Work in Progress - March 2024

 

A monthly update of all the projects piling up on and under my coffee table. You can read last month's update here and all previous months here.

My grand plans for March were:

Get Loop blocked and in the shop.

Finish one more ball of yarn on Student vest.

Finish one baby sample (blocked and in the shop) and start another.

Finish at least half the body of the Riptide Slipover.

Finish another crochet cushion prototype.

 

I think I achieved half of these as I have made no progress on Riptide or the crochet cushion.

 

First up the finished projects.

 

 

I've wanted to make a Shift for ages. Designed by Andrea Mowry, the pattern was released in 2018 and is a cult classic. I've seen so many in the shop and at yarn festivals. When we started stocking Schoppel Wolle Edition 3 I knew it was time to cast on!

It only took me 2 weeks to make - a perfect combination of gorgeous yarn and a fun and interesting pattern. You can read more about Shift in our Project Gallery.

 

Student Vest by Svetlana Volkova, available to buy on Ravelry.

 

I did finish another ball of yarn on the Student Vest.

I love the fancy simplicity of this - the argyle like diamond lace, the rib down the sides and the split hem.

I have completed all the knitting for the vest and I just need to cast off. The designer recommends an Italian Cast Off which is a tubular cast off that gives a lovely finish to a 1x1 rib like the tubular cast on I did at the neck.

 

 

It looks like the rib rolls over without a beginning or end.

For the cast on I used the tutorial on Ysolda's website.

I haven't looked for a tutorial for the cast off yet but it's going to take a while and I'll definitely need to concentrate.

I knitted the Student Vest using Rico Luxury Alpaca Superfine (shade 027) which is an alpaca acrylic blend and it's quite sticky. Which means that unpicking will be tricky.

I'm still very concerned about the fit of the vest. I believe my gauge is ok but it just looks so much smaller than I expected. I'm wondering if the model in the photos is wearing it with much more positive ease than indicated in the pattern?

 

 

 

I have made a wee bit of progress on my Half Linen Stitch Cowl. Last month it was 24cm tall, this month it is... 29cm tall.

I'm using an Alegria Superpool Sock Set in Trapeze.

You get 100g of a variegated shade and 20g of a contrast. The colours come out quite striped on a small circumference like a sock but it looks very different in a slip stitch pattern, like linen stitch, as it produces a more blended effect with overlapping pops of contrasting colours.

This pattern is an adaption of our free Simple Cowl pattern. That pattern uses a 3mm x 40cm long circular needle and 160 stitches.

I'm knitting the rib with the contrast colour before switching to the big variegated hank.

I'm using a slightly thicker needle, 3.25mm, as slip stitches can produce a tighter, denser fabric. I am a loose knitter so if you knit tightly (or slip stitches tightly) I'd strongly suggest trying a 3.5mm instead. You don't want your fabric to pucker, but rather the slip stitches should sit flat across the fabric.

I'm doing a half linen stitch pattern which works up a bit faster as you just knit every other row.

Once I'm finished I'll write the pattern up and you'll be able to download it for free.

Not happy with one (never ending) 4ply cowl project I've added another this month.

 

 

This pattern was recommended to me by Susan and I really liked it's simplicity. 

It's called Soft as a Cloud and is available for free at Purl Soho.

If you can do a K3, P2 rib you can do this. Obviously it's a wee bit more complicated than a rib but it's very easy to do and looks amazing. The only additional skills you need:

• slip a stitch with the yarn at the back
• pass this slip stitch over two other stitches (this is a one stitch decrease)
• make a yarn over (this is a one stitch increase)
• work a 4 row pattern repeat
• oh! and it's worked in the round on 40cm long circular needles (although you could do it with DPNs if you prefer

 

 

I'm using Dreich in our Nervus Fibre Merino Nylon Sock yarn. The semi-solid dye effect and great stitch definition really make the stitch pattern pop.

The eagle eyed among you will spot I made a 'mistake' in the first 10 rows by working an extra row in the 4-row repeat!

 

I've also been working on the new shop baby samples aka Operation Babywear.

I finished knitting the pieces of the King Cole Cutie pattern. I blocked the pieces in the hope of uncurling the edges (this is the 3-6 months size and it feels like it's all edges).

 

King Cole Cutie Pie Cardigan, shade 5381 and pattern 6032

 

 I've now got most of it sewn up. Look at all those ends!

 

 

 But instead of finishing this baby cardigan I cast on another...😆

 

 

This is the Sorgenfri Foldover Jacket Mini. It's designed by Guri Pedersen and available to buy on Ravelry.  

It's a DK weight pattern and I'm using our new King Cole Comfort DK in shade 1729 Glacier.

Knitted seamlessly from the top down the pattern includes some lovely techniques to keep your edges neat.

For example, the garter stitch button bands are worked at the same time as the body which means less finishing at the end.

