What I'm up to Wednesday

I always used  to post weekly under 'Work in Progress Wednesday' which followed my (mostly) crochet projects. For me personally everything falls by the wayside during the winter when I struggle to get the time to take photos in daylight. As the days lengthen I am starting to document my progress again. I thought I'd also share some of the things I've been making, any new yarn that I've acquired, my crafty plans and anything I've been listening to and reading that has resonated, or that I think that will be interesting to you. 



Current works in progress:

I've been making an effort to be more monogamous with my knitting and crochet as I found having too many projects on the go overwhelming and stressful- and who wants that from your favourite hobby. 

Project number one is a big one. I'm knitting a jumper for myself!

The pattern: Flax by Tincan Knits. This pattern is available for free on Ravelry and is sized from baby to 4XL. This jumper is knitted top down in the round, alleviating the need for any seams.

Yarn: Artesano Aran  from stash (discontinued)

I'm loving this knit, and got to the body in a week which I was really pleased about, and didn't think it was something I was capable of.

I just love all the different colours in this yarn. Unicorn stitch marker is from For The Love of Yarn

Project number two is my first foray into Brioche Knitting. Brioche is a technique where in simple terms you are knitting everything twice, which results in a very squishy (double thickness) rib stitch. Brioche can be knit in one or two colours, the latter resulting in a reversibly pattern with one colour being more prominent on each side. I started this cowl in January as it was a New Year challenge to learn brioche. I cast on in the round for a cowl, knit an inch of 1x1 rib, and then followed this tutorial by Wool and the Gang for two colour brioche.

Yarn: West Wight Alpaca Double Knit, which I bought from the West Wight Alpaca farm when we visited summer before last. This is an undyed yarn and is so nice to knit with. It has really softened up in my hands as I've knit. 

This project has been neglected of late, but I really want to knit on it, least so I don't forget how to do the stitch. There are loads of mistakes in this project, so don't look too closely! You can see the double-sided brioche pattern appear though.

Project number three is a new cast on, and will be a gift for my friends' 30th Birthday. I was so lucky to get a subscription to Pompom Quarterly for my birthday. My first copy arrived last week and its amazing! Thanks to good old insomnia I chose this pattern and ordered the yarn at six thirty on a Sunday morning. I thought the yarn looked more of cream colour but actually its more of a pale mint green. 

I've just started this project and am still on the rib, but I can't wait to get on to the cable pattern!

Pattern: Cablegram by Jessie Roselyn

Yarn: Schoppel, Cashmere Queen in Helio. This is 45% wool, 35% cashmere and 20% silk

This yarn is unlike anything I've knit with before, the fibre structure is completely unique, and almost has a cotton-wool like feel to it. I think it will give great stitch definition in the cables, though I'm a bit worried it won't have much stretch to it. 

My lovely bee stitch marker is from Craft House Magic


Finished objects: 

I knit my friend Hannah a mustard 2x2 rib hat and I loved it so much I decided to knit one myself.

Sadly I ran out of yarn, but I found some grey aran in my stash and finished it with that. It's been keeping me warm on my walks to and from work, and I hear Hannah's hat is keeping her warm too. 

Yellow yarn: Cascade 220
Grey yarn: no idea! Could be Artesano British Aran (long discontinued)

Yarn acquisition: I'm trying really really hard to only buy yarn for a specific project. The only yarn I have bought recently, bar my purchases in Copenhagen, is the yarn I've bought is the Schoppel Cashmere Queen for my Cablegram shown above.  


Reading: 

• THIS- Kate at A Playful Day talks about creating safe spaces for conversations. 
• This made my cry over my porridge this morning. So beautifully written.
• I'm guessing you have heard about Vevo, the 'new' social media app. Sara Tasker has written about it here

Listening: 

Due to the snow I've been walking to work rather than riding my bike. The downside is I have to get up earlier. The upside is that I get almost an hour and a half of podcast-listening time. I've been binge-listening (is that even a thing) the Sweet Georgia Yarns podcast recently. Felicia interviews a really great selection of guests on a range of fibre crafts. One that I thought I should bring to you attention is very pertinent to me, and that it Felicia's interview with Melissa Kwan (misocraftyknits) where they discuss Carpel Tunnel Syndrome from knitting for extended lengths of time. You can find this episode here.http://sweetgeorgiayarns.com/podcast/episode-022-melissa-kwan-colour-carpal-tunnel-syndrome. I've written about this in the past, but more from a crochet perspective. If you are having issues with your hands and wrists from knitting I recommend giving this podcast a listen .

Other episodes I've found really interesting include Felicia's interview with Kaffe Fasset, and Exploring Sustainable Fibre Farming with Anna Hunter. Anna talks about some really interesting ideas surrounding farming for yarn in a sustainable way. 

I'm also really enjoying the new podcast series from A Playful Day


Food:
I've had a sourdough starter going for a couple of weeks. This may be my best loaf yet!

Planning: some much neglected crochet.

This photo.....

.......reminded me I needed to crochet with this yarn......

Watch this space!