Sunday, August 25, 2013

Week Eighty Three

I went looking for the Sundara yarn for my daughters "school camp sweater" and whilst digging through the stash I discovered a quantity of Debbie Bliss Rialto yarn which was bought some time ago for the Fairisle Yoke Cardigan. I will have to get to the elusive Sundara Aran Merino later because I really need to knit this cardigan before my daughter outgrows the yarn quantity!

Also, it is a very cute cardigan!

I have cast it on and completed the back (up to the yoke). It is knitting quickly and it is quite refreshing to knit something which does not require me to alternate hand dyed yarns.


I'm doing the age 7-8 size (because my experience with Debbie Bliss patterns is they tend to run large) but I am knitting the lengths to the 9-10 size.  

The knitting needles are Dyakcraft. 


My previous post mentioned the Lightweight Pullover I'm knitting in the Fibre Company's Meadow yarn. Here is my progress, I am a short way into the yoke increases. 




The needles are Knitpro but in a black stain. 
The stitch marker which shows the end of round came in a set of 5 from Jimmy Beans Wool. They are by VictoriaS. I can't find a current stockist for them - so they might be discontinued. They are made of polymer clay and whilst large enough to be a good marker, they are not heavy which would be a nuisance to knit with. The raglan increase points are marked with "safety pins". Ones I've accumulated as they have a rounded end which slides easily over my needles.

I'm such a sucker for accessories and I like to coordinate them to my projects.


For a little crafty refreshment I pulled out a cross stitch kit. I bought this at Morris & Sons sale some time ago. Its colours suggest it will end up in my daughters bedroom.

I have sorted out the yarn into colour groups because it came packed with all the colours intermingled. 
I can only work on this in daylight as some of the colours are otherwise hard to tell apart.




Friday, August 23, 2013

Week Eighty Two : Update

Nothing knitting related (or even much sewing) but here is part of a "night-before" crafting project for my daughter's costume for her Book Week Parade.

She went as one of the fairies from the book series Rainbow Magic. I just had to help her with a pair of fairy wings.

I used some wire and shimmery polyester organza.

The wire is fairly heavy gauge, about as thick as a wire coat hanger. I loosely wrapped the fabric around (a little movement helps the shimmer effect).

There are two wings, an upper pointy "petal"with a lower more rounded section below.
Here is the right hand side wing (upper and lower) in construction.



I used a clear nylon thread to do a running stitch around and trimmed the excess fabric away afterwards.




We safety-pinned the wings to her school blazer. Here she is, a quick photograph before she got ready with her other costume bits (which were from her own crafting).


Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Week Eighty Two

I have cast on the Meadow yarn and it is delicious to knit.

I have cast on some Rowan AlpacaCotton as well. Which isn't so much fun in the knitting process but is making a lovely soft fuzzy fabric.

Belladonna is still malingering in the work box.

I need to cast on a sweater for my daughter's school camp. Since I made a Sundara Aran Merino for my boy for this year's camp (they're going together) I think it only fair that my daughter get a Sundara sweater in a different colour way.

No sewing motivation at the moment. It is just to cold in Sydney and I have had very little time.
But four more school weeks to holidays.

Photos coming soon....

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Week Eighty One

I have been sniffling through another cold this week and have not made very much progress on the Belladonna cardigan from last week. 
But there have been other distractions too... in particular a ten week old English Springer Spaniel has joined the family!

Her name is Toffee.



I received this Fibre Co Meadow yarn in the mail. I have been wanting a simple black (or charcoal grey) sweater so have immediately cast this on. It will make a good travelling project too, with easy rounds of stockinette stitch.






Monday, August 5, 2013

Week Eighty

Apologies- Another rushed blog post with iPhone pictures taken only a few minutes ago instead of proper images accumulated over the past week.

I have two finished projects and a "half-way" project to report.

Starry
I finished the Starry fingering weight cardigan. I'm very happy with it, it matches exactly the purchased black cardigan Ive been wearing so much over summer dresses. It will allow a bit more flexibility with some of the more summery-print dresses this coming Spring.




Yarn was Dream in Colour Starry in the colour Tokyo Creme.
I used about three and a half skeins (about 1,400m)



Rincleau
The next finished project is Rincleau. I'm thrilled with the colour but I'm not quite so happy with the fit. I think the yoke is a bit bigger and the armholes could have been brought up a bit.
The yarn is very springy and more length on the sleeves wouldn't have gone astray.



Yarn was Sundara Aran Silky Merino in the colour The Great Pacific. The photograph doesnt do the deep sapphire colour justice. My ravelry page has in progress photographs with better colour.
I alternated all skeins to blend the dye lot and I omitted the central panel of 'pine trees' as they didn't seem to be distinct enough with the softness of the yarn.

Belladonna
Thirdly I have pulled out a long time work in progress. This is Belladonna.
The pattern is Brigid from Vintage Modern Knits but I have modified it to add length and to continue the 4x4 ribbing throughout.



I have finished one sleeve and one front. I'm half way up the second sleeve and hope to be finished this in a couple of weeks. I am a bit disappointed in the variation in this dye lot. Half my skeins tend far more 'plum' than the other, despite being labelled the same. I am alternating from both batches but my sleeve is still slightly different to the front. I'm hoping that with the variation continued throughout and with button and neck banding the effect overall wont be as striking.
I'm trying to knit faster to see the end result.


No sewing projects on the horizon at the moment. Since being away the weekends have become too full and distracting. Plus next weekend promises more of the same when a new puppy arrives in the Doodlesknit household.

I will set up my camera for next weeks progress and make a resolution for better images.