On my needles

All winter my craft obsession is knitting. When we hit October, I'm still in the habit of spending long nights on the couch, watching TV and trying to stay warm. Knitting is so meditative that it seems more suitable for my winter state of near-hibernation, while sewing (at least, in the slightly haphazard way I approach it) is much more active -  lots of leaping from my machine and running between tables and mirrors and the ironing board.

This year, I am proud to say, marked a change in my knitting practice - I started knitting adult-size garments in ernest. I’ve dabbled in the past, but it hasn’t been until this year that I’ve finally managed to make an item of clothing that I’m proud of and wear on a regular basis. I'm pretty stoked with this.*

As spring actually begins to get a toehold, this is what I currently have on my needles and what I’m planning vaguely for summer knitting. My knitting mojo has already lessened markedly so who knows if I'll make much progress before next June? I sure don't. It's a mystery.

Currently knitting

Still light tunic

I started knitting one of these tunic dresses with a hiss and a roar in August, but lost interest when I realised that I wouldn’t finish the tunic in time to wear it this winter - and that I'd have to frog the hem because I’d used single instead of double rib to finish. The only possible explanation for a fuck-up of this kind is that I was knitting drunk.

I’ve decided to finish the pockets and the other sleeve before I attempt to frog the hem, and I think I will make it longer and a bit more butt-covery.

As though knitting an adult-sized dress wasn’t enough, I’m using a very fine yarn. I ordered it from Anna Gratton yarns and didn’t realise that it was a very fine 4 ply (more a lace-weight than a sock yarn, I feel). It is pretty nice yarn though, lovely to knit with. Not super squishable on the cone but it has a nice drape in the garment.

Solis t-shirt

I picked up a bunch of purplish-silver-grey cotton from the op-shop, originally planning to knit one of the delicious Vasa tees. However it turned out that the cotton was the wrong weight for the pattern (8ply instead of 4ply). I threw the idea out completely instead of doing the maths to work out the new measurements - I still want to make a Vasa but I’ll do the thing properly with the right weight of yarn.

Instead, I’m knitting a Solis t-shirt with the op-shop cotton. The pattern has has a back panel of lace and tubular cast ons at the waist - two techniques that were new or a bit of a challenge for me. So far I’ve completed the back panel and am about halfway through the front. I must have knit that tubular cast on about twenty times altogether!!! (I wish this was hyperbole). The top though is only two pieces, so a pretty simple make, and I’m excited about the slightly tricky-looking neck band. My enthusiasm for difficult things leads me to conclude that I’m much more ready to try new and complicated knitting techniques if I’m executing them on something I really want to wear - rather than, say, a dishcloth.

Vague summer knitting plan

Featherweight cardigan mark II

I ordered a bunch of Madeline Tosh 2-ply yarn in Candlewick so I could make another of these very cute light weight cardigans. The last version I made was in a black 4-ply merino and I was pretty disappointed - I knitted the cardi too small, cast off my sleeves and waistband too tightly and the yarn pilled very quickly. I am still wearing it though, and every time I squeeze my forearms through the too-tight cuffs I curse myself for my haste in casting off.

Related adventure in yarn-winding: I tried to co-op Shannon into helping me wind FIVE SKEINS OF THIS EXPENSIVE YARN and it was a DISASTER. I spent almost as much time untangling as I did winding. Never again (he is very relieved).

Do you have something on your needles at the moment? Making anything funky? I am endeavouring to craft my stash for the rest of the year at least as I have a heap of fabric, yarn and vintage clothes, and am (still) trying to live within my means. I am also feeling the tug of the sewing machine, and I suspect my next project will involve the Scout T-shirt pattern and some apple-print fabric.

* A Trail Jacket, in case you’re wondering.