Something Old…..

The recent ‘shall not be named’ episode has led to us spending a lot more quality time with our knitting than some of us may like. But in the course of this bonding exercise, I have taken to looking through old projects and seeing what needs to be finished rather than racing off to start something new. I am not a monogamous knitter as some people are. I tend to flit from project to project and only finish something if it has a deadline attached. This has changed in recent weeks. I have spent more time trying to get organised and, in the process, have discovered a lot of projects that I need to complete.

First on my list were some of the projects I mentioned in my last blog. Writing about them made me more determined than ever to get them done, so in the past weeks I have managed to finish my Alaska hat (now a birthday gift on its way to Australia) and my Gardens of Giverney stole (waiting to be blocked).

Then I looked through my piles again and discovered a custom fit pattern from Amy Herzog called Bourrasque that I am doing in Madeline Tosh Cousteau. I had apparently finished the back and then put it down, so I had to find the needles and cast on for the front last night to get it going again. For any of you who have never heard of Amy Herzog or Custom Fit, it is a brilliant concept. You simply put in your measurements and your swatch gauge (in the yarn and needles you want to use) then pick a pattern and you get a personalised version to download, complete with all the finishes you have selected. You can pick how much ease you want, the neckline, sleeve length and the pattern. Check out the full details here.

(It’s worth noting that I took my measurements in March 2019, so there is no guarantee that my custom fit will still fit me, but I live in hope!!)

I had also forgotten how lovely Madeline Tosh was to work with, but needed to remind myself that, as with any hand-dyed yarn, I should knit with two skeins at once on something like the plain stocking stitch sweater that I was doing. The hand-dye can vary from skein to skein, so if you knit two rows with each skein alternating, you don’t get any visible changes in color through the work.

The custom fit pattern I chose is quite boring – all stocking stitch with only a little shaping. So, I picked up something that I thought would be a little more interesting, for when I don’t have to concentrate too much on the TV show I’m watching! I found this little gem from a few years go called the Zelda Wrap from Blue Sky Alpaca. I’m using the recommended yarn, Blue Sky Metalico and I picked the color Silver but the main image on the pattern is done in Opal. This is a lovely pattern, a little complex but also interesting. The scarf is beautiful and feels amazing in my hands. I can’t wait to get it finished now and ready for the hopefully cooler fall evenings.

I will no doubt get sidetracked by some new and exciting project in the next few weeks and these ones will fall to the wayside again, but in the meantime, it’s fun to remember why I picked these patterns and yarns all that time ago and how much I enjoyed knitting them before the next new shiny thing came along.

Are you a monogamous knitter or do you have multiple unfinished projects like I do?