As many of you are aware I am a total grinch at Christmas, to say I ‘hate’ it would be a total understatement, which is weird since there is a whole lot of sitting around doing nothing but watching movies and that should be right up my street but for some reason at the festive period it’s not. I feel like it’s a forced isolation. I decided to indulge myself in some online shopping, it was freezing and I needed new knits but I literally couldn’t find anything where I thought the price tag was worth it, except for maybe a Céline number or two. I quickly came to the conclusion to solve both my problems, I would sit there and knit my own sweater or two over Christmas and then I would be neither bored nor chilly.
I had this book by Rowan I wanted to work through called ‘Easy Winter Knits’ by Martin Storey though I wasn’t head over heels for the yarn choice nor some of the stitches used but as long as you have your base to work from this is all adaptable upon preference. So I picked up some yarn from the-stitchery I’d been lusting over since I first got to use it on a scarf - Rowan Alpaca Chunky. The pattern I was working from was called Kia Ora which had been knitted up using Big Wool - since it was on the same needle size I didn’t see the problem with switching the yarn to something a little softer. Also the exampled colours made me feel like I was an epileptic standing in the corner of a discotheque, okay maybe that’s a little harsh but they were far too garish and far from my taste. I went for the dark grey shade Pigeon in the Alpaca Chunky and picked up around seven balls, which slightly irritated me as I used about an arms length of the seventh one and at £11.50 a ball thats a lot of wastage.
I finished the jumper in about a week (I actually started this one and another before the New Year but I am going to include them in the twelve jumpers). I would recommend it for intermediate levels as I got a little stuck when it came to the making up - I now know with a little help from my pal Shirley what a square set-in method for sleeves is. Which I should of guessed from the sewing and pattern cutting I’ve done but I hit the wall with that one, I now know for next time and it was actually pretty easy. This sweater has proved to be the perfect throw on piece as it goes with almost anything - I will put together an outfit post so you can see how it wears in the next couple of days.
Yarn, Needles & Book available at; www.the-stitchery.co.uk
