That muddy-brown raglan: An 'Ugly Duckling' kind of a tale...

I've got another FO to show you! It's the Easy Raglan V-Neck by Stefanie Japel, knitted in my not-so-loved brown GGH Savanna.

I didn't have particularly high hopes for this project, mainly because I didn't love the yarn. It seemed drab and, with its mottled brown colour, kind of ... messy-looking? Since it is a soft yarn, though, I thought that perhaps with the adorable Stefanie Japel v-neck pattern it might make a good home / allotment jumper that would keep me warm and cozy, even if it was never going to look very stylish. 

Half-way through I started to panic that I wouldn't have enough yarn, so I decided to add some orange half-sleeves to make sure I didn't run out. To create a more coherent overall look I added the stripes at the bottom of the body and reversed them at the bottom of the sleeves. I initially just added a thin crochet border to the v-neck edge, but because my gauge had been slightly off the neck came out a bit large and the thin orange band didn't look right so I ripped it out and added a ribbed edge.

You know, I'm actually really really pleased with how this jumper has turned out:

In fact, I think I kind of love it!

It fits so well, and it's so very comfy and you know what - I think, if you squint a bit, it's downright stylish! Who knew the drab brown GGH Savanna had such untapped potential!

Since I said I would, and also because it's so snuggly and warm and it was a cold day, I did wear it to the allotment last weekend, and I have also been wearing it quite a bit at home because it keeps me warm when I'm working in my office, but I'm planning to wear this jumper A LOT, and I'm so happy with how it's turned out, I don't think I'll have any qualms about wearing it 'in public'. 

My photographer, as has been so often the case recently, is boy#1 (aka The Bean). He's actually started to direct me on where he wants me to stand and how he wants me to pose and look. Clearly he is taking his new job very seriously! ;)

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WIP Wednesday and A Year of Projects Update...

It's time for another WIP update - how quickly time passes. So much to do, so little time!

I've been busy this week. Term is about to start and everyone is trying to squeeze one last meeting in before teaching starts. Add to that the usual prep work that precedes teaching and there's just not been enough time in the day! 

That said, I have been knitting. Although I've toted my knitting everywhere it's usually been an evening activity, but even so I have managed to make inroads into both Owls and the V-neck. I'm kind of enjoying them both - what one project has in looks (I love the way Owls knits up) the other has in softness (that GGH might not look like much but it's buttery soft - the oatmeal wool I'm using for Owls isn't!). 

Owls is a very quick knit - if you want to finish a project quickly then 6 mm needles really are the way forward. I've managed to damage my needles, though - they weren't very good quality to start with, and the plastic of the cable is cracking where it's joint to the bamboo of the needles. I'll have to buy some new ones - that'll slow me down a bit...

Good thing then that I have the V-Neck Raglan to knit while I'm waiting for my needle replacement. I love the top-down raglan construction, so clever, and you can even try it on as you go along. Good job I did too, because that way I realised that I needed a bit more room under the arms and was able to make three more stitches as I joined the sides to start knitting in the round. It fits much more comfortably now. 

I think I might be a tad short on wool though because I suspect that some of those balls of GGH weren't complete. I'm planning on 2-coloured sleeves to make sure. I'll knit brown until about t-shirt length (from the top), then continue on in an accent colour. To tie it in more I'll add a row of that colour around the neck and possibly also do a couple of thin stripes at the bottom of the jumper... That ways I won't have to worry all the time that I might run out of yarn, and it might also break up the unrelenting brown-ness of this jumper a bit. I'm thinking of either some orange or some muted turquoise from stash... What do you think?

I think I'm at about the same stage with both projects, even though one is from the bottom up and the other from the top down - both are at around waist-height right now. :)

As for reading - not much time for that this week I'm afraid. I'm currently finishing up The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, though, which D and I have been reading together at night. 

This is the blurb from Amazon: 

"It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky. The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament."

