My third (and arguably last) Ishbel shawl. This time I am keeping it for myself. I have previously waxed poetically about the yarn and the start of the project, so I'm not going to repeat myself. It suffices to say that a) the yarn drapes beeeeeautifully and b) I shouldn't ever bring lace knitting to my knitting group.
Ishbel is a pretty easy pattern, but it still requires you pay attention to where you are in your pattern. Knitting group does not encourage silly things like "attention" and "concentration". And so I had to rip back, pick up stitches and knit on. Obviously my Ishbel has a row of arty little holes where I didn't pay attention to picking up stitches properly. My shawl is so soft and warm that I don't mind, but no more knitting lace at knitting group!
Fortunately I have just cast on a very mindless knit that should be impossible to mess up - even at the most raucous of knitting meetings. Francis Revisited is the simplest of pullovers: top-down, raglan, knit body in round, sleeves in round and then pick up stitches to knit a cowl. It'd be a perfect first big project for any beginning knitter, in fact.
I cast on last night and was able to separate for sleeves six hours later (with many interruptions), so this might be the fastest project ever. Being really quite hobbit-like, I'm thinking Francis Revisited Paprika will be my comfortable go-to pullover this winter (although I'm currently wearing Snorri non-stop). I'm going to lengthen the sleeves and the body - and the edgings will be different too. With a pattern this clean and simple, the tiny details really do make all the difference.
The yarn is Sirdar Peru, a woolblend, and I chose a lovely paprika red colour which I hope will brighten up those dark winter days ahead. It has a definite "acrylic" feel to it (which I expected) but Peru knits up very well with good stitch definition. It is loosely spun and almost feels like a single ply, but I'm hoping the acrylic content will keep it from pilling. The colour sequencing could have been more subtle, but that is a minor concern.
I'm also going to cast on a new lace project this weekend as my gran informed me she would love a shawl for Christmas. She is a knitter herself and I'm honoured. I just need to figure out which yarn to use (I have a sizeable laceweight stash) and decide on a suitable pattern. Pattern suggestions are, of course, warmly welcomed.