What I made, by Sharon

This week I finished the Tracery vest. I must have been planning the vest for 8  years, when I first saw it in the Unofficial and Unlicensed  Harry Potter Knits , a book that cracks me up by waltzing along the edges of what is copywrite infringement. Here is the picture from the book: Here's what I knit A little bit different! Except the shoulders, they are the same. And yes, we had a lot of fun trying the reproduce the photos from the book! I had some issues taking this from the "I want to knit it stage" to completion, which is why it took so long. The pattern is written FLAT from the underarms up. I knew I wanted to steek it. To do that I needed  to find a non-superwash wool in the right colours. I couldn't find the right yarn. In 2016 I bought wool to spin it, but somewhere along the way I decided handspun wasn't gong to be the best for this vest. I ended up dying it myself in July last year. I was very specific in my head about what I wanted, and actu...

As I suspected when I cast it on , my Singing Sands scarf was twisted. In fact I think it might have been twisted twice: On a project this long, it actually didn't matter much while I was knitting it, the twist was always somewhere on the other end of the needles. Still, it was quite exciting to get the to bit when I could steek it: Add caption And now, it's no longer twisted, but I still can't see how long it is, because the needles are significantly shorter than the scarf. I've excited to see how it will look spread out. Once I've finished the border, which is over 800 stitches, and ends with an I-Cord cast off. Luckily Elise has invited us over for a movie afternoon / evening, which will make those rows go flying by. Well, that's what I' m hoping, anyway. I'll see you on the other side of that border.

I knit the colour work tube of Rams and Yowes , and I enjoyed every stitch. I reenforced and cut the steek: Then I gently steam blocking it to help it relax. I spent a little while admiring the beautiful effect, and Kate Davies clever design: And, then, as instructed I picked up squillions of stitches. Although not quite at many as the pattern says, but as many as seemed necessary: But I am NOT knitting 76 rounds of garter stitch in the round. NO. That means purling thirty thousand stitches. Luckily Fleegle has a tutorial for how to do no-purl garter in the round, because I cannot say no enough to the instructions as written.

As I have said a number of times, I love knitting stocking stitch in the round. The simple joy of knitting around and around and around satisfies something basic for me. So, when I decided to make a knee length cardigan I converted it into the round. When I was done with the knitting I used this   Kate Davies tutorial to reinforce the steek. Then I cut it, and used her "steek sandwich" idea to ensure a nice, covered edge. This is particularly important for this pattern, because you can see the inside of the facing, particularly on the hood. I loved using this technique, rather than knitting backwards and forwards, which all the turning and purling. The edging done this way is so very neat. The only thing I would have done differently is I could have knit the hood in the round and steeked that too, but being that this is only the second time I've steeked I didn't think about that until after I had knit it. All in all I am incredibly happy with...