Before the failure of the sweater that shall not be named… I finished crocheting and knitting and piecing together my Granny Raglan Pullover.
It has been a very long time since I’ve knit a garment in pieces. There’s a much higher level of trust needed to get through knitting something in pieces for me now. Thank goodness I finished this before the Birkin incident.
I was sceptical of this ‘Free’ pattern by Lion Brand. Combining knit and crochet in one design, all the while using scraps of yarn of slightly different gauges, surely I was asking for trouble! After knitting the front and back pieces, I went ahead and knit the first sleeve and blocked the pieces as I went. It kind of looked like it was going to fit together, so then I knit the second sleeve as well.
The pieces were crocheted together from the wrong side, that was awesome and quick. Then finally I knit the neckband, and it was done!
I’m very happy with the result. I would make another one in a heartbeat, you should make one too. It’s a super fun pattern; it’s like wearing a snuggly granny square blanket all day and who doesn’t want that?
So many lessons can be learnt from attempting to knit Birkin, the infamous colour work sweater by Caitlin Hunter.
These things have come to my mind in the last day:
– If you’re going to fail, fail fast and hard and then move on
– Pattern reviews are super important, but not even as important as the shared experience of your knitting friends who have been knitting ahead of you. PAY ATTENTION to their advice. AND If you don’t remember what size you cast on, STOP and CHECK!
– Good colour choices are not the most important thing, they don’t make ill-fitted sweaters fit any better
– I’m not going to have the same issues as other knitters, disasters don’t happen to me. YES THEY DO! I’m quite capable of messing up, thank you very much
– I’m not knitting it again, nope
Without further ado, here’s the last photo you’ll see of my Birkin:
On the theme of failed yoke sweaters, here’s my new Cowl 🙂
Whilst I was tidying up some WIPs, I made the decision on this freeform yoke that I began in a class several years ago. It’s so important to get the shaping correct, right from the start.
Despite the Birkin setback, my Granny Square Crochet Sweater is finished and I love it. I need to take some photos when the weather is less sweaty. The WIP count is going down in time for February. Yippee.
If last year taught me anything, it was to not make any plans… at least not too far in advance and not too far from home.
My only plan that was not destroyed last year, was my notion to cast on 1 pair of socks and 1 new garment each month. It was glorious and it made me giddy.
I’m still weighing up my knitting plans for this new year (whilst trying to dispense with the left-over WIPs). I like making plans, it gives me something to look forward to, and don’t we need that right now? I’m not allowing myself to get excited about ‘Bendigo’ or travel or seeing family and friends at important events, because I just don’t want the disappointment. But I can… get excited about knitting.
In my planning, I know that this year, I’m going to need to focus on SOCKS for me…
These 6 pairs of socks have become threadbare and holey underneath the soles of my feet in 2020. I can’t be bothered mending them (they’ve been well-loved), there’s even a pair of Patonyle socks in there, sadness!
Last year I ended up knitting just 4 pairs of socks for me:
Not enough to replace the outgoing socks in my sock drawer!
The striped pair is the Richmond Knitters Christmas yarn from 2019, hand-dyed by our favourite dyer, Danni of Half-baked Hand dyed on Etsy. The pink and blue pair are Arne & Carlos Regia yarn, which I nicknamed my Corona socks, because I couldn’t get the pattern tension right on the second sock, see the aqua wave on the top sock? That’s how both socks should look.
I also used my own hand spun yarn to knit a further 2 pairs for me.
So I did some numbers… if I knit as many metres this year as I did last year, and if I knit nothing else, I could knit myself…
50 pairs of socks!!!!
Now, I’m not going to do that, but it’s fun thinking about it.
Here’s my sock box of potential for the year, with the finished Norfolk socks already finding it’s bragging place in the box for the next 11 months (I might wear them at Christmas)
There’s enough yarn in here for 18 pairs of socks. I love having this set out in my living room like this, I find it so inspiring. Even if they don’t all get turned into socks this year, they bring me joy to just ponder.
My ‘Hug Me Later’ coasters made an appearance on Arne & Carlos’ special podcast this week, I love those guys.
I’ve begun 2021 with many unfinished projects; the consequence of casting on with reckless abandon a sweater and a pair of socks every month of last year… until November. And I have no regrets!
I begin this year with 4 jumper WIPs and 3 sock WIPs and I love each of these projects. I’m going to try to finish up a couple of them in January to get the UFO count down. Then come February… well, we’ll see.
It looks like the beginnings of another blanket, sweet, sweet crochet. So comforting!
The project is a great little stash buster. The main yarn (the charcoal) is repurposed yarn from a cardigan that didn’t suit me. It’s Zara Plus and it’s gorgeous. The other colours are odd balls and left-overs.
The jumper is knit in pieces combining both knit and crochet. I am little nervous that the sleeves won’t fit in with the crochet shaping when it comes to sewing this together. Perhaps I could pick up stitches at the armhole and knit down instead?
I’ve already cast-on for the back twice. Because 17 inches of knitting across is just not going to make 19-20 inches no matter how hard you try. I’ve cast-on again with slightly larger needles and I’m on my way again.
Any advice on knitting Raglan sleeves from picked up stitches downwards will be greatly appreciated.
Sonia Knits 