This week I started (and finished) a quick-knit hat in a new Classic Elite yarn, Ava. It’s sparkly! The sparkles match the colorways! Purple rules! Here is my version of Bastille.
I also cast on for a new Sivia Harding cowl, Wild Iris. I’m using a skein of Tosh Light in Mare that I’ve had stashed for some time now.
Project: William Morris Mojitos
Pattern: riffing on Rubbish Mojitos
Designer: Woolly Wormhead
Available: £3.00 GBP on Ravelry
Yarn: Tosh Light in “William Morris”
Some time ago, this skein of yarn followed me home:
It tried to be a lot of things, but nothing worked. Eventually, I riffed on a pattern by Woolly Wormhead and made a hat … it’s not a perfect hat, but it’s warm and soft, and perfectly serviceable :).
Allow me to present, Miss Cranberry Wensleydale, of the Cheddar Wensleydales!
Project: Cranberry Wensleydale
Pattern: Wensleydale
Designer: Heather Ordover
Available: a mere $1.50 on Ravelry
Yarn: leftover Tosh Light in Alizarin
Materials: itty bitty safety eyes
I haven’t made a little knit toy just for fun in a long time, but that’s exactly what this was! Someone suggested I should stuff it with catnip. They would be mistaken.
Heather Ordover’s pattern is straight-forward. After the nose is complete, there is no shaping until the bum. I opted for the “knit separately, then sew on” version of the ears, and I ended up sewing them on upside down (I think), but they looked cuter that way, at least to me. I also bought and used safety eyes for the first time. They are SO much better than flat sewn eyes — they look right the first time, and don’t have to be redone a hundred times because the first 99 made the animal look demented.
Also? Cranberry Wensleydale is the best cheese.
I finished my Catkin a couple weeks ago! I’ve been wearing it a LOT because it is so lovely.
Project: Tute Catkin
Pattern: Catkin
Designer: Carina Spencer
Available: $7 on Ravelry
Yarn: Tosh Light in French Grey and Byzantine
Buttons: LaMode Style 24794 1/2” antique silver (purchased at Jo-Ann’s)
This is a pattern designed for Tosh Light, and I found two colors of Tosh Light I loved … is “French Grey” a brownish grey, or a greyish brown? Either way, it really allows the Byzantine to shine. Working with a single-ply yarn is always a bit more challenging that working with a nice round plied yarn, but sometimes the results are just so lovely, I don’t mind a bit.
The striped neck section was a bit boring to work, and keeping track of the increases was a pain. I stalled out a bit there. I stalled out again in the textured middle section, until I figured out the pattern and didn’t have to watch the chart as closely. The slipped-stitch lollipop section was fun, fun, fun — no stalling out there at all, even though the rows were at their longest.
I especially adore the slipped-stitch vertical stripes at the corners!
I was going to cast on for a hat last week. Really! I wound my Tosh Light (in William Morris)…
… then I put it in a bag with the right size needle and my copy of Weekend Hats …
… and then I waited for the right moment to cast on.
But, instead … I bought new yarn at the Hub Mills Store when I worked on Friday. Pashmina in Firewood
The photo does not really do it justice. This on one of those layers-upon-layers colorways — rainbows under water, oil in a jar, gorgeous beyond reckoning! I’m making myself a Goodale cardigan with it. I’ve already got about two inches done. It is so soft and pretty! The William Morris hat will have to wait a bit longer.
Remily Knits 