Christmas Jumpers I Wish I Had Made But Totally Don't Have Time For

Oh, I have missed the boat this year, and definitely don't intend to attempt a sweater in 4 days (yes, yes I know it is possible, some of you crazy folk out there have done it, but I simply don't have the attention span or willpower required).   I'll need to content myself with some simple socks, mulled wine and walnut cake, what a hardship...

There are, however, a few items I'd love to add to my list to knit for next year.

"Boreal" by Kate Davies

Boreal is one of my absolute favourite winter knits.   It's an aran weight (maybe I could do it in 4 days...), and perfectly winter-like.  Not too christmassy, so I could still wear it through December and January.   Kate Davies seems to produce wonderful colourwork sweaters without fail, so perhaps it's time I try one!

"The Perfect Christmas Jumper", by Susan Crawford

This one is definitely a christmas day jumper, and I adore it.  Knit in 2-ply, it might take a little extra motivation to convince me to start, but I am a sucker for those puff sleeves.  Susan Crawford makes some beautiful vintage-style patterns.

"Strokkur" by Ysolda

One of my current top 'to-do' yoked sweaters, this is another aran masterpiece.  Lovely detail without taking over the whole sweater.  It's also one of those patterns I really want to knit *exactly* as it was made originally.  Good excuse for some post-christmas yarn shopping then?

"Clayquot" by Tin Can Knits

Clayquot is one of the new patterns from Tin Can Knits newest book 'Road Trip'.  As with their other cardigans (e.g. Lush, which I knitted a few months ago), the pattern is simply written, pleasing to read and easy to knit.  This one is definitely on the cards!

"Homestead" by Martin Storey

Last but not least, we had to have one more lot of reindeer, no?

Do you have a christmas jumper you've knit for yourself?  Or intend to?  I'm afraid it'll be next year before I join you...

Finished Lush & Moving House

Lush was a wonderful knit.  Interesting but simple - it's rather satisfying.  Tin Can Knits do make some very lovely patterns :)

Just to explain this photo, I've recently moved house.  The previous owners choice of decor was as you see above!  I kind of adore it to pieces, but also couldn't spend my life with my walls in disrepair.  So I took a pretty picture with the lush and my chair, and painted everything over.  

The photo above is of my hallway, which is now a boring white.  The plan is for manymanymany photos and art and mirrors and wonderfullness which I find and think it'll look great on the wall even though Boy-half sincerely disagrees and wonders for my sanity.  It'll be lovely, I promise.  

My lush was knit in between moving house and babysitting the decorators (many walls needed plastered, it was messy and disasterful).   This means that, apart from being a nice pattern in and of itself, it also means quite a lot to me and has some nice memories attached too.  

The whole pattern (I'm sure I've mentioned this before) is easily fitted onto two sides of A4.  I don't have to carry booklets of paper around in my bag, worrying about which page I'm on or which instruction I'm supposed to be following now.

I'm aware that I'm a fairly confident knitter, and I do understand others prefer more direction than myself.  Saying that, most of the participants in the KAL also seemed to love the pattern, and the atmosphere of the KAL itself.  This is what's wonderful about the online knitting community, and Knit-Alongs (KALs).  The enthusiastic hosts of the LushPodKAL allowed us to learn and share together.  Encouragement, excitement and consolation for silly knitting mistakes were all to hand, even for those far away from knitting shops or groups.

Judging by the KAL, quite a few people had problems picking up and matching their provisional cast on stitches.  Mine don't exactly line up down the back, but I'm quite content with how it has turned out.  Maybe someone who matched theirs perfectly could give the rest of us some pointers!

A few weeks ago I wrote a wee bloggy post about the yummy Fyberspates yarn I used for this cardigan - it still hasn't pilled!

What made this knit even more wonderful (if that's possible), was that there were SO MANY appearing at Yarndale!  As soon as I stepped off the train I met Louise of the Knit British podcast in her lovely blue lush.  It didn't stop there, and it was great to see everyones cardigans.



I'm currently trying to knit all the socks in the world, whilst Socktober lasts, at any rate.  Why not join me?  I'm just learning to knit socks, so all the encouragement I can gather is much appreciated :p

LushPodKAL & Fyberspates Scrumptious DK/Worsted

Natural Fyberspates Scrumptious with a wee cup & saucer!

