Winter knitting has well and truly descended upon us, fellow crafters! Whether this feels like snowflakes on your nose and eyelashes or having an armful of slush sholved down the back of your neck, my thoughts are with you as, for once, I get to be annoyingly smug this year and done with the xmas knitting already! (sorry not sorry) :).
This meant that I could turn back to projects I had going for myself. The most exciting and scary of these was my Embla cardigan by Anna Kristín Helgadóttir knitted in Lett Lopi yarn from Istex. I bought the yarn and pattern for this at the Icelandic knitting festival back in September and I was daunted by the steeking and of doing my first non-English pattern, but I absolutely love the finished cardi- it has the perfect combination of design,warmth and wearability for me. I wondered if the arms and body length would be a bit long (it comes down to just below the bum and is form fitting with waist shaping), but it turned out perfect. I usually don’t take an awful lot of care about doing stranded knitting floats properly or finishing button holes, but for some crazy reason I decided this was my moment to do everything properly, and I’m pleased that I did! No more moaning about my buttons not doing up properly like I usually do :)
My other recent FO is a modified Barley hat by Tin Can Knits. I made a grey Barley last year from Rowan’s Creative Focus Worsted yarn, which is a smooshy blend of wool and alpaca. I wear that hat on an almost daily basis now the weather calls for it, but not every day is a grey hat day, and as I love that hat, I wanted to make a pink version too with a fake fur pompom. I followed the Barley pattern using the same yarn, leaving out the garter section this time as I couldn’t be arsed, and sewed the pompom on top.
Now to attend to the other neglected WIPs….
Wherever you are, a very Merry Christmas to you, and enjoy your holiday knits! :)
Rosie x