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...

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Dandelion Hat!

Yey!  It's finally published!  After convincing my lovely man to take some wee photos of this amazing hat, and all the lovely test knitters finishing their brilliant versions, it is time :D

D'ye like it?? 

Pattern Information & Construction Notes:
This is a slouchy style hat, knit in the round using mosaic colourwork detail. Knit from ribbed brim, on smaller needles for snug fit, through patterned body on the larger needles up to the crown in two colours. You could also use the jogless stripe technique to ensure seamless transition between colours.

Instructions are provided for four sizes.

Finished Measurements:
Adult (Toddler, Child, Large Adult) finished size to fit 20”(16”,18”,22”) circumference heads. The standard length of this slouchy hat is approximately 10” (8”,10”,10”), though directions are included should you wish to vary this.

Yarn: 
Two complimentary shades of 4ply/sport yarn are required, approximately 200 yards of main colour and 100 yards of alternate colour will be required for the adult size. Allow 250/120 for larger size.

Hat shown is knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply/sport, main colour (MC) oatmeal, alternate colour (AC) gold. This is a gorgeous silky smooth, shiny yarn. Though the hat would work equally well on another 4ply or sportweight yarn.

Needles: 
3.5mm (US 4) Double Pointed needles (or your preferred circular knitting method). You may wish to use 3.25mm or 3mm needles for the ridged brim to ensure snug fit.

Gauge: 
This is a lovey silky slouchy hat, so don’t worry too much about gauge. If you really really want exact gauge, the shown hat has 30 stitches and 40 rows in 4” in the wave stitch used for the body.

You can grab the pattern here on Ravelry, or here on Etsy :)

Dent-de-Lion; pretty words and a call for test knitters!

Did you know, that our Dandelion (y'know, that oh so pretty weed children everywhere love to blow the seeds of all over town), is named from the french 'Dent-de-lion', meaning 'Lions Tooth'?

Etymology (thew study of the origin of words) is very interesting, I'm always so intrigued as to how some of these words came about!  Anyhoo, I did ponder all of this lots whilst knitting up my new hat!

As with any new hat, I am of course looking for test knitters.  I will apologise in advance for these provisional photographs because my camera is still in the fixing shop :(

The stitch I used is one which caught my eye from my new stitch library book "400 Knitting Stitches by Potter Craft" - it's a gorgeous little book with good written notation and clear charts, along with lovely photos of large swatches of each and every stitch.  I would highly reccomend it!

My favourite part of the hat, the main feature and it’s namesake, is the part approaching the crown, as the yarn overs draw together to form one last large dandelion, with yarn loops reaching out as if you could just blow them off the top of your head!

TheDent-de-Lion hat is very slouchy, knit from brim to crown in the round, using two colours.  It comes in 4 sizes (toddler, child, adult and large adult).

To knit the hat, you would need:
Needles:  3.5mm DPNs
Yarn: Fyberspates Scrumptious 4ply superwash
200yards of main colour (oatmeal)
100yards of alternate colour (gold)
 You don't have to use this yarn, any 4ply/sport weight would be lovely, I'm sure :)

Competencies:  knitting in the round, colourwork, the following stitches: knit, purl, yarn overs, twisted stitches, decreases.

Feedback :  I'd really appreciate some constructive feedback;  how easy did you find the pattern to follow? Could anything have been clearer?  What needs to be added and can anything be removed because it's unneccesary?  Also, it would be brilliant to havesome photos so they can be uploaded to your projects on Ravelry once the pattern is published :)  It would also be ideal if this could be within the next 2-3 weeks.

EDIT:  There are now enough test knitters for the adult sizes.  If you'd like to knit up a childs version, please do get in touch and I shall send you the pattern.  Email me at owlprintpanda@gmail.com, including your Ravelry username :).

Love! x