Lake District

The steam trains were running on our first weekend there, here's James in the corridor of the train enjoying the steam coming through the window.

As always I came home with a large collection of pebbles, river pottery and crystals! The crystals are from Mungrisdale, a magical place to walk about, very quiet, breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful.

It was the most wonderful time of year to go (February) I've never been during the low season before, OK, it was bitterly cold (we got lucky and made it home before the unusually snowy weather hit). Brilliant though. I did miss Threlkeld Mining Museum (we always go), but it was closed. Next year!

Stripey Dress

I haven't enjoyed a project this much in AGES. This was so much fun from start to finish, even weaving all the ends in- did that in stages of course, I never leave all the ends to weave in TILL the end of a project like this, it's just asking for trouble really isn't it?

So, I've said this before but the project was inspired by one knit by Kristy Glass, she's the vlogger who does the 'Tell me about your Rhinebeck sweater' videos and LOADS of other videos/interviews. She did an interview with Chantal Belisle recently, I loved it, Chantal was hilarious, I loved how she happily swore with abandon (you rarely hear any swearing on any podcasts) she really is a character.
Anyway, Kristy Glass made this dress and it became one of those projects which preoccupies my mind, I really wanted to make one.

I took some pictures inside as it was so cold. Added a sunhat as it seemed to tie-in with the fact that this is a summer dress!

The yarns are a mixture, some are Aran-weight, some DK, some Sock/4-ply. To mix the weights I held yarns doubled a lot of the time. The white yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners DK (Ecru), I cast on and cast off with this white and striped it throughout the dress to pull it all together. Other than that I went for a colour palette of blues, pinks and lilac. Most yarns were Life in the Long Grass, an old favourite of mine.
Sometimes I would add in a colour and then think it looked awful and then I'd have to spend ages mulling over whether I should rip it back or not. I found that it all went together quite well in the end though! It's a lovely light dress, perfect for the warmer months and very different to my usual dresses which are generally for the cooler months. I was thinking about the UK and our weather the other day, trying to figure out a rough percentage of cool months/warm months. I bet there are charts somewhere which illustrate this actually.

Anyway, it was the perfect car knitting project for our short holiday in the Lake District, much better than the socks I took one year. Long rounds of fairly mindless knitting + lots of colours = happy me!

Carbeth + Instagram

Couldn't resist this pattern. I had just the right sort of yarn in my stash, the use of which I had changed my mind about and so I wasn't sure what to do with it. Then Kate released her Carbeth jumper pattern! The yarn (Berocco Blackstone Tweed) is very similar to Buachaille (Kate's yarn), same metreage, same feel, same thickness. I had just the right amount too so it had to be cast on immediately.

I have since given this jumper to my sister Sam. I'm not convinced that I like oversized jumpers just yet. Sam proved to be a very worthy recipient though, she had admired the jumper on my (deleted) Instagram account and it fits her very well.
Speaking of Instagram, I deleted my account maybe a week ago. I'm not sure. I regret my decision because I discovered Kate Selene yarns only the other day and Instagram is one of the best places to share stuff like that with like-minded people. Honestly, I hate being so impulsive sometimes.
I was on it far too much so instead of limiting it like a sensible person, I deleted it. I've downloaded the app again and will be back on there at some point. I'm not finding it easy to sign back up what with wi-fi and network issues. I suppose that gives me time to think of a username though.
Edited to add that I chose the very original username of Birdsongknits_again... Ha!

Xania Dress

One night I was lying in bed and couldn't drop off to sleep, kept thinking about yarn and knitting, so I got my phone out and started browsing patterns on Ravelry (not a sleep-aid I know). Ended up on the Pickles pattern page and from there to their website where I found the Xania dress! (now on Ravelry by the way).
Xania turned out to be another of those projects which I really wanted to knit straight away, a lovely combination of mohair and merino yarns in the lovely Pickles colourways. I chose the dusky red/pink of the original and was DELIGHTED when my yarn arrived, the plump Merino or whatever it's called (can't remember) is the softest, squishiest stuff - absolutely scrumptious yarn.
So I cast it on, learnt how to do fisherman's rib stitch and knit the dress up over the Christmas holidays. Here it is!

There were a few things I wasn't 100% happy with. The first was the weight of the dress, I found it pretty heavy to wear. The second was the very visible increases at the yoke, I wasn't too keen on that section visually. The third was that after wearing it for a few hours, it sort of morphed into a big shapeless sack on me. It's a shame as I really loved it in the Pickles photos. I definitely made it too long, it would probably be more flattering as a mini-dress. Lessons learnt there, I was very determined to use all of the yarn up but, well that was silly as I ended up with a dress which was too long.

Looking miserable as sin. Miserable/angry! Honestly, I always say this but I find it so difficult to model my knits... I could crop my head out of the photos but I think it looks a bit weird, a headless photo.

