Knitting
My most precious and worn knits. Top down: Orchids and fairy lights in Malabrigo worsted, Pearl / Dustland in Mirasol Miski, Storm/ Heathered in BC Garn Allino cl21 / Praline in De Rerum Natura Ulysse, Aster.
A week after casting off my last big project, I found myself browsing cardigan patterns on ravelry - again. I thought my wrists would get tired after knitting non-stop, but they don't seem to mind at all. That's the exact opposite actually. The more I knit, the more it makes me want to knit, and acquire more knowledge about natural fibers.
I usually tend to select the patterns first and then find a yarn that would work. But for some reason I already knew which yarn I'll use this time. I put this idea in mind that I had to try Gilliatt from De rerum natura. While I was trying to reorganize my yarn leftovers, I found the Ulysse yarn samples that I had received for my Praline cardigan. I took two of them in my hands, and realised how beautiful they were, and how difficult it would be for me two choose only one of them.
Well, the crazy lady that I am, found herself dreaming about them the same night. So, when I woke up the next morning, I knew that I had to make a choice and select only one of them for my next big project... So I went to the online shop, to have a closer look, and realised that "salt and pepper" -the left one on the picture, was out of stock. Great, I didn't have any choice to make after all! So I selected "pepper", and clicked "buy".
Two days later, I received an e-mail from the sweet Solenn, to tell me that she just has a few skeins of "salt and pepper" left, and I still could get my hands on them... After much thoughts and kind advices on Instagram, I made a wise decision and ordered the light one.
Now that the yarn is on its way, I have time to ask YOU for more advise! Here's the situation: the yarn that I ordered -Gilliatt, is a worsted weight yarn. The pattern on the left is my favourite (for now), but it calls for DK. I also really like the one on the right "Helga", which needs worsted weight. But I think that Keynote would look better in "Pepper & Salt". If you have any recommendation/ advice/ suggestions/ preferences, you could share your thoughts with me.
PS:I've never substituted yarn before.
Oh this week-end really smelled like Spring. I wanted to go back to the woods so badly, and pick up daffodils, and have a long walk near the lake and start growing veggies on my tiny balcony....
Well, I might pop up to my local nursery to grap some soil tonight, and try to find a way to buy organic seeds online. If you know were I could find some, that would be so great to share these info with me! The balcony is quite small, and its mostly sunny in the morning, so I wonder what kind of veggies I could grow there...
Since I'm having my kitchen filled with beautiful flowers almost every week, I decided that it could be so nice to keep a trace of the plants that I had at home during the year, and press them into a botanical diary. I could also add some treasures that I would find in the woods.
On my needles... the last hat for the "knit twelve hats in a year challenge". I cannot believe this is the last one!
I wanted to be a bit more adventurous for this hat and chose a color out of my comfort zone. Since Spring is around the corner, and flowers are going to bloom anytime soon, I thought it could be a really nice way to embrace this new season.
The yarn is Cascade Heather 220 in baby pink. And the pattern... well, I'll keep you updated, and show you more of my wip during this month. What I can tell you about it, is it's a new pattern that has been realised recently by a very talented lady, and it features one of my favourite stitches.
How's the Spring going in your part of the world?
A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon one amazing picture on sweaterspotter's Instagram profile. She posted this beautiful photograph of a yellowish, bubblish hat, that happened to be her newest design. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to knit it, sooner or later. Lucky me, I was able to test knit it!
Oh this pattern was such a joy to knit! Bobble after bobble, you could see how the whole thing was going to turn out. And after the first repeat, I realized how brilliantly Anna wrote it down. I don't know when the pattern's going to be released, but I'm pretty sure that as soon at it will be, a lot of needles are going to click.
The yarn that I used for this project was really not the best choice though. The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I couldn't find any here, so I decided to double this sport weight instead. Even though I enjoyed knitting the pattern a lot, the yarn was a big challenge for me. It wasn't really pleasant between my fingers. So, I'm really looking forward to knitting it again, but with some exquisitely soft yarn.
I realised that since my cardigan's finished, I found myself browsing ravelry pages persistently, for sweater patterns. I selected a few, and set them on the side to knit them later. But there's one cardigan that really caught my eye during my investigation. This sweater is not only perfect in appearance, but I also find its name so appealing. It's called "Heathered", and is pretty in so many ways (Heather is probably my most favourite flower). This top down cardigan is very simple, yet its details make it so elegant.
Once I knew which cardigan I wanted to knit, I had to find a yarn that would be the perfect match. At first I thought that I would use merino or alpaca. But I realised then that Spring is just around the corner, and I would have plenty of time later this year to get ready for the colder months, and knit with warmer fibers. Instead, I decided to give a try to something new for me: plants fibers.
This cardigan is going to match two of the knitting goals that I set this year - knit another cardigan, and try another fiber. So the yarn that I chose for this project is a beautiful mix of linen and cotton - the perfect match for a Spring/Summer garment.
* I have a new packaging for the snoods in my shop - simple paper bags that are made here in Latvia, by people with disabilities. I really like how they turned out!
** I found pretty vintage soviet boxes the other day. I use them to store my wooden pearls/ threads and other tiny little things that didn't have a nice place to rest yet.
