What I did on my summer vacation

What I did on my summer vacation

It was a long hot summer. Ok there was plenty of rain in between too but I think by all standards we had a pretty nice summer here in the UK. I’ve been a bit MIA from the blog and I apologize, the warm summer nights got the better of me. Knitting season is officially upon us now though - the kids are back at school, students are back at Uni, everyone is back to their routine and the temperature has dropped and I look forward to wearing all the knits!


I love this time of year, it feels like a little mid-year reset. I took some time to hit a little bit of a restart on my personal knitting during the summer. The WIPs had piled up and I was casting on all the things and I needed to get a handle on the situation. I know many of you are process knitters - and I am sometimes - sometimes I like to knit something just because I want to learn a new technique or use a certain yarn but mostly I really like wear the items I create. And when the WIPs are piling up and nothing is getting finished I don’t get to wear anything.

It took a while but I finally finished my Doodler by Stephen West. I had started this during his Mystery Knit-A-Long last November along with everyone else but I took a couple of long pauses at points in the pattern that needed more concentration than I was able to give it at the time. I love how it turned out and the color combination really came together when I decided to use the my color as to do the picot detailing. You can check out all the details of yarn used on my Ravelry project page.

Many summer nights passed and many items were cast on and many bar-b-ques were had after the early summer success of Doodler completion. Then we had our last summer Bank holiday and I had three days to myself so I hunted through the whole house to find all the knitting and I set out to finish off some things!

Knitting Works in Progress

My oldest work in progress was first up. It is a lace weight Daybreak shawl by Stephen West that I started as part of a Knit-A-Long with my old LYS This is Knit in Dublin. I didn’t get along with the needles I was using on the project and thus it fell to the wayside. Once I’d changed up the needles I finished it off rather quickly and it’s lovely. I used Dublin Dye Co. sparkle lace and it really glistens in the sunshine.

Daybreak shawl


I also managed to finish up the Skovtur mitts by Karie Westermann in Pirkalankka Thick from the Midwinter Yarns pop-up we had in the shop last year. (hint, hint we are doing this again!) I have enough yarn to make another pair in the opposite color pairing. These are totally going to be dog walking mitts this winter, they are super warm and perfect for rainy, windy days.

Skovtur mitts

Last but not least in my weekend of finishing items, I got my lovely Antarktis shawl off the needles and just in time to still wear before the weather got too cold. I knit this Janina Kallio pattern in Midwinter Yarns Lithuanian Linen. I think the linen lends itself very well to Janina’s geometric lace designs. I really want to knit another couple of her patterns, in more linen and in some wool / silk blends.

Antarktis Shawl

I was making good progress on the Enso sweater I’ve been working on and then a couple of shop events came up that I wanted to knit things for. Like the Yoked Cardigan by Hannah Fetig in The Fibre Co. Terra. We still have a promotion running on Terra through October 4th, just use the code: Terrapromo2016 at checkout online or pop in the shop. This baby cardigan went really quickly, basically knit it in about a day. A very clever and simple design make this an easy go to for gift knitting. I know a cute little somebody who will suit this come Christmas.


I also started a Fly Away blanket as a baby gift for a very good friend. I won’t say much more about it now as it’s a surprise and maybe she loves me enough to read the blog :)

Fly Away blanket

So yes I’ve been busy behind the scenes knitting and enjoying long summer nights but I’m excited to be back at the blog and to share new projects and new stories and new inspiration. Until next time.

Happy Stitching!

-Carmen

Comment 1

Gisela Schmidt on

Stunning shawls. Fabulous color combos.

Love the mittens and the kids sweater.

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