haute-kewture

[haute-kewture]

Through the silence, the making continued

It's been probably three(ish) months since my last update on my projects.

I finished the DK version of the Timepiece Cardigan, although it is not as oversized as my unspun version. I'm going to see if I can organise a trade with my mum. If not, that just means an opportunity for yet another cardigan project. I used Pirate Purl Scuttlebutt, which is a low mileage woollen spun yarn.

I am up to sleeve separation on The Twigs, which is exciting. Despite some longer chart repetitions, it has started to grow on me. I don't have an internal timeline on this piece, which has allowed me to enjoy the process and gently maintain consistency.

My Iris sweater is on its second chart repeat for the body. The size i am making is meant to have two full chart repeats, but I will see how it looks after I steam block it at that point. This i haven't reached for as often as I otherwise would because up until recently, I was tracking the chart on my phone. I was also juggling the several balls in a project case that was being shared. This is genuinely an engaging pattern to knit. The chart repetitions aren't too long, and you aren't working with more than two colours at once.

Cast ons

I cast on three new projects in the past month.

The Berlin scarf, which I'm making with Rowan Tweedy Haze. Inspired entirely by a beautiful ACNE studio scarf, I decided to make a neutral version first for everyday use. I am also thinking this pattern will be great for handspun and unspun yarn. I am excited to end up with lots of beautiful cosy stylish scarves to use and gift. This uses 5 balls, and I'm on ball 3

The Stockholm Sweater.

It would have been at least four years since I acquired some destash yarn in this warm caramel/burnt sugar tone. When I'd tidy my studio, I would see it and remind myself I needed to give it a new home or actually use it. This month, I cast on to swatch and ended up casting on with reckless abandon entirely. It's giving luxury knitwear vibes, and I am here for it.

The Hadley Sweater

The newest cast on was due to a recent destash acquisition in the most perfect green unspun. I have been coveting this green for so long, and when it was offered to me, I could only say yes.

I felt and squeezed and smelt the beautiful wool and could sense it needed to become a cozy yet polished item. This is how I landed on the Hadley from Sandnes Garn. This is a drop shoulder, boxy, and cropped sweater with a split hem, which is going to allow an easy casual to office switch - with the right styling. It is intended for a 16 stitch gauge. Mine is knitting up at 13/14 stitches per 10cm. I'm not too worried about this because it's intended to be really oversized. I will keep an eye on its sizing as I go, and once I can try it on for fit, it'll be easier to adjust things like the sleeve and hem. I'm making the medium size with an ease of around 40cm for me. The finished garment bust circumference ought to be ~130cm. I have a bust of 95cm, so we know it's going to be big and cosy.

Sewing

In terms of sewing. I've made a cosy loungewear set from a beautiful fabric i acquired years ago. These are the Avalon Pants by Tessuti and the Astoria sweater. It was sitting in the cupboard waiting to be seen and sewn. It's given me the inspiration to invest time into that skill, too. I have a trouser pattern as well as a button-up shirt pattern I'd like to toille.

Again, inspired by some luxury RTW items, I searched my pattern library and found the perfect trouser pattern to channel the style. Specifically, ACNE (again, i know) had released some nice wide leg trousers that were tailored at the front but had an elasticated waistband at the back. They looked polished and comfortable. I'm one always happy to invest in good pieces, and this was on sale. Unfortunately, I waited too many days to decide, and a cart goblin stole it from my checkout. So here we are.

I've also been promising to make my partner a shirt for work, this is a promise that's probably extended across 5 years of eventuating, and so I have finally cut out the fabric to trial the construction and fit. I have a tailoring book that helps resolve fit issues, so let's hope that once i do put it together, I learnt and it turns out.

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The past few weeks have seen my attention focused elsewhere but believe me, I have been passionately and enthusiastically clinking needles together.

