Knit and natter

Time for a little knit and natter. As the seasons change I knit a little less because the light nights lure me outside in the evening. This year is no different and with a brand new garden to tend to there there is much less chance of sitting indoors to knit than normal.

My winter knitting draws to an end with another Kate Davies knit from Ten years in the Making called Evendoon. Evendoon is a scots word for straight forward...you guessed the rest right? It is made with Drops Lima in rust mix, a new colour for me but very welcome.

What I did find out was that the length straight from the Kate Davies pattern was absolutely spot on for me and shows that I don't need to keep lengthening her designs for fear of showing my midriff.

Armed with this useful information I have done something I have never done before, call it maturity getting older but I have frogged a previous garment to get the length right! Five years ago I would never have considered unpicking anything but today, as I look at that unworn-too-long-tight-sleeved Carbeth Cardigan the feelings of having a tinker with it seem just right.

The buttons have been saved; the safety line marks the actual armhole to hem length and the wool on the tray holds the sleeves. In all honesty, I don't know how I am going to tackle this further because the arms were too tight in the circumference on the original and I don't have more wool (also you loose some during frogging) so I am letting this project evolve into a Carbeth creation of some kind over time.

In other knitting news,I had 2 balls of left over drops Paris from my sleeveless sweater in 'heather' (see raspberry!) and a nearly full ball of blue left over from a Heidi fair isle knit.

Today I finished a rather useful pattern for a shawl called the Counterpart from the Knitter issue 161. Useful, how so?  Well, you follow one chart with your first ball until it runs out and then follow the second chart until your second ball runs out! Those are actually the instructions, allowing me to create something to fit the materials to hand. So this pattern will be useful for any two balls that are left over. I did shoehorn the last bit of blue in the centre too. I struggled with the second chart but added more garter stitch where I couldn't work it out - still, a great pattern to try again.

Knitting with Drops Paris is an acquired taste. I always like the finished garments and the price tag but it is a bit like knitting with string and can be tough on your fingertips which is why it is a good project to have in between another. 

She always chooses the hat from the cupboard

and now has a matching scarf.

All done with Drops Paris for a while. Back to scratching my head with that Carbeth now. Thank you for dropping in.

Jo xxx