WOOL, specifically Briggs & Little's Regal

There is a great article in the latest Twist Collective, called "The Softness Myth" by Clara Parkes. It is an excerpt from her new book, The Knitter's Book of Wool. Click here to read the article. (I had a mini-gush-fest about her Knitter's Book of Yarn last winter, and have asked for the new book for Christmas this year. Whoo!)


Wool is definitely my favourite fibre -- there is so much variety, it looks so crisp, and I love the natrual properties: warm even when wet, flame-resistant, etc. I won't drone on.

This seems like a good time to write about the yarn I am using for one of my current WIPs. My husband had been asking for a sweater, so I picked a few patterns that were within my skill and interest level, and let him pick the one he liked best. Ever unique, he selected Tiennie's Fog Sweater, with the cabled sleeves of Jodi Greene's Durrow. He wanted a plain, manly colour -- brown, grey, dark green, etc -- and no stripes. I chose black, always a favourite and easy to coordinate. I wanted a textured yarn, a little rough and with some lanolin as this sweater will be outerwear... A yarn to last a decade, with what I call "character," and I wanted to support a Canadian yarn maker. (We are going through the Canadian citizenship process for my hub, and I'm always saying how great Canada is, so why not use Canadian wool?)

After some research, I settled on Briggs & Little Regal (Rav page), a worsted-weight yarn from a family-run mill in my home province of New Brunswick. The mill is over 150 years old; my grandmother has knit their yarn for decades. What a legacy! The comments on Ravelry really sealed the deal and assured me that it was exactly what I was looking for.

I tried a few retailers, but none had the quantity I needed, so I ordered directly from the mill. The phone service was great, very friendly, and I was pleased with the prices and quick shipping (orders are mailed the next day). I even asked to please make sure the skeins were of the same dye lot and the woman replied, "Oh, we always do!" I highly recommend them!! You can check out the Briggs & Little site here; there's a virtual tour of the mill.

The sweater is going really well. I haven't taken a picture because a big, black piece of 1x1 ribbing isn't too interesting. I'm halfway through the second hank, and have come across one spot where the yarn was tied off (I just cut out the knot and spit-spliced the ends together). Otherwise, it's been great. There is some variety in the thickness/thinness of the yarn, but I'm sure it will even out upon blocking, and hell, it gives it the character I wanted. It is lightweight: I used 3.5mms for the hem of the sweater, and 3.75mms for the body. The yarn does make my hands a little dry when I work with it, ande there's a bit of vegetable matter to pull out, but nothing major. I'm going to wash and block the sweater before making my final verdict, but so far I am very happy with my choice.

Oh, and I'm very happy with the Fog Sweater pattern too :)

Scheming

When I am done Jack's socks, I will treat myself to 10 skeins of Elann's Camila. It is a 50/50 Cotton Linen blend and I have something special in mind. I have not knit with linen, but the book describesw it as having lovely drape, being quite cool, and just improving in softness, texture, and appearance the more you wash it. It is also a very strong fibre, and there are all sorts of other details that make me excited to try it out. This particular yarn has some lovely projects linked up on Ravelry, as well as great reviews on various blogs. AND at only $2.75 (US) per 112m skein, this will be a very affordable way to so much yardage.

I am excited but am using my willpower to not order a huge amount of yarn.. Until I finish at least one project.

A February Sweater for a Lady

This was my first cardigan, first adult-sized garment, and it was a wonderful project. I really enjoyed it: the pattern, the yarn, the sense of accomplishment! I found that once I got through the yoke and worked a few repeats of the lace pattern, I didn’t go back to the pattern at all. It was very easy to figure out the next step, and the seagull lace was easily memorised. (Though I have to say, I think that “seagull lace” is a misnomer. Can’t decide what I would have named it, but my mother suggested “flying geese.”)

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Sirdar Click DK with Wool
Needles: 5mm, 4.5mm, 3.75mm
New skills: full-sized garment! Modified to fit just me! Reversible, 1-row buttonholes!

I had some early frustration: I knit the entire yoke and then ripped it out… four times. THE ENTIRE YOKE. As my gauge and yarn weight were slightly different from the pattern, I knew from the beginning that I would have to modify the number of CO sts. I also knew that I would omit the eyelet row, as my bosom isn’t exactly busting out of my tops. However, I had some difficulties with numbers: the lace pattern is over 7sts, so I had to work it so that front pieces, sleeves, and the back section each had a number of stitches divisible by 7. I realised this a little late, as I would have preferred to work it all out before casting on. Well, live and learn. So, I made an Excel spreadsheet. Seriously. I am not mathematically inclined, and was getting really frustrated as I kept knitting and frogging, knitting and frogging… the spreadsheet really made everything so clear!

