WIP – Hansel Half Hap

I’ve always admired knitting bloggers for the sheer speed at which they must knit to maintain a regular posting schedule. I am not that quick a knitter, so today I’m sharing a WIP (work in progress) with you.

Hansel by Gudrun Johnston

How to choose colours for fair isle (when you know nothing about colour theory)

When I shared my Pyukkleen cowl with you last week, I mentioned I’d do a separate post on choosing colours cos it was a PROCESS. So here I am, about to give you terrible advice for choosing colours when I have zero understanding of colour theory.

Pyukkleen

It’s winter here, which means I have a shit ton of hand knits to share with you. My latest creation is the Pyukkleen cowl, from Ysolda Teague’s Knitworthy. I’ve knitted so many garments from Knitworthy now that it has its own tag, and Ysolda patterns make up the bulk of my knitted projects. What can I say, I know what I like.

New Strokkur

It was only a few weeks ago that I shared my Strokkur jumper with you….and now I have another one! You might recall that although I loved the fit and design of the Strokkur jumper, the Lopi yarn I knitted it with was just too scratchy for my liking. So I sold that one, and promptly knitted another.

Winter knitting plans

Now that winter has well and truly arrived, I’m enjoying being snuggled up inside with my knitting. I’ve already shared some garments I knitted last year (Bronwyn and Strokkur), so here are my knitting plans for this winter.

Strokkur

After starting with fair isle hats, the next progression in my colourwork knitting was a yoked jumper. The classic style of a colourwork yoke knit in the round above a plain knit body seems to have been around forever, but it is in fact a fairly recent invention – Bohus-style jumpers appeared in Sweden c. 1940, followed by Icelandic lopi yokes (or lopapeysa) in the 1950s.* They really took off in the 60s and 70s, then as now contributing to Iceland’s national identity and tourist trade.

Icelandic girls wearing traditionally patterned lopapeysa sweaters. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Ljós Hat, and woollen vs worsted spun yarns

You’d be right in thinking I spent most of this summer knitting hats. I tend to knit all year round, and hats are so much easier to manage when a full jumper swelters in your lap and even the thought of wearing wool makes you feel overheated.

My first colourwork – Saudade

I’ve finished my first Fair Isle project, Saudade! In my last post, I mentioned I’d been struggling to achieve consistent tension as a beginner to stranded colourwork. You guys assured me I was on the right track with my technique of spreading and holding in place the stitches on the right needle before knitting on the left with a new colour, and that any imperfections would come out in the wash.

Worn with my Rockcliffe Scarf.

Solas Hat

I gave you a sneak peek of my Solas hat in my Indie Pattern Month post – now here is the full review. Solas is an unusual design and one that didn’t catch my eye when it was first published for Ysolda Teague’s Knitworthy 3. But as I was in need of beanies this winter and wanted to experiment with different styles, I figured I’d get my money’s worth from my Knitworthy purchase and give it a go.

Worn with my Named Helmi Tunic Dress and Named Esme Maxi Cardigan. New specs from Clearly Contacts.

The “What Have I Got Myself Into” Outfit – Indie Pattern Month 2017, Indie Royalty

The title says it all really! After participating in and thoroughly enjoying The Monthly Stitch Indie Pattern Month’s “New to Me” and “Hack It” challenges, I figured I could make use of the “Indie Royalty” theme, in which you create an entire outfit from indie patterns, to knock a few garments out of my queue and sew up some stash. Of course, it wasn’t until I was part way through sewing for the challenge when I realised that the fabrics I thought I had stashed deep in my wardrobe were pretty much non-existent.

Thanks to a few quick trips to Spotlight, I completed the challenge, and had a lot of fun doing so! The patterns I used were: Named Esme Maxi Cardigan, Named Helmi Tunic Dress (are you noticing a theme?), So Sew Easy Custom-Fit Leggings, and because I’m a smarmy overachiever, I even knitted my hat (Ysolda’s Solas in The Fibre Co. Arranmore – I’ll review that another time).