Fibre Friday

Hi Everyone

My Fibre Friday update has a new planned project : the Garland Sweater by Stefanie Pollmeier. This is a lovely garment which I saw at my local knit group. One of my friends had made this sweater and I was inspired to make a similar version. The sweater is a wide boxy, cropped item with a generous , rolled neck and slightly flared (bell sleeves). I especially like the sweater as a layering garment.

My version will be made from Drops Kid Silk in colour 21 (a bright blue colour). I've done a swatch and it seems I'm 'bang on' for gauge, so that makes life easier. However, I'm not sure what size to go for ? The pattern suggests using the upper arm measurement as a guide. If I follow this advice, I'm knitting the largest size ? But my upper body, generally, is not that large - so I'm a bit confused about that one. I'll definitely discuss sizing with my friend before starting.

 I've never used a mohair yarn before and am quite surprised (from knitting the swatch) how enjoyable it is. I had visions of the yarn getting tangled and knotting. The Ravelry reports on the pattern suggest a lace section on the bottom of the sweater have caused problems for some people, so I'm aware of possibly having to undue knitting. I'm reassured that I could undo knitting, if I need to. I will take extra measures to try and stop any ripping out. I'll report my progress over the next few weeks.

                             

Other news, the Azzurite Mittens by Sonja Bargielowski (for the Blacker Yarns KAL) is moving on at a pace. I've ripped out elements of these mittens so many times but I'm almost there. Alongside the knitting, I'm teaching myself to knit a combined English/Continental style colourwork technique. I think it's a hybrid version of both but it's working for me and I'm very pleased with myself. I'll keep going with the mittens until they are as good as I can make them. Any unsightly elements will be ripped out and repeated. One of the issues with the pattern (for me) is the fit. The length of the thumb and the main part is too long and this impacts on the pattern. So, a bit of resizing is required.

The cardigan from last time (the red M) - read back last week for more, is to be ripped out. I've decided to knit another Nuuk sweater, with some modifications. I'll have more news on this next time.

I've also done a tiny bit of crochet (NO, not the cardigan) - a mini Christmas Tree (apologies for mentioning the word so early) for a Making Workshop project. There will be more on this over the next few weeks.

Finally, I've done a tiny bit of spinning. A few rolags of my current sweater quantity spin - read back a few weeks for background on my spin.

That's it for my update.

Thanks for calling in. Have a great weekend.