I brought the cardigan with me on my family's Christmas trip to Cuba. (As soon as I found out that the tickets had been booked, I confirmed that I could bring my knitting needles on the plane. While it was much too cramped to actually knit when we were in the air, it was great to have them with me for the hours spent waiting at the gate.) My goal was to finish knitting the body when I was there -- and I would have, but I ran out of yarn with only a few rows left on the hem. Should have brought that second ball of yarn! The picture at right was snapped on Christmas Day.

I modified this quite heavily to suit me:

Needles: As you can tell from the picture, I made my sweater a little more fitted than the pattern called for. The yoke was knit on 5mm needles; about half-way down the body I switched to 4.5mm needles. I did this because I noticed that several sweaters on Ravelry seemed to sag in the back. I am quite slim, so I wanted it to be more fitted. As I wanted fitted sleeves, I picked up the sleeve stitches with 5mm needles and worked one round, then switched to 4.5mm to continue the sleeves. The cuffs were done with on 3.75mms, as I found the garter st was too loose at 4mm.

Yoke: CO 83sts; increased to 231 before starting lace pattern. (If you’re following the math, this meant one final row of raglan increases that was different from all the others.) Omitted eyelet row.

Buttons and Buttonholes: 4 buttonholes worked for 4sts and spaced over 12 rows. I chose quality metal buttons with shanks, and sewed small plastic buttons on the reverse. This is the best way that I know to sew buttons to knits!

Sleeves: I was thinking of making this long-sleeved, but I had no clue how to work decreases into the lace pattern (so that the sleeve would remain fitted – I’m not a fan of the baggy sleeves seen on the Ravelry project pages). Once I knit the first sleeve and tried it on, I decided it was great as-is, and scrapped the idea of figuring out the decreases. The cuffs (as well as the hem at the bottom of the body) were knit to match the width of the garter stitch edging.

Yarn: Sirdar Click is a lovely, springy DK blend of 30Wool/70Acrylic. I usually shun acrylic, but this is just such a nice yarn. It is soft, lustrous, a beautiful teal colour, and a real pleasure to knit with. I picked it up from Knit Knackers in Ottawa, where it cost $4.99/ball last autumn. With 150m per ball, what a steal! I didn’t keep track of the number of balls I used – I am 98% sure it was four-and-a-bit, but I’d say five-and-a-bit to be safe.

All in all, this was a well-written pattern knit up with lovely yarn. I'm very happy with the finished product, and highly recommend it as a "first garment" project.

Reckless acts of swappery!

I participated in my first ever swap this summer, with the lovely ladies of Montreal Knits. The price range was $20-30, and we were supposed to send a knitted item -- though this wasn't entirely clear to me at first, ha, and I know I'm not the only one. Personally, I knit a couple of small items because I wanted to send some gorgeous yarn to my partner.

I haven't actually met any of the group members yet, but am hoping to start going to their Knit Nites now that I am done school. My partner really spoiled me, exceeding all expectations! Check it out:


BEAUTIFUL Warani yarn. 50% Suri Alpaca, 50% Extra Fine Merino. It is so luxurious and I love the colour! I am going to try to hunt down another skein, or one in a complimenting colour, perhaps to make some mitts for myself. Haven't really decided on a project, but it is gorgeous, and I'll need to find it asap as the distributer has discontinued it.


Yeah, I am flashing Wu-Tang as I model these fingerless mitts! I spent Thursday transcribing part of a Wu-Tang documentary at work, so decided to show my support as Jack snapped a pic of these mitts. They are a perfect fit, and are exactly my colours. I am looking forward to wearing these on my autumn bike rides to and from work. Jack really likes em too, and I suspect he'd like his own pair..


WOAH! SO MANY GOODIES! Nifty spring-less safety pins (I have been wanting these, but haven't seen them in my travels), gorgeous handmade beaded stitch counters, yummy lip gloss, fine fibre wash, tape measurer, handmade DPN holder (so clever! I'm so glad to have this!), 2 sets of DPNs, Robyn's Nest magnet, Motown CD, and Vanilla Clodhoppers! Yeah, those have almost all been eaten. I have already used the handmade stitch markers, and they work really well! They have me considering a new technique for making stitch markers (note the cool Stewie and Godiva tins holding the stitch holders),


MY FIRST KNITTING MAGAZINES. I am really excited about these! Have already marked off some interesting patterns, and I can't wait to read all of the articles and tips. Being a self-taught knitter, this is exciting for me. I am considering asking for a subscription for Christmas, so this is a great chance to check out 2 major knitting magazines.


Honestly, it is like she looked at the survey that I filled out at the start of the swap and managed to pick out all of my favourite items. I am so, so pleased and thankful for everything.


I sent off my package today -- it was ready to go earlier this week, except for stitch markers.. I couldn't find my wire to make them! But we did a big clean-up yesterday and of course the wire turned up. So I made the stitch markers this morning, and posted the parcel. I won't say anything else about it though, just in case..!