The Cardigan is Finally Finished: Bute

According to my notebook, I started knitting Bute in August 2012. I finally finished yesterday. It is a strange project: I certainly did not spend 18 months working on this cardigan and the result bears very little resemblance to what I had in my head when I started out. First the facts:

Pattern: Bute by Lisa Richardson from Rowan Magazine 52.

Yarn: Rowan Colourspun and Rowan Felted Tweed (both the suggested yarns) in Scunner, Winterburn (Colourspun) + Clay, Watery, Bilberry, Carbon and Peony (Felted Tweed).

Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm.

Size: M.

Modifications: I started out by changing the colours. I do not suit the autumnal colours of the original nor do I like the blue/yellow feel of the men's version (it's a bit too Swedish flag, really). I went down a size having tried on a shop sample. Then I chopped off a repeat of the body. I omitted the reverse sticking stitch on the shoulders.

Verdict: I loved knitting this (except when I had to reknit the front due to my own sizing mistake). I loved putting it together. I am just not sure it suits me.

Firstly, I should have gone down to size S(!) despite being on-gauge. The garment is very generously sized and it is much too big on me. Look at how the sleeve billows around my lower arm in the photo. Part of the problem is that I have lost weight since I began knitting the cardigan, but I have not lost that much weight.

I have had to chop off two inches on the shoulders - the original pattern has a mild drop-shoulder effect but the shoulders were halfway down my upper arms. I am so very glad I chopped off a repeat on the body as it would have been more like a coat than a cardigan. I hope no one will ask to look at the shoulder seams after my vaguely botched surgery session with first an overlocker (which seemed like a good idea at the time) and then a crochet hook.

The sleeves are superlong too - not quite to schematic and I wish I had twigged this beforehand so I could have added a thumb hole!

Secondly, I have since learned valuable lessons about knitting garments with shape. I am a pesky hourglass shape which means I need garments to nip in at my waist or I'll drown. The Bute pattern is not to blame for my lack of self-awareness - it is just a shame that I feel a bit frumpy and enormous in the garment.

Thirdly, I do love how warm this is. I have not been cold once since I started wearing this. I may need to knit myself a fair-isle onesie in Rowan Felted Tweed (okay, maybe not) or maybe a pair of fair-isle socks (more likely). Luckily my mate Jem Weston has a pattern for a pair of very fetching fair-isle socks in the same magazines and I might make my remnants stretch for that. Hmmmm..

Lessons learned: if you try on a shop sample size XS and it's almost perfect, disregard the voices in your head and go for size S (even if you haven't been size S since primary school).

I really enjoyed knitting the "peerie" patterns and I can see myself using the stitch patterns in another project - but this time with waist-shaping.

And can I knit everything in Felted Tweed from now on? It is my new favourite yarn (fact: this is my sixth FT project in a row).

Hey! It's a Doggerland KAL with Prizes!

We only have two Doggerland patterns left to go, so while I get those ready, I thought it would be fun to set up a Doggerland KAL in my Ravelry group. We've been having a sort of unofficial-official KAL since the first pattern was released, but I thought it'd be fun to add prizes to the unofficial-official KAL (thus making it an official-official KAL?). I just confused myself.

The basics: Knit a Doggerland project, post a photo in the official Doggerland KAL thread, and you can win yourself a yarny prize! On April 15, 2014, I'll draw random names and THREE lucky people will win prizes.

More basics: For every finished project, you get ONE token. The official KAL tag is "DoggerlandKAL". You can enter as many times as you'd like.

The relevant patterns are all from the Doggerland collection - they are available individually as well as a collection. You have the choice of Ronaes, Hoxne, Gillean Hat, Gillean Wristies, Ythan and Vedbaek. Any additional Doggerland patterns released before April 15, 2014 are also eligible.

Please note: if you have knitted any of the patterns knitted above - please post a photo of your finished object on the thread and tag your project. You can enter as many projects as you'd like into this KAL contest. I'll draw names at random - winner A, winner B and winner C.

Which brings me to the fun bit. The prizes! I did think about sourcing Mesolithic lithics (worked pieces of flint) but I wasn't too sure about the ethics of removing pieces from public access. Also, I think you knitters prefer yarn. Right? Right.

Prizes!

Winner A will win a skein of Snældan 2ply from The Island Wool Company. Seriously gorgeous yarn - it is one of my favourites - and once you start knitting with it, you won't believe the drape or feel.

