Two Vintage Jumpers

Readers, for months I have been slogging through obligation knitting. I am glad to be at the end of it, and am so ready to knit some projects just for me.

Here, however, are the finished objects:

Marion Foale's Classic Jumper in 4 ply Australian Merino (Empire from Morris and Sons):

And Marion Foale's Croquet in 4 ply Pima cotton from Morris and Sons:

I am thrilled with both, and they will be packaged up to make their journey to London on Monday.

Completing these feels great, and has given me great knitting mojo. We are about to be descended upon by overseas guests and they will be sleeping in my knitting room, so today I will be extracting three projects to sustain me over the coming weeks:

My current WIP, London Shadows, by Cindy Garland - part of a Mystery Shawl KAL so I can't post any pics. I am just about to start Clue 3, and am using stashed Katia Darling pure merino sock weight in colour  205 (purples, pinks, slate greys). The London theme sucked me in, as did the release date of the first clue being my birthday. The Katia's gothic colours are perfect. The shawl calls for optional beads but I didn't have any that worked in my bead stash, so might sew them along the edging as an afterthought (and hopefully that's not too much information!)

So that is the shawl on the needles, and I need, cast on so I can pick up and put down easily over the coming weeks, a shawl, a pair of socks, and a sweater.

For socks, I will just pull out some sock yarn from my stash and cast on my usual vanilla pattern, and they will work for commuting, travelling in the car and evenings in front of the TV.

For a sweater, I have my eye on the One Night Coat by Anna and Heidi Pickles. It is now a little unseasonal, but I need some instant gratification after two fine gauge sweaters, and it will be useful next winter. I'll be mixing two stash yarns, a heavy wool and a mohair, in yellow.

And I do have a bit more obligation knitting to do in due course - 3 Aran weight wedding wraps for a winter wedding early next year. 

Knitting, and a bit of sewing

So I have been working on the Classic Jumper by Marion Foale (a vintage knit) for JF in London. After we had an email conversation about it, she ordered some lovely 4 ply merino from Morris and Sons Sydney in the colourway Glass and had it posted out to me here on the NSW south coast.  Picking it up from the post office was a challenge, but eventually I managed it and am nearly done on the back and front, above.

It has lovely design features, like fully fashioned increases and decreases, a three needle bind off at the shoulder seams and the inset sleeves worked down from the armhole. These make it a pleasure to knit although there is a LOT of stocking stitch!  Luckily this suits my current lifestyle and knitting time (evenings, after work, commutes).

Knitting for someone else has got me sewing - today I pinned and basted the 30 Minute Coat (free online instructions from Threads magazine) and plan to complete it tomorrow.  I used a large rectangle of woven wool fabric in stash I had always planned as a jacket.

I have just planned what to do with the rest of the fabric stash I brought from the UK - more PJ pants, another A-line skirt, and the Schoolhouse Tunic.