Getting down to the ‘bottom’ of the stash (well, down to 10 kilos) has it’s problems. As I’ve already mentioned in another post, I’m now having to tackle some ‘difficult’ yarns. The sideways vest was an good example of nice yarns that don’t lend themselves easily to available patterns, and designing my own pattern seemed like the only solution.
Another solution is to buy more yarn.
As in the case of this one:
For which I took advantage of Bendigo Woollen Mills having a sale and bought some Luxury 8ply in black to go with it:
The plan is to knit the front and back of a sweater in stripes of the coloured yarn and black, with the sleeves and bands all black. I’ll use a basic pattern from one of my books, minimising the risk of error and reknitting that comes with designing it myself.
I also picked up some light green cotton for a gift, because I had nothing remotely suitable in the stash:
This one will be my own design, but a very simple one done on the knitting machine if all goes well.
But for handknitting, I’m hoping to tackle this yarn next:
Natural coloured yarn I picked up in New Zealand. I wanted to buy a hank in each colour, but held back and chose three. Of course, finding a pattern I liked that used equal quantities of three colours isn’t that easy. I’m going to try a pattern for a single-colour cardigan and use a different colour for the sleeves, waist section and collar. More on that to come in another post.
My next pair of socks will be a Christmas present for Dad knit out of this:
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one who has problems when designing their own sweaters. I have frogged the sweater I’m now working on so many times I’m surprised there’s anything left to this yarn. But I think I’ve finally got it.
Back when I used to do patternmaking, I found by the time I’d drawn up the pattern, sewed a test version, made adjustments, sewed the final version, tried to fix where it didn’t fit… I was so sick of the sight of the garment that I didn’t want to wear it.