FO: Grassy Green Top-Down

I have a new jumper. Or rather, a new tunic. I bought the yarn (rowan cashcotton) in a sale last year, and decided the soft tweediness would be best served with a plan stocking stitch top-down raglan. It has quite baggy three-quarter length sleeves, lots of side-shaping and folded-over seams. Other than that, it's plain vanilla all the way. Full details on the project's ravelry page. 

I still just under two balls of the yarn left-over. I was contemplating giving it pockets, similar to Norah Gaughan's Kaari, but I'm not sure how flattering it'd be. I was also thinking about embroidering a tree silhouette in brown wool over the top of the tunic's front, but I like the simplicity of it as it is. Or, I could use the spare yarn to covert this into a proper dress. Or I might just stripe the couple of balls of green and brown yarns I have in my stash into some legwarmers. 

I'll see. Right now, I'm going to put my feet up with a bottle of Guinness, Dr Who and some cabling.

Jumpers. Snow & Pie.

Before we get onto the knitting, my contribution to London(ish) knit bloggers' delight in our recent snowfall. As well as the odd juxtaposition of British phonebox and New York Cab, I love the red and yellow shining in all that white light.

Unfortunately, getting me, daylight, snow and photographer all outside at the same time proved impossible, so these FO shots are quite thawed. Plus, it is still bleeding cold, so it was a matter of running round the corner to the park behind our house, taking photos, running in to de-frost and change jumper, then running back.

Firstly, O W L S. Even ignoring the wonder of the owls, this is a very well written yoke pattern - I may use it for a plain jumper. I loved the waist-shaping at the back, though if it does mean the unworn jumper looks a bit like it has a bustle (this might be because I gave it an extra inc and dec set to accommodate the smaller row gauge and my over-average height) The owls are fun and cute, but the button-eyes give a pretty detail and though I'm wearing jeans here, it looks smart paired with a plain black skirt, grey tights and boots.

I wasn't sure the owls would be dramatic enough in lighter yarn, but I like them now they are all done and have eyes. I was also worried I’d run out of yarn as the seller only had five left, so I decided to err on the side of a smaller size. The result is tight, but works - I’d much rather this way that too big. I needed have worried about the yarn: I've got a ball to spare (I got the yarn on sale - even with the buttons, a very cheap project). The other worry was that I didn't suit yoked sweaters, but I'm actually quite pleased with it. Despite all these concerns, I was completely convinced by the pattern. Not just for those of us who read The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark too much as a child, a properly lovely jumper. Full stats on ravelry.

I also finished a purple tweed jumper (ravelry page here). But it's really plain, so I'll finish with a shot of some hot cherry pie I made last night instead. Because that's what we need in this weather. Warm jumpers and hot puddings.

Finish (in memorandum)

Three FOs, all l dedicated to the memory of Tony Hart, who died this weekend. I loved his TV programmes when I was a kid. Art and design via Tony Hart was always so calmly playful, it was about making interesting and beautiful things from stuff around you; exploring the world through shape, colour and texture. It wasn't about impressing posh people, following instructions exactly or being able to achieve measurable results. It was intuitive. It was creative. It was exploratory. It was fun.

Made for: Kirsty (housemate)
Pattern: In some ways it's Thorpe, but modified for DK weight and added bobble action. It similar to the one I did for Marcus last Valentine's but with more bobbles - which Kirsty says are very useful for attaching her MP3 headphones to.
Yarn: Wool-cotton in Gold.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ.
Ravelled: here.

Made for: Anthony (another housemate)
Pattern: Basic toe-up sock with stripes. I divided the yarn exactly (weighing on kitchen scales) and worked till I ran out.
Yarn: Cygnet Wool Rich 4 Ply (black), with leftover green of Trekking Pro Natura and Dream in Color Smooshy.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ.
Ravelled: here.

Made for: Marcus' mother, in exchange for a jacket she gave me rather than taking to the charity shop (clothes swapping is *so* the new shopping).
Pattern: Basic toe-up with extra embroidery.
Yarn: tea-dyed bamboo sock yarn, with some brown wool as contrast (again, leftovers).
Needles: 2.5 addi circ, my old one - too short to do them both at once, bah!
Ravelled: here.

