State of the Project: Wayne Pullover, part II

The sweater has grown to the point where I have finished working in the round and separated the front and the back by starting to create the armholes. So now I will begin working back and forth. I thought knitting the coloured yoke in stockinette stitch for the Winter Escape cardigan back and forth was annoying, but this promises to be even more so :P

In other news: I finished one half of the lace edge for my Haapsalu scarf tonight and I was actually planning to cast on the other half, but I had a long day at work and I can't be bothered to cast on 601 stitches. 

I have Instagram now!

On a whim, I decided to create an Instagram account, because I thought it would be a fun way to share some photos, connect with other knitters and see what yarn shops are up to. I have 2 followers at the time I'm posting this :D

Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/themoodyknitter/

State of the Project: Wayne pullover, part I.

Remember how I received the yarn for the Wayne sweater and wrote that couldn't wait to cast it on?

Well... I couldn't. 

This is more or less two repeats of the main pattern. I have already used up one skein. Sari the designer was right when she wrote that the pattern is easy to remember, but I had to rip stitches on the first row a few times when I counted wrong. 

I have to say, I am really liking the colour and I think the pattern is still nicely visible and repetitive enough for the gradient to not distract from it. 

State of the Project: Haapsalu scarf, part IV

I promise this will be the last update before I finish the thing :P

As I have mentioned, the middle part is now ready and I am working on the lace edge. The lace edge consists of two pieces that are made separately, and this is the first one. I cast on 601 stitches and was very proud of myself for actually having counted correctly on the first go! 

I used 5 mm needles to cast on and I am using 4 mm needles to knit. I used 3 mm needles for the middle part, but I am making the edge with larger needles so it would have some more give. 

Yarn Haul 🙈

Well, well, well. 

I went a bit crazy with more than just the patterns last week, and I bought "a few" skeins of yarn, which I received yesterday and today. Yay!

From left to right: I bought two skeins of yarn from a local manufacturer called Aade Lõng  They make several types of yarn, but his particular one is called Artistic and it is 100% wool and fingering weight. The skein on the left is in the colourway "Black-purple", and the other one is in the colourway "Sheep". Although I really like the "Sheep" colourway, I was actually expecting it to be a bit darker and cooler toned based on the photo on the website - so it would match my doggie, pictured below with a minion:

My plan is to use the black-purple skein to make a slightly less snug, more wintry version of the Fleuriste cardi. Whoops. As for the other one, its future is unknown as yet.

The other seven skeins are 7-Veljestä Pohjola yarn from Novita. 7-Veljestä (which means Seven Brothers like the Finnish literary classic by Aleksis Kivi) is Novita's multi-use Aran weight yarn and Pohjola (meaning The North) was a special line of gradient dyed yarns which Novita released for their 90th anniversary, which is meant to reflect Finnish nature. I got the yarn in the colourway "Halti" - I am guessing that it is named after Halti fell, Finland's highest peak. As I wrote in the previous post, my plan is to use this yarn to make the Wayne sweater.  I actually can't wait to cast it on, even though I only have one half of the lace edge for my scarf more or less ready and it is the middle of summer!

 

Pattern Haul :D

It was payday a few days ago and also I finished the main part of my Haapsalu scarf, so this week I went a little crazy and bought three knitting patterns created by none other than Sari Nordlund. 

The first one was, of course, the pattern for the Fleuriste socks, which are so cute and which I intend to make after finishing the shawl. 

After that, I also bought the pattern for the Kiuru hat, which I am going to make for myself to wear in the autumn from the two skeins of Drops Flora yarn that were left over from the Fleuriste cardi. Kiuru is the Finnish word for "lark". There is also a Kiuru pullover, but I decided to skip on that one, because...

This morning, I also bought the pattern for her Wayne pullover, which was inspired by the pullovers that young Bruce Wayne wears in the TV series Gotham. I saw that pullover quite a few times when binging Sari's YouTube videos and it had been on the back of my mind for some time now, so I decided to take the plunge and order the pattern and also the yarn. In her video, Sari used a DK weight merino yarn which had been dyed especially for her, but I decided to go with Pohjola from Novita, which is supposed to be an Aran weight yarn. I am a little confused, because the yardage per gram is exactly the same - both yarns weigh 100 grams per 200 metres -, but one is meant to be 11 wpi and the other is meant to be 8 wpi. I guess the wpi difference just means my pullover is going to be slightly bulkier  and warmer than hers?

Anyway; my next task is actually making the lace edge for the scarf.

I decided to forgo the KAL socks by Lumi Karmitsa, because a) she deleted the pattern from the FB group and it is only available for purchase right now. As much as I liked the look of those socks, I don't feel like spending money on the pattern when I think I may be too lazy to actually make them. 

So which yarn did I buy to make the Fleuriste socks?

Well, it’s this one! I wanted a change of pace from Drops and Novita, so I got this yarn from Alize, a Turkish yarn manufacturer. The Superwash yarn is 75% wool and 25% polyamide and fingering weight and I am excited to get to work on the socks once I have finished the scarf.  I really like the colour of this yarn - it seemed almost greige in the shop where the light was rather dim, but now I would say it’s more like a dark mauve shade. All I need now is a Fleuriste cardi in a similar shade to go with the socks 🙈

State of the Project: Haapsalu scarf, part III

Although I haven't got as much knitting done as I'd have liked, the shawl has grown somewhat and is now large enough to cover my doggie - a 5 kg Miniature Schnauzer. I am on  the seventh repeat of the broad border and on the eighth repeat of the central pattern. 

Oh and yes of course I also bought the yarn for the Fleuriste socks because there is a small but very well stocked yarn shop close by and I like to support the local economy :-)

More Distractions.

Ooff. My Haapsalu scarf is well underway, but I have already found not one, not two, but three sock patterns that I would like to knit. Funnily enough, all three were designed by Finnish ladies. 

First, I spotted this KAL by Lumi Karmitsa on Facebook. It is still ongoing, but from what I have seen the socks look gorgeous and the pattern is pretty challenging. I love a challenge when it comes to socks, so I might take a look at my leftover yarn and make them once I have finished the scarf . 

Secondly, I saw on Instagram that Sari Nordlund, the designer of the Fleuriste cardigan, has also published a Fleuriste sock pattern as part of her summer sock KAL, which includes four patterns altogether. Now, I have two skeins of Drops Flora left over from the cardigan, and it would be nice to have socks in a similar colour as the cardigan, but Flora is not the greatest yarn for making socks, so I may use the rust coloured Fabel which I originally wanted to use as the background colour for my Pride and Prejudice socks. 

Last but not least, I saw this lace sock pattern by Sisko Sälpäkivi on the Novita Knits FB page and immediately wanted to make them. I have more than enough suitable white worsted weight yarn in my stash, so I might make them when I finish the Gryffindor socks, for which I have already bought the pattern and the yarn, and the Fleuriste socks. Oh, and of course the Rose Blush vest. Oh and I think I also want to make one of the hats designed by Sari Nordlund, to use up the Flora yarn.