I'm on a serious colourwork kick at the moment. As soon as Autumn descends I feel the need to knit all of the fair isle and this year is seeing a bumper crop of colourful projects.
For my eldest child's first two Christmasses I have knitted him a sweater to wear on the big day. I wanted to keep this up as an annual tradition for as long as possible but also couldn't be leaving the baby out on her first Christmas so I am attempting to get two little sweaters knit up ready for the 25th!
Fortunately I had the foresight to start planning and knitting a little while ago but I still feel up against the clock. Hopefully a bit of concentrated effort in the next couple of weeks will get us there and they will both be handknit clad.
I made a start on Jessica's little cardigan back in October and have managed to complete the body and sleeves, all that is left to do now is to pick up the button bands and seam it, however I need daylight for this as the dark purple is so hard to see! The pattern is free from the Drops website (rav link) and I'm using the recommended yarn, Karisma. I'm really pleased with this yarn choice, it's 100% wool and available in a great colour range which makes it ideal for stranded projects. In fact I've ordered a few more balls in another colour to make myself a pair of winter mittens!
I cast on Jack's little sweater on Sunday evening and i've been getting on with the back when I've had the odd spare moment. I don't get a great deal of knitting time at the moment as the two small people, house renovations, house work and cooking take up the majority of my time. Recently my slots of crafting time have mostly been devoted to sewing but I still love to have a knitting project on the go when I'm sat in front of the TV at night (usually between 9 & 10pm!).
The pattern is a James C Brett pamphlet which I picked up in my LYS and I'm using Stylecraft Special DK in Royal and Cream. I'm not totally enamoured with using an acrylic for colourwork as it makes the tension difficult to maintain however this is knitting up nicely so far.
Let me tell you a secret. I LOVE knitting on straight needles. These days most knitters seem to favour circs and I myself can mostly be found working with my Knitpros but there's just something about the click of metal straights that takes me back to my childhood, sitting next to my Mum as she click clacked her way through sweater after sweater. It feels like "proper" knitting to me, or maybe it makes me feel more like a Mummy myself, as I make up little garments for my kids.
What do you have on the needles right now?
(PS That fabulous new blog header? Isn't it gorgeous! I'll tell you about that soon)
