Cast Off | Doocot Jumper

I finished my Doocot jumper last week and as the weather has now gone rather cool (for February) I took the chance to get some photos of it.
I'm very happy with this jumper, it's turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I've been wanting something cropped to wear with dresses and skirts for ages now, but there never seems to be anything suitable in the shops.

I changed a couple of things to make this jumper perfect, which is one of the great things about knitting your own clothes - personalisation. The original pattern featured a much wider band of rib, starting higher up the body. I decided from the get-go that I'd knit the stocking stitch part longer, and keep the ribband thinner. I'm glad that I did, as the finished jumper matches perfectly with everything I hoped it would.

Handspun Scarf

It's Me Made May, and while I'm not technically joining in by forming myself any challenge, I have been thinking about my handmade wardrobe a little bit more than usual this month. I seem to want to knit nothing but garments lately, and so with the arrival of the cold weather I've loved pulling out my knitted things and wearing them. They span from a handful of jumpers/shrugs and shawls to beanies, a pair of socks and some scarves - including this scarf.

I thought it was high time I wrote about this scarf. It probably over qualifies for Me Made May, because it's a scarf that I not only hand knitted but handspun.
It encompasses the very first skein of yarn that I spun and the subsequent skeins after that. From a yarn perspective, it'd have to be described as art yarn. It's thick and thin, underspun and overspun (severely in a couple of spots where it has coiled up like a spring!), giving it a very interesting texture.

Because of this yarns odd, super bulky nature, I decided a very basic scarf would do. And it turned out that at the end of last year, in the chaos of moving, of trying to find a home whilst moving from accommodation to accommodation, this scarf was the only thing I felt like knitting. I can't remember how many stitches I cast on, but it mustn't be very many. On 10mm needles, I simply knitted. I've not made a project in plain garter stitch for I don't know how long, but I felt that it did the best justice to this beginner's yarn.

Cast Off | Feather Stitch Sweater

Casting off a garment project has to be one of the best feelings in the world, topped only by the joy of trying that garment on to discover a perfect fit and style you're happy with.
I spent the Easter long weekend knitting the final sleeve of this jumper (I know it's called a sweater in the pattern, but we say jumper in Australia), then assembling all the pieces into something wearable.

This project is one that I have loved from the moment I started it. I'm so glad that I made the decision to unravel my intarsia cardigan and change to knitting this jumper instead. It was a lot of fun to knit, whilst being relaxing and very easy. Even though it's worked in fingering weight yarn, because it's a lace pattern you use a 3.75mm needle, so it was quite quick to work up.