Summer is coming

Yesterday was the first hot muggy day this season.  This means that it is time to think about what I need for the upcoming summer and what needs to get finished.

I got out my bamboo Shoulder shawl in Syrian pattern yesterday and found I am 60% through it.  One more ball for the body of the shawl leaving a full ball for the edging.

I’m also working on a 4ply Matter & Void scarf that will be good for summer.

In stash I have some white bamboo and some Bendigo Harmony in a pale wisteria shade.  These are destined to be summer tops.

and what about the other current wips?  Well when it is cool I will endeavour to work on them, but when it is warm the wool will be put away in favour ofr cotton, bamboo and other yarns that don’t make my hands sweat.

I want to get my silkroad DK cardigan completed as I think it will go nicely over my summer clothes so that will be my priority on cooler days – it is currently about 50% done.

 

 

On a happier note I have handspun!

No I haven’t started using my spinning wheel, that will have to wait until I get home and not living in 2 cities (if Hobart can be called a city).

I received some chunky handspun lambswool (spammers that has nothing to do with my shape so go away) today in a gorgeous array of colours.  I bought this through Ravelry last week and it is beautiful.  I’m thinking about making a loose mobieus cowl with it.  It is too soft not to wear next to the skin and too pretty not to show off.

I also bought some raspberry 50/50 alpaca wool handspun.  120g of what looks like aran weight yarn.  This is a slightly fluffy yarn that is also quite soft.  Not sure what I will make with it yet but I should have just over 200m; I’ll think of something.

Today’s progress ( or 1 step forward 2 steps back)

Sometimes you need to step back and assess what has been started.

I decided that I wanted my Matter and Void longer and thinner.  I also realised I hate doing p tbl with a passion.  I have therefore frogged yesterday’s work and restarted a narrower version and only doing the knits through the back of the loop and just purling on the even rows.  That’s how I did each clapotis (what is the plural of clapotis?) and even the slippery bamboo one is fine after 12 months of being worn and thrown over the back of chairs/ office partitions etc.

So its 2 steps backward but now the rows are going much faster without those pesky purls tbl slowing me down.

Update

Of course the answer was none of the options.   I decided on Matter and Void. I was toying with the idea of making a Clapotis that had matching ends rather than being a single direction pattern.  Someone else obviously had the same idea and has shared the pattern.  Thank you Laris Designs you have saved me a lot of work.

Startitis

I have startitis but what to do next…

I have a skein of dark multicoloured 4ply sockwool with me and a 3.25mm circular needle so my option are:

a lace version of the asymmetric wrap
a stacked cowl
A pleated scarf
Make up a shawl as a go, my plan so far it just to use the 12 stitch pattern from the cowl as the centre and start centre back.
Make up a stole.

I’ll have to think about it while I wind the ball…

Another cowl – this time lace

Image154

Originally uploaded by wen1965

Over the past few weeks I designed and knitted this cowl. It is a simple 12 stitch 6 row pattern.

I really enjoyed making it, the lace is easy enough to remember and the vertical lines made it really easy to see where I was up to.

I will make have made the pattern available shortly here.

Asymmetrical wrap

So what do you get if you knit 3/4 of a circle?  After blocking the kink at the starting point is evened out a bit and the ’spines’ sit nicely on a curve.

And can it be worn?

This is the first way I found to wear it.  One side comes around and sits vertically, the other wraps nicely over to the other shoulder.  It may need a pin to hold it when worn this way.This will be good in summer with a dress when I want to cover my shoulders.

This is the second way I found to wear it.  Wrapped tighter it makes a nice high neck collar to wear under a coat or jacket on a cold day.  Being light and fine it fits nicely under coats without being bulky.  That’s what I hate about scarfs with coats.

Pattern link to the right.

270 degrees of mohair silk

270 degrees of mohair silk

Originally uploaded by wen1965

Well its taking shape nicely and quickly. You’ve got to love 7mm needles for instant gratification.

An experiment…

What do you get if you take the basic pattern for knitting a circle and knit 3/4 of it without joining?

My pattern is

odd rows: (k(n+1) yo) 6 times k1 where n is the number is the previous right side  row.   ie 1 in the 1st row, 2 in the 2nd and so on.

even rows: knit

The yarn is Marta’s 4ply mohair/silk blend that I had left over from my bolero there is between 40 and 50g so I’m using a 7mm needle so it goes a fair way.

Will it be wearable? Watch this space…

Jo Sharp booklet pack at newsagent

I saw 2 Jo Sharp knitting booklets at the newsagent for $15 yesterday so I grabbed it. The first one is Saturday – some great summer patterns in DK weight cotton. A fitted cardi, ribbed top, scarves, jumpers, a wrap.
The second one was a bit different. It is called family. It should be called family that likes sloppy jumpers! Every design has dropped shoulders and a very loose fit. The stitch patterns are great, it is just the garment shaping that doesn’t work for me. I’m thinking about using these stitch patterns with other raglan and fitted garments to make something that I don’t look like I’m wearing my husband’s clothes.

I don’t know when Family was originally released but it must have been a long time ago when everything was oversized.