This blog has now moved to

I’ve just finished a lovely poncho for a friend. The yarn is Louisa Harding’s Esquel and the pattern is Ivy  from the Esquel book . It’s the one on the cover. The colour I used was 16 Tomato, which isn’t really a very accurate colour name as it’s much more like a rust / burnt orange colour. It turned out so beautifully and I loved the colour. I keep thinking I’d quite like one but not sure I’ve got it in me to make another at the moment. It’s a beautiful knit but essentially just two big rectangles plus sleeves, so I think another one would become monotonous. Plus, I have an ever growing mountain of projects to do - maybe I'll add it to the wish list. I was very impressed with the yarn. On the ball, I wasn’t enamoured by it. It was nice but not anything exciting. I’m not a fan of single ply yarns and it didn’t feel particularly soft. I’m very glad I’ve used it now because it’s a pleasure to knit with and blocks to a beautifully soft and draping fabric. It’s a mix of 60% merino, 20...

The Torine scarf that I mentioned last week is finished. The yarn was Rowan Truesilk in the sleep colourway. Ravelry project page. I love the colour of the yarn. The sheen of the yarn really brings out the colour beautifully – there’s almost a metallic tint to it. It is lovely to knit with as well. The only little hiccup is it’s very easy to catch and it is a chain construction so difficult to pull the snags back in. It blocked very well. Though I think I spent half an hour threading the blocking wires down the garter stitch ridges but it was worth it. It makes a beautiful and fluid fabric - perfect for a scarf. The central panel is knitting separately to the borders and then the borders are sewn on. Luckily, I like sewing. The borders could have been worked at the same time as the body of the scarf but having the sewn seams gives the scarf some stability and helps with any rolling of the borders. Plus the borders are worked on a smaller needle and this does make for neater garter st...

I love those quick in between projects that just use one ball.  A Good Yarn , Cleethorpes has in stock, the scrummy new Pure Wool Worsted by Rowan . I’d been eyeing the pattern Entrechat for a while and Pure Wool Worsted was a perfect fit. The recommended yardage meant that I could knit up to the 12-18 month size in just one ball. I ended up using just 73g, so I think I could have easily made the 2-3 year size in only one ball. So quite a bargain for just one ball. The pattern itself was really simple but a slightly unusual construction. I made it in a day, so a proper weekend knit. Definitely a pattern that I'd consider making again, especially if I was in a rush for a present. The yarn itself is just lovely. It has a lovely feel to it and the colour that I used, Breton had a heathered tone to it. Another picture of before blocking - and after blocking. It makes a huge difference and the Pure Wool Worsted holds its shape perfectly. Even the ruffles at the bottom stay in position...

At a quick glance, it's looks like I'm practising lepidoptery, but I'm not pinning out butterflies but lots of swatches.  I've had that many, that I've had to do them in batches and each time I've started to run out of blocking pins and have been relegated to using dressmaker's pins. I still have more to go. Wish me luck....

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 b...