My Year of Jumper knitting

2018 was a year of jumper knitting for me!  I have knit 4 jumpers this year, and looking at them, they represent the four seasons.

SPRING

"Birkin" from Laine magazine issue 2, designed by Caitlin Hunter.
I loved choosing the colours for the flowers on this yoke, they remind me of violets and pansies and wearing this jumper cheers me up and makes me feel fresh.

SUMMER

"Zweig" designed by Caitlin Hunter. This jumper has a pretty lace section that I really enjoyed knitting. I chose the colours to coordinate with my brown hair and blue jeans, so this is really easy to wear, and I feel a bit special wearing it. It's quite light and easy to layer if the weather is a bit cooler.

AUTUMN

"Afterparty" from Laine magazine issue 6, designed by Astrid Troland. I knit this as a favour to the magazine, by knitting it from a draft of the pattern I was able to send in any errors I encountered. It felt good to be helpful, but it was a lot of work and not a lot of reward. The original wool to be used was expensive and not a lot available to purchase, so I knit it in a lower priced wool and I do love it.

WINTER

"Ninian" from Marie Wallin's pattern book called "Shetland." Now this took a long time! I saw someone wearing this at 2018 Edinburgh Yarn Festival, and was really impressed with the colours and repeating patterns.  I started knitting my own version whilst on holiday in Orkney and Shetland. This took a lot of work, but I did enjoy it. It is my first ever time to make something so intricate. I overestimated my size and knit it too big. But I will leave it as it is and use it as a coat for outdoor activities.

So how will my 2019 look? I have already completed one jumper, and am planning a few more, but I definitely want to sew a few garments and make a few quilts. Thanks for reading! x

Birkin sweater

When I saw a picture of this sweater (which I shall call a jumper from now on) in the 2nd edition of Laine magazine, I knew I had to buy the magazine and make this jumper!  Those flowers!  Firstly I scrolled through the hashtag and the ravelry projects to get ideas from the colours and yarns chosen by other knitters.

Violets are my favourite flower, and as soon as I saw someone's Birkin jumper with purple flowers in the middle row I knew immediately that I had made a start on my colour choices!

I used the Knit Picks yarn called "Palette" with the main colour called "Oregon Coast Heather." I bought 3 shades of each of the other colours so that I could swatch and decide.  I ended up knitting all the way into the purple flower when I decided it was too yellow and so had to unravel it back and added in an orange flower instead of two rows of yellow flowers.  I also added another purple to give the big flowers a bit of extra depth. 

This is the only other alteration I made.  I added a row of the green leaves to each sleeve, as well as kept knitting the arm decreases until I got to a full length sleeve.

LOVE this jumper! I really enjoyed knitting it and am very happy with the end result! I wore it to the Edinburgh Yarn Festival and had a few kind ladies compliment me on it.  My first ever yoked, top down jumper and I am already planning another yoked top down !

Crofthoose hat version 2

I made this sweet hat last year but it came out too small, so I have made it all over again and now it fits!

I only had to change three things to get the hat to fit.

1)  I went up half a needle size.
2)  I put away the circular needle that was the exact length required and instead used a longer cord on the circular needle and used the magic loop technique.
3)  After every few stitches I would stretch out the knitting on my right needle, give each stitch a bit of space inbetween one another.

Cosy Cable Cardi

I am so proud of this cardigan!  It was both a joy and a challenge to knit.

Every step of the way it was interesting and I always had a sense of accomplishment as I watched the cables intertwine.

This is such a beautiful pattern.  It is called "Rowe" and was written by Michele Wang when she worked with Brooklyn Tweed.

Here is the story of how I chose my yarn and colour.

I had read a number of reviews on the specified Brooklyn Tweed yarn called Shelter.  Many praised it heavily for the sumptuous colour range (40 colours) and of course it has a "coolness" factor because of the minimalist style of photography and the company is headed by a male knitter.  But it also has many negative reviews that say the yarn breaks easily under normal tensioning whilst knitting.  But my main reason for not using the specified yarn was the inhibiting price.  £12.50 for 50g.  For my size I would have needed 19 of these = £237 for the jumper!!!!  Yikes!
So instead I found Knit Picks Wool of the Andes.  It is also a worsted weight yarn but is only £1.79 for a 50g ball.  Which means the total price of the jumper would be £34 !!! (plus free postage to the UK) Plus there were only positive reviews on the yarn strength and the best part was 101 colour choices.
So I spent hours pouring over the sample colours and decided to order a few of my favourite colours.  I needed to see them up close and swatch them.

My top 8 favourite colours

In the end I narrowed it down to these two - Dove Heather and Mineral Heather.  So I knit up a sample swatch and carried them around with me for a few days, looking at them in different lights.
Mineral Heather was the winner!

My guage matched the pattern and so I started on the sleeves, then the fronts and finally the intricate back piece.  

