And so with January arrived a really nasty bout of chicken pox for the smalls which came with quite a bit of quiet snuggly knitting time, often whilst Red languished in front of dinosaur programmes. First up was Scottish Reel for which I used some yarn I had hand spun. The pattern was really fun and the yarn was pretty successful and I like the finished piece. Having said that, the patterning is a bit of a waste of time (although it made the knitting more interesting) because you really can’t see it because the yarn is so variegated. I worked this out pretty quickly in the knitting but decided to carry on because I was enjoying it and liked how it was coming out anyway and I don’t think there are better reasons for continuing with a project.
As I’ve mentioned before, I got several skeins of beautiful yarn for my birthday and I’d had in mind for ages a pairing of pattern and yarn for one. The yarn was from Babylonglegs and the pattern was Jared Flood’s Guernsey Triangle
The result is just what I’d hoped it would be. This was such a great project for the gloom of January with this vibrant gold yarn that shimmers like it’s been burnished. The pattern was the right amount of simplicity for tired days and irregular routines and the right amount of interest to make me want to keep going until I’d used the whole skein.
Two more projects to go, but neither is complete. The first is the Nepalese Wrap by Kate Davies which appears in a recent Rowan magazine. I’m making this with all my own hand spun yarn and really enjoying it. It’s absolutely simple and straightforward. Perfect chatting knitting although I have been briefly held up by my yarn production speed.
That’s fine though because it’s given me the chance to really get going with Hannah Fettig’s Rocky Coast Cardigan which has been at the back of my mind for two years, and once started is racing away. Another pattern that is pleasingly simple, effective and interesting enough to keep my motivation levels high. I reckon I’ve got the right yarn for this too (second time round, the first lot got eaten by mice but was probably the wrong thing anyway! We don’t have mice any more – they’re not eating the new stuff). Another knitting friend mentioned The Wool Bothy selling on eBay and of course, having looked at the lovely stuff on offer I put a bid in. Good value 100% merino that I’m really enjoying knitting with.
And the smalls are over the pox and are courageously fighting all the other bugs they’ve picked up in its wake. They’re still looking pretty cute to me though.
Knit In Love 