Hip hip hooray! My Vintage Flannel sweater by Anna Johanna is finally finished… and I love it 🙂 It turned out just how I wanted it to, but I must admit, it was touch and go when it came to the end. Like ALL of those ends, that I had to sew in
The number of ends is all my own fault of course. When purchasing the yarn for this project, I wanted my contrast colour to be varigated. I couldn’t find any yarn at the Sheep Show that would do this in 5ply. So… I used 3 different colours to create the varigation, which meant I needed to change colours every 3 rounds or so.
But before all of that, the other hurdle I faced was, as I cast off my second sleeve, I realised I had knit my second sleeve on needles that were .25mm larger than the rest of the sweater. True story.
The completed sweater before blockingCorrect needle used for the 1st sleeve, gridlines line up with the body2nd sleeve, gridlines are further apart with .25mm larger needle
Luckily upon wearing, I can honestly not tell the difference in the sleeve length. So this is our little secret.
With the end of the year approaching, I’m now eyeing off all of my unfinished projects to see what is going to make it into this years completed projects. Spoiler alert, I have cast on a new sweater. There’s also 2 pairs of socks and a blanket to complete. Seems unlikely doesn’t it?!
Very excitingly, my Fragmentation Cardigan is finished, with sewn on buttons and all! I’m so glad I made the amendments to this cardigan, to give me a better fit/length, the extra effort was/is worth it. I now have a cardigan I will wear and it won’t be languishing in the wardrobe. Yay!
The final clue for Stephen West’s mystery sock knit-along also dropped this week. Whilst the final clue wasn’t a lot of knitting for some. It seems my row gauge was tighter than most, so I got to do ALL of the final patterning for the foot before the toe. Which is okay, because I would have been disappointed to have missed out on the fun basket weave rows at the end!
But I am so glad it’s now done! Another bright and fun project for the books. I’ve also done a bit of swatching this week for my next sweater project, it’s been a long time since my last sweater cast-on and I can’t wait to start.
I’ve finished knitting my Fragmentation Cardigan, I think. It’s been blocked, but I still need to purchase buttons, I think. I’ve tried it on now, and it has grown a bit. I wish I made a size smaller. It looks a little oversized on me, which is not my style. It’s also a tad long. Do I buy the buttons and attached them, then judge? Or do I remove the button bands and seam up the middle, making it a sweater? For now, I’m going to mope, it’s been a mopey day. I’ve unintentionally made a couple of oversized sweaters in the past year or so, and this will be the third one. It’s starting to get to me. The three sweaters have in common: superwash yarn, garter stitch or mosaic (stretchy) stitch. 2 of them are by Stephen West. I’m feeling some rage here. Maybe I’ll sew the buttons on (and sew the buttonband down for stability), and it will be fine. Maybe. I might ask my knitting group for their advice, I wouldn’t want to be rash.
I have cast-off my Hot Jam Donut socks (a Bendigo colourway by Halfbaked Hand dyed) in 8ply and they are super cosy. I added a bit of silk mohair to the red and white sections, as I had some random fluff in my stash. They feel amazing on my feet, and they fit hooray.
Apparently I’m participating in the Stephen West mystery sock along which is launching on Tuesday, Sharon told me I had to.
The socks require 5 mini skeins of yarn. I’ve wound up some minis from a My Creative Garage mini skein set that I bought at last year’s Bendigo Show (go me!), and I’ve also gathered some speckled minis from a Little Woollie advent calendar. I’ll only need 5 of these minis, but I’m keeping my options open for now.
When I posted my Bendigo haul online this year, my sister who came to the show last year, commented that she hadn’t used any of the yarn she purchased from last year yet. I then begain to wonder if I had?!
Last year’s Bendigo haul
Turns out, I hadn’t either! I’ve used the bags, sure! And now I’ve wound up the mini skein set for the mystery sock along. I’m also finally going to cast on for my long desired sweater Vintage Flannel by Anna Johanna from her book Strands of Joy II. It’s going to be in yarn purchased specifically for this from last year’s Bendigo. Vanessa from My Creative Garage, also dyed up some extra skeins for me especially for this. Today I wound them all up. The pattern is not going to be released as an individual pattern until next year (I thought it would be released this year, so I delayed casting on) but not anymore, as my sister bought the book for my birthday, thanks Suzy!