Noro Heart Blanket

This project will be a loving labour of time and patience for me. I have 21 squares which were knitted by my grandmother just before she passed last year. We were going to do this together and make an heirloom blanket. She was going to make 21 squares in plain colours and I am tasked with 21 with the love heart pattern.

Originally designed as an intarsia pattern, I think I'll be knitting it stranded because it's faster for me.

My hope will be to complete these and add a border which ties it all together, to then gift it on Christmas on behalf of her.

The Twigs

The Ulysses is beautiful to touch and my Twigs has been progressing nicely and gently as I work through the charts. Right now Section 7 is made up of an 80 stitch, 19 row chart which repeats.

My only observation is that the contrast between CC1 and CC2 is not strong enough but I'm overall content with how it's looking and keen to see how it looks once blocked. It will be really subtle.

The Iris

My Iris is progressing and it is such a delight to knit, there's a 14 sts chart repeat which makes it a delightful sequence to memorise quickly and work through. I've steeked the neckline and picked up stitches and knit the neckband already.

My biggest challenge with this was the crochet chain I placed over the steek stitches, did not help secure the stitches well enough. This meant it began unravelling so I was able to selvage it by running it under the sewing machine and stop a crisis from happening. Now I know for my arm hole steeks, I will sew it only.

Another Timepiece Cardigan

I also cast on my second timepiece to replace the one which was acquired by my mum. I am using Scuttlebutt by Pirate Purls in a natural undyed grey and I'm aiming/hoping/wishing - I get this finished in time to be able to use it for work as part of my corporate wear. No photos as there isn't much to show you aside from a ribbing neckband.

The Sheep Sweater

I already have another colourwork sweater planned. The Sheep Sweater which was released by Rosa Pomar this week. This is a fingering weight colour work in rustic non-superwash and I am eager to get this cast on once I wrap up or progress my other two.

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The timepieces cardigan is complete with beautiful seashell buttons from Kylie and the Machine.

I wore this to my parents house and my mum has claimed it...

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Something has awoken and I have been enthusiastically knitting up a swatch for the Iris Pullover this week.

Iris Pullover

The swatch in pattern is trying a few colour combinations.

The top sequence is using brown bear for the diamonds between the flower motif. The bottom sequence (lilac/cornflower blue) uses bark in the diamond motif. However, the cognac brown I've used across both is too similar in saturation to create enough contrast. The photos make it look like there's more contrast than there is. The smaller swatch - I swapped out, soft cognac for nut brown and expanded the bottle green and added in an emerald green after dusty artichoke (top of flower).

I am very excited.

Using 3.75mm needles (US5) - the swatch unblocked, was turning out at 27sts (I need to aim for 28.5sts). Blocked, it's between 28 and 29 sts -which is bang on.

The Timepiece Cardigan

This is finally finished except for buttons - It is super cosy and WAY too warm right now for photos wearing it. I've not picked buttons yet but I'm thinking about whether I lean into white ones or wooden ones. If I want it more corporate I'd probably lean towards charcoal. The bind off is flaring a little bit towards to the button band and I'm thinking about doing a crochet chain along the base ridgeline to stabilise it but I'll see how it wears when I've had a chance to use it.

Next up

I'm knitting a swatch for Eilifd using some Rosa Pomar by Vovo, Somerset DK and KFO Heavy Merino. My swatch is drying... and I need to get 18 sts in 10cm.

[haute-kewture]

It must've been because I typed it out....

Finished my timepiece and now she blocks.

This unspun has this gorgeous halo to it but I'm not sure I'll need more than one item in this colour so I've put this on my Ravelry destash today.

[haute-kewture]

Lingering

I haven't been knitting as much as I usually do lately. Since my last post I'm still working through 'two-sleeves-at-a-time' in unspun - it is un-fun.

It has me questioning if I should destash the majority of my unspun....

