Last year there was a call for test knitters in the Kate Davies group on Ravelry which I greedily added my name to because I love her work. It was a really interesting process, part of a block of striped knits from the Knitting Season club, the test knitting to show variations on the stripe idea with the constraints set (no colour to be used for more than 3-4 rounds).
So, the process went: add name, wait, got chosen (lucky), pack of beautiful jewel-toned Milarrochy Tweed arrives, pattern + images/instructions made available, cast on. The deadline was a little tricky for me, something I need to remember if I ever offer to do test knitting again, I'm awful with knitting deadlines.
I spent ages fannying about with the colours, it was fun to see how they worked alongside each other, finding pairings and deciding on my favourite shades. I LOVE Cranachan, Hare and the pale blue which I believe is called Smirr. I'd love to see a Moder dy knit using Milarrochy Tweed, probably on 4mm needles, so it'd come out smaller but still be a good usable size. My Moder dy is in constant use, it's the best thing I've ever made (apart from the second one I made for James).
So what happened next? Like anyone would ever ask that! Well, I knit and I knit, stitch by stitch till I realised I'd not read the instructions thoroughly... Story of my life, that is.
Above, this was not what the instructions wanted me to do! This was a week's work and was ripped out (much to my dismay). But see below, ooh! Much better (photo of the inside of the jumper).
The rows got longer and longer, I beavered away and the deadline loomed, other people's finished jumpers began appearing in the communal Dropbox. Meanwhile I was stewing over essays, work experience and my university interview, as well as the Dathan pullover. I liked having my Dathan WIP with me while all this was going on, knitting is such a comfort, a reminder of home and an instant 'happy maker'.
Dathan blowing in the breeze. And me wearing it, action shots of the jumper, well, maybe not action shots! I'm really coming round to this cropped style of pully.
Ooh, it's been ages since I last posted! I've been busy writing essays (and REALLY enjoying the process), coming back to learning has been the best decision I've made in ages. Conversely, I see a lot of even more mature students than I, retired folk who are doing art courses, they make me feel very happy, I love that people can go back to education, perhaps pursuing something they weren't encouraged to when they were younger.
I've finished a few things since I last posted. My sparkly skirt (above), a cushion for Oliver (which was supposed to be a blanket) and Peerie Clews! Peerie Clews is an absolute delight, I'm wearing the cardigan a lot. But first, the skirt, Skjort Pa Vranga (which won't copy/paste here for some reason), is a pattern by Strikkelisa, part of Ninapetrina's Knitting with Gradients collection. The skirt is supposed to be fuller, longer and knit with gradient yarn. I would like to knit a second one, charcoal gradient with sparkle again, the sparkle yarn is King Cole Cosmos, lovely stuff! Finished the skirt just in time for a brief spell of cold weather here in the UK which included a horrible drive home, culminating in a line of stranded cars on the hill. I got towed back to Biddulph Moor by a nice bloke in a Hyundai and noted while I was stuck that the only vehicles which made it easily up the hill were Hyundais and 4x4s - Audis fared worst. I know everyone laughs at the Brits because of how the country grinds to a halt when it's snowy, but when you're not used to it and your car suddenly doesn't grip the road it is scary. Also, it's fun to poke fun at us, silly EU-leaving British people with our Boaty McBoatface. Incidentally, Boaty McBoatface is the reason I always give when I say the British public should not be given important things to vote for!
The snow was so pretty though, I love snow.
Here's Peerie Clews, the best cardigan I've ever knitted. Pattern from the Vintage Shetland Project, yarn is quite unsuitable for the most part, well, it's a lot of merino singles which I held double with various lace-weight BFL anf kidsilk to ensure the colourwork had 'grip', I don't like colourwork stitches sliding around and not forming a cohesive fabric... I love it so much I'm planning on knitting a Bowland cardigan following the same gauge/mix of patterns.
So, for Peerie Clews I mainly followed the chart and used the stitch counts from another vintage pattern and Kate Davies's Ursula cardigan. I have a KD project to share as well but I'll put that in a separate post.
Since finishing these two garments I've cast on a few more items including Andrea Mowry's lovely Shifty sweater, Marie Wallin's lovely Sage Tunic and a second House Dressing with a different hem pattern (for Christmas 2019 - lovely!). Tonight I have also cast on Karie Westermann's Shawl for an Art Lover, a ridiculously beautiful shawl that I'm nervous about knitting as it's lace and lace is hard (for me). It's encouraging to see Ravelry friends push themselves and their knitting, makes me feel I can do so too!
Speaking of Ravelry friends, it's been impossible to miss the sweeping change in the knitting community, a 'simple' acknowledgement of the whiteness of much of it as well as some truly appalling things fellow knitters have experienced in terms of discrimination.
I worked through Layla F. Saad's Me and White Supremacy book and found many an "oh..." extremely mortifying sort of moment. Things I would brush off as being 'harmless' turn out to be much less so, I really do recommend it - here.
The absolute worst thing for me was reading how excluded and sad people have been feeling. This feeling of not fitting in, on the fringe of groups, never properly a part of them, certainly not feeling represented. Knitting has always been such a friendly welcoming hobby for me, I always go on about the community but I just slot right in, I've no experience of the other side, so to read others' experiences to the contrary has been pretty deflating (in a good way I think). Good because ignorance doesn't change anything.