It's a strange kind of novel, beautifully written, and observant, with lovely character portrayals and capturing that strange frontier feel of the New Zealand goldfields in a way that brings it alive,  but also at times quite convoluted and ponderous. I have enjoyed it but it's not as gripping as many other books I've read. We have around 50 pages left, so things are now coming to a head and many of the  backstories are revealed, and we are picking up our pace a bit as we become more curious if all those mysteries will be explained or not. 

And last but not least, I thought it was time I consulted my A Year of Projects list once more. This is how things look at the moment:

On the needles:

Owls

Easy Raglan V-Neck

On the List: 

Shalom cardi (Yarn: Olive wool/cashmere blend)

Liesl (Yarn: orange and yellow handspun)

Dietrich (Yarn: sock-weight feltable yarn from stash)

Sideways Grande Cloche (Yarn: Single skein purple Cascade)

 Mermaid gloves

Flat Circle Pillow

Attic 24 Mandalas

Hitofude

pot holders (Hilde's Hot Pads, or or the Blue & White Pot Holders, or the Flower Pot Holders)

Cable Cushion (Cable & Twist cushion, Super Chunky Rope Cable Cushion,  or Super Chunky Basketweave Cushion)

Finished Projects

Purple Ink Flare

Pink Socks

Tea Leaves

Socks for boys

Bulky Moebius Cowl

Granny Square Blanket

Scheepjes Mystery Crochet Blanket

Lombard Street Socks

The Garter Yoke Cardi

Green Ink Flare

Granny Square Cushion

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Stitch Along Wednesday

WIP Wednesday update

I'm on a roll, people, I'm on a roll!

I finally finished my Lombard Street Socks a few days ago. It took some effort to think myself back into that pattern, and as a consequence I think one of my heel flaps is a little too long and also has one error in it - the pattern alternates rows of s1k1 and k1s1 to create the effect of not ribbing but a kind of checkered, textured fabric. Just as I was picking the project up again I must have got it wrong once, because there is definitely a row of ribbing in there. I don't really care, though, because the socks are comfy and I love the muted grey, which makes them so very wearable, even to work. 

Pattern

The pattern was lovely - easy to memorise lace pattern and clear instructions.

Pattern alterations

I knit my socks on a circular needle and altered the pattern to that effect. This means that I got a bit confused when the instructions asked for needle 2 or 4 and picked up the lace pattern at a different place after turning the heel. I realise that this was to make sure that the lace pattern sits at a particular place on the foot, but I decided to follow my own instinct and just continued the lace pattern on as was, using the starting point at the cuff as the beginning of my row. I also did the toe without really consulting the pattern. 

I'm so thrilled to have finally finished these and with these and, all the socks from Godi, I have some very very happy feet this winter!

Up and on to WIPs...

I've started another jumper. It's on my list for the year, and it's from stash, so it's all good. It's Owls, which is such a pretty pattern. I'm using some of my no-name wool/cashmere blend. It's an odd sort of yarn - I bought it as Aran weight but it's closer to bulky, which makes it ideal for this project, and it's spun as a slightly uneven single. It's supposedly a cashmere blend but so far it's not at all soft. It's definitely wool, because you can feel (and smell) the lanolin in it - there is a lot of that still in there, so I imagine that after washing this yarn will fluff up quite a bit. I'm kind of curious how it's going to turn out to be honest, because this yarn is such a mystery. I do like the colour though, and I think it's going to be perfect for Owls. 

I'm also finally working up the courage to pick up the Easy V-Neck again. I've moaned about this yarn before - it's that sub-standard mottled brown GGH Savanna yarn that I picked up ages ago and never managed to find a project for. I'm not having high hopes for this jumper because I just can't imagine that the yarn is going to suddenly turn into anything stunning once it's knitted up, but I'm envisioning a warm and cuddly winter walk / allotment / cold day at the office kind of jumper, which, after all, is nothing to sneer at either! :)

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