But hey ho, Xania is out of my system now! I've unravelled it (this bit was fun) and plan on knitting the yarn up into a big soft sofa blanket, probably following Sylvia McFadden's new pattern, Equal Night. I saw the smaple for Equal Night on the Coffee and Craft podcast on YouTube - it looks gorgeous.

Homely bits

In between knitting dresses I have been working on odd things which I've wanted to make for ages but never did because they're a little boring.

The first of these items were a pair of elf hats with jingling bells, the first for James's Christmas play at school, the second for Ol as he wanted one too!
Next came a crocheted cushion cover (above, pictured with my Ella Gordon Crofthoose cushion), said cover was done in single and double crochet using vintage tapestry wools I bought on ebay. This was one of those projects which lingered on so long and grew so slowly that I had to force myself to focus on it and get it finished. That sounds horrible, but I wanted a new cushion cover and I knew I'd be really happy with it once it was finished (I was very glad I made myself finish it!!). I love finishing things so much, focusing on an item at a time and getting stuff done. It's definitely a working method that works for me and adds to my enjoyment of knitting.

Straight off the back of my cushion cover success I cast on a cover for our draught excluder which was looking very tired and holey. It's definitely the closest to a 'fade' I'm ever going to get! I said this last year but I'm still enjoying watching all the knitting trends and mulling over past 'hot patterns'. I really want to knit another Audrey in Unst (remember that classic?), also a couple of patterns by Connie Chang Chinchio, patterns I've wanted to knit for years and patterns that were 'hot' for a time a few years ago.
I like a good challenge or goal in my knitting (there's something quite fun about personal challenges), so I decided that this year I would love to cross two particular cardigans off my 'must knit one day' list. The first is the Sabbatical cardigan, a cardigan I have attempted in the past and failed at because I found it so difficult. I wasn't using markers between pattern repeats for one thing, also, I was using up stashed yarn I didn't like. It was only going to end one way really.
Here she is, the Sabbatical cardigan! I will be using Rowan Kid Classic for this knit.

The second cardi is Connie's Mountain View cardigan. With this one I remember seeing it on Ysolda's blog many years ago - here's a link. I love this one, it's been in and out of my queue since I first saw it (same with Sabbatical), looks a perfect summertime cardi. It's simply a lovely classic shape.

I also finished cowls for the boys and a pair of woollen mittens for James. This finishing is in no small part down to the Strikplaner Rich bought me for Christmas. I know, I shouldn't need a book to make me knit & finish things but there's something nice and focusing about it. It certainly works for me! I am easily distracted, particularly by selfish projects and impulsive cast-ons. Like I said, I've found that NOT finishing things makes me a little dissatisfied, so it's been fab to have my diary to write a short bit in each night and help me focus. The boys were DELIGHTED with their new knitted accessories.

Here are the mittens and (upside down) cowls. Both are patterns by Tincanknits, both patterns are multi-sized from baby to adult and are FREE. So generous of Tincanknits :-)

House Dressing!

I've just noticed that I never got round to posting about my House Dressing dress. I was rather tired after finishing it and the fun of the Christmas weeks sort of got in the way. The dress was worn a LOT over the last month (I really need to wash it...).

I only made a couple of modifications, first was the garter stitch hem, which came about because I messed the hem up on my first attempt, twisting the stitches. I just unravelled the hem and cast on a second time, then I knit back and forth (flat) till I could be certain that I wasn't going to twist it again.
The colourwork took an age and was quite tricky, some mega-long floats and intarsia. Still, I got there with it eventually! Then it was skirt time and decrease time, although this section took me ages as I kept working on other projects and really, I don't do well with multiple WIPs so this one ended up being folded and stuffed under the bed.

Finally I had cleared my needles and picked this dress up again determined to have it ready for the beginning of December. I nearly did, I knit the top, did my 3-needle bind-off and it didn't fit. It looked like a big sack!! I was so disappointed and frustrated (I'd tried it on as I knit the top). Hey-ho. I unravelled it and mulled it over for a bit. My solution was to knit the top section o a different dress that I know fits me when knit at the gauge I was working at (Ruis by Jatta Saukko). Instead of joining the skirt and top with a 3-needle bind-off, I picked up the skirt stitches and knit the ribbed underbust section on smaller needles (after decreasing). I then switched back to my larger needles and did the top and sleeves.

This is probably the most perfect dress I have ever finished, just in terms of the overall style & fit. It's very wearable and was definitely my most worn dress over the Christmas weeks. I would definitely consider knitting another one of these at some point this year, just with a different colourwork pattern on the hem.

Fern + Feather

Back in June or July I was asked if I fancied test knitting a couple of Jenn Steingass's designs, this one and Treysta. I fancied knitting both thank you very much, so I ordered wool and cracked on with my Moder dy and then my wrist started hurting. I finished Treysta but didn't cast Fern + Feather on. I was a little sad about this but tendon care was definitely the order of the day.

