Last days of September

I love fall...






















Pictures from a walk in the park.

Outdoor knitting with the birds

Today was a perfect day for outdoor knitting. I love those clear and sunny days in early fall.

The Birds are coming along pretty well, though I am a bit anxious about the outcome of this. It’s really hard to tell how it’s going to turn out because of the construction with the steek thing. I’ve added one pattern repeat to lengthen the sleeves a bit because to me they seem pretty short. I hope one repeat is enough because I don’t think I’ll be able to reknit it when I’ve cut the steek. (I wonder if I’ll ever dare to do this!) And I can’t try it on before I cut it, as it’s really oddly shaped, so I’ll do some proper measuring before cutting.

Last night I was at my LYS, attending the monthly knit night, which was enjoyable as always with great company and lots of yarn, and I even bought some yarn which I’m going to use for my secret Christmas knitting. (Psst… If you’re on Ravelry you can follow the top secret Christmas knitting on my page there! Some of the recipients might read this blog.)

Happy knitting!

Ogee Cardigan

I’ve been neglecting this cardigan during summer but now it’s finally finished.

I’m very new in designing my own garments so this is what I would call an experiment - but definitely a very exciting one. First thing I did was to find a stitch pattern I liked and I ended up using an ogee pattern from Mary Thomas’ Book of Knitting Patterns, hence the name, Ogee Cardigan. I made subtle changes to the pattern so that it suited my purpose. After that I thought about how the pattern could be placed on a cardigan and I came up with this.

In retrospect, I might have made some things different. For example, I could have made one more ogee pattern repeat on the sleeves, near the shoulders. But I have to admit that the sleeve caps were knit more or less randomly and I didn’t know exactly how they would turn out. Also, I think that the shoulders are a bit narrow so that the sleeves are drawn too much towards the top shoulders. Instead the seam should have been placed further towards the upper arm.

In spite of the minor ‘errors’ I’m really happy with this. I also like the buttons which I think suit the cardigan quite well, as the shape resembles the shape of the ogee pattern.

The yarn is Isager Tvinni and Spinni, one strand of each held together. The colors differ slightly in nuance and I like the blend of them, giving a special tweed effect. I love these yarns because they are 100 % natural fibers and they haven’t been exposed to any super wash treatment. That’s just right up my alley!

Birds and colorwork

The weather is changing. It’s getting colder, which means there is a need for more woolly knitwear. The cotton yarns are already hibernating and I can surrender myself completely to my favorite fiber, wool. Are you looking forward to this as much as I am?

I’ve started a project in Shetland wool which contains colorwork and steeking, haven’t tried the latter yet but I’m plucking up the courage, day by day, and hopefully one day I’ll be brave enough to CUT my knitting! I haven’t decided which method it’s going to be yet but I’m tending towards applying a crocheted steek. I know that when knitting with Shetland wool it shouldn’t be necessary to make any reinforcement at all – you just cut. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that courageous, though. Eunny Jang’s tutorial on steeking is such a great reference and I’m so going to use it.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, my new project is Little Birds by Ysolda. It’s from the new online magazine Twist Collective. This magazine is just so great and full of beautiful designs, and Ysolda’s Little Birds is just one of them.