Having spent a lot of time knitting with this yarn recently (using it for the Lush KAL!), I'm compelled to gush about it slightly!  I've just had a lovely time knitting with it; it's soft, floofy, shiny & makes me happy every time I pull it from it's project baggie. 

This yarn is beautiful.  It's a loosely spun, 45% silk, 55% merino wool single ply yarn.  Advertised as DK/Worsted - I have to admit I'd be more likely to call it worsted, and it is listed in the worsted category on Ravelry.

With 220m per 100g, you get pretty decent milage out of it, and I think I'll use about four skeins for this lush cardigan I'm currently knitting.  At £14.00 per skein it's not the cheapest yarn you'll come across, but considering it's dyed by a small british company, and half silk, you've definitely spent more on less before!  

Having a little browse through the comments left about this yarn on Ravelry, I did see that some knitters think it's too splitty.  It's a very loosely spun single.  It is easy to split.  Personally, I don't really have a problem with it - it doesn't happen very often to me, and when it does I don't find it a massive hassle to poke the needle in at a different angle.   Regardless,  it's a complication you could pre-empt with a yarn like this one, and you'll have to make up your own mind whether the finish you'll get with a loosely spun single is worth a little extra care in the knitting.   It definitely wasn't so loose that it unravelled or anything.  

The lush cardigan involves both lace & stockinette.  This is lovely, because it keeps the cardigan nice & interesting whilst allowing me to knit it when I'm sleepy on the couch in the evening.   The stockinette is lovely and soft, but the lace still has great definition!  

Nice stitch definition!

Knitted from a yarn cake made on a ball winder from a swift.  As usual, I knitted from the outside not the centre, so didn't have any problems at all.  Though I noticed one of the comments said it was impossible to knit from the centre of the cake so, of course, I did try - it was an unmitigated disaster.  Don't knit from a centre-pull.  Just don't.  It did all sort of join together 'cause it was rubbing against itself on the way out.

I'm knitting the sleeves together on a big magic loop.  This is always the method I tackle those infamous sleeves with, as I'm compelled to keep going or I have no cardigan! (I suffer terribly from one-sleeve-itis if I knit them separately, and take weeks to get around to that second sleeve...).  Also, maybe this is a little obsessive of me, but I want those sleeves exactly the same length - not 'around 14 inches', not 'I held them together and they looked the same', because it never works!  Different length sleeves have no place on my cardigan!!

It's NOT superwash, so I'll have to take extra-special care of it!   Why oh why did I choose white...

To summarise!

Pros:

• Unbelievably soft
• Good drape
• Nice stitch definition

Cons:

• Easy to split
• Handwash only

In case you wan't to nosey, my lush is on Ravelry here & the blog about the lush kal here.  And did you love the wee stitch markers?  They're in the etsy shop :)

Do you have a list of favourite yarns?  Why do you love them so much?

Too many WIPs...

Now further onto the sleeves, & still reading the mag!

Such a yummy pile of skeins...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

#LushPodKal

Some very naughty ladies have convinced me that it's a great idea to join in the #LushPodKal, so on top of my existing WIPs, the tour de fleece & work, I've decided to cast on another jumper.

Lush is a lovely jumper with a slightly more unusual construction designed by Tin Can Knits.  The yoke is knit sideways & the rest of the jumper knit from this, so it'll be a new style of top for me!

I've chosen some yarn from my stash - it's some very yummy creamy Fyberspates Scrumptious.  Slightly worried that it'll be too soft for a sweater, what if it pills??  It'll be interesting to see what everyone else is knitting with - what are you using?    

The plan was to use British wool for the project.  Fyberspates is a british company, though I'm not sure of the origin of the wool.  However, since I'm knitting from my stash it's the closest I can manage!

Hosted by Knit British, Knit Spin Cake, Caithness Craft Collective & Shiny Bees, the KAL discussion will be held among the different podcasters groups each week.  

Everyone is also tweeting their progress with the tag #LushPodKal, so it'll be lovely to be kept up to date with lushy news!

Also, the sunflowers in the photo were 30p!!  

How did you get on with the tour de fleece, and are you taking part in any KALs?

:)