Winner B will win a skein of Håndværker yarn from Hjeltholt Yarns, an artisan Danish yarn spinning mill dating back to 1878. It is the type of yarn I just love: full of depth and texture. Håndværker yarn is currently only available to a select few Scandinavian retailers, so it's a rare chance to get your hands on proper heritage artisan yarn. (I cannot believe I'm letting this go)

Winner C will win a £15 gift certificate to Old Maiden Aunt yarns. One of the best UK hand-dyers and a gift certificate means you get to choose your own favourite yarn base and colour!

Recap: Knit a Doggerland project, post a photo in the official Doggerland KAL thread, and you can win yourself a yarny prize!

Yellowed

If you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I am currently obsessing over yellow cardigans. I think it is a reaction to the winter weather we have been having. Glasgow has escaped much of the awful weather to hit Britain recently but standard Glasgow winter weather is awfully bleak. It is changeable but always some combination of rain + wind + sleet. Dreaming of yellow cardigan is thus the perfect antidote to the gloomy skies outside. Yellow cardigans and cups of tea. I am a few rows away from finishing The Thing I mentioned the other day. My plans include a hefty amount of swatching for new designs but then I am going to snuggle down and do some finishing.

I finished knitting all the pieces for my Bute cardigan in late 213 but then I realised I had knitted the two front two different sizes. In my defence, I did cast on for the second front whilst working in a yarn shop so all the chatter obviously went to my head. How I did not realise my mistake when I got to the shaping at the top, I will never know. So, my plan for the weekend is to reknit the front of the cardigan. Blocking next, then sewing up and the button band. Can I finish this by the end of February? Probably not. It will take me forever to decide upon buttons.

I also want to finish knitting my Orkney cardigan (just a sleeve and a button band!) but Bute has been languishing for so long - and I really want to snuggle up in it.

Back to dreaming of yellow cardigans. I do have a cone of a beautiful mustard-yellow silk/wool aran-weight that I chanced upon some .. uhm .. four years ago. I rather like Traveller's End by the wonderful Carol Feller (classic, simple shape that'll let the yarn do the talking) but Cinnamon Girl by Amy Christoffers keeps catching my eye (I'm not sure the yarn has enough drape). Amy Herzog's Kittiwake follows in the , er, wake with its effortless cables - but I'd need to modify its shape to suit me. I do love Hallett's Ledge - so that is another contender.

Maybe I should focus on finishing Bute, then Orkney and then see where I am at with knitting deadlines. For all I know, we might be talking Easter and then yellow takes on a whole other meaning.

For the Love of Indie Dyers

A big thank you to Victoria of Eden Cottage Yarns for sending me this sneak peek of her new yarn, Milburn 4ply. It arrived last week and it brightened up the day. I am yet to wind any of the skeins and swatch, but I have played with colourwork patterns in my head. That oatmeal/grey colour is particularly speaking to me - I am going through a bit of a neutral phase - and I love how the other colours sing to each other. Designing a palette is always hard (every colour needs to be distinct but still play well with the others) but Vicki has pulled it off.

The UK has some of the most amazing indie dyers and I feel so fortunate that I have ready access to names like Vicki, Skein Queen (new website!), Juno Fibre Arts, Lioness Yarns, Kettle Yarn Co., Triskelion Yarns, and The Knitting Goddess. Yarn is shipped quickly and I get to see them 'live' at the various shows. Scotland is particularly strong on indie dyers: I'm a huge fan of  Old Maiden Aunt; RipplesCrafts' amazing colours are pulled from her Highland surroundings, and The Yarn Yard is well-established as a go-to dyer for sock lovers.

One of the many things I really appreciate about many UK dyers is their commitment to offering a variety of bases - many of which are UK-specific breeds. Sourcing the right bases is one of the hardest thing for an indie dyer (followed closely by being able to source enough for a sustainable business) but so many of them are now selling yarns that are so much more than just a merino or a wool/nylon mix. They are showing a real commitment to showcasing the best of British fibre - and I think this is something we should celebrate. They are small, local businesses, they are supporting other small, local businesses and knitters get to discover what makes Polwarth wool different from Corridale wool, say. Win-win for all concerned.

Louise Scollay of KnitBritish recently wrote about the Dos and Donts of Knitting Locally. It is a wonderful post which pokes holes in a lot of myths surrounding knitting locally. It does not have to be more expensive, nor is it more difficult to care for. Being thoughtful about your yarn choices is maybe something to requires a bit more mindfulness (especially next time you are in a yarn shop and are overcome with omg, all the yarn!) but it is doable and rewarding.

I'd love to see a big collaboration between indie dyers and local designers. I try to work with as many indie dyers as I can, but I am just one person. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see a plethora of the best UK indie designers collaborating with the best UK indie dyers? How do you as a knitter feel about this? What would you love to see happening within the UK indie community? And who are your favourite dyers? I know there are some dyers I am yet to discover!

