Racing along.

This week, my cardigan has grown quickly which is good because I can’t wait to wear it. The pattern looks fantastic and the wool is warm and soft so this project is going to be a winner!

I don’t get a huge amount of time to knit during the week – this is a bit of a record-breaker.

The lace/ cable pattern is interesting but not too tricky so I can work through it quickly and the yarn weight is thick enough to help the project go quickly.

Having read a blog post from My Life in Knitwear, about the price of low price of British wool made me decide to buy British wool only from now on – now I’ve put it on my blog, I’ve committed to it. I’ve been following in KnitBritish for a while, listening the podcast and so on – but my interest has been because I like finding out about the small brands and hearing about the different breeds and types of yarn. However, to sustain the British wool industry, we need to be more consciously buying British. After reading the blog, I noticed that the Rowan yarn I’m using was made in Romania – even though they are based in Holmfirth; I’m left wondering, why don’t they use local wools? Coming from the area, I know there’s a strong textile industry heritage up there. Oh, and plenty of sheep.

My knitting – one year on!

It’s about a year since I got ‘hooked’ on knitting and it’s good to look back and see how much better I’ve become.

Speed is quicker, tension is even. I’m starting to think about things like ‘fit’ now and how to make my creations look better.

There’s been a bit of a lag on my blog lately. Shortage of time and an apple update caused this. I couldn’t drag and drop my photos onto wordpress anymore and didn’t have time to work out why. I blamed broadband but I needed to find a work around – a quiet Sunday morning has given me the chance to do this.

I’ve been finishing a lot of projects…

My son is wearing his mini-me cable knit jumper – identical to the one I knit his Dad. He loves it and it looks very cute. The fit is good. It came up slightly small when I took it off the needles but blocking helped me stretch it out. Now, it fits perfectly (and will probably grow some more with him.)

The West Yorkshire spinners BFL yarn has become my favourite. It’s very soft – lovely against the skin.

I was enjoying the cables and the rich finish of the thicker yarns so I made this hat for my friend. It’s for playground duty; my friend is a warm blooded Italian who wears woolies in the Summer – playground duty can be cold at the best of times!

This was made from West Yorkshire Spinners BFL in aubergine. The photo has come up a bit bright. In reality, its a lovely rich purple. Knitting this was fun, the complex cables meant that there was always something to be thinking about and, as ever, it was interesting to see the pattern developing.

Having made snuggly cable knits for others, and with cooler mornings approaching, I decided to make a cable cardy for myself.  The pattern I chose was the Acer cardigan by Amy Christoffers. The combination of lace knitting and cables appealed – I thought it was feminine yet warm and cosy. The colour is Hawthorn – it was a bit darker than I had hoped for but will look good with jeans.  Getting American yarns over here can be very expensive to I hunted around for a substitute. Rowan Pure Wool Worsted was recommended as being similar. When, for the first time I bothered to knit a swatch, I averted disaster by finding that I needed bigger needles – this yarn knits at a different tension. Needles were ordered straight away but after a few delivery mishaps it took over a week for them to come. Frustration!!! 1 company sent the wrong size and then another just left them sitting in the warehouse and didn’t post them! Love Knitting came to my rescue and 10 days later they arrived – that company is good.

In the meantime, my children asked me to knit a pug for a birthday present for their friend so here it is:

Hmmm. To me, it looks like a peanut with legs.

You might laugh but it is a good representation of the pattern that they chose. Toy knitting isn’t for me at the moment. Knitting the tail, legs and ears was so fiddly. It made me practice a few knitting techniques like a horizontal pleat and knitting with DPNs and small numbers of stitches – supremely fiddly!

Since my last blog post….

I finished the Sea to Sea. I loved that trip – the scenery was stunning and remote at times. Definitely a last blast for the Summer holidays

Camping wild on the Pennines was a highlight.

The garden finally came good – Sunflowers in October – something’s wrong with the seasons here!

We’ve also had good veggies – beetroot, tomatoes and courgettes