So the frogging fiasco of last week hurt my knitting heart a little, but nothing that the finishing of this shawl couldn’t heal.

Pattern: Grady by JumperCables
Yarn: Wollelfe Gradient Merino Twin in Kingfisher Teal

There’s something awfully therapeutic about knitting stockinette and garter stitch, no? I loved putting my frustrations into this shawl and watching the effect of the gradient unfold.

I’d say this is a perfect pattern for showing off a gradient yarn. I think I’d certainly knit it again, but maybe next time make the shawl even bigger so that I can fully wrap myself in it. I am so so happy with the yarn as well, Wollelfe did such an awesome job dying this up and it’s bliss wearing this around my neck. An A++ project altogether.
 

In the meantime I restarted working on my cardigan last weekend and have a feeling this attempt might actually be in my size, fingers crossed!

….rip it….rip it…rip it….

Do you hear that ominous sound? Yep, it’s the sound of the frog pond, which is exactly where this cardigan is heading. Probably the least favourite place for any knitter to visit, but an inevitable trip once you figure out that the cardigan you are knitting (of which the body is halfway done I might add) is about 3 sizes too big for you.

I did make a swatch so I was so confident this one would just work at in one go. But a wise person (me) once told me that about 1% of all swatches are evil. There’s no way of telling them apart from the other good swatches, but the evil swatches are known for whispering false promises into your ears and filling your heart with the wildest dreams of fantastically fitting garments. Well I’m pretty sure my swatch was evil (this is obviously in no way my own fault).

The good news about the massive rippage is:

1. This was ‘only’ one week of knitting, so practically speaking if I am going to knit a smaller cardigan I could be at the same point within days
2. I’m unrealistically confident that I will get the size right this time
3. I am loving this yarn-pattern combo (Malabrigo Sock and Lorem Ipsum) so I’m sure the finished project will be well loved

For now I’ll stick to knitting my Grady shawl to comfort me a little, and with a little luck this will be done soon and it can hug me on my second attempt at cardigan greatness.

 

I stuck to my goal of only knitting on WIPs in October, but my period of self-restraint has ended, and I’m indulging in casting on some new projects. I’m also joining in with the My Sister’s Knitter My Fall KAL. For now I’m keeping it down to 2 new projects, one mindless and one thoughtful.

For the ‘easy’ project I’m knitting a shawl with my Wollelfe gradient yarn. The pattern is called Grady and I love working on this shawl, it’s very rewarding to knit towards a new colour this way. Little fluffy Iva agrees this project is a hit, she certainly likes sitting on it. Oh the challenges of taking knitting pics with a cat around.. I did manage to shoo her off for long enough to take pictures, and she kindly posed with the yarn.

Last week my first ever issue of Pom Pom magazine founds its way to my house. I had to wait until the weekend to find some time to appreciate it fully, but what a great decision getting a subscription to this was. If you haven’t seen the featured patterns yet, do have a look on Ravelry. I feel like knitting all of them, but Cicely is definitely speaking to me the most. Getting some yarn for this has just moved to the top of my birthday wishlist.

The little green gauge swatch still needs a wash and a block, but I’m hoping to cast on the Lorem Ipsum cardigan next week as my more thought requiring project. Giving the unusual warm weather we’re currently experiencing in the Netherlands, this lightweight cropped cardigan felt appropriate. The weather for having heavy warm sweaters in progress on your lap is not quite there yet.

Pattern: Tiller by Julie Hoover
Yarn: Rowan Silky Tweed in Mardigras colourway

1 year after casting on this scarf I finally finished it. This is the third FO in my quest of finishing poor old and neglected WIPs (first were some vanilla socks and then the Rye mitts) and it feels good to have this done. Mainly because near the end I was bored out of my mind doing the same pattern repeat over and over every day. I guess this is also not so surprising if you know that this scarf ate 6,5 skeins (some 800+ meters). Cables for days, quite literally.

This isn’t a colour I usually find myself knitting with, but I’m happy with it. This way I can pretty much combine it with anything and it goes with all of my coats, so good chances this will get worn all winter round (or at least as soon as it gets cold, it was 21 degrees celsius today, insane for November!). The yarn is a mix of wool and silk and feels just perfect for a comfy scarf like this. Even though it was tempting to make it a lot shorter, I’m happy with this length. I can quite literally mummify myself in cables and we all have these occasional moments in which the urge for cable mummification become overwhelming.

Now even though I was hoping to finish up one more WIP in a row, the urge for new cast ons has just become too overwhelming. So I do plan to still finish my Northmann mittens before the end of the year, but for now they’ll be neglected just a tad bit longer. Everyday I spend more and more time wandering around my stash, squishing yarns, looking at patterns. There’s only so much strength one knitter can muster.