Separately, I have been so tired and uninspired that at the end of my day (after work), all I can muster the energy for is sitting on the lounge and watching a couple of episodes of a tv show before going to bed - and doing it all again the next day. I am fortunate in that I've made enough of a habit of exercise, that I go to pilates - despite the mood being a bit low.

It always helps and quite frankly, if the biggest mental hurdle I have right now relates to creativity, I'm grateful for it.

I'll be patient as my mood and inspiration takes some respite, and I welcome back the pre-work morning knit over a coffee and some more knitting in the evening when I've returned home from work. For now, I am trying to hold space for the pause rather than reprimanding myself about what I 'should' be doing.

Should be, casting on

Should be, casting off

Should be, planning more

Should be, destashing yarn

The one thing I have notice I'm not doing is, buying more yarn - which is a welcome change.

I hope you're all looking after yourselves out there and doing what you need, to help space for yourselves.

Ultimately, our hobbies will be there for us, always, when we're ready to pick them back up.

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WIPs DOWN

I've started to restrict my cast-on drive. I've done this by reminding (no, telling) myself that I must finish more of my current WIPs before I cast on anything new.

It's been this ongoing internal negotiation, (stand-off?) for the past month.

I have actively talked myself down from reaching for fresh wool and needles to start on those scoped out plans. The Twigs? Well, I did the collar so technically that's a WIP right?

The Iris - I could truly swatch if I wanted to but I'm delaying that so I don't get sucked into to full blown cast-on.

In the meantime, I'm mundanely (yes, that's the right word) - working through the current queue. BOTH Paul Klee sweaters are now done, and but for a tag, and some final weaving in of ends, these are ready well ahead of schedule for the tiny-humans they are intended for.

Now I'm doing a hard slog of a sewn bind-off using unspun yarn (Thrive from WoollenTwine) for the Timepiece Cardigan which has been haunting me since this time last year. The hem of this is now ~10cm long - (I made the cropped version) making the entire body ~30cm.

My hope is to finish this cardigan in the next week or so and then start to consider which other current WIPs I'll frog. A massacre is going to occur I think...

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One down, one to go

This week saw me wrap up the first of two Paul Klee sweaters for tiny humans in my life. See my previous post for links to the Ravelry pages.

I have to be careful how/where I share these so they didn't make it on my grid for obvious reasons. However as my Tumblr is new and hasn't got too much of a following from my IRL relatives and friends, I feel like I can share it here.

These colours all come from various advents which I then grouped together to get the perfect gradient. I realise the yoke is pinned a bit wonky but I think it'll be fine for blocking.

I was worried my gauge ended up being too tight and I actually kept my needle size up a half size for the yoke and the body

I made the size for 5 year old but I can't help but feel these are on the smallerish side. Thankfully the tiny humans these are intended for are only just turning 4 and 5 so I think it will be ok.

The main colour, I can't even remember what it is or where it's from, it's this beautiful beige / sand which I had originally intended for a Find Your Fade by Andrea Mowry. I was aiming for a neutral fade and then really kind of gave up before ever starting

Now I am working on the second one, same size with a charcoal main colour, and some minor differences on the cuff and hem length.

I wanted to make them for these siblings in a unisex way so they could swap and also get the most wear out of them as possible. I also wanted them to have some subtle differences which meant they didn't feel like you were precisely matching.

This week my aim is to finish the second one and work through the handspun shawl for my dad, but I'm also not sure if I'll manage to finish it by his birthday. We shall see.

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WIP DOWN FEB 2025

This week I have been kicking goals (read: finishing WIPs)

I finished my test knit for Vert and Rose Knitting. All ends were woven in and it was blocked, wrapped and gifted to a special person who LOVES it.

I made a care tag for them wish wash instructions and included info on how the hand dyed and pattern designer (both women in STEM areas).

Then because I was on a roll, I finished up the final cms of my cuff on my Badger Sweater by Lotta Lothgren from her book "Observations".

