how to make half hexagons for these so that I can make squares for a cushion cover.

The thing is, all I seem to feel like doing at the moment is knitting, knitting, knitting! I think it is the change in seasons and feeling like I want to be able to surround myself in hand knitted sweaters! I don't know why, but there is something so much more comforting about wearing a sweater you have hand knitted yourself. It somehow feels like a coat of armor - and makes the day and the world a little easier to face!

I think I might finish my green cardigan soon - only the sleeves to go and they are 3/4 rather than full length, so I'm well away. I always feel like I'm in the home straights on knitting a jumper or cardi when I get to the sleeves!

I'm contemplating this pattern for my next knitty adventure. It's something I already made a few years ago and really love. Then I saw recently that Rowan have a gorgeous red shade of this yarn out now, and I think this jumper would look gorgeous in that colour.

Apart from that I have been painting chairs in preparation for my flat! But more on that next time....when the paint has dried!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Autumn things

Although the weather still seems to be hanging on to summer right now, I've been determinedly autumnal with my crafting!

I'm making another cardigan, using moss green yarn.

Sadly it's been too warm to really start wearing my yellow cardigan yet!

I'm also thinking that I need an autumnal coloured granny blanket in my life. So far I have decided that it will definitely involve a lot of purple, burnt orange and yellow!

I think it also needs the same moss green colour as I'm using for my cardigan. Possibly with some reds and warm browns too. Hmm....perhaps I will see what I can find at the weekend!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mustard seed

Hello fellow bloggers and blog-readers! I'm back after a little bit of a break. I can't believe it's already halfway through September and this is only my second post of the month. There is no particular reason for my absence - I've just been busy. I was away, travelling for work last week which all in all meant a couple of nights away from home, and a late return on the third night. Also business related to my flat purchase has gobbled up some of the chunks of free time which I might normally have used for blogging.

There has also been a third reason for my not blogging. I've been knitting! Not in itself a reason, but I mentioned in my last post that I had started working on knitwear for Autumn. Well, seeing as I was so busy I decided that I would wait until I had completed my first project for the autumn before sharing anything about it with you. 

I've been stitching away on a lovely classic cardigan, with moss stitch edgings. I choose a mustard yellow yarn. I decided back in the summer that I really, really, really wanted a mustard yellow cardigan for autumn/winter. I duly scoured the shops and my favourite online retailers, but could find nothing that matched my mustard vision. "So", thought I, "I'll just have to make one myself". And that's what I did!

I finished it yesterday - it was a pretty quick knit really, and I was very faithful to this project. I haven't been doing any crochet in between, just focusing on getting this done because I so wanted to see if it would fit well, and have it ready to wear.

Yes, here it is below, with me in it. 

I love, love, love the finished result! Can you tell that from all the pictures?!

Also, it turned out I rather wildly over-estimated the amount of yarn that I would need for this project, and so now have 3 balls of gorgeous mustard yellow yarn left over to add to my stash!

Hmmm, I feel a granny blanket coming on! Seriously, I wouldn't normally consider having a large stash of yarn in the cupboard to be a problem, but I am thinking, with my move looming now would be a good time to start de-stashing! Simply because I know my soul will shrivel and die when I have to empty out said cupboard and am forced to confront the vast amount of unused yarn which has built up over the years - oh the shame!

And of course there's still the granny stripe blanket to be getting on with.... and my next cardigan project (already started - this one's green :o) ).... too much crafting and too little time!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oh, I nearly forgot - if anyone is interested the cardigan pattern I knitted was Alexi by Kim Hargreaves, from the book Winter Blooms. I used Rowan Pure Wool DK in colour 051 Gold, and 2.75 and 3mm needles

Fionn finished

Phew that was a quick knit! I've finished Fionn, and I'm quite pleased with it.

The trickiest part was stitching the collar onto the body, but I managed as well as I could. Hopefully it doesn't look too bad.

It was interesting knitting this - its the first time I have ever knitted a garment which uses Kidsilk Haze and another yarn. Initially I couldn't see the point of the Kidsilk Haze - its so fine I didn't think it would add much to weight of the yarn, but I was mistaken. That single strand of Kidsilk Haze does bulk out the Kid Classic in this design by a surprising amount.

This is a very snuggly cosy knit - I do feel very "fluffy" wearing it! It's the sort of thing that I would reserve for when it gets really cold though. It feels a little bulky and warm for every day wear at the moment - it still hasn't got that cold here yet.

I'm already working on my next knitted garment from 'Enchanted' - more soon!

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!

Christina - finished!

 I'm very happy with this! I used a wool cotton mix dk weight yarn and 3.25 mm needles. I made the extra-small size and didn't make any modifications. I love the colour of the yarn and the texture of all the different stitches. I think that I'll be wearing this a lot over summer.