The collar took a very long time but I stuck with it and enjoyed a few TV box sets whilst knitting the ribbed collar.

I am really impressed by the yarn and the pattern. I would even go so far as to say that I would happily knit this up again.

Knitting all the Things

Lately I have been getting a lot of joy and relaxation from knitting.
Here are 4 things recently off my needles:

Scatness Tam.
This is a design by Kate Davies and is inspired by the Viking and Pictish shapes of Scatness, an ancient site on Shetland.

And the inside floats:

Dunedin scarf
Next is a Celtic knotwork shawl by Lucy Hague. I made this using a hand dyed yarn by Kate Selene.  I chose it because it reminds me of the bright green grassy fields with black cows grazing in the summer.

Aran Tweed cardi

Made this using a Patons pattern and varigated yarn. Really love wearing this as a jacket if it's just cold. 

Theme and Variation hap

This is a fun and easy shawl from Kate Davies book "The Book of Haps"

I think I am ready for Autumn!

If you want any further details, please ask!

Knitsonik Icelandic hat

I have finished another hat!  This one has been in the making basket for a while now.  My sister had planned a holiday to Iceland, a place I am keen to visit too, but so far haven't been able to go.  I asked her to bring me back 4 balls of Icelandic wool in any colours she thinks go well together.  She chose these four as they were all represented in this amazing ice landscape.  And so I have surprised her by knitting up a warm, cosy and waterproof hat in this beautiful lettlopi yarn.

I have a book by Felicity Ford called Knitsonik, it helps you to develop your own colour work pattern using your own environment as inspiration to come up with colourwork ideas that would work in knit wear.  I went through about 5 sheets of graph paper and different designs to come up with my idea, and even now that it is finished, I am eager to try another version.  There are just no wrong answers when it comes to designing your own colourwork pattern!  I didn't know which one was my best one, and even now I am keen to give it another go!

I used the lines of the ice formation behind my sister in the above photograph as my inspiration.  All jagged and triangular lines.  Here is Mr Bingley keeping a close eye on it whilst it dries on a balloon.

I would definitely change a few things for my next incarnation, but this one will suffice for an Aussie winter.  Below are pictures showing the front, side and above:

I am very relieved and quite pleased that my crown design worked out as well as it did.   I am sure she will like this, especially as I STILL haven't finished the quilt I promised to finish 3 winters ago!

Crofthoose Hat

We love visiting the Scottish Islands and have taken MANY photos of the small cottages dotted amongst the beautiful landscapes.  When I saw this year's free pattern promoting Shetland Wool Week I just had to knit it up!

Ella Gordon is the designer of this free pattern available from the Shetland Wool Week website.
She has suggested four different yarn colourways, but so many people are coming up with their own!  It's such an inspiring hashtag to browse #crofthoosehat  I chose to stick with mostly natural yarn colours, but added red roofs to some for a pop of colour, and to remind me of our holidays.

The intricately patterned crown above.   And below it is inside-out to show my yarn floats.

I kept two rows of the more traditional coloured cottages, as I really like the natural brown colours, and also because we once stayed in a thatched cottage for two weeks on the Island of Benbecula.

And I added in a row of red-roofed cottages, as we have taken many photos of these whilst journeying through the Hebridean Islands of Scotland.

Overall, I feel this hat is too snug and too small for my head unfortunately.  My guage is really quite off too.  The pattern calls for a guage of 26 stitches per 10cm square, and mine was 30x36 stitches.  I think I knit this too tightly.  I will be knitting this again, but on bigger needles.  I do love it and really want to be able to wear the wee crofthooses to remind me of so many happy times.

Knitting Needle Roll

I was planning to attend a knitting class at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival in March this year, so I wanted to make a small knitting needle holder to take along with me, as the only instructions were to bring along needles that are bigger than the size recommended on the yarn's label.  I didn't know just how many sizes bigger, so I wanted to take a small selection.  (I will write more about the Yarn Festival in my next post)

I have this 5006 Butterick pattern in my stash so put it to good use to make a new roll for my needles.

 It also has a pocket for crochet hooks, which I can do a bit of, but I would never really need them both at the same time.  But I included it anyway, as it is a sweet addition to the roll.

You lift up the crochet pocket to get access to the knitting needles.

A friend recently showed an interest in learning to knit, after seeing my Baable hat.

Shetland Wool Week Baa-ble hat

Of course I said that I would, if she bought some needles and 4 balls of wool.  And for only the second time in my life, a person who wanted to learn something crafty from me actually went out and bought the materials!  With most people it's just talk, but this time she demonstrated true desire and commitment!  She has proved to be a very good learner and has made an amazing start to knitting, I am so proud!
And so I thought I would make her a needle holder too, as a gift.

It's a quick make, about 2 or 3 hours.  I used fabrics from my stash, all fat quarters.  I think I will also make the larger crafty bag from this pattern, at some stage.

Next post: Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2016