A little bit of a tradition has developed in that I knit himself a pair of socks whilst we are on our Scottish jaunts. Last year he had his 'Colours of the Hebrides' socks. This year we agreed that the colours in the Trekking Hand Art Yarn were very much the colours of the mountains of the Western Highlands of Scotland, hence 'Highland Socks'. The pattern was a modification of 'Monkey Socks' using invisible 'make stitches' instead of yarn overs, for a more masculine sock. I used the prescribed 80 stitch cast yarn, but I this made for quite a baggy sock (he HAS got fairly skinny & very long pins!) & a close call on the yarn quantity. However himself is happy with the finished socks so all is good. It is lovely 'woolly' soft yarn to knit with & blooms when washed, yet has a bit of nylon for longer life!
For my 'major' project, may I introduce 'Heartland' shawl.......
The pattern is by Evelyn Clarke & is beautiful! The yarn is Kuani 'rainbow' & overall I love it (see next comment for why 'overall'!) We had early 'issues' - I frogged one evenings work to go down to 3.5mm needles for a 'closer', thicker shawl & then I found a knot! ..... and a non-matching join.... infact further knitting revealed that the add on yarn had been reversed so the colours were going in the opposite direction!!!! Grrr! After much debate & discussion (like himself is that bothered!!!!) I left well alone because a) it was the 'shoulder' section & would be fairly solid in whatever colour b) if I had to dive for a colour match I would loose ALOT of the skein, which wasn't too promising & c)???? is there a c)? Oh yes..... but perhaps its not too polite so we will leave it at a) & b)!
Not too bad huh? Well if you like triangular, brightly coloured shawls anyway! I used about 200 gms of the yarn but had to go over a third of the way into the second skein (I think I bought 2 x 170 skeins) to match the colour. I did one extra pattern repeat to that indicated on the pattern. I next want to knit one of the Stahman's Faroese Shawls (Susan or Gracie) in Kuani but I plan to be very cautious & buy plenty of yarn & re-wind it & check it for knots before I start! Just need to choose the colour! Black & Grey or Shades of blue & purple???? The book arrived on Friday & I adore it! I have already completed a 'Seaman's scarf' (first 'christmas' knit!) & am on a second (no photos yet!).
2 comments:
Lovely knitting!! The shawl is just so gorgeous! I was surprised at how fun a shawl was to knit and so now I know why you make them! :)
Glad your hols with Brian were so lovely and love the variation on the Monkeys for Man Monkeys.
These yarn breaks should be outlawed but it took me a fair while to spot it in the shawl and it doesn't detract from the final AWESOME affect - what a beautiful, bright cheery piece - guaranteed to cheer you up knitwear.
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