Purple Cashmerino Cowl

It's been a bit of a busy week this week! I've been working on my christmas presents, playing around with designing new patterns and working towards setting up my Etsy shop. So what can I show you today? Not presents:-) and not everything is photographed for the shop and the patterns are, well, still at the scribbling stage!

But I can show you the next cornflower cowl I've been knitting. As this is probably for me anyway, its no real secret - and its been sitting on the sidebar as a work in progress for a bit now too:-) My Debbie Bliss cashmerino finally arrived and I cast on pretty quickly. After the alpaca its not quite so soft but it does give this pattern a chance to show of its complex twists and cables.

Although I've only knitted a few inches, you can see the pattern emerging and how crisp its looking. Very different from the first grey version but I like it in a different way. For a start the colour is gorgeous - even though it photographs a different colour in every picture! And although not alpaca, you must admit cashmerino isn't bad at all:-) I should have been further on than this but I spent an hour or so knitting this watching tv - fatal!! - and made a mistake which, of course, I didn't realise till I stopped. So, it took me only a few minutes to rip back my hour's worth of work. Ach well:-) Back to the same place I started at! Best not to knit this while being distracted by television, I think!

If you are interested in knitting the Cornflower cowl pattern, its now up on Ravelry here  - free for a limited time only. I was going to knit this in the smaller height but I don't know now. I do like the idea I could cover my nose and ears if it gets a bit too nippy! And the weather here is getting darker and colder now so I'd better get this knitted and off the needles soon!

If the weather is a bit brighter tomorrow for photos, I should be able to give you a preview of a few things going into my shop  - opening 1st November!!  Only a few days to go - yikes!

Roses are red and verity's are blue!

At last, at last, the beret's are finished! I've really enjoyed making them but I think I need a rest from hats! But I am really pleased with 'Rose Red'. This Ysolda pattern is even more fascinating than the Verity pattern and I enjoyed that immensely. I think using Cashmerino yarn might have helped the look and the overall feel.

I just love the cabling that goes all the way to the bottom. This did take quite a bit longer than the verity and I ended up getting distracted trying to watch television and having to take back sections. But, it's all a big learning curve!

After subtly (or not), trying to guage whether my friend would prefer the petrol verity for her birthday, I realised that the tactile aspect is so much more important than a lovely looking hat - she loved the pattern, she loved the colour, she loved the cookie button - but the feel was "not as nice as the cashmerino". A lady with excellent taste!
Now my quandry was - birthday in three days, beret to knit, soft yarn to find.... Ah Ha!! Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk! Okay, it's DK but knitting the large size should work???

Long story short - it did! Not as full as I would have liked and definitely a lot neater that even the magenta DK verity but still a lovely, soft, verity beret. I don't think I would use the alpaca again for this pattern but it would be nice on the rose red or another pattern with more structure to help it keep its form.
(sorry the pictures are so poor - only managed to finish near midnight and had to wrap then and there, so artifical light was all there was.)


I took a picture of the yarn before I knitted for my Ravelry stash so you can get a better idea of the final colour - a bit bluer without the yellow cast.


The only issue I have now is that I intended to use this yarn to knit a rose red for my sister to replace the purple verity with the tight headband. Oh, dear! Does that mean I will have to buy some soft, yummy yarn? I'm sure I've seen some gorgeous hand painted merino on Ravelry......

Rose Red

This lovely hat designed and made by Ysolda is Rose Red, my knitting project of the moment. I am including the original picture as mine is nowhere near finished yet but it gives you an idea of the complexity and balance of this pattern. If you want to look at it in more detail or try knitting it you can buy it here. I would highly recommend this as an elegant, considered design that looks complex and gives you a feeling of achievement - and a damn good looking hat when you've finished. (People think you have awesome knitting skills!)

Anyway, this has also shown me just how rusty my hand knitting skills are! Using the knitting machine enables me to see structure and form more easily but I'm having to remember abbreviations in hand knit that I took for granted before. It's like you still understand the structure and what it should look like but the sequence with the needles isn't flowing quite as smoothly as it once did. So, these hat patterns by Ysolda are gently breaking me back into hand knitting.

I'm checking everything - YO for instance. I thought I knew this one at least but since I mucked up SSK and had to look online for a video, I began to question myself and decided to check how much of my knowledge was a bit faulty. So I discoverd that YO is done differently if you follow with a Knit stitch or a purl. Thank you Knitwitch for your online videos! Now my hats are looking more like the pictures!

Progress so far.....

See? Now we have perfect crisp YO's and in the next section we will have lovely SSK's! They will be beautiful! I also went out and treated myself to some Debbie Bliss yarn to knit this in - A darker red Cashmerino DK. It is so soft to the touch and makes you value your knitting that little bit more. If this one works out then I will use this or Ysolda's verity pattern for the next pressie on my list. I also got some Alpaca silk - again debbie Bliss - in a green/blue shade. Aaahh.... such lovely colours and so soft! So keep a look out in the next week for that one too. Maybe Ysolda will have written another hat pattern by then?!

I am also beginning to use Ravelry more now, so you can also check any progress there too if you are already a Ravelry member - registered as tootiefruitie!

Until then, happy knitting!