Doggerland: the Vedbaek Shawl

The Vedbaek shawl is the latest pattern from my Doggerland collection. Vedbaek is also one of my favourite things I have ever designed. When I began designing the Vedbaek shawl, I started by reading a lot about the Mesolithic finds of Bøgebakken, a site within the small seaside town of Vedbæk, Denmark. Between 1987 and 1990 more than 79.000 Mesolithic artefacts were found in a small contained area.The finds spoke more of a community than any other Mesolithic site I had read about up to that point.

And so I wanted to design something that spoke of people whose lives were inextricably tied to the sea and the rhythms of nature. People whose lives had a rhythm tied to seasons and a specific landscape. I also sought to design something that had a meditative rhythm to its own construction - something that would give comfort both while it was being made and afterwards.

Vedbaek is a story of continuity. It is also a story of making sense of life and carving out a space within everyday life.

One of the most poignant stories uncovered by the archaeologists was the one of the mother and child found sharing one of the graves on site. The mother was young - maybe no more than eighteen years old - and had died in childbirth. Her new-born baby had been placed right next to her. The mother had been adorned with snail shells and animal teeth; the baby was resting on a swan's wing.

That image of a swan's wing offering comfort captured me. It is a powerful image. We will never know what a swan's wing meant to Mesolithic man, but we can imagine words like flight, preciousness, grace, and (as anybody will know if they have disturbed a nesting swan) protectiveness.

The Vedbaek shawl is the end result of that design process. It has long, deep ridges that end in elongated points. I thought of spears used to capture fish and I thought of flint arrowheads secured to long, thin reeds. I also wanted to capture that wonderful, affecting image of the swan's wing. I wanted to make something with the weightlessness, grace, and beauty as the single swan's wing cradling something lost, something precious.

I knitted Vedbaek in Snældan 2ply (which is actually a 4ply) and I used almost 2 skeins of it. The yarn is lofty and soft (particularly when blocked) and the shawl is big, yet lightweight. Absolutely perfect.

It has been a long time reaching this point of finally release Vedbaek. I feel it is a bit ironic that my own life fell short of its own internal rhythms and comforts to the point where I could not release a pattern which is intrinsically about framework, rituals, rhythms, and solace. But we all muddle through somehow, don't we? Life takes its own quirky detours and I did have a beautiful shawl to wrap around my shoulders when life got cold.

I like telling stories through stitches.Vedbaek holds so many of them - both deliberately and accidentally.

A Few Announcements

Public service announcement #1: my Eyre Shawl pattern is now available from p/hop. It's "free" in the sense that you donate what you think it is worth to p/hop (which is a fundraiser for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders). I donated Eyre after reading about MSF's work in the aftermath of the Philippines typhoon. More than 14 million people have been affected by the Typohoon Haiyan hitting the country in November; more than 4 million people were left homeless; several million people have seen their livelihoods severely affected; and nearly 5,000 people lost their lives with many more still missing. In the face of such devastation, donating a shawl pattern felt like such a small, insignificant thing but hopefully it will make a difference.

Public service announcement #2: the long-awaited Vedbaek shawl pattern from the Doggerland collection is close to being released. I'm waiting on some final bouts of tech-editing right now. I've been asked what yarn people will need for this project. Personally I used nearly 750 yards of beautifully bouncy 4ply from The Island Wool Company.

Public service announcement # 3:An amazing event is taking place in Brighton, UK this summer: Unwind Brighton - 12-13 July 2014.

The line-up of teachers is unbelievable: Veera Välimäki, Ysolda, Carol Feller, Bristol Ivy, Rachel Coopey, Kirsten Kapur, Ann Kingston, Olga Buraya-Kefelian, Woolly Wormhead and .. er .. me.

I’m teaching three classes: Knitting with Beads on Friday, July 11 + Continental Knitting on Saturday, July 12 + Beginning Crochet For Knitters on Sunday, July 13. All classes are half-day classes and cost £50. Find out more about booking classes here. The marketplace is going to be equally fabulous - it’ll take place on Saturday and Sunday and hosts some of the most sought-after indie dyers in the UK and abroad. The entire event looks set to take over the arty, bohemian “London by the Sea” and it is organised by Dani Sunshine of Lionessknits.

You can keep up with news and info about classes/events/marketplace on the Unwind blog. There is also a Ravelry group for all your plan-making needs

I am super-excited about the line-up and the whole “let’s chill out in Brighton by the sea, oh yes” thing. It feels like this could well be the new Knit Nation: a cornucopia of UK-dwelling designers & yarnies + international names. People are already booking flights frm all over the place - I know Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and Scottish knitters who are all coming. Will you join us?