Just realised Vanessa named this colour after me!I hate winding yarn!
It’s only 360-ish days until Bendigo 2026 as my husband cruelly tells me! What a weekend, and it was over much too fast.
As usual, we headed up early on the Wednesday. We had brunch at our favourite cafe, the one that serves tiny chocolate teddies with your coffee! I visited the Bendigo Woollen Mills, and bought a jumpers worth of yarn; Cumulo which is a limited edition NZ Perendale, non-superwash. I also bought their beautiful publication which was released last year about the history of the mill.
I thought that would be my one and only trip to the mill for the weekend, but I was very wrong. I also visited on Friday after the show, as they had just released a limited-edition Corriedale wool. I was very tempted, but walked away empty-handed. I also visited on Saturday after the show, to assist our friend Charlotte (it was manic, I’ve never been there whilst it’s that busy). Charlotte has never been to the mill, she bought a few balls and left very happy. Now I know why it’s smart to go early in the week before the hoards of crafters arrive in town.
Pictured above are the Penny gloves (mitts) by Petite Knit, that I finished knitting on Thursday afternoon. For the show, I also knitted a colour sample of a beanie for my friend Danni aka HalfBaked hand-dyed. And because this was a sample for the show, I knit another version of the Bendigo Beanie by Sanna & Co. for me. The weekend, turned out to not be too cold with lots of sunshine, which was wonderful. Which meant, I didn’t need to wear my mitts for much of the time; and when my friend Sharon (a second Sharon) turned up on Saturday wearing a store bought beanie, I immediately gifted her my Bendigo Beanie. It looked great on her!
On Friday the show began! In the morning, my knitting group took some group photos of us wearing our Wool & Honey knits and hexagon/bee hive inspired accessories. 10 of us then attended the Women of Wool luncheon, which was fabulous this year.
My excited face on Friday morning!
A little bit of shopping happened before and post lunch.
On Saturday, I did a spot of shopping and ate my first Bendigo Hot Jam Donut. Our non-crafty friends arrived (except for Charlotte, she’s a mad crocheter) plus Damian’s mum, and I spent the day looking at the sheep, shearing and sheep dog trials.
The Richmond Knitters also had a second photo shoot of Wool & Honey knits for the Saturday crew.
Saturday night was the knitting group’s Bendigo Dinner. We had some extra guests, designers & hand dyers which made for a fun and lively night.
Sunday I arrived home with quite a haul. It was an amazing weekend, with souvenirs to match.
I kind of diverted from my shopping list, purchasing sock yarn that wasn’t on the list! I’ve come home with enough for 11 pairs, gasp! And 3 sweaters worth of yarn for planned projects which were on the list, hooray for me. If you’d like to take a look at the details, check them out on Ravelry, I’m just ‘Sonia’ there.
My ‘Bendigo Sweater’ for the Richmond Knitters is finished and blocked. It has turned out even better than the first Wool & Honey sweater that I knit six years ago. I love the length of the sleeves and the electric blue colour. The benefit of doing something more than once is, you’ll always do it better the second time, you would hope! There is something I’d like to re-do… but perhaps after the Show when the pressure is off.
As it’s been so cold here in Melbourne (and Bendigo town is always colder) my mind is turning to the possible accessories I can knit to go with my sweater. I don’t normally go all in, with an entire matchy matchy Bendigo ensemble, but it’s really cold right now and I don’t want to be whilst I’m in Bendigo.
I’m hoping to knit a hat, mitts and cowl, that’s do-able within a week right? I’ll report back.
I did a preview knit for Brooklyn Tweed! I’ve never done a preview knit before (let alone a test knit). So many of my friends are doing test knits, and I wanted to see what the fuss was. I thought that committing to a hat design, was like dipping my toe into the water, so to speak. Also, due to the size of the project, it gave me plenty of time to complete the hat! The pattern was fully road-tested and tech-edited, which meant the only thing for me to do, was knit the hat!
The design is called Diamants Hat by Mary Weaver (a BT designer) and it launches today. I’ve knit my hat in Jamieson & Smith 2ply jumper weight (4ply) as unfortunately BT Tones light (the called for yarn) is not available in Australia. The J&S is yarn I had in my stash, and I think it’s a great colour for me.
