Recent FOs

Lockdown continues to do wonders for my knitting productivity. It's getting the point now where I am slightly resentful of having to spend all my weekdays sitting at a computer and working when I would rather be knitting. The very nice thing, though, is that I find I don't have to do any work in the evenings or at weekends, something I mainly attribute to the loss of my exam classes, meaning I'm really only planning for 11 hours of lessons a week (and some of those are double ups). I've certainly been very busy during the day but my leisure time is my own.

Ergo -

Pattern: Climb Every Mountain
Yarn: Triskelion Mona Sport, a lovely blend of silk, alpaca and linen. This took about 4 and a quarter skeins.
Needle: 3mm and 3.5mm
Mods: I knitted an extra pattern repeat at the bottom and 6 extra garter rows on the sleeves. I knitted 5 rounds of ribbing around the bottom edge, instead of the icord bind off.

This is a really comfortable garment to just throw on and feels wonderful against the skin. I can imagine it being a good post-yoga top as well as good for the beach, hence the inspiration for the photo shoot. And I managed to complete the whole garment in under 2 weeks! I was very pleased with myself.

No sooner was that done than I dived straight into this -

Pattern: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan, Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Yarn: John Arbon Knit by Numbers, so long in my stash that the label still says 'a new yarn', just under 4 skeins
Needle: 3.25mm, 3.5mm, 3.75mm
Mods: I knitted it in the round instead of pieced and added a reverse st-st line on either side where the seam would be. I picked up and knitted the button bands instead of knitting separately and sewing on - I used the smallest needle and calculated the stitch count using the same formula applied to the sleeves, which came out ever so slightly bowed on the middle needle, hence using the smallest one. Both of these mods were partly due to not enjoying seaming and partly due to working this pattern in a sproingy merino instead of the drapey silk blend it was meant for - I just didn't think this yarn would have the sag to necessitate the structural details.
I haven't knitted the tabs for the sleeves, yet, but I might add them in if I can find buttons I like for the sleeves.
You can't tell yet, but it will only have one button instead of two.

This garment is the one that has been in my queue for longest - since 2008. I bought this yarn in 2011, specifically for this cardigan, and I had even wound one skein of it ready to begin. I am really pleased I've finally managed to get round to it. It took a little longer - three and a half weeks - but then it was term time by the time I made a start on it.

In both cases, though, I am annoyed by the yarn requirements being so under what the pattern specified. I have more than a whole skein of Knit by Numbers left and most of a skein of Mona, and I was knitting to the correct gauge both times. Where does leftover yarn go to die? At least I could pair the Knit by Numbers with the leftovers from the Wonderwoman jumper for something. Maybe little felted toys or something.