Not Another Cowl

Yes, it's another cowl - my 5th Honey Cowl !

Last year, I knitted one for my niece & recently she called & told me that she lost her precious cowl while back packing in India. She tied the cowl to her back pack & someone stole it. She said that she loved wearing the cowl & it kept her warm throughout her trip & she hoped that I will knit her another as she will be going back to India again this year.

I was upset that she had not taken greater care of the cowl & packed it away safely - who doesn't want a hand knitted merino/cashmere cowl ? It's priceless !

Anyway, I agreed to knit her one & so I started on my 5th Honey Cowl. I really love this pattern as it's an easy pattern to remember & knits up so fast. I used 2 strands of sock yarn (Zen Yarn Garden merino) with 5mm needles & the cowl was done in 3 days !

I also cast off Magrathea which is the same construction as Trillian. As I enjoyed knitting Trillian & it was given away, I had to knit another one for myself so I chose another of Martina Behm's designs. She is a great designer & I love her designs. The construction is so clever & the knitting is enjoyable.

Magrathea took me a while as I knitted it in laceweight (Sweet Georgia's Cashsilk Lace). I love the shawl & the yarn - it's so soft & light around the neck & the pattern is gorgeous.

I really enjoy knitting this shawl & may have to work through the other 2 patterns in the ebook.

Carrying On the Tradition

I have always wanted to knit when I was young. I love cross stitching and beading & also did a bit of crochet but knitting was always on my mind. Unfortunately, I can't find anyone or a class to go to when I lived in Singapore.

When I moved to Perth, I knew that I will be able to fulfill my wish of learning knitting but it took me 2 years (I was busy with settling down) to find a class at a LYS. That was 8 years ago & now knitting is a passion. Sometimes, I think I started knitting too late as I could have done lots more if I know how to knit when I was young. I have heard many stories of knitting being a tradition that was passed down from generations & I do think that it's a great tradition.

Now I have the ability to pass on this tradition to my 2 girls & I am glad that both of them can knit.

Lynette only knits if she wants a particular item like a scarf but I am sure it's a skill that she has for the rest of her life & maybe she will be knitting more in the future.

Lydia knits frequently but only during school holidays when there is no pressure of school work & exams. She has been knitting squares for charity for the last 4 years & during the December school holidays, I had her working on blankets from my leftover sock yarn. She managed to knit 4 blankets .....

.... these are only 2 of them as I gave the other 2 away.

She also knitted this rainbow square blanket in the round from a Rowan handspun yarn kit that I had in my stash.

Recently, she wanted to knit toys & she made up her own design ....

.... she has more patience than I have as she sewed all the pieces together & stuff it.

Well, I am happy that I have passed on this tradition & I hope my girls will carry it on to the next generation.

Summer Tee - Part 2

Some of you asked for pictures of the Summer Tee being worn, so here they are ......

........the split at the bottom of the tee.

......... my favorite part of the Tee, the little lace cap sleeves.

I have just cast off the Jeweled Cowl which I thought would be a lovely present for my aunt's birthday. I used Knitpicks Shadow which is a 2ply wool & lovely to knit with. It is an easy pattern but after knitting for a while, I didn't like the structure of the cowl & so decided to cast off sooner than the required width. My cowl is only 7" wide instead of 14" as specified in the pattern.

I did not like the rolling of the edges despite doing a couple of garter rounds & the beads portion was quite heavy. I have already used 308 beads & can't imagine knitting to the required width with 616 beads ! The cowl is knitted with 2ply yarn and it's very light & soft.

It looks alright laying flat on the table but when it's worn .....

..... it's all rolled up like a tube & the beads portion is hardly visible (when taking this picture, I had to do a lot of adjusting to make the beads look visible).

Anyway, I don't think I will be giving the cowl to my aunt. I will have to knit her something else.

Summer Tee

It has been a hot & humid summer & some days, knitting is almost unbearable, especially with wool. But I can't live without knitting, even for a day. So I went through my stash & found 4 balls of lovely, smooth, cool cotton which have been sitting in the stash for the last few years.

I have never knitted with this cotton & bought them at a sale & there's about 600+ yds in those 4 balls. This is the perfect yarn for hot weather knitting. So, now to find the right pattern & I found the Spring Tee.

It's a top down, seamless tee & will be perfect for summer, spring & even autumn wear.

I had a complicated start as I did not want the low neckline, so I used the smallest size (28') for the neck & then increased to the next 2 sizes (32 & 36) for the yoke & sleeve. I think at the end of all these changes, my numbers did not add up but I didn't care as it was just plain knitting with a little shaping for the rest of the body. I love the little cap sleeves with the lace detail .....

..... then, I decided to do something different for the bottom portion & that took a bit of knitting & ripping & knitting & ripping ..... until I had it right.

I split the bottom of the tee & knitted the lace pattern on the front & the back & I love it.

I enjoyed knitting with the cotton & it's also lovely to wear - so soft & cool, the perfect Summer Tee (sorry, I have not taken any pictures of me wearing it).

My 1st Success

I have been spinning for a year & have spun a few skeins of yarn. But each skein of handspun is usually 200 - 300 yds & that's not enough for a shawl, maybe a hat or a pair of mittens. I did finished a skein of single ply which had more than 600 yds but it's not plyed & I am not sure of it's strength & durability when knitted.

Back in Dec, I started on another skein of fiber (polworth) which is nice & soft & this time, I tried my very best to spin as fine as possible.

It took me a while to finish spinning 100gms & then I had to ply the 2 singles together. I was surprised when I measured the plyed yarn - I had 550 yds of lace weight handspun! Wow, it was a major achievement for me as this is my 1st success in spinning fine yarn. I was really happy with it & could not stop admiring the lovely & soft yarn.

I specially choose this color for Helen as I wanted to spin it for her birthday in January. I did not finish spinning it in time for her birthday & I was also worried that the spinning may not be good enough. Anyway, it turned out well & I gave her the skein of handspun this week.

Remember my last post on my WIPs - well, I finished one of the socks. Now, I have a new pair of socks to add to my collection .....