In 38 years of knitting, this is a first

Those who know me, know that I never have enough yarn to make a sweater. This is why my creations for myself have blocks, strips and stripes.





And so, for the first time in nearly 40 years of knitting I have made, for myself, a sweater all from the same yarn!





(Pause for fanfare).

It's still pretty colourful, but it is all the same yarn. This usually only happens for design commissions.





It's an Ann Budd raglan design. I made the sleeves, then did a provisional cast on for the front/back and worked the yoke (similar process to the black sweater in an early post).





Then I picked up the prov cast on and worked down until I ran out.





I think that I could have done the neck a little better (bit of a funnel there), but winters a-coming in, and it will keep me warm in my chilly little office.





The yarn is Wendy Fusion, bought a couple of years ago when a local shop closed down (all yarn has to be in the stash for at least 2 years until it's used - that's the law...).





Generally happy with it - the yarn was nice to work with and should be fairly warm and cosy.

Two Patterns in Let's Knit

I can now reveal two of the "teasers" from an earlier post.

The first is a pair of gloves with the top of the first finger and thumb missing. I call them "commuter gloves" with the idea being that the wearer can keep their hands warm while reading a book or operating an MP3 player while on a draughty train. It was actually my Dad's suggestion, so he should take the credit for the idea - it's just that he doesn't knit.

I have a pair of these in dark colours, sombre for work.

In the same issue, there's a circular yoke crochet cardigan with a swirl pattern. My initial suggestion was for a plain yarn with a variegated swirl. The good folks at the magazine came up with this colour option instead. The yarn is a teal colour, but looks more blue in the mag. Happy with the way it's been styled, though (so much better than simply being laid out on the top of my chest freezer!

Set in Sleeves Chunky Jacket

When dressing, I tend to go for simply shaped loose fitting items.

When designing, I tend to do the same and these have the added advantage that they are relatively straightforward to put together.

But it was time to bite the bullet, to put my big brave pants on and to have a go at.....set in sleeves!

I have a jacket which I use for work, but it is getting a bit "well used". However, I really like the fit and length of it, so I decided to replicate it in knit.

Although it's not perfect (perfect things and people tend to be very boring), I'm pleased with the results.

The original jacket has a V-neck with lapels, but I decided on a crew with collar. Other details include shoulder pads and knitted in pockets. I didn't bother doing any rib at the top of the pockets as the knitted fabric holds its pattern fairly well and I didn't want to add even more bulk.

Ages ago I bought some King Cole Magnum Chunky, which I used for this. Of course (as suggested in a previous post), I didn't have enough. To get around this (luckily, I realised fairly early on). I worked the sleeves, and then did the fronts on a provisional cast on , starting very close to the armholes. I then finished these pieces, put the whole thing together and then worked down from the prov cast on. The pattern was one row knit, one row single rib, so I did a stripe of stocking stitch (and matched it, in the sleeves), to allow for the change of knitting direction.

Wendy DK, doubled, gave me the same tension as the Magnum, and so when I actually ran out of the yarn, I did four rows of doubled DK in a contrast colour, and then continued until I got the length I wanted.

To avoid any jumps in colour on the button bands, I did 2 rows of the contrast on that, too.

In general, I'm happy with it. Some of the shaping for the hips was unnecessary and there is a danger that it will look a bit like a peplum, but I'll see how it feels and drapes once it's been washed. In my experience, acrylic seems to go a bit saggy, so it should drape relatively softly, rather than looking too strange.

It's taken me a while to finish this, due to interruptions of other projects in the meantime, but I'm pleased with the finished result and hope to get a lot of use from it this winter.

Okay, I can finally reveal my true identity.

Yes, it's me.