I am absolutely obsessed. The preblocking measurements are substantially smaller than what I ended up with. Approximately 20cm different which has put this maybe 10cm bigger than the suggested end size by the pattern designer, Lotta Lothgren. I'm not about it. I think I could've blocked out the width of the sleeves a bit more too. Yarn used was, Cascade 220 and it's my first time working with it and I really enjoyed it.

Now I am onto finished two Paul Klee sweaters by Midori House. One for my niece and one for my nephew, before I move on to finishing the shawl for my dad.

This probably means I'll have these 2 gifts finished this week. In the meantime, really enjoying the 'WIP down' and it's definitely motivating me to wrap things up before I cast on... two colourwork sweaters in fingering/sport weight....

I hope you're all tracking well too? Let me know - are you a 'wait to WIP down' or a 'Cast on Now' kind-of person?

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Finally hitting my second sleeve on the test knit for the Nikola Sweater for Vert and Rose Knitting

Whilst beautiful, the more I play with this yarn the more I think I'll be selling my unused handyed yarn

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The energy is low

This week, my creative energy has been running a bit low. I'm not lacking inspiration by any means but rather reaching for my projects has been slow and whilst I knit a couple of rows here and there, I've found myself just resting and sitting still whilst watching TV instead.

I have been loving the Wallgren podcast, she weaves, sews and knits and really talks about creating in a beautifully passionate way. The complex patterns she enjoys making are beautiful and her voice is quite a calm tone and her pace of speaking moderate and balanced.

So when I have been reaching for my projects, it has been with the goal of finishing my Badger Sweater I'm finally on the cuffs, and then will be able to bind off and block and see how truly oversized cosy it will be. I did a mid-project block of the colourwork and it was still right on gauge, so I'm hopeful this will hit around my hip line once blocked. I am an aggressive blocker, which means I will pin the garment into submission if it isn't reaching the dimensions I need... rightly or wrongly...

Enjoy an additional close up to see the chocolate brown and 'oat' colour by Cascade 220 - photos haven't been edited and are taken in natural morning light

Lastly, here's how my test knit for the Nikola Sweater by Vert and Rose Knitting is progressing. I'm struggling to motivate myself to finish. There's nothing wrong with the pattern, it's more because I know I "have to" do something and so I procrastinate its completion... I told myself this weekend would be dedicated to completing the sleeves - which to be honest, should not take ages to finish as it's an aran/worsted weight pattern.

BUT I've been in and out of the house so I've had the perfect excuse to manage any minor feelings of guilt - for not setting time aside to finish these sleeves. I also know this is entirely not my style and because it's intended as a gift, I guess maybe that's also why I'm dragging my feet a little.

I want it to be ready for the recipient for their birthday (which aligns with the deadline for testing) - but also because it's not 'for me' - that eagerness one feels to 'finish the product to wear it', isn't there.

Inspiration Collection

On top of this, last week after I posted my update on what I'm update, I went into my studio (read spare bedroom) and tidied up my yarn. I've stopped calling it my 'stash' because I want to remind myself that it's my source of creativity. It's my collection for inspiration - rather than a hoard of materials that one forgets about or changes their mind on.

I have gone through all the stages of acquisitions from FOMO at a yarn festival (you know those sweater quantity ('SQ') or hand-dyed skeins that looked beautiful and you didn't know you'd find again...) to FOMO from shop updates during preorders... (we have a lot of unspun because of this) to "I'll buy SQ because I know I'll use this, I just don't know the pattern yet". Part of reorganising has been to visually layout my collection based on colours and tones to help display my materials like a 'shop'. This is going to help me walk in and 'shop' from my collection first before opting to buy. Having said this, I picked up a couple of colour variations (2) from Knitting for Olive from a Local Yarn Shop - because I spotted Brown Bear and Dark Petroleum Green which could be great substitutes in the Iris Sweater, which I talk about in my first post.

