Stylecraft Sweater in Cabaret Forest Glade – loosely wound yarn

One and half sleeves

In my first post about the sweater I’m currently making for Middle Mudlet, I mention the fact that the yarn I am using, though lovely and soft with a very pretty shiny graduated green stripe colourway, is extremely loosely wound and has proven a tad problematic when it comes to me rewinding it onto the ball, with the fine hairs binding into an untangleable knot. Such was the problem that at one point, I had to cut a 1 metre length off, as I was unable to untangle the knot it had formed.

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Jumper Dress in James C. Brett Rustic Aran Tweed: Summer Sunshine and Winter Knits

Summer sunshine and winter knits

It struck me as rather incongruous to be sitting in a sundress, with the sun beating down, temperatures of 23/24 degree heat knitting an Aran weight jumper dress but it didn’t stop me doing it. I simply refuse to sit indoors and moulder when the sun is shining and I have the chance to enjoy the summer sunshine. Fresh air and the need to soak up as much vitamin D as I could, saw me pack my project and its’ HUGE ball of yarn, into my craft bag and head outside. 

Jumper Dress in James C. Brett Rustic Aran Tweed

Rustic Aran DAT32 jumper dress

With Little Mudlets’ Rose Trellis jumper dress completed, I turned my attention to my next project. When I had ordered the yarn for the Rose Trellis project, I had also found and bought a pattern for MY next garment and the pattern had been carefully stowed away, awaiting its’ turn.

Purple jumper dress with rose trellis hem pattern – finished and modelled

She loves the single pink rose on one sleeve.

Well it took me a bit longer than I anticipated to get Little Mudlets’ jumper dress finished off but I finally found the time to settle down with my sewing needle and tackle the job of setting sleeves, sewing hems and tidying all the loose ends away.

Purple jumper dress with rose trellis hem pattern

I think this Rose Trellis panel looks really effective.

Every now and again I decide I need a bit of a challenge, to push myself and try something new. I’ve been playing it safe recently, making animals using a basic stocking stitch, repeating Middle Mudlets’ snowflake jumper which has been my first foray into using more than one yarn when I originally made the blue variant back in 2015. Looking through my past projects, you could be forgiven for thinking that the lacy or cable based patterns are the hardest to do and that the notion of merely introducing a second yarn into the equation, wouldn’t prove too problematic but that’s not the case for me. I’m happiest working away on ‘complicated’ lace patterns and give me a cable pattern to get my teeth into and I’m happy as a pig in muck, as they say in these parts. 

How the yarns wore part 2

Three of the yarns featured in this post

Back in 2014 I did a follow up post on how the various yarns I had used for garments had faired after a bit of wear and wash. When I am choosing the yarn for my next project, I always read any reviews that may have been posted but these are, for the most part, written just after a project has been finished and so only cover the workability, feel and colour etc. which is all very well and good but so often I’ve bought yarn based on these good reviews, only to find out that in the real world, the yarn doesn’t fair so well. This is what led me to write my original ‘how the yarns wore‘ post and I have commented here and there about subsequent yarns I’ve used but I thought it might be helpful to do another follow up post on the yarns used since the 2014 post.

Deramores Woodland Animals: Fox

Here he is. Very cute but still not convinced about the feet

So here it is, my completed orange, black and white project and as you can see, it is the fox from the Deramores Woodland Animals collection. He didn’t take very long to make and I think he has a rather charming face. I can’t help think that he needs something more though …… like a little scarf or maybe a neck ribbon. Hmm, I’ll have to give it some thought.

What’s Orange, Black and White?

That’s what the Mudlets have been asking me, as my latest knitting project began to take shape, section by section …… well when I say shape, I mean the flat pieces were finished and put to one side ready for finishing once all the separate pieces were knitted up but there wasn’t any real clue as to what the final shape would be. 

Tunic dress in King Cole Riot dk

The tunic I’m making and the yarn

Having experienced the challenge of Middle Mudlets’ pretty but complicated lace sweater, I opted for a project which uses a mostly plain stocking stitch for my next make. I found many ‘okay’ patterns whilst I was looking for a project for myself but nothing really sang out at me until, that is, I found a King Cole leaflet with a beautiful pair of patterns on it. One was a sweater dress with short sleeves and the other a tunic length dress with three quarter sleeves. I really liked both patterns but chose to make the tunic rather than the dress this time, although I do intend to make both eventually.

A Parliament, an array and a dress for me

These little chaps are actually quite big

Following the completion of Middle Mudlets’ complicated sweater, I felt the need to do something a little less challenging and so opted to dig out the King Cole tinsel yarn I had purchased a few months ago and make up a couple of sparkly owls ready for the Christmas Fare. I had come across the owl pattern a short while ago, in the local garden centre of all places, and had bought both it and another couple of balls of the tinsel yarn, plus some pastel coloured double knit for faces, ears etc. Now with some time on my hands and no major project waiting in the wings, I gathered my materials together and before long I had completed a little blue owl, much to the delight of the younger Mudlets.