It’s been months since I last showed you a finished knit (my change-ringing scarf was the last, back in February!), so it’s high time for a new one. I have, in fact, been knitting during these quiet months, but my knitting luck’s been quite out and I’ve ended up unravelling most of what I’ve made. It’s frustrating to have to do it, but it’s even worse to have useless clothing in one’s wardrobe. Over the past few days I’ve done a serious clear-out of said wardrobe, filling several bin-bags with the aforementioned useless clothing, which will go to charity shops, and will hopefully be useful to someone else. I now feel like I have a clean sartorial slate on which to build. I also have more space, which is even better.

But, all this industriousness aside, I promised a finished knit, so here is my version of Kelmscott.

Kelmscott by Carol Sunday
I used 5.5 balls of Cascade 220 in Silver Gray and 4.5mm needles.
My Ravelry project page

This is a perfect cardigan. I saw it in the Winter 2009 issue of Twist Collective and knew I had to make it as soon as possible. I knew I should consider the matter sanely, and did so for about five seconds before buying the pattern and moving swiftly on to yarn selection. The pattern calls for a light worsted weight angora/merino yarn, but it’s not available in the UK and I find angora too hot and ticklish. I swatched and settled for an old stalwart: Cascade 220, which I knew would make a warm, cosy garment that would also last.

I lengthened the body and sleeves to suit my longer torso, and added an extra button. I also worked a simple crocheted buttonband instead of the loops in the pattern as written (I tried them, but they gaped too much, and my covered buttons looked “blobular” according to a sibling). The lace on the collar and fronts involves patterning on both sides, which requires concentration, but since much of the rest is reverse stocking stitch, there was plenty of mindless knitting.

The result is everything I’d hoped for: warm and cosy but elegant and stylish. It’s great for the season, especially the chilly evenings we’ve been having, and I have no problem with outfit selection because I don’t really want to wear anything else! It’s a worthy addition to my newly minimised wardrobe.

Summer is not my most productive time of year. I don’t know why this is, but ever since the weather’s been getting cooler I’ve been just itching to do and make. I won’t over-analyse it, but I’m glad that I’m feeling more enthusiastic.

Witness the results (both are works in progress, but both are well on the way towards completion!):

Aeolian shawlette, just pinned out to dry.

Some of my handspun being knitted into a doll-sized cardigan.

The above image is of a rather wet cotton jumper, knitted from a 1940s pattern contained in the excellent book, A Stitch In Time, Vol 1. I offer it up as proof of my continued existence, as things have been rather quiet around here lately. I hope to get back up to speed soon!

I’m going through the initial stages of designing something. As is evidenced by the photos above, this involves trying out stitch patterns, reading up on good design practice, and a fair bit of maths. The process is slightly hampered by the fact that I’m resting a sore arm and am therefore not doing any knitting, but I can at least crunch some numbers while I’m waiting. My graph paper notebook is my best friend. (I have three, and have managed to start them all, which is fairly normal for me. I have a slight notebook obsession.)

No knitting means more reading, because I’ve not yet worked out how to read and knit at the same time – unless it’s an ebook. Theoretically, I am being firm with myself as regards books. No new books will pass the threshold until I have read and/or gotten rid of some (preferably both!). I’ve gathered together a pile of historical non-fiction with the intent of blitzing through it in a few months, although I don’t think I’ll be donating any of these. (My other slight obsessions are the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the books shown below are, thus far, very good indeed.)

At the moment I’m reading Harriette Wilson’s Memoirs, which is, apart from the lengthy introduction, entirely in the lady’s own words. She wrote and sold the memoirs in her middle age when in need of money. Before doing so she wrote to all her lovers, offering to refrain from mentioning them if they’d pay her £200, to which the Duke of Wellington famously replied “Publish and be damned!”. The book must, by necessity, be read with a rather large pinch of salt, but it’s an entertaining and fascinating insight into the everyday (and not-so-everyday!) goings-on of Regency life.

Thanks very much to everyone who commented on my previous post! Those three projects are high in my list of favourites – they’re very wearable and go with almost all my other clothes.

On that note, I have to confess to not wearing some of my older projects as much as I thought I would. It’s “eyes bigger than belly” syndrome, I suppose: one sees something and decides one must have it, but doesn’t really think hard enough about yarn/pattern choice and although the finished item is fine, it gets relegated to the back of the drawer for eternity. I hate waste and I’m trying to be very conscious about what will genuinely suit me, and what is just a case of “ooh! Pretty!”. With that in mind, I have unravelled Garland, having very nearly finished it some weeks ago. I tried it on once and realised I’d made an error in judgement. No matter, though! I’ve ditched it without any regrets and am working on the Somerset cardigan from Neoknits, albeit with a few little modifications (I’m making it a bit longer, for starters – oh, and in a different weight of yarn, and with longer sleeves! In for a penny…).

I seem to be unable to keep from modifying patterns these days, and so it may seem like a natural progression that I’m dipping my toes into the pool (ocean?) that is designing. I posted a little preview of this just before Christmas, but now I’ve written up the pattern and can share it with everyone without fear of spoiling the recipient.

Change-ringing scarf: Plain Bob Minor

This is a cabled scarf (a very cabled scarf!) which depicts the change-ringing method known as Plain Bob Minor. I will rely upon wikipedia to explain change-ringing better than I ever could:

Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called “changes”.

These methods are often presented in the form of charts (you can see the chart for Plain Bob Minor here) which just beg to be turned into cable patterns. The scarf uses DK weight (or greater) yarn and for mine, which ended up as 66″ long, I used about 500 yards.

The pattern is free, and you can either go and see it on Ravelry if you have an account, or you can use the above button to download the PDF, which includes both charted and written instructions.

I’m already planning my next design, which will be a little more involved, in that so far it seems to be a cardigan, but without any cables (bliss!). I am swatching and reading Sweater Design in Plain English while waiting for some needles to arrive. It’s a good life.