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Creativity Update

Lately there's been an endless drive to cast on many projects that feed my creativity. I have a list or 'to swatch' which but the main priority is to swatch the Iris Sweater by Trin-Annelie, first.

I put in a mass order with Knitting for Olive during their holiday sale...

This meant I could pick up some sweater quantities for a navy sweater and a cream/off-white sweater (pattern to be picked). I also went through and planned for the colours for the Iris. Notably, the pattern is designed for Holst Supersoft (which I have worked with previously, see my project page on Ravelry for the Felix Cardigan) - and the packs/kits when the Iris was released, sold out immediately. Which is great, but also not so great for anyone who missed out. Holst is a work-horse yarn, meaning, you can hold multiple strands, and it blooms beautifully, AND because it's essentially untreated (still with spinning oil in it) - you get a rustic but durable garment which isn't meant to 'pill' as quickly with wear. Important for the high-friction areas and what it means for mending. This meant I was exploring other alternatives and ended up with Knitting For Olive. I already knew it was going to be a time investment for a light fingering weight colourwork sweater... so I figured, why not opt for something which is on sale, and they have similar muted colours in similar chroma which could work. End result, a very large order to continue to inspire my creativity as my self-made wardrobe grows (slowly).

Side note: Admittedly, at times my collection of creativity (read: stash) - grows and evolves at a faster rate than I can knit, but I remind myself that this is my source of creativity. I am trying to be a bit more unapologetic about what brings me joy.

The Iris

This expansion of my source of creativity, means I have two options to explore for the Iris.

Option A: Per the Pattern

Image source and credit: © Trin-Annelie

Or Option B - which is the green template I mocked up, on the left - which is side by side to the mock-up of the Knitting For Olive 'blues' on the left.

I'm still deciding on the main colour for the body, I'm between Marzipan and Cream. This planning stage of something complex is something I'm really enticed about and really motivated. I feel very inspired and even considered knitting each flower with an alternating blue/green.

I've told myself, once I finish my current WIPs which includes a test knit for Vert & Rose Knitting. I also have two Paul Klee Sweaters by Midori House, which I've made up for my niece and nephew; and a Traveller's Shawl using handspun which I'm hoping to all have done by March. The Shawl especially as it's due to the recipient mid March.

The Twigs

I have the beginnings of The Twigs by Junko Okamoto on the needles as I couldn't resist breaking into the Ulysses yarn by De Rerum Natura. It's crispy and delightful to the touch. I'm done with the awesome cast-on to start the collar and I've put it to the side for the moment, as I've told myself to finish my Badger Sweater first. No, not the 'Badger' that's popularly known, rather the Badger that's in the book 'Observations' by Lotta H Lothgren.

Sewing

Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the printed sewing pattern of the Chanterelle Pants to arrive so I can start the Sew Liberated course for pants fitting. My biggest creativity goal is to learn to sew my own pants. I have been wanting to move away from buying new garments from the store.

Image Credit: Sew Liberated

I have really wanted to be self sufficient when it comes to textiles and clothing. It's why I work to evolve my knowledge, and have learnt to spin, knitting and sew. I have entertained the idea of weaving even though previously, I didn't necessarily feel drawn to it.

Weaving

I have been connecting a lot with my history and cultural roots, which originate from South America. This has taken the form of listening to stories of artisans from the Patagonia, who share how they learnt to weave, embroider, knit and also spin. These interviews are beautiful retellings of family histories and connection to land and self-sufficiency. Stories which display learning crafts out of necessity before then turning it into a means to earn income in arid landscapes amongst warm communities.

The episodes are entirely in Spanish and so if you speak or understand Spanish, you will most definitely enjoy the richness this pod has to offer.

For those who are curious - Atlas Textil produced by Pulso Austral is available on Spotify.

So TBA on whether I embark on learning to weave, but for the moment I am learning a lot about ancestors of the lands from which I originate and this is doing so much to fill my creativity cup.

Until next time!