Mulberry Nila - Body Finished!

I have been focused exclusively on this project since July 22, and I finished up the body yesterday.  Once I joined the front and back the knitting took on the fairly monotonous quickness of working endlessly in the round.  The mindlessness interrupted by the lace panels, and the monotony interrupted every four rows by the k1, p1 round that gives the top its texture.  I used up skeins 4-9 of my 12 skein set on the body, and used skein 10 for the ribbing both at the hem and at the neckline.  I will also use it for the ribbing on the sleeves as a way of tying everything together.  As an ombré gradiance this set is not as successful as other sets in the series, and that has been part of my challenge with using it.  Even with the strong color blocking, and the fact that skeins 9 and 10 have a decidedly different hue than the others I think it is all going to work out okay, especially with using skein 10 as the contrast edging.   The ribbing is a k1tbl, p1 rib, and is knit on a smaller needle size. The fit is perfect so far.  On to the sleeves!

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Front and Backs Joined!

Last night I got to the point where I thought that the front and back yokes were long enough to join for the body.  When I started working with the third skein I had the front and back yokes synced up with regards to length (when wearing) as well as where they were in the pattern repeat, so I worked them at the same time from both ends of my yarn cake.  Once they were where I thought they needed to be I measured them (as per the pattern) and darned if they didn’t match the measurements for the pattern size I was working.  I will confess to being a little dubious given the unusual shoulder construction, but it all works out.  I decided to complete the armhole shaping for the back, so I could cut the yarn and then do the armhole shaping for the front and join for working in the round.  When I was working those first couple of rounds I did pull out my markers (which were a motley of different colors) and just went with the beginning of round marker, but quickly decided having markers to identify the different stitch pattern sections was a nice thing to have.  I can read my knitting easily enough and so can see where they switch, but when I start knitting on autopilot it is easy to work a stitch or two of the next section, but in the pattern from the old, and then have to tink back, which just takes time and breaks my rhythm.  So I fished out enough of the green markers to mark everything, my beginning of round marker is yellow.

I tried it on and the fit looks perfect, now I just have to knit round and round until the body is long enough.  The ribbed edgings will be done in a darker color from this gradiance set, just because I like to do things like that.

This is the set that I am using, and you can see how those last four skeins in the top right get really dark.  I started with the fourth skein (going right to left on the bottom row).  The first three skeins I will use on the sleeves.  I should have yarn left over from this project, which I am going to use as the contrast color for another of her patterns - Maeron.  I will knit that one in the Denim Ombré, which was actually dyed to go with this one.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiwi in the Mulberry Ombré 

Needle;  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Front and Back Yokes!

Once I got to the halfway point in my second skein I decided to work on the front yoke.  My primary concern was that when I started working the third skein I would be at the same point on both the front and the back, or pretty close, anyway.  The first skein went further on the front than it did on the back.  I started the second skein on the front about the spot where I joined the two front pieces.  I have now started working the back again using the other end of the skein so that I can try to keep the yarn usage even and switch to the next skein at about the same point on both the front and the back.  I also wanted to get both going so that I could make sure that my armhole is deep enough, and with the construction it just didn’t seem as straightforward to measure things and be sure that I was getting it right.  I’ve tried it on to make sure of the fit, as well as trying it on my dress maker dummy.

I think it is looking pretty good.

And it is looking pretty even.  I think I can alternate rows between the front and the back until I use up this skein, and then switch to the next one.

I do have a little more ways to go before I can join the front and the back, but it’s getting there.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Fancy Hen - Finished!

And she is all done, and packed up and waiting to be picked up out of my mailbox and sent on her way to her new home.  Putting the knit blockers inside to open things up really helped speed up the drying, and I was able to stuff her yesterday afternoon and sew up the bottom.  That was a little bit fiddly at the beginning and end of the opening, especially at the end, but I managed to make things look neat and tidy.  She is adorable, I may have to make another one for myself.  It is a pretty quick knit, if you focus on it, although the needles that I used had very sharp points, so my index finger tips did get a little bit sore from being poked - even when I tried to be careful and not use my finger tip to push on the needle tips.  The gauge is tight, as required by something that you’re going to stuff, so the knitting is not effortless.  I can do two-handed Fair Isle with a color in each hand, which makes the knitting go pretty fast, and the yarn easy to control.  It doesn’t take much yarn - about 50 grams/120 yards for the body and 25 grams/60 yards for the contrast.  I used a 16 inch circular needle for the body, and then used two 16 inch circular needles for the neck/head and tail, as well as the beak.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma Garn 3-Trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Tessellation Nation - Making Progress

No that I have a path forward I’ve been making progress, making pentagons and joining things as I go, filling in the diamonds, boats and stars as I can.  I changed the diamonds to be essentially two star points, with an extra triple crochet, so I work one extra chain before anchoring.  It is far easier and quicker to make as compared to what the pattern calls for, which was definitely very fiddly.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton

Yarn: Scheepjes Terrazzo

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Fancy Hen - Knitting Done!