 

 

To keep the 4 stitch garter edge neat and stable (sometimes the first stitch on a row can be baggy) at the end of each row you knit 1 stitch then knit into the front and back of the next stitch then knit 2 stitches together through the back legs. The designer has called this the Guri Gafter Edge Stitch and it is so effective I'd highly recommend using it with other garter stitch button bands (like Pop or In Threes).

 

 

The other neat finish is a purl i-cord cast off. I love a knit i-cord cast off and have used it in our own free Striped Asymmetrical Scarf and just did it on our Shift cowl. But I've never done a purl i-cord cast off. It works so well with the garter stitch edge. 

 

 

I still have the sleeves to do but you could easily make this a capped sleeve top like In Threes*.👇

 

In Threes knitted in Stylecraft Impressions Aran, pattern on ravelry.

  

Sorgenfri is a great next steps baby cardigan. If you can confidently knit 1 and purl 1 you can make this cardigan. I say 'next steps' as you have to hold a couple of things in your head as you knit.

The 4 - stitch edge pattern and buttonhole placements are not specifically written in the main pattern but are only stated at the beginning. You need to remember to do them.

Having said that, the way the yoke is increased is a very simple YO knitted through the back leg to twist it close.

And obviously the beauty of top down seamless knitting - no sewing up and I only have 2 ends so far!

If you like the Sorgenfri stitch pattern the designer has several patterns that use it.

 

The other new cast on this month uses a new technique for me - Double Knitting.

In one day, two separate people came into the shop to ask about Double Knitting. And although I knew what it was I wasn't entirely sure how to do it. So in the interests of professional development I thought I'd give it a go and cast on a new project...👇

 

 

This is the Dots Cowl by Hilary Smith Callis. It's one of three designs included in her Double Knits Three pattern, available to buy on Ravelry. The other two are an animal print and arrow design.

Double Knitting is a technique where you effectively make two fabrics at the same time on one set of needles. Both fabrics face right side out so it's completely reversible. They can be joined at the sides, top or bottom. It's popular for scarves and blankets and shawls as there's no 'wrong' side.

You achieve this by working a K1, P1 rib, with your knit stitches in one colour and the purl stitches in another colour.

Before I go any further I'm going to state that this is the first Double Knitting project I have done and I have not explored all the ways to do it nor the different effects you can achieve! I didn't want to get lost down rabbit holes on the internet researching everything so I relied on the basic instructions given in the pattern and a few YouTube searches to help me.

Having said that, I may need to do some more research as I'm not that happy with my results so far. 

It takes sooooooo long to do a round.

I understand I'm making two fabrics and in theory that's twice the knitting. And it's K1, P1 rib which takes me ages too. But in Double Knitting both yarns move even though you are only working the stitch with one. So If I need to knit a stitch with the yellow yarn both the yellow and blue strands are taken to the back but I need to just knit with the yellow. This together-but-separate yarn management does not work well with my loose throwing style as I feel I'm dropping and adjusting the strands too much.

 

 

If you don't move both yarns you get purl bumps on one of the right sides of your work. You can see that on my cast on edge which I painstakingly worked before realising.

I also feel my stitches look slightly twisted. I think this is caused by me swapping the colours over when I'm doing the colour work pattern. It may correct with blocking.

Essentially in Double Knitting you are working with pairs of stitches. One knit, one purl. When attempting a colourwork chart the colour you use to knit or purl changes as you introduce the motif. Hence you get a mirror image on the right side of the other fabric. Managing those colours means swapping them over consistently.

This all sounds a bit confusing when written down so check out these links for more info.

• A good text/photo based tutorial by Jen Arnall-Culliford at Gathered.com
• Starting at 3mins in there's a demo of yarn management in Double Knitting with English knitting (throwing) on YouTube. It's flat knitting so there's also a discussion about closing the sides of your work.

So far, it's not a technique I love or even like. I'd much rather do stranded colourwork or lace which to me is more fluid. I feel Double Knitting, they way I'm doing it just now, is a bit more like building.

I have seen a tutorial from Purl Soho which uses slip stitches to get the double sided effect. But that wasn't for colourwork so I'm not sure how easily that would translate to a chart.

And don't get me started on the different ways to cast on.

See what I mean about rabbit holes!😆

If, despite all that negativity, you fancy giving Double Knitting a go I've made a bundle of patterns on Ravelry. 

I think for the second row of dots I'll try and hold my yarns in my left hand like in the Jen Arnall-Cuilliford tutorial or shown here on YouTube and knit the continental way.

Although it all looks very awkward. I may just work on my never ending cowls.

 

* some more info on In Threes... 

In Threes is an easy knit capped sleeved cardigan. It's a great pattern for your first top down seamless garment:

• The increasing is simple and worked evenly around the yoke.
• There are no sleeves, once you've cast off the capped sleeves you're done with them.
• Sizes start at 0-6 months and with an aran thickness yarn you'll be finished in a weekend.
• Sizes do go up to 5 years and you can easily add length, so the pattern will last a while.