What to knit Wednesday: Essential Winter Accessories

I'm keeping rugged up to keep out the winter chill.

When I look at the forecast for next week and seeing a series of 13 degree Celsius days for Melbourne my mind is instantly starting to work out how I am going to wool up to stay warm. My key woollen accessories are cowls, mitts, beanies and shawls and this year I am desperately wanting some handknit socks to keep my tootsies warm. My top 5 today are patterns that I have in my wardrobe or I want to add in the near future.

Image source: Purl Soho

1. Big Herringbone Cowl by Purl Soho.

For me a cowl is essential and this cowl has been on my wishlist for ages. I can see that it is designed by Purl Soho with the New York winters in mind because it is a grand long loop that can be wrapped multiple times around the neck. There is no way that the chill can get through this cowl. I also love the classic style of the herringbone stitch.

As a free pattern on their blog it is easily adapted for different yarn weights and yardages. I will probably not make it as big as the designed size but one large enough to wrap around my neck twice would be a perfect cosy accessory for me.

Can never have too many of these angora/lambswool gloves.

2. Fingerless gloves by Penelope Durston.

Not exactly a handknit but these gloves are the bomb. Penelope Durston is a Melbourne maker and designer who hand dyes these beautiful angora and lambswool blend gloves herself and sells them in her Fitzroy shop, Cottage Industry. I came across these gloves many years ago, probably after reading a Frankie Magazine and I instantly loved the vibrant colours and the delicious softness. 

I must confess that I own too many pairs of these and at least one of each of the lengths (hand, wrist and elbow length). Sadly I have lost a couple of pairs over time and I can't stop myself from buying replacements. They range from $45-$60 and are so worth it.

I love the cable panel on this hat.

3. Rosebud Hat by Jared Flood.

I wrote about this hat recently in a finished object post. It turned out much bigger than the designed sized because I did not follow gauge, but it is so cosy. The Road to China Worsted yarn from The Fiber Company is so soft and undoubtedly the cashmere, camel, alpaca and silk blend is the reason behind this. On those bitingly cold mornings this has been my go to hat this winter.

4. Pure by cabinfour.

When I purchased 300g of Ton of Wool Cormo I decided to turned this beautiful wool into this shawl. Pure is a subtly textured triangular shawl that will look perfect with the undyed cream cormo wool. The shawl is designed to represent it's name; pure, clean, unmixed and plain. The aran weight cormo is super squishy and is so cosy to touch. I just know it will turn into a wonderfully warm shawl.

5. Elementary Watson Socks by Sherry Menton.

I chose these socks because I am a fan of the BBC 'Sherlock' series. The cable pattern was inspired by the cabled jumper that Martin Freeman's Doctor Watson character wore in the first season. The nerdy part of me will take pleasure in making and wearing these cute socks and I'll also appreciate being able to keep my cold feet warm too.

Stay warm this winter if you're in the southern hemisphere like I am. 

Yin yang Rye socks - a knitting misadventure

Last year my dad fell from a ladder and he fractured his pelvis quite badly. While spending 7 weeks in hospital rehabilitating after having multiple pins placed into his pelvis to help stabilise the injury, he regularly complained of having cold feet. I decided that a dutiful daughter ought to lovingly knit some cozy socks for their dad.

Having never knit socks before I thought it best to go with the basic boy socks pattern from 'Purls of Wisdom'. I bought some lovely Naturally Waikiwi from the Sunspun spring sale and the aim was to have the pair of socks done by Ba's birthday in September. However, a few factors were unfortunately working against me. 1) I was in the middle of a couple of other projects 2) sock yarn is such a fine yarn that for a slow knitter like me a small sock project sti.ll takes forever and 3) life was just going through one of those particularly busy patches and knitting was not getting fit in as much as I had liked.

Well by the time Ba's birthday arrived I was only about 3/4 the way through one sock, so the plan became to give him socks for Christmas instead. About 5 days till Christmas I reassessed the sock project and decided on knitting some Rye socks by tincanknits that called for some worsted-aran weight yarn. I was also going to do some stash busting by using up the leftover Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that I had used for my BIL's Windschief beanie and some leftover random green coloured yarn that I had used for knitting mug cozies for the kinder teachers and SILs.

When we all sat down for Christmas lunch on Boxing Day I sadly only had one completed sock to give to my dad. So, these socks made it onto my January make list and as celebrated in my 'Small victories' post I finished them. However, as this is a misadventure I sadly ran out of yarn and had the small hitch of being unable to find the same yarn. I had bought the green yarn while on holiday in Torquay a couple of years ago from a little shop that sold handmade things. They had a lovely range of handmade knits, quilts, cards, etc., as well as a small range of hand dyed yarns. There was very little information available about the yarn and when I ran out I had little hope of getting more. I had enough green for the body of 1 sock so I ended up knitting the pair in contrasting colours, yin yang style.

So, that's how I ended up knitting yin yang socks for my dad, but at least I finally finished my first pair of socks.