FO: Henslowe 2.0

Just as I had hoped, my Henslowe flung itself off my needles on hopped onto the blocking boards and voilà (casually practicing my French here), it’s done!

Pattern: Henslowe by Beth Kling
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in the Ochre colourway

Henslowe requires 1 skein of fingering weight yarn, which is pretty great. I’m pretty sure 99% of knitters could just dive into their stash right now and come up with a pretty skein, either solid, semi-solid, or even lightly speckled would be great. There’s not too much knitting time involved in this either, the pattern is really not that difficult but has lots of fun lace to work through. Obviously all this, the speediness of the project and low yardage, does mean it is not the biggest shawl ever. If you are looking for a shawl you can bury yourself in, move on. If you are looking for a light lace shawl you can drape over your shoulders and prance around in during summer, this is the shawl for you.

I also just love Malabrigo sock. I have used it a couple of times before, also for some shawls and hats. Ironically, I’ve never knit a pair of socks out of this yarn, and to be honest I don’t think I will. The yarn is lovely and pretty and soft, but has no nylon content and I’d be so worried they would wear out in no time. But yes, for shawls I’d recommend this yarn all the way.

I’m super pleased I now also made this shawl for myself, and look forward to wearing the hell out of it this summer. And for comparison, here is a side-by-side shot of the shawl I knit in 2015 (and gifted) and my brand new shiny Henslowe shawl. I might honestly end up knitting one of these in every colour of the rainbow.

Do you have any pattern you’ve knit multiple times?

Knitting lately

My brain cannot fully comprehend all the changes going on in my life right now. Last week I had my very last working days at the university and in less than a month from now I’ll be moving to Paris. So right now I have one month in between to get things finished up and pack things up. But first and foremost I’m taking some time to breathe. Some time to simply sit and knit and I am loving it.

I’m mainly working on two different projects, one of which might look familiar if you have an incredible memory. This is the Henslowe shawl and I knit it once before as a gift for my grandmother 3 years ago. Back then I had a difficult time actually gifting it instead of keeping it for myself and I swore to myself that one day I’d make this shawl for myself.

This time I am making the shawl out of a skein of Malabrigo sock in the Ochre colourway. Yellow shawls are always a great idea and so far I’ve never made one. Just like last time the shawl is flying off the needles and I hope to have it done and blocked by the end of the week.

I’m also focusing on finishing up this pair of neon socks. The pattern is called Tulsi socks by Verena Cohrs and the yarn is by Koperdraadje. The pattern repeat is easy to remember so it makes for great tv knitting.

Before the big move I’ll have to sort through my entire stash and best case scenario I’ll finish a couple more WIPs so I can feel like I have a complete fresh start in Paris.

 

Let the pompom speak

A couple of months ago I came across the most fantabulous pompoms on Etsy and couldn’t resist impulse buying them (to be found here). They are everything fluffy unicorn dreams are made of, and I knew immediately there was no way my knitting could ever upstage them. I also knew that one of these pompoms would lend itself perfectly as a gift to one of my friends, which is how I ended up making this cute little hat.

Pattern: Frais by Alicia Plummer
Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo in the ‘natural’ colourway

I kept both the pattern and yarn as simple as possible, but obviously without ending up knitting a boring hat. The neatly folded rim combined with the eye-of-the-partridge stitch running across the head made for interesting, yet very quick and simple knitting.

It is of course the pompom that does all of the talking in this hat. It.is.so.pretty!

And luckily for me I have another one in my stash, waiting patiently for me to make a decision on matching yarn + pattern. I’m trying to find a yarn that is a bit wilder in terms of colours, but that will still combine nicely with all the colours in the pompom. To be continued..

FO: Invincible Summer shawl

 

Hello dear little blog space of mine, it’s been so long since I’ve visited and even longer since I last had an FO to share. Luckily, I have finally finished and handed in my PhD thesis, so this is all about to change! Now I can proudly share my first FO of 2018.

Pattern: Invincible Summer shawl by Susanne Sommer (published in issue 2 of Laine magazine)
Yarn: Spingodin sock yarn in the colours veenhout, hunebed, sneeuwuil & mos

This was such a perfect winter knit for me. Firstly, because I loved working with all the muted grey colours and then getting to finish it up with a pop of bright green. Secondly, because this is a truly massive shawl that I can fully wrap myself in during these still very cold winter days.

The shawl is triangular and looks like a whole bunch of garter stitch (which is obviously true), but is very interesting to knit nonetheless. Along the spine of the shawl, as well as the border, you get to work lots of brioche stitch, alternating between one and two colour brioche. Susanne Sommer has published tons of shawl designs which incorporate brioche, all equally stunning. After already finishing the Cosmic Wonder brioche shawl last year I am completely sold on the idea and will hopefully make tons more.

I pretty much followed the muted colour palette as it is published in the magazine, but this could easily be the perfect shawl to work up all those single skeins of bright speckled yarn you have lying around. I’m happy I got to use a Dutch dyer for this shawl, it’s always nice to see what amazing yarns fellow-dutchies can create. I truly love all four of these colours and could easily imagine myself using them again to make a sweater (which is secretly my 2018 knitting goal, year of the sweater anyone?).

What knits are you working on this winter?

Last FOs of 2017

Hello lovely knitterly people. It’s been almost 2 months since I last reported here, which is unheard of! I swear my absence was with good reason. I have been non-stop writing and as a result my PhD thesis is now almost ready to be submitted. Besides writing I have also been on a job hunt, and I’m glad to say with success. As of May next year I will be working and living in Paris! It’s a bit stressful at the moment with all the thesis work and thinking I have to move country in mere months, but at the same time I AM SO EXCITED!

On the knitting front things have obviously been a lot slower. Which is not to say I haven’t been knitting at all, and I have two final FOs to show off for this year. The first is the Netherton Pullover, which was featured in the reissued version of the very first Pom Pom quarterly. With all the stress going on I was looking for a simple project with lots of stockinette and for once I didn’t feel like knitting socks (shocker!). This sweater was perfect for this purpose. As a bonus I knit this beauty up in only 2 weeks. So if you are looking for a quick gratification project, I can highly recommend this one. The yarn I used is from Debonnaire yarns (the Sprite DK base) in the pacific colourway.

And then there’s one more FO. I started this hat last February intending it as a gift. After finishing and washing it I realised it was way way too big and it was frogged, but never reknit. We had such a cold spell a couple of weeks ago that I was craving this hat badly, so the yarn got a second chance and was made into a pretty cable hat after all. The pattern is called Bough and I used Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the Long Johns colourway.

Now I know I have been MIA for awhile, but I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas period and better yet will have a wonderful NYE tonight. What are you looking forward to in 2018?