The pattern is well written and the charts are clear. I actually really enjoyed knitting the twisted stitches and the pattern describes how to do these really easily, without having to drop stitches at any point.
The weather has turned chilly here, so this is the perfect addition to my hat wardrobe. Thanks BT.
My Stripes! sweater by Andrea Mowry is complete! I’m really happy with it! The fit and drape vastly improved once it was blocked. I’m not sure why I was surprised by this, doesn’t blocking make everything better? It is a fun sweater and I’ve already worn it a couple of times. This is a relief to me, because I thought this would only be a very ‘occasional’ type sweater.
Everyone seems to love it. So my ‘February’ sweater is complete. My ‘March’ sweater (Wool & Honey) is a little behind schedule, due to a little distraction. More on that next time. And my ‘April’ sweater will need to be cast-on soon seeing as though we are in April. No spoilers 🙂
Since I’ve last blogged, I’ve been away on a crafty weekend in Daylesford with friends. During this weekend, I finished knitting my stripey socks and even did some cross-stitch (the photos of the patchwork, are not mine!).
Then this past weekend, we visited Tasmania. The main purpose of our visit was to see our Melbourne friends who were making delicious food in Tassie. We were not disappointed. Bruny Island oysters, yes please, as well as many other delicious delights Tasmania has to offer. Thank goodness they’ll be back in Melbourne this week, we’ve missed them and their food. Whilst in Tassie we also visited Mona, which was incredible. I haven’t visited Tassie in many years (maybe 20!), and Mona has been built since then. We’re already making plans to return one day, to spend more time because one day is not enough. And look I wore my Stripes! sweater to Mona.
My Sabela sweater by Isabel Kraemer was off the needles last weekend and blocking. I’m super happy with how it turned out, there never was a doubt when it comes to an Isabel Kraemer pattern, they always fit really well.
The yarn is by Great Ocean Road Woollen Mills, Summer Fiesta in their 3/4ply. It was a pleasure to knit with this yarn which is a merino and linen blend. Whilst it is a light yarn, it has enough warmth to it, that I probably won’t wear it in the warmer months. Alas, it’s 18 degrees in Melbourne today, which is quite a change from the high 30 degree temperatures we’ve had this week. So maybe I’ll be wearing it sooner than I think.
Meanwhile I have cast on my ‘February’ sweater, Stripes! by Andrea Mowry. I’m using my advent calendar yarn from My Creative Garage.
I’m hoping to have finished the yoke and divided for the body and sleeves this weekend. It’s raining outside so this works with my plans. There’s less than 2 weeks left to February, so I’m hoping to get as much of this sweater knit as possible before the start of March.
I’ve also cast on for my Marlene socks, thanks so much for your comments on this project!
The yarn is beautiful, it has a lovely structure to it. I hope to pay more attention to this after I’ve done ‘enough’ knitting on my Stripes! sweater.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end…
I’ve had a good break, and I’ve done lots of things in between crocheting, knitting and (a little) spinning. It’s been great!
The tree is packed awayJapanese BBQSock knitting whilst BBQingMore sock knitting whilst BBQingKid sittingNiece’s temperature blanketGlampingTips for roughing itFinished SocksRearranging advent yarnBirthday pool partyIce cream birthday cakeSabela progress
I am so pleased with the progress I’ve made on my Sabelatop. I’m past the sleeve divide, and I’ve tried it on, and I think it’s looking great. I’ve decided it’s going to have long sleeves, it’s going to be an in-between seasons garment. Whilst it’s light, 4 ply weight (closer to 3ply), the merino/linen blend is quite warm, so short sleeves (my original intention), doesn’t make sense. The yarn is Summer Fiesta by GORWM in case you want some for yourself.
I’ve also cast on a pair of Vanilla socks on January 1 (see above). So now, I’m thinking of attempting to knit a pair of socks and a garment per month again, how fun is that? I’ve made such great progress on this holiday of mine! I’m now contemplating my February cast-ons, whilst knitting my last stitches before work tomorrow. Do you have any knitting plans for the year?
Thanks Maureen for your comment on my last post about my mum and me looking alike 🙂 I’ll write more soon about my intentions for my Advent yarn… I think I’m changing my mind about one of the calendars!
Sonia Knits 