Knitting in 2014: January

Now that I am up to date with knitting projects, I will try to do a monthly round up.

I have just one FO this month.

It is Song of the Sea cowl by Louise by Louise Zazz Bangham. I used a skein of Tosh Pashmina in the colourway Forestry. In reality, it is a bit darker than the photo suggests but just as lovely.  The yarn is a merino, silk cashmere blend and although it didn't seem particularly special when I was knitting with it, it softens up beautifully and the fabric has a lovely drape.  Rich brought this yarn back from a work trip to Philadelphia last year. Lucky me!

I left out a repeat of the tiny waves due to concerns about not having enough yarn but I had 10g left over so would have had enough. Pashmina is listed as sport weight but my skein seems to be quite light. The pattern is written for 4-ply and I went down two needle sizes from the suggested size and my gauge was pretty much spot on.

2013 in knits (November and December)

November

Holden

Another Holden.  I knit this as a present for a friend who was very good to us when we first moved to Sydney.  The yarn is Ella Rae Lace Merino and I cannot wait to get my hands on more of it.  It is just lovely.  I made this Holden the same as before but blocked it differently. The first one was blocked with straight edges but this one has points. I prefer the look of this version.

Rock Island

This is a Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed pattern that I have wanted to knit for some time. Rich brought back this beautiful yarn (Madeline Tosh prairie in Spectrum) from his trip to Philadelphia last summer and I knew I needed to make something special with it.  

It is probably the most complicated thing that I have made so far but I really love it and I am please with the way it turned out. I will wear it as a scarf when winter comes.

December

Most of December's knitting was done on a pair of socks (ok, just one sock) that looks great but doesn't fit.  It'll have to be ripped back and reknit a some point in the future.

Balls Up!

My new knitting group has a tradition of going for a pre-Christmas afternoon tea and doing a Christmas ornament gift swap. Even though I was a newbie in the group, i jumped at the chance to jon in.  I had a hard time deciding what to make.  I have a little book of mini Christmas knits but wanted to make use of yarn I already had and so decided to knit a bauble instead.  Balls Up! is a super pattern and is freely available through Ravelry. It's knit around a polystyrene ball to give it a perfect shape but you could also stuff it or knit it around a regular bauble.