On my needles now: Comissioned Bella Shawl

Winding up the last skein of Louisa Harding Grace Hand dyed yarn for K's Bella Shawl.

 I was commissioned by a church friend to knit a Bella Shawl designed by Annie Baker of JumperCables Knitting about a month ago and though this friend has very kindly given me no pressure to finish the project within a certain amount of time I now pledge that I will not work on anything else until I have finished this knit.

The pattern was one that I had caught my eye a while back. I liked the simplicity of the eyelet lace but the asymmetrical design made it a bit more interesting. It has been a really easy to memorise pattern so this has generally been the project that has come along with me to the children's lessons. I can work on it while also dividing my attention to keep an eye on the little ones when necessary. It is also easy to read where I left off in the pattern because the eyelet lace on the left panel has been grouped in blocks of 7. I would just have to count how many eyelets I had done to work out where I was up to in the pattern.

The yarn that I have been knitting with is from Louisa Harding and it's the hand painted DK/ 8ply weight merino/ silk blend. The colourway is a beautiful variegated blend of pinks and reds. It is a single ply yarn with a merino lovely softness and silky sheen. A simply stunning yarn.

Lovely pinks and reds variegated throughout the shawl.

I'm onto the last skein of yarn so I'm on the home stretch. My aim is to use up as much of the purchased yarn as possible. Since the yarn has been paid for by my friend I want to make sure she gets the full yardage in her shawl. I now need to work out exactly how much more knitting of the left eyelet panel I should do before moving on to the large right hand panel to finish the shawl. My plan is to knit a sample of the right hand panel with the last skein of yarn and then weigh the piece. This way I will work out how many grams of yarn I need to reserve for that panel of knitting. I will then pick up where I left off on the main shawl and knit until I have the required grams of yarn needed to knit the large eyelet panel. It might seem like a long round about approach but I'm not sure of any other way to do it. If you have a better more efficient way of doing it please do share your tips with me.

I've cast on 155sts on the right to knit my test panel.

I hope to have this project off the needles by the week's end and blocking over the weekend. It'll be ready just in time for winter and I hope my dear friend will enjoy wrapping herself up in the Bella shawl. I'll make sure to write up any notable project notes on my Ravelry page as well as cover the shawl in a 'Finished object file' when I'm done knitting it.

On my needles now - Moto Vest

Moto Vest on my needles 

Today I've got a little sickie in the house so no 'What to knit Wednesday' post today but I thought I could quickly share my current project.

A couple of weeks ago when I posted about the Dragon Aviatrix that I made for Sir S I briefly mentioned at the end that I was taking some time for a bit of 'me' knitting and had cast on the Knitterly's Moto Vest for the Woolful March KAL. The pattern is for a beautiful trans-seasonal open cardigan styled vest that is knit with bulky yarn. I was hoping that it would be a quick knit since I started mid-March after I had finished the birthday knits for the kids.

It has truly been a nice feeling to be knitting for myself for this project. The last object I finished for myself was months ago; even before I started the gifts for last Christmas. As much as a love knitting for others, and it was the desire to knit for my baby that motivated me to rediscover the craft in the first place, I do recommend a bit of 'me' knitting as necessary in the making schedule. Knitting something for yourself can be a form of therapy. It can bring pleasure and excitement to your day when you work with beautiful materials that you have hand selected for yourself, on a project that you are personally crafting for yourself.

So, for this Moto Vest, I have selected some sport weight/ 5 ply superwash merino that was hand dyed by Red Riding Hood Yarns in the 'Gone Girl' colourway and I paired it with a grey fingering weight/ 4ply alpaca/wool blend from Isager. By holding one strand of each yarn I am creating a thicker yarn that will knit up quicker and the grey paired with the blues of the RRHY gives the piece a marled look. It was a total experiment and I wasn't sure if it would work out but as I kept going I really liked the effect.

'Gone Girl' Sport weight RRHY and Grey Alpaca 2 Isager yarn

When I saw the pattern for this project I noticed that it has a very similar shape to a vest that I bought last winter from Metalicus. It is a beautiful drapey cardigan vest that can be worn right way up and upside down to give two different looks. This is a favourite piece from my wardrobe despite it being store bought and containing only a small percentage of wool. As I knit this vest I am drawing inspiration from that vest. The Moto Vest designer, Shelli Westcott herself has knit this pattern multiple times and made it differently each time. It is such an easy pattern to adapt and change to the knitter's liking.

Wearing the vest right way up

Now wearing it upside down and open

Upside down buttoned up gives it a snuggly cowl like collar

I have just started on the back section after knitting the scarf to 52" in length which will give me a vest slightly shorter than the Metalicus one. I want a narrower back between the shoulder blades but am toying with the idea of adding some increases as I work further down to widen the bottom. I haven't quite worked out how I will do this but I'll explain all my MODS in a finished object file later on.

Now I'm off to give my little sickie a cuddle. Happy knitting, friends. Tell me, what's on your needles right now?

High Water for Sir S

Today I'm just quickly sharing my current WIP (work in progress). Just before the end of 2014 I cast on a jumper for my boy who asked for one while he was watching me frantically try to complete all my Christmas knitting. I haven't knit much for him due to the fact that he is a typically grubby little boy and I don't want my precious woollies being covered in dirt and sand. But my heart melted when has asked me to knit him something.

The pattern is High Water designed by Veera Valimaki and I'm knitting with Silver Grey Cascade 220 worsted for main colour and some green Spud & Chloe Sweater for the stripes. I queued this pattern at least a year and a half ago and I'm excited to be finally taking it on. I also stashed this yarn a long time ago as well and I'm pleased to be doing some stash busting by finally using it for a project.

swatch and initial cast on

It's been a pleasure to knit so far. The joining of the front and back collar stumped me a little initially but if you knit it exactly as instructed it turns out perfectly. I've just separated the sleeves and the body and I'm happy to be taking this project with me as my travel knit while we spend a family holiday in Sydney this week. Since the body is just stockinette I hope it'll be fast knit. At the moment it's looking pretty plain in just the grey. I can't wait to add in the scrumptious Spud & Chloe.

If you want, you can check out my Ravelry notes here.