I finished up the body this past Saturday, and once the body was done, the head and tail worked up quickly and I finished all the knitting on Saturday as well.  I did make one slight modification to the pattern, I did not like the look of the knitted comb, it just seemed too big, so instead I did a line of single crochet along the top of the head, and then worked three sets of half-double, double, and triple crochet stitches to create the scallops.  Then came the blocking.  I started out just laying it flat and pinning the bottom edge to combat the inevitable stockinette stitch curl, but after letting it sit a couple of days I realized that it was going to take forever to dry - two layers of colorwork fabric - so I changed how I was blocking it.  I put knit blockers inside the body to open it up, and then put T-pins through the edge to prevent curling.

That sped things up considerably.  I checked it this morning and it is almost dry.  The side that was in contact with the blocking mats is still just slightly damp, so I flipped it over this morning and put the knit blockers back inside again to hold it open.  I did not pin the edges as they are dry.  Hopefully it will all be dry tomorrow and I can stuff her and sew her up and get her on her way to her home.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma 3 trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Fancy Hen - Cast On!

There has been a craze lately for knitted comfort chickens, and not so long ago I spotted a kit for a Fancy Hen on the Woolly Thistle web site.  It was pretty adorable, and I have a friend who likes chickens, so I decided to knit her one.  I also have some chicken-themed tea towels to send her along with the knitted chicken.  I picked out some colors and ordered the kit and at the end of June I finally cast on.  After the first few rows it sat around for a little while, but this past week I have been working on it a little more steadily.  To make it easier I added some markers to identify where the increases go, and I also switched the type of increase I was using.  The pattern calls for picking up the strand between stitches, but that is a bit fiddly, so I went with lifted increases.  At this point I am through all of the increases, and halfway through the colorwork.  The colorwork was one of the things that drew me to this pattern.

My cast on edge was curling a lot and it was annoying me, so I clipped the cast on edges together to keep them from doing that.  This is my first time using this yarn, it is Norwegian, and is, as they say, rustic, but I have lately come to appreciate the qualities of yarn that hasn’t been superwashed, which really does strip it of any woolly characteristics.

Pattern:  Fancy Hen by Ella Austin

Yarn:  Rauma Garn 3-Trads Strikkegarn

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Cast On!

Having finished up a couple of things I decided to cast on a new project.  Plus, having completed my Practically Handspun vest I wanted to make another garment.  This will become Nila by Natasja Hornsby, also known as Moonstruck Knits.  I’ve been wanting to knit it for a while, and actually swatched for the patten over a year ago.  I also knew that I wanted to make it out of one my Unique Sheep Gradiance sets, and chose the Mulberry set.  I had been knitting a dress in this set, but I didn’t like how it was coming out so I frogged it.

The top is worked top down, and this is the back.  It has some interesting shaping, as well as a surface texture.  I started with the fourth skein of the set, and have reserved the first three skeins for the sleeves, which are not full length.  I will do the cuffs and collar with one of the darker skeins for contrast.  I am making good progress on the upper back, although I did have to rip back seven rows because I had forgotten an increase.

I used a little less than half of skein 4, and have started working with skein 5.  My gauge came out a little tighter than the pattern called for so I went up a size to compensate.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  Kiri by The Unique Sheep

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Practically Handspun - Finished!

I finished the knitting this past Saturday, and did the bind off and blocking Sunday morning.  I still have some of the purple and the orange left over.  The lighter purple that forms the main body is all used up.  The length came out perfect - it just comes down to my knees.  I am delighted with it, my first garment out of handspun yarn.  It wasn’t super consistent yarn either, but it wasn’t bad.  The knitting looks good.

I like the way the color blocking worked.  Please pardon the hall-way selfie, it is too hot to model this outdoors.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  Handspun Merino Top

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)