Knitting Update - March 31, 2025

Late winter is a good time to stay close to home. The weather is unpredictable, which means our ferry is unpredictable and I tend to leave the island only when necessary. It's too early to garden, but I have started my planning for the year.  This past weekend I also started the first seeds indoors as our last frost date isn't until mid June.

It's also a time for knitting for myself.  I realized this morning that there are projects I've not yet shared so this post is intended to catch up on all that.

Last fall I bought a skein of hand-dyed fingering weight yarn from Seaspun Yarn and Coffee House in Carbonear. I decided around Christmas that I wanted to increase the cowls I could wear outside of winter and thought this gorgeous yarn (colorway - Take a Trot on a Mauzy Day) would look great with a jean jacket.  Because the yarn is heavily variegated, I knew stitch patterns would be lost in the colors so I opted for a simple 2x2 rib bands and a broken rib body.  I casted on 148 stitches on a 4 mm circular needle and continued until it was deep enough to double over comfortably.

I made a similar cowl in a worsted weight a while back.  That free pattern is here.

The little yarn I have leftover has been added to the fingering weight stash as I have a colorful project in mind for later this year. 

Another fingering weight find last fall was a skein of merino-cashmere-nylon from Indigodragonfly. I found it on Facebook Marketplace. The colorway is "Little Bloodsucking Dancer", a series of shifting hues of red. I wanted to try knitting a triangular shawl using Holly Chayes Shawl Geometry Book II as my guide.  I opted for simple stitches and alternated bands of bamboo stitch and stocking stitch.  Loved how it turned out.  

The picture below shows the lovely color changes in the yarn within the stitch pattern.

Keeping with the shawl theme, I also wanted to try an asymmetrical shawl shape.  Usually, I'm a crescent-shaped shawl fan, but had set a goal to try out a few different shawl shapes in 2025.

Enter the "Close to You Shawl" by by Justyna Lorkowska, available for free on Ravelry.  This wonderful pattern uses a single ball of sock weight yarn (around 400m) and is the perfect project for a variegated skein as the stitch pattern is mostly garter stitch.  The clever shaping makes it look far more difficult than it is. For 12 of the 15 rows, you maintain a simple two row repeat.  Only rows 13 and 14 fall outside the pattern. 

I made mine in a skein of  Meilenweit Lana Grossa that I bought from a local knitter doing some destashing. I've sine started a second version of this pattern, this time using a DK weight yarn on 5mm needles.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Over a year ago, I bought a quantity of Cascade Fingering Yarn from Artisanthropy during an online sale event.  At the time, I didn't have a plan, but I loved the color and wanted a lighter weight cardigan for spring and summer.

A few weeks back I found a lovely free pattern on the DROPS Design website called Morning Hush.  

I knit a swatch and the Cascade Yarn matched perfectly!  It is a top-down cardigan featuring a simple circular yoke.  The collar was a new technique for me.  It involved double-knitting.  I cast on 290 stitches for that collar.  I thought they were mad, but it creates a lovely, cushy but stable collar that will give some structure to the lightweight garment.  It is slow going on 3mm needles, but I'm enjoying the process.

The picture below shows the yoke in progress.

The last project has been on my to-do list for a while. I had been wanting a pair of wrist warmers in earth tones to better suit on of my favorite cardigans.  I found some leftover Malabrigo Merino Lace from another project that had been wound into a double skein.  Holding the two strands together, I used my own Barnacle Fingerless Gloves pattern and 2.75 mm double pointed needles, omitting the thumb hole and making them shorter.  They turned out beautifully!

Well that brings us pretty much up to date.  Hope you enjoyed this little knitting update.  Take care and see you again soon.