This week's episode of the Eldenwood Craft Knitting Podcast shares a very happy finished object and a couple of other projects that I've really been enjoying recently. Let's dive in.
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 (if a link goes through to Ravelry this will be indicated).
What I’ve been knitting
Felix Sweater
My first project this week, and one that I'm wearing in the video, is my newly finished Felix sweater, a pattern by Amy Christoffers and the second that I've knit. The pattern appears to only be available on Ravelry although I may be wrong on that.
The yarn I'm using is Lettlopi in colourway 0086 which I bought at my LYS, The Lace Knittery. I love this colourway and if I thought I could get away with it I’d knit my whole wardrobe in it but that might be a bit strange. In the last episode of the podcast I was concerned about running out of yarn.
I did.
But fortunately thanks to lovely podcast viewers I was able to find a ball of the yarn in Be Inspired Fibres in Edinburgh and so I managed to finish my project using about 20gms of the new ball.
I cast on using the long tail tubular cast on (I don’t think the pattern calls for a specific cast on) and I followed a very helpful tutorial on the Ysolda website. This cast on gives a stretchy neck line and one that’s a little tighter than my first Felix (that has more of a boat like neck line) which I like - feels a bit cosier. All my bind offs were done using the Italian sewn bind off; a five step repeat which sounds complicated but once you’re in a rhythm it’s very simple and gives a beautifully neat finish (there’s lots of tutorials for this online and I’m not sure I can remember which one I first looked at to get me going as I’ve been using this bind off for several projects now).
The Felix is well known for its distinctive raglan increases. In this video I was wearing a vest underneath and if I’m honest I don’t much like the skin showing through. I’d be quite interested though using this pattern as a basis for a simple raglan sweater recipe and using a different type of raglan increase - food for thought. However I’m very happy with the sweater when it’s worn with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath so that’s what I shall do in the future.
A view on Lettlopi - initially it feels as though it’s going to irritate, it’s quite rustic. However the yarn definitely softens as you wear it and I don’t have a problem with it against my skin at all.
OLE mittens
This is a new cast on for this episode and I’ve finished the first of the mittens. The pattern is by Susanne Muller who goes by the name Paulastrickt on Ravelry and Instagram. The pattern is a paid for pattern available on Etsy and Ravelry and it comes in three sizes of which I’m knitting the middle one.
The yarn I’m using is Regina by Adriafil which comes in at 125m per 50g ball and is 100% wool. It’s very soft and bouncy and I’m enjoying working with it. One mitten takes 40g of yarn.
The mittens themselves are knit in half brioche all over and this gives the most pleasing of squishy textures. I’ll be honest though, I’m not really sure of the difference between full brioche, half brioche and fisherman’s rib - perhaps I ought to do a bit of research for the next podcast.
I’m looking forward to finishing the second and for there being perhaps a really short cold spell (and I mean really short, I’m definitely in need of spring to come!) so that I can give them a run out.
The pattern is well written and detailed with lots of help for some of the stitches called for. I did however find the transition at the thumb gusset a little hard to understand until I got into the swing of it. This is not enough to put me off thinking that I could make more of these mittens in the future, they are lovely on the hands.
Helical socks
I hadn’t knit much on socks recently but I had an itch that needed scratching and that itch was about helical knitting (a knitting technique where you knit single round stripes in two yarns with no jog). I really fancied trying it out, using a main skein of yarn (from Yan Tan Tethera yarns who is no longer dyeing yarn) and some left over bits of yarn from other projects in a light neutral colour as a contrast. One sock is finished and the second is well on the way to becoming finished too - it will be done by the next podcast.
I don’t have one source of help that I used to understand helical knitting. I read a lot of different articles and tutorials and took from those what I needed to get started. If you’re keen to have a go but don’t know where to start then searching online for helical knitting in the round will give you a good starting point.
My socks are usually knit cuff down but I decided to go for toe up socks this time, casting on using Judy’s magic cast on (there's lots of tutorials but you can rarely go wrong with Very Pink Knits)and then increasing to 60 stitches which is my standard number of sock stitches. I knit about 68 rounds for the foot and then added a German short row heel. I then knit the leg until it was about the same length as the foot and added a cuff in 1x1 twisted rib. They are finished off with Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off (here's Andrea Mowrey's tutorial).
Knitting with this technique is an economical way of getting the most out of your yarn. For a full length pair of socks I only used 26g of my main yarn (and a little bit more of the left over minis).
Knitting plans
As well as hopefully finishing off my socks and mittens, my plan for the next couple of weeks is to work on my Litmus Cowl. This is a very well known pattern from Jude Harper at Stranded Dyeworks. I’ve knit three or four of these before and enjoy wearing them very much. The yarn I’m using for the current cowl are two beautiful skeins from Camijoknit in the colourways Njord and Dulce de Leche and I think they are stunning together.
I’m also planning on swatching for a Cumulus Blouse (pattern by PetiteKnit) using some Isager 1 (colourway 16) from stash. The pattern calls for a mohair type yarn, laceweight, held double throughout. I have 250g of the Isager and hoping that’s enough, but I’m not certain that it’ll create the right fabric. But a swatch will be helpful and we’ll see what happens once that’s done.
Books
Three books to share again this week.
Firstly, I finished reading Mrs England by Stacey Halls. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, a gothic mystery about a children’s nanny who goes to work for Yorkshire mill owners Mr & Mrs England. Something was not right about the Englands’ marriage but I didn’t ‘get it’ until right at the end. A good, engaging read.
I then turned to something a little different and am now reading In Your Defence by Sarah Langford. The book describes a series of legal cases about clients who the author, a barrister, has represented in the family and criminal courts. I find the legal world fascinating having worked in an adjacent field for much of my earlier working life, and I’m enjoying the behind the scenes accounts in this book.
Finally I’m listening to a new audiobook as well - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. Gosh it’s good! Harold goes out one day to post a letter and on a whim decides to carry on walking from one end of England to the other. It’s a beautiful, gentle, funny, heartwarming, moving book narrated excellently by Jim Broadbent. I understand there’s going to be a film of the book coming out soon and Jim Broadbent plays Harold - perfect!
Shop update
I finished by sharing some project bags coming to my next shop update which will be on 7th March at 7pm for newsletter subscribers (sign up here if you’d like to!) and 24 hours later for everyone else. Here's a reminder of the four new fabrics coming to the update.
As always if you have any questions about anything I shared in the podcast, do drop me a line and I’ll look forward to chatting with you again in a couple of weeks.