Still knitting

Silence on the blog doesn't mean there's no knitting going on here at my place. On the contrary I have several wips on the needles, I just can't show all of them here - presents, you know! One wip I can show you, though, is the scarf knitted in Rowan Tapestry.



I want it to be a big and cozy scarf for winter. As I'm knitting it on needles 6 cm (US 10), it shouldn't take very long. Nevertheless, with many projects in the making, it does.

A couple of weeks ago I bought the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting. I really like that magazine. I don't know how to subscribe to it in Europe but I know that a lot of peolpe on Ravelry have been discussing their subscribtion and are somewhat dissatisfied with the delivery. So, as long as I can buy it in a shop, I'll stick to that.



Another magazine is this German one called Verena, never heard of it before. There's lots of great designs in that too - much to my surprise!

New skills learned

Many of my anxious thoughts about this sweater have shown to be totally needless. It came out just the way I hoped.



One of the reasons for my anxiety about the sweater was the construction, which isn't similar to any other sweater I've knitted. During the process it was very hard to tell whether this would fit or not. It wasn't until the steek was cut that I was able to see if it would be a succes or a total failure. I did some measuring before I cut and felt fairly safe, but not until I could try it on, which was also beyond the point of no return, I knew I was going to be happy with it.



The construction also entails that there is absolutely no seaming, except from the underarms. It is knitted all in one piece, even though it has set-in sleeves. And this was new to me. All in all I learned quite a few new skills but to me the overriding new technique was doubtlessly the steeking. Much of the fear has disappeared now, though, and I'll definately do it again some time. I might use the same yarn (shetland wool) next time I knit something which includes steeking. I liked it and there is a wide range of colors.



I had some trouble about finding the right buttons but these were the ones I ended up with. I think they suit the sweater well.



The only moderation I made was making the sleeves a bit longer by adding one pattern repeat. I see now that it wasn't necessary, however, I dont' mind them being on the long side.

Pattern: Little Birds
Designer: Ysolda Teague
Source: Twist Collective
Yarn: Shetlandsuld from BC Garn

I cut the Birds!

The steek is cut. It all went fine, so I won't need to worry about steeking again. I'm glad that I made the reinforcement, though.



Also, edging is done, ends are weaved in and it's now blocking. Once it's dry I'll sew on the buttons.






Yesterday I bought three skeins of Rowan Tapestry. Have you tried it? What do you think? It contains 30% of soybean protein fiber. Now, that's interesting! Another fiber I haven't tried. The rest of the content is wool. It's very soft so I want to knit a scarf using the ogee pattern from Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns, which I also used for my cardigan.

Steeking - The Chicken and the other Birds

I guess I'm a chicken! I'm making a crocheted steek on Little Birds even though the pattern says you don't need to make a reinforcement. Shetland Wool is fuzzy and sticky enough to leave it as it is. It will felt enough by itself. But - since I haven't tried it with Shetland wool before - I can't just cut. I'm using Eunny Jang's tutorial.