The travelling season is upon me

I have three sweater projects on the go, all occupying different spaces in my living room - the cardigan for Scotland (one piece, in the round, aran weight, from a 400g skein of yarn - not very portable!), Linda's sweater, which is in various states of being ripped/unripped, and a sweater I knitted for the husband over Christmas (Forest), which needed the bands reknitting, and this task I have just completed on this rather rainy Saturday afternoon. I used Eunny Jang's YouTube tutorial to help me gather up the courage to cut, but her instructions are clear and worked well. I didn't have any of the yarn left, so nipped out to my LYS (the Woolmouse, in the covered market, Richmond) and bought some similar 4 ply lambswool made by Rennie of Scotland in the shade Loden. It was an excellent match, and I redid the bottom band and both sleeve bands in this, and then edged the neckline to make it "match" the other bands. The result was very successful - but I won't post a pic as I am hoping to find the time to write up this pattern.

But sweaters, and fiddly adjustments to sweaters, don't travel well and I had part of the week just gone as holiday, and we were travelling, so I needed something for the road:

I have been thinking about the Sand and Sea Shawlette from Coastal Knits since it arrived, and decided to use the two sock yarns I bought in Helsinki earlier in the year - they are not very clear in this photo, but the MC is sort of a berry tweed, and the CC a blue variegated. Not a common combination, but I think it will work, as the berry yarn has some blue in it.

Sadly, and unusually, I did not get a chance to visit any yarn stores on my travels to Prague and Chester this week, so no new purchases, but I did spy some yarn in Prague:

This sculpture, in the Klementarium (I think that is correct) of the National Library, had baubles of clementine-coloured yarn hanging from it, and I couldn't resist a photo.

Knitting, and Reading About Knitting, For Me

I enjoy knitting for other people, although tend to choose only those who appreciate the effort that goes into handmade work - which means my family and a few close friends usually. But I have set aside Sundays to knit for myself at the moment, and this is my current WIP for cool, rainy Sundays at the moment:

This is the Apple Strudel cardigan from Yarn Forward, December 2008 - an aran weight, top down, cabled cardigan which I am knitting in budget-friendly Windermere wool-blend aran (800g for £12). Sure, not the best quality yarn in the world, but a lovely tweedy grey and soft to the touch. If I work hard, I will finish it in time for our summer trip to Scotland in August, where I know from past experience I will need it!  I do have two other projects OTK - if it ever gets warm again in the UK, I can switch back to the American project, which uses the immensely beautiful (and beautifully named) Hempathy yarn.  Also, I am having, as they say in German, a kleine Pause with Spring Cloud as I am sure it is a little too small and I am debating with myself about whether it will block bigger or whether I should just reknit the body...boring.

My exciting news this week was the arrival in the post of a book I have been lusting after for some time - Coastal Knits, a self published book of 10 patterns by Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig. I want to knit everything in this lovely book, which is superbly presented (although if you already have New England Knits, by MacDonald and LaBarre, as I do, it does tend to continue this theme, as many of the designs echo each other. This is not a criticism, as both are happily living on my bookshelf - but if you are budgetting you probably could get away with one or the other of these two lovely books). However, for me, yet another to put on my bookshelf for browsing through when I don't feel like knitting, or have nothing to knit (rare!), and also for pattern design and layout inspiration!  Highly recommended.

Spring Cloud, McCalls 2255, and Amy Butler's "In Town" Bags

Spring Cloud has been knitting up quickly in Gedifra Samina, on 4.5 mm needles (a fairly loose, open gauge):

I am however worried about it being too tight - I have tried on myself, and it is tight over the bust, and too short for me, although Linda (it's recipient) is very petite. I think I will knit the sleeves and then lengthen it with any left over yarn I have. It is a soothing, idiot-knit, knitting around and around. I also need to search my stash for some lightweight matching yarn for the cowl.

I would really like to get out into the garden on this relaxing Sunday at home, but the British summer is at its worst at the moment, and I have to keep dodging very heavy showers. So while the showers are coming down I have been working on McCalls 2255, one of my "vintage" 1990s patterns from Julia:

It is designed for lightweight fabric, but I am sewing it in a heavyweight cream fabric (possibly a mistake - I will soon find out!). I cut and pinned it last weekend, and today sewed the side seams and pinned the waist:

I do all my sewing on the old Jones Family CS (Cylinder Shuttle) treadle machine in this picture - and although it only does one stitch (straight) it works beautifully, there are never issues with tension or tangles, and I can control the speed and keep things nice and slow. I use pinking shears to clip my seams instead of zig-zag, and also do a lot of hand finishing. I am planning to sew black embroidery wool detailing onto the skirt, and add a black knitted corsage - based on a skirt I saw some time ago in the Guardian weekend magazine.

I also finished the Amy Butler "In Town" bag and pouch I worked on last weekend - although they shouldn't have been I found them rather fiddly and wonder if that is something to do with Amy Butler patterns perhaps. But they have turned out nicely:

These were a good way to use up scraps, and although I am not super-happy with my finish they are pretty and servicable. So I have made some progress on my year's sewing goal over these past two weekends! 







A Jubilee Weekend Day Sewing and in the Garden

Amy Butler's In Town bags in progress:

Made from scraps of Liberty fabric and satin, these will probably be drawstring knitting project pouches. Nice to do, and continue to build my sewing skills. They whiled away a late morning/lunchtime while listening to Radio 4, after watching the parade in town.

Then the weather improved and I wandered out to the garden, also a continuing work in progress:

After some tidying up and a bit of seed sowing and potting on, I settled down in the afternoon sunshine to knit a bit more of Spring Cloud - coming on quickly, but knitting up rather small, so time for waste yarn and a try on to gauge the fit before I do anymore.



Saltburn Surprises

I spent this morning ripping back Linda's sweater. This went well for a time, but after a while I got frustrated and the scissors started to make an appearance - time to stop for a beak. So the husband and I took ourselves off to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, just under an hour's drive away. If it had not been a Sunday I could have stopped in at a yarn store there, which when I peeked through the window I noticed sold local yarn as well as the usual ranges:

But it was a Sunday, and Ripping Yarns was sadly closed. It being northern England and a bank holiday weekend, the weather was not really on our side either. However, we took the cliff lift down to the pier:

where I found the mysterious Olympic installation of an anonymous local knitter/s,much talked about it the local press. Here is a close-up:

Well worth the trip! And I will be back to Saltburn, to pick up some local yarn at Ripping Yarns.

A Finished Cushion and Two Cast-Ons

Today I put the finishing touches onto the Honeycomb Cable Cushion, and am very happy with the result:

Here it is in close-up:

Another great pattern from Purls of Wisdom, and has also used up all the Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky I had left in stash. I mocked up the stuffed look for the photo shoot, but actually it needs to go to a stuffing centre for stuffing, and then onto a distribution centre of some kind to be given to an Olympic athlete! I like it so much, I'm almost sorry to see it go!

So I cast on for the first in my American project - but more on that when I'm done as the pattern is one of my own. I'm not remaining monogamous however, and have also cast on a gift knit for Linda:

This is Spring Cloud, a free pattern on Ravelry by Sachiko Uemura, and suits the spring green dk weight yarn she gave me to knit something with for her last year, along with a co-ordinating heavy bouclé yarn - I did, and she wasn't keen on the result:

Linda disliked the heavy yarn as a sweater, so I will take this apart and just use the green - the heavy yarn will become a wrap she can wear with Spring Cloud in colder weather. It will soon be her birthday, and I would like Spring Cloud on the way when it arrives!