In praise of Bluefaced Leicester yarn

It may be from the strangest looking of sheep, with its Roman nose, but I can’t praise this wonderful yarn too highly.

As part of my austerity stash-busting exercise I’ve just finished a sweater in Airedale Aran which I bought from Texere Yarns some time ago.  Since the yarn is charcoal in colour it shows up the lustre of the yarn beautifully.  And it’s so soft.  The sweater may look like something suitable for school but it’s absolutely gorgeous to wear.

I used Ann Budd’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.  Since I’m obsessed with tubular cast on and cast off at the moment I knitted each piece separately to the armholes and then joined all four together on a circular.  Why?  Because the recommended approach of  joining in the round after a straight row where the stitches are swapped into 2×2 rib leaves too bigger a gap for my liking.  I don’t mind straight seams, I just hate sewing in sleeves.

And the good news is that I still have another 700g of Airedale Aran, this time in indigo.  A round-neck sweater on the same principles, I think.  I’m even tempted to put in a bit of “Sarah Lund” motif, but maybe not.  She wore about four different sweaters in the last two episodes so the red one isn’t so iconic.

I can’t stop wearing the shawlette I knitted as part of Anniken Allis’ recent Mystery KAL.  It’s my own hand-dyed bluefaced leicester laceweight, and I must confess I prefer this yarn to the wonderful Fyberspates Scrumptious, even though that has so much silk content.  Perhaps it just suits the time of year better.

I dyed some more of this wonderful yarn (I call it Bemuse) for my Etsy shop, but had to keep some back since I couldn’t bear to part with it!

If I’m mad enough to consider a dozen shawls in 20dozen I’m sure this will get used early next year.

Making Hay

I’ve been making hay while the sun shines. Not literally of course, but I’ve been packing plenty into these unusually hot and sunny days. Since the heat is so late in the season there’s an obvious urgency to make the most of it. All those housework jobs which I’d put off, waiting for fine weather, have been done. Curtains are washed, cleaning is finished, and now I’m set for whatever winter wants to throw at us this year.

I went along to my second Knit’n'Natter at the Blind and Partially Sighted Society earlier in the week, and enjoyed every minute. It’s really inspiring to discover how knitters are so determined and inventive. To compensate for my lacklustre performance last time, I took a couple of hats, a handful of smartphone socks and my Royal Orchid shawl to sell on the Open Day.

Well, I'll never wear it

I’d asked a neighbour to act as a referee for my work with the Society and she let me know that she’d done the necessary. As a thank you I want to knit her an Ishbel in some hand-dyed merino-silk. She’s a wonderful person and she’s been very supportive.

But I want to do it as soon as possible, so how quickly can you knit an Ishbel?

I’ll just make a cake …

and cast on …

Can I finish it by Sunday?

I’d rather dye

The last three weeks have been a little nightmarish but fortunately (or otherwise) the episode is over. Apparently I’m “not interested” and that’s probably true. In fact, I’d rather dye, and so I have.

Autumn colours in the garden are a continual inspiration: the leaves are changing rapidly now, and it’s getting colder. Here are a few BFL sock yarns:

Dahlia, Evergreen and Flame

And a juicy fruit:

Granny Smith

Another berry for a beret (in chunky merino):

Pyra

And the best is a multi BFL sock yarn:

Autumn Leaves

I’d like to knit this one into a shawlette with tumbling leaf motifs. Stephanie Hogendoorn’s Fall of Leaves is a definite possibility, but I think the leaves may be too big. Perhaps I’ll work something out myself.

Now I guess I should get back to job hunting ….

Red Red Red

Isn’t Autumn wonderful?

Looking out my window (as I do a lot) I’m intrigued by this combination of red and green. I’ve no idea what the shrub is, although I should, but it looks dreamy, like it’s getting ready for hibernation:

I know this is Copper Beech:

There’s a skein of sock yarn just waiting to be turned into a burgundy/green mix ….

Colours from nature

Once the rain had stopped this morning I found some colour inspiration from nature. Admittedly, these flowers in the War Memorial garden are cultivated

and they’ve taken a battering from the recent bad weather. The three colours are a combination just waiting to be transformed onto a silky yarn.

Down by the river I found darker contrast of red and green on a mature mountain ash. The wind was blowing

but my iPhone did a pretty good job.

Then it was back home to skein my recent efforts at multi-coloured hand-dyeing: a violet/fuchsia mix and a pink/grey/natural. This is so much fun!