"Minetta" cardigan for 1 May

I'm so proud of this project!! I had already started the "Minetta" once before and frogged it when it was almost done because it didn't fit well. This time I used the recommended yarn ("Titus" of Baa Ram Ewe) and it turned out perfect. I guess that is one of those lessons about using the indicated yarn and measurements and not just freestyling with whatever you have in your stash.

But this time both a wonderful pattern and an amazing yarn came together and it just matches. It was easy to follow the instructions, even though it took me some time to figure out the beginning because the cable pattern only starts a bit further down. From then on it was very straight forward. I only deviated minimally from the pattern, for modifications check my Ravelry notes.

The "Titus" was a Christmas gift from a few years ago after I did a test knit for Baa Ram Ewe and I fell in love with this yarn. It is not cheap but really lovely to knit with and looking at the result totally worth it. I used just over three skeins so actually not too bad. I would definitely use it again, although I want to first wear the cardigan for a while to see how it wears and behaves over time.

After many "meh" projects this one is a total coup de coeur, I can see myself wearing it a lot. The only teeny tiny comment I have is about my own choice of colour: again a light blue. As mentioned in previous posts my resolution for future projects is to be a bit more adventurous with warmer colours.

In the pictures below you can see some lily-of-the-valley from the garden of my parents in law. In Belgium they are given out traditionally on first of May as they are called "May bells" to celebrate Labour Day. We already had them at home but nevertheless, a beautiful accessory for a beautiful 1 May.

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Pattern: "Minetta" by Kirsten Kapur, published in "Knitty", winter 2014
Yarn: "Titus" by Baa Ram Ewe, colourway "Aire"

Norwegian colourwork

This pattern has the very unromantic name of "0611-01 Pullover" but I love the colourwork. I saw Clara's version on her blog a while ago (I think this is where I get most of my inspriration from) and thought it was time to finally get working on this pattern, especially because I didn't knit any lopapeysa this winter (which has become a kind of tradition).

The yarn is hand-dyed with plant-based colours but I don't remember the name of the brand. The colour stayed really nicely and I still like the shade a lot. I realized though that almost all of the jumpers I knitted recently are in some kind of blue. I really need to re-think my colour choices! Maybe some warmer reds or yellows for my next projects.

Nothing special about this knit, maybe I should mention that the yoke is a bit too high-fitting for my taste - some modifications with short rows might have been good but I was too lazy and just followed the chart.

My Ravelry notes can be found here. 

*****
Pattern: "0611-01 Pullover" by Olaug Kleppe
Yarn: Finkhof Merinowolle fein (handdyed blue-green); Rowan Pure Wool Superwash Worsted (ivory)

"Flax Light" mini stashbuster project

This was a bit of stashbuster project with the leftovers from the Brunches and Buds Pullover in my previous post and the baby blanket (which was a scarf in its previous life). As a base pattern I used the "Flax light" pattern by tincanknits which I had already had an eye on for a while.

It was very straight forward and I liked to knit it from the top down because I wasn't sure how much yarn I had left exactly. It worked out quite well even though I wish I had had more of the blue yarn to knit the sleeves in the same colour. But I think it still looks ok with the stripey cuffs.

One last thing I'm not so happy with is the collar: it is way too wide. Next time I'll go down a needle size or maybe cast on a few stitches less. But I want to try more of the tincanknits patterns and this was a good one to start with.

My ravelry notes can be found here.

 

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Pattern: "Flax Light" by tincanknits
Yarn: Leftover scraps of different merino yarns, e.g. Schachenmayr Merino 120 and similar.

Branches & Buds jumper revisited

It took me a while to post this because the jumper has been ready for a few months but I couldn't decide whether I should make it into a cardigan again or not. In the end I decided to leave it as it is for now - luckily I can still change my mind with a quick steek.

The pattern is still very nice and simple, this time I actually used the correctly weighted yarn so it was even easier than my first version I knitted a couple of years ago. A lot of stockinette in the round so yeah, the perfect holiday knit. I have also gotten used to knitting the sleeves attached to the bodice which I didn't like in the beginning because you have to carry the whole project around with you. But from my experience it just looks neater than attaching the sleeves later on.

I used some stashed Schachenmayr Merino yarn that was on sale in Veritas a while ago. While it is neither ethical nor organic I still feel like I'm coming back to this yarn regularly because I know it and it is so much easier to pick a colour if you can see it "in real life" instead of on the internet. I still have some leftovers that I made into a baby jumper which I will post later.

All in all an easy, no-fuss knit. I haven't been wearing the jumper a lot though so I'll see if it will survive in my wardrobe.

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Pattern: "Branches and Buds Pullover" by Carrie Bostick Hoge, published in "Making" magazine
Yarn: Schachenmayr Merino 120

Glittertind

 

This jumper was in my ravelry queue for ages until I finally found the time and energy to tackle it (as a principle I never knit what's in my queue; and if I do it's for sure not the pattern that's on top). Also as a principle I don't use the correct yarn gauge which results most of the time in a wild guess concerning the size. But "Glittertind" made it!

For those who like the pattern it's by Erika Guselius ("Deathcuckoo" on ravelry or "Dödergök" on her blog) and, also as usual, I found inspiration on Clara's blog who knitted a cardigan for her daughter. I saw some other jumpers in the yellow-white colour combination that I liked a lot, for example the "Saffran" cardigan. I wouldn't usually have chosen it because I thought the contrast would be to weak but actually the pattern still stands out enough and is really pretty.

Nothing special to say about the knitting process, except that I have the impression the sleeves are set in a bit too low. But this might also be my fault in skipping the short rows to speed up the process. For now the jumper is still too big so I cannot tell how it will fit in practice.

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Pattern: "Glittertind Version 2" by Erika Guselius
Yarn: Some reclaimed Cygnet DK (yellow) and leftover Rowan Pure Wool Worsted (white)

England & Wales 2018

  

Even though this was not really a well-planned holiday it ended up being quite a roadtrip. The idea was to visit two good friends from Uni (who know each other but are not close friends) and who both had babies on Christmas Day - is that a coincidence or what? Anyways, the idea was to have a "get to know the babies" visit since we were all busy with our own new family additions.

This was extended to a cross-country roadtrip from Dover via Essex, London, Hampshire, and the Cotswolds to South Wales. From there we also visited Bristol and then back to Dover via Oxford. I feel quite accomplished, doing all this with a 5 months old baby! And it was actually less stressful than expected, we're lucky to have a baby that sleeps well in the car most of the time. 

We visited many places that were new to me, too. I really liked Cardiff and Bristol, I almost wished I had studied there because they seem to be very vibrant student cities while not being too big at the same time. Of course we also enjoyed the phenomenal weather at the Essex seaside and Wales was the perfect destination to cool down a little bit while still having more sunshine than usual in this part of the world. London was great as usual (even though we had quite some rain but thank God for museums!) and I must say I forgot how pretty Oxford was. 

Now we're back and we have filled up on takeaway curry, egg & cress sandwiches, fish & chips, and Fentiman's lemonades for a while. But since it was so easy to get there by car this was definitely not the last time we drive to the UK, unless of course BREXIT spoils the fun next year.

 

Surprisingly, I also managed to do a fair bit of knitting. I have now perfected the art of knitting in the car (as a passenger, obviously) to use my freetime as efficiently as possible. So far it works quite well, even though I have to recover the occasional dropped needle or an unravelled skein from under the seat. Above you can see the early stages of another "Branches & Buds" jumper which is actually almost complete by the time I'm typing this. I'm still debating whether I should make it into a cardigan again, as I did with my first version of this pattern. 

More knitting updates to come soon!