I was going to spend the evening continuing the Tony Hart memorial by making Morph-like models with plasticine but now Woolies has gone, I'm not sure where I could buy some on a windy Sunday afternoon in Peckham. Instead, I think I'll just watch the Wallace and Gromit movie (Morph's greatest legacy) and swatch for my next project.

Two Xmas FOs

We're having household Christmas next week, and Christmas with my little brother in a couple of months*, so this is just the first instalment of gift-knits. The others are still secret. 

First up, a pair of walking socks for my mother. They are walking rather than anything thing else because they were part of a walkers' pile of presents. She had a 'during' set, comprising of a book of walks by the River, some gingerbread toffee, blister plasters and the socks. Then a 'post-walk' set, with some sockyarn for knitting herself (I gave her Knitting Vintage Socks for her birthday last month), a graphic novel and posh chocolates.

Pattern: Arch-Shaped Socks, done in complete rib, inspired by Zebra. I improvised my toe as I couldn't find instructions from other ribbed versions, but I've forgotten what I did, so please don't ask!
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon from Socktopus.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ, a long one as I did them two at once.
Ravelled here.

Secondly, a jumper for my boyfriend. I told him its a 'first draft sweater', if it doesn't quite fit he shouldn't write off future jumpers, because I'll know to do bits tighter, looser, longer or shorter next time. That said, it works pretty well. The arms are a bit too long - comic handknitted jumper style - so I might steek them a couple of thumbholes. Personally, I think it could be longer on the body, but he likes it and has been wearing it two days in three, so has got on to a good start.

Pattern: Zimmerman's seamless hybrid. I'll use this again for him, and possibly my little brother if I ever feel the need to knit him a jumper. The mix of raglan and saddle really does give good shoulders. All the stocking stitch was a bit boring, but once you get to the yoke its oodles of fun. Plus no seaming. The pattern is a bit hard to follow in places, simply because its a hybrid of other patterns she keeps saying 'like this other sweater', which involves a lot of cross-referencing.

Yarn:  New Lanark Mills DK (the 10% silk/ 90% wool mix) in Blue John, with Cobalt contrast hems. This stuff is great. And so cheap. I really can't sing its praises enough.
Needles: 2.75 and 3.25mm addi lace circs. 
Ravelled here.

* He's living in Syria for a year and hasn't got around to getting himself an address, so he can wait till I see him next for his presents. He spent the day at work (the British Council) which apparently consisted of full Christmas dinner, playing the Damascus version of monopoly and watching the Sound of Music. 

FO: Gold Rosa

I feel like I've not blogged in an age, and my last few blog posts haven't been exactly eventful. The various distractions of living with three other people, cycling and the new job mean I've had little time for knitting, let alone blogging about it. There has also been the usual pre-Xmas secret knitting, so expect another FO post in the new year.

For now though, here's a good-un. Backstory: a while ago, I knitted this beautiful jumper, but it was always a little too big to fit the idea of the perfect aran I had in my head. So I gave it to my mother who is just the cm or so bigger than me needed to make it fit like a glove (plus she didn't have the perfect aran idea in her head to deal with). In exchange she bought me yarn to make Rosa. 

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in bronze. About eight and a half balls.
Buttons: Brown shell ones from John Lewis, I turned them back to front so you could see the flaws which were more interesting and gave more bronze colours which I like with the gold yarn.

Needles: 2mm and 2.75mm circs.

Pattern: Rosa, by Kim Hargreaves, from the Thrown Together collection. 

Mods: I used a slightly heavier yarn, but done a size down. To give it a bit more consistency, I did the ruffles in wool-cotton instead of the pattern's suggested kid silk haze. And because these much thicker ruffles looked like scary little worms at first, I sewed the tops of them down too. I rejected her vertical rib sections and went for standard 1x1 ribbing instead. I also added a couple of button holes, but that was accidental (knitting in front of the telly whilst also arguing about how much to feed the fish...).

Verdict: A very wearable piece, and that's about the most important thing, right? It could be smaller*, but the short-row and side shaping Hargraves is so enamoured by does its job - it flatters in the right places. If I did it again, I'd probably do clever things to mean there was less picking up of stitches and less seaming because it wasn't the most fun knit I've ever done. 

Ravelled: here.

*New Year's resolution. Stop knitting everything so bloody loose. Or at least wash all my gauge swatches and go down more than three needle sizes if necessary, no matter how ridiculous it might seem.