I cast Fern + Feather on finally at the beginning of October, I can't remember why as I already had a couple of projects on my needles and I hate having more than 2 projects on the go... I think it was because I'd finished my Treysta dress and was so pleased with it that I wanted to crack on with this one!

I knit the top section as written up to the underarms when I started increasing my needle size every inch or so, from 4mm to 6mm. I then did subtle increases every 3", ribbing till my wool ran out and cast off all of the edges with my contrasting colour.
I don't know if Lett Lopi has got softer or if I've become desensitised to it but I find this lovely to wear, fuzzy, warm and soft in a woolly way. My sister commented that the wool ball felt like a Brillo pad! Desensitised then...

Even James said it was 'lovely and softie wool'.

Treysta

I finished my Treysta dress a couple of weeks ago! Hooray. It was a bit hard-going on my wrist, the yoke fabric was very dense with my yarn choice (Jamieson's Shetland Heather - aran weight). I switched to a larger needle size immediately after the yoke.
The pattern is by the lovely Jenn Steingass (Knitlovewool), a designer of wonderful decorative yoked jumpers inspired by nature.

Anyway, I did my photos just standing in the back doorway. Doorway pictures work for light and distance when I'm taking pictures on my own. I try to look at the camera but always end up either fixing it with a steely glare, a creepy smile or a world-weary tired look of defeat. So I look up at the sky or down at the ground and look a bit pretentious instead.

Treysta and the dress I copied the shaping from (Scatness Tunic by Kate Davies). Scatness is a cardigan pattern which I made into a dress, it's my most worn knit, I like its loose wearability and the fact that I can layer it over long-sleeved tops and tights.

Contrast colour to cast off, I stole this idea from Patricia of the Knitography vlogs on Youbute (p4chen on instagram), who did this with her Seachange pullover. Patricia also knit up a beautiful tunic dress earlier this year using that really popular floral yoked jumper from issue 2 of Laine magazine.. I can't remember its name. OK, googled it, it's Birkin, I like that name as it reminds me of the word 'berk', a fun British insult. Don't look up the origin of this now tame insult if you're easily offended.

Kildalton

I forgot to share my Kildalton cardigan! The pattern is by Kate Davies and I cast it on early in the year. It was a very impulsive cast on and contributed to making me very backed up with projects (I hate having too many projects on the needles), actually, I blame Inspired by Isaly! Not that it was all that bad, I got a lovely cardigan out of it, and a blanket... I love Kate's patterns.

The cables were tricky, I never really get along with cables, my brain doesn't seem to like them! I made so many mistakes and towards the end this was a real slog to work on. I found the cables quite hard on my wrist too. It's safe to say that I've been put off knitting cabled garments for a good number of years!

Moder dy

I finished my second Moder dy earlier this month. It turned out really beautifully, all knit using Life in the Long Grass yarns again, they work really well for projects like this. I am finding that I prefer my plainer woollen yarns for clothing but for shawls/blankets I love the hand-dyed speckled yarns.

I was able to block this one more aggressively than I did with my original, the fabric is extremely drapey and falls about my shoulders when I put it on. Of course, it's not mine, it was knit for my son because for the time being, he loves rainbow colours and sparkly things, also soft things. He liked my original blanket so much that I decided to make him one of his own.
The central square section is my favourite part of this version, I alternated strands of Chrysalis and Tangerine Dream (I used Tangerine Dream on its own for the edging), the Chyrsalis added a little extra warmth and yellow tones, it's absolutely beautiful.

I do plan to knit a third Moder dy next year (it makes a good Summer project).

Hap Blanket

I recently cast on Ysolda's lovely Hap Blanket pattern from her first pattern booklet, Whimsical Little Knits. I had just had a visit from a friend who lives far away and I wanted to make her something warm and snuggly because she is such a thoughtful friend and I neglect her! She likes a muted palette so I went for grey and a creamy white. The blanket knitted up so fast, especially fast as I stopped working on James's Moder dy while I had this one on the needles - you can see the Moder dy WIP in the above picture. The Moder dy is now my main focus as I'd like to have it finished before casting on my test knitting.

Lopi for a test knit, some Shetland Heather for a second test knit (both for the lovely Jenn of Lovewoolknits). The Noro is something I'm just mulling over, I'm not sure what to make with it but I'm thinking about a crocheted blanket.

I cast on the stunning House Dressing by Chantal Belisle after seeing it on the Fruity Knitting podcast - I'm using Shetland Spindrift and am really enjoying the knitting although there are a lot of long floats. This is my TV knitting and is a real treat to work on of an evening.
Anyway! Here is the finished hap blanket, steam blocked and already packaged up and posted off, I do hope she likes it.

I was planning on knitting the whole blanket in the edging colour (the light grey) but when my yarn it arrived I discovered that Deramores had the meterage listed incorrectly and that I hadn't enough at all. I decided to use some frogged Merino Aran (Hedgehog Fibres) which I held double. All the yarn quantities are on my Ravelry page here.