Finished object file: Puntilla Sweater | Skein Merino Cashmere Fingering

This is the kind of pose you end up with when your 6YO gives the directions. He thought that I could best show off the lace by holding my hands this way.

Here's another finished object for a couple of months ago but I have been wearing it so much since I finished it and it is certainly one of my current wardrobe favs. I'm talking about the Puntilla sweater designed by Joji Locatelli that I knit for the recent Skein Sweater KAL that Kristen hosted through her Ravelry group.

When Kristen first announced that she was going to offer a preorder sale for sweater lots of her yarn I was immediately hooked. I started obsessing over her colour ways and bases and dreaming of the different sweaters I could make. Then Kristen announced that she was also going to host a sweater KAL starting in May just around the time the preorders were due to be sent out. This totally sent me down the Ravelry rabbit hole. I ummed and ahhed over two patterns initially but every time I logged onto Ravelry I started adding more patterns to my short (long) list.

'Milk Glass' is a beautiful colour way but it was not quite what I expected.

Finally, I decided to make Joji Locatelli's Puntilla sweater from her recently released Authentic Collection. From the Skein update I ordered 4 skeins of MCN Sock in the 'Milk Glass' colour way on a whim because the photo of the colour looked like a soft neutral with subtle splashes of pastel purple and bluey grey. When the skeins actually arrived and I started swatching with the yarn I realised that the colour way was much deeper and variegated then I had expected. I kept looking at my swatch and I kept thinking, "I love these colours, it looks amazing." However, something still nagged at me in the back of my mind about the colour and only after I had cast on and started knitting the shoulders did I finally admit to myself that I just didn't love the colour way when I was knitting it in st st. I was troubled by just how variegated it was and I didn't feel comfortable wearing that blend of colours in a sweater that was predominately knit in st st. Luckily, I had some Skein Merino Cashmere (MC) Fingering in 'Graphite' in my stash and so I frogged what I had knit with the 'Milk Glass' and started all over again. 

The knit went fairly quickly after I got past the shoulders and the short row shaping for the neckline. I had never knit a Joji pattern before and her shoulder construction method was a style that I had never tried before either. But all credit to Joji for writing such clear instructions, because it was not tricky at all and I was surprised that in a relatively short amount of time I had a neck hole and a pair of shoulders.

It's hard taking photos in the yard without the dogs getting in the way.

Those dogs are still there in the background.

Once I had the arms holes done and had joined the work in the round I buzzed through the st st body. I knit the sleeves on short circulars, which has become my favourite method of small circumference knitting (BTW, I use 20cm Addi turbos for that) and then I finished the neck ribbing with an invisible ribbed bind off to give it a bit more stretch. Bang, the main body of the sweater was done and I was onto the lace trims. 

Here is where the 'Milk Glass' came back into play. I decided that though I didn't like the colour way in st st I was going to love it knit in lace. So I picked up the the stitches around the ribbed ends of the sweater and knit the easy to memorise lace in the beautiful 'Milk Glass' colour. I adore the little touches of mauve and bluey grey that peak through in the lace trim. I love how the lace sits at the end of my sleeves and at the bottom of the sweater giving it a touch of femininity to an otherwise boxy and androgynous garment.

I like this pattern over Joji's very popular Boxy sweaters because it is not as wide in the body and the added lace trims just gives it something a little special for the everyday. Hence this top has been my favourite one to wear as our weather has turned colder and colder in Melbourne. The MC Fingering is just so soft and cuddly, so when the weather wasn't so cold I would wear a singlet underneath and the yarn was so divine against the skin. Now that it is colder the generous boxy style of the jumper means that I can still wear it comfortably over my layers.

Thanks to Kristen from Skein for hosting such a fantastic KAL and for the awesome prize.

And, as an added bonus I won a prize from the KAL. Kristen announced me as one of the winners at the end of the KAL and she awarded me a Kimi Silks project bag. I am extra chuffed that on top of having a gorgeous new sweater to wear I won something in the KAL. Who would have thought I'd be so lucky?

The best kind of mail

There is always a bit of a buzz when mail arrives and there is even greater joy when that parcel is a gift or a prize as opposed to the stream of packages that arrive from online shopping. I received such a parcel yesterday and I definitely gave out a squee of delight when I got it.

A couple of weeks ago I won one of the prizes from Bonnie Sennott of Blue Peninsula's selfish KAL. She was giving away a skein of Elemental Affects Cormo; a set of Lavender Hill Knits stitch markers; and a Ravelry “sheep mistake” pouch (A collector’s item! These are sold out - the new ones will have the word “Romeldale” spelled correctly.) I submitted my Sawmill River Hat that I knit in Brooklyn Tweed Loft and by random number generator selection I won the skein of yarn.

The yarn is a 100% Cormo wool fingering weight yarn and the skein is a generous 550 yards. The colour is a lovely mustardy greeny yellow and the long staple of the Cormo fibre gives it a naturally beautiful lustre. The fibre is soft and squishy to touch but still has an essence to it that shows that it hasn't been overly processed. I love how this skein is able to be both a shiny, soft wool while retaining it's rustic woolliness.

I am already dreaming up projects that I can knit with it. Since it is a generous 550 yards I can definitely get a substantial single skein project out of it. I am leaning towards another one of Bonnie's patterns; the Hop Brook scarf, but then I thought maybe I could pair it with one of the single skeins of Ton of Wool Cormo that I purchased when Kylie Gussett was closing out her business. I'm not 100% sure about the pairing of the cooler blue-grey tones of the Ton of Wool skein with the clearly autumnal tones of the Elemental Affects Cormo. Pictured together they are not too bad but I will definitely have to swatch to see how they sit together in knitted fabric.

Please share your suggestions on what to knit, especially if you have worked with Cormo before and have noticed any specific peculiarities of this fibre.

I always want to express my immense gratitude to Bonnie for hosting such a fabulous KAL and for the amazing prized. Thank you!