October seemed to fly by, probably because I had a lovely week away in the middle of the month celebrating my brother-in-law's wedding. I talked a bit about that - from a knitter's perspective of course - in this episode of my knitting podcast.
If you want to watch the episode you can click on the image below to be taken straight to YouTube, or you'll find below all the useful links to the projects I talked about.
Finished Objects
Litmus Cowl
This pattern is by Jude Harper of Stranded Dyeworks and is a free pattern but only available on Ravelry at the moment (click here to be taken to the pattern on Ravelry).
Jude also hosts the excellent Stranded Dyeworks podcast.
I've squirrelled a lot of single skeins of yarn away over the years to be kept for 'best'. I'm now starting to use them rather than simply squish them, and the yarn for this project was one of those skeins. It's from Sherry Iris in the colourway Between the Woods and Frosty Lake.
Sherry also has an excellent podcast which you can find here.
Ribbed socks
This pair of socks is my own sock recipe. I decided that I wanted a ribbed sock, that I only wanted the ribbing to sit on the front of the sock and I wanted the rib to be symmetrical. So I worked out a rib pattern that would accommodate 30 stitches (I cast on 60 stitches for my own vanilla socks):
- K4, P1, K4, P1, K4, P2, K4, P1, K4, P1, K4
The yarn I used was a sock set - a 50g skein with a 20g contrast mini from Back to Blighty in the colourway Cliff Top Walk.
Becky from Back to Blighty also has a marvellous podcast which is well worth watching if you don't already.
Lanes wrap
If you've watched any of my last few episodes you will know the story of this wrap. I knit it up to take to my brother-in-law's wedding in the beautiful countryside around Girona in southern Spain. I thought it might be a little chilly in the October evenings and I'm so glad I spent the time working on this pattern - there are over 64,000 stitches in it so yes it was definitely a time investment! I shared it one last time on the podcast just to talk about how beautifully the yarn blocked up.
The pattern is the Lanes wrap by Julie Hoover and I knit it out of John Arbon Alpaca Supreme Lace in the colour Azurite.
Here's me showing off my wrap on the wedding day.
Works in Progress
Flax - a sweater for my husband
I'm testing out whether or not my husband is knitworthy by knitting him this sweater in a relatively low cost yarn. The pattern is a free pattern by Tin Can Knits which I have knit for myself fairly recently. The yarn is an interesting recycled yarn from the King Cole Forest range in the colourway Epping Forest.
Yume - a sweater for me
I have been itching to knit this sweater for a long time and once the Lanes wrap was finished this was my next cast on. Thanks to Caroline for the generous pattern gift.
It's a pattern by Isabell Kraemer and I'm knitting it in Drops Nord (colourway 04 Light Grey Mix). I've just about reached the point where I need to split for the sleeves and so this will feature again in the next couple of podcasts.
Striped socks
This is a simple pair of tube socks that I'm going to add an afterthought heel to. The yarn is from Tiny Human Knits in the colourway Denim Overalls and very simply I've knit two long tubes (approximately 140 rounds between cuff and toe), both with a 1x1 ribbed cuff and a wedge toe at the end. I'm then going to add in a heel from the Umbrella Socks pattern by Kay Jones from the Bakery Bears.
Bits and Bobs Blanket
This is another pattern by Kay Jones. I originally cast this on early in 2022 but had put it away during the late spring and summer. I've found myself drawn to it again now that the mornings are a bit cooler. I usually get up quite early and have enjoyed working on this as the sun comes up.
I'm using a combination of Drops Nord (colourway 03 Pearl Grey) held double with random bits and bobs of yarn - mini skeins and little bits of left over yarn from other projects.
ACQUISITIONS
I don't often share my acquisitions (to be honest I'm not buying myself much yarn at the moment) but I have found myself the recipient of some really lovely things in the last month. Here are the details.
Leni Hat
My friend Sarah knit this hat (you can see it in the front screen of the video and at the top of this post) but it was too big for her. Knowing that I had a larger than average head Sarah asked if I'd like it and there was only one answer to that question! It's a beautiful knit of a beautiful pattern in beautiful yarn.
The pattern is the Leni hat by Isabell Kraemer and is knit in Gullrock Fibres BFL Masham 4ply and Birdstreet Yarn Cloud.
CamijoKnit yarn
I did a swap with lovely Camilla of CamijoKnit who dyes the most beautiful yarn from her home in Denmark. The colourways shown in the podcast are Coquinas, Dulce de Leche and Nord. Camilla has a fabulous podcast which you should definitely watch if you don't already.
Lettlopi yarn
I visited The Lace Knittery, a reasonably local to me yarn shop, with my knitting friend Sarah (she of the Leni hat!). It was our first visit and I was thrilled to finally find a really good LYS - lots of good yarn brands including the Fibre Co, John Arbon, Jamisons of Shetland, Rowan, Hedgehog and Lopi. I picked up some Lettlopi in the colourway 0086 with the intention of casting on a new Felix sweater after I've finished my Yume.
As always if you have any questions about anything I shared in the podcast, do drop me a line.