Filler

Sorry that I've been a bit quiet. I’ve not done a huge amount of knitting recently, so I’ve not had so much to talk about.

I do have a finished object to show you. It’s a vanilla pair of socks. The yarn is Sirdar’s new Heart and Sole sock yarn and the pattern is the one that’s on the inside of the ball band. The colour is Hyper Hyper 105 and I really like the yarn. It’s not a fluffy yarn, it has some body to it and from first appearances, it looks like it would wear well.

The pattern was quite nice too. It has an extra long rib so it can be turned down, if desired and both the toe and the heel has slipped stitches. The long colour changes make a change from a lot of sock yarns and I think it could hold a pattern and still be seen. A lot of these fair isle effect sock yarns make any pattern very difficult to see.

This shawl is a work in progress and think it will be for some time, as I’ve got lots of other knitting to do first.

The pattern is Rendevous Shawl by Lily Go and the yarn is Posh Yarn Gretchen Heavy Lace  and the colour is Light Years Away.

The other project on my needles is beautiful cardigan from the Celebrating Family book by Debbie Bliss. I’ve only got the sleeves and the edging to do, so hopefully I can show you that soon.

FO: Vitamin D

I have a finished object to show you. My Vitamin D cardigan. The pattern is by Heidi Kirramaier and it was very easy to follow. 

Turned hem - right side

I did make one or two little alterations. The main one is the sleeve hems, which I changed from garter stitch to turned hems. I thought it would give it some weight and stop them from flipping up. I worked the sleeve until the length I wanted then purled one row. I switched to smaller needles and worked 6 rows and cast off. Finally, I sewed them down. I was really thrilled with how neat the sewing on the inside is. I lined up the cast off stitches with the ones  directly above it and used a whip stitch. I made sure the stitch was identical each time and I'm glad I put in that little extra effort.

Turned hem - wrong side

I was really worried when it came off the needles as the garter hem was flipping and wonky. I normally don’t worry but the yarn has a very high proportion of acrylic and I wasn’t sure how well it would block. I'll be brave and show you pictures of me in my Vitamin D.

Before blocking

Before blocking

After blocking

After blocking

I didn't need to worry though as it blocked beautifully. 

The yarn is very unusual. It's Bergere de France Cabourg. The mix of acrylic and hemp makes a different texture - hard to describe but silky and prickly at the same time. I really liked it, it has a subtle sheen to it. 

Pity it’s a little too warm here at the moment to wear.