Fall Favourites on Ravelry

As a knitter I love this time of year.  As the air gets cooler, I reacquaint myself with my handknit shawls and sweaters that I haven't been able to wear for some time. Knitting turns to cooler weather projects such as my Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond, which I am getting closer to finishing.  But as I remain on sleeve island for the next while, I wanted to take this opportunity to focus on a few new things in the knitting world.

Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

Have you noticed how many new patterns have been appearing on Ravelry this month? Everytime I look at Ravelry there are new patterns to check out.  Here are just a few that have caught my attention:

Baby Pattern

Mabel:  a free pattern by Fiona Alice for Loop Knit Lounge.  This is a sweet aran weight cardigan sized for children up to four years old.  I love all the details in this cardigan, especially around the neckline.

Cowl

Copenhagen Callling:  a cowl knit in DK weight using two colours in three different patterns.  This knit is designed by one of my favourite designers, Isabell Kraemer, who is known for her beautiful and wearable patterns.  I like the fact that the cowl uses DK weight, which would knit up quickly and be warm for the cold days ahead.

Cardigan

Brooklyn Tweed has recently published their Fall 2016 pattern book.  The concept for this pattern collection is that each design comes in a male version and a female version.  The stand out for me is Mohr by Norah Gaughan.  This worsted weight cardigan, knit in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, is knit bottom up, combining lattice cables and ribs. The shorter length of this cardigan really appeals to me too.

Sweater

If you are looking for a beautiful cabled sweater to knit this fall, look no further than Alina Schneider's (Gift of Knitting) newest pattern released this month, called Journey.  I like everything about this sweater.  The cables Alina chose for her design complement each other well and her attention to detail is wonderful. I think this is one of those sweaters that would look great to wear no matter what the occasion.

photo by Gift of Knitting

photo by Gift of Knitting

Shawl

Plucky Knitter came out with Field Trip- A 2016 Plucky Knitter Collection containing a variety of patterns.  One that caught my eye is Alpenglow, a lace and cabled bulky shawl.  That would be a fun knit and I think I have the perfect yarn for it, some Super Soft Merino by Purl Soho.

Publication

Andrea Hungerford, of Blueberry Hill Crafting, is publishing a new Serial called By Hand. I have been a fan of Blueberry Hill Crafting for a long time. Every picture that Andrea publishes on her Instagram or Blog is of the highest quality and I am sure By Hand will be no different. There are three issues planned for the first year. Her goal is to create a virtual travel guide for fiber and fabric enthusiasts describing makers around the country.  The first issue focuses on makers in Portland, Oregon and contains interviews with Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed, Woolfolk's Kristin Ford as well as independent yarn dyers such as Bumblebirch and Canon Hand Dyes.  I am very excited to check it out. Order information is here. 

It really is an incredible time to be a knitter. We have so many options with different yarns and patterns to choose from.  What are some of your favourites this fall?

WIP: Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

Knitting Challenge: 
Problem #1:  To find a sweater pattern that would suit a variegated yarn.
Yarn:  Malabriogo Rios:  100% merino (worsted weight)
Colourway:  Piedras
Needles: 4.5mm

Problem #2 No skeins are identical and two of the skeins I own are very light coloured

Malabrigo Rios
Note:  I have no idea why how I didn't notice a leaf on my yarn!

Light skein on the left, darker skein on the right

I wasn't sure what to do with this variegated yarn.  I knew I wanted to knit a sweater, but I was worried that a sweater knit in solid Piedras might be too busy for me.  After searching through Ravelry, I thought the Daelyn Pullover by Isabell Kraemer might work.  I really like the back of this sweater as it is knit in garter stitch, which always makes a variegated yarn look great.  But I believed that, in order to get a consistent colour in my sweater, I would have to alternate a lot of skeins. Who wants to do that?

I made the decision not to use the two lighter skeins and to find a pattern that I could use with just my four darker skeins.  This meant that I would not have enough yarn to knit a sweater.  I knew I needed another colour to work with Piedras. 

That's when I found Cocoa in Malabrigo Rios.

Problem #3  Find a pattern that would well with two colours.  

I had another look at the Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond, which had been in my queue since the pattern first came out.  Most people on Ravelry knit it with two solid colours and I wasn't sure that it would look good with variegated yarn. I just went for it, knitting big stripes in Piedras, alternating with four rows of Cocoa.  I am really pleased with the effect.  This pattern is so well written and easy to follow. It's also a great sweater to knit if you are a beginner, and I am sure it will get a lot of use.

Clarke Pullover by Jane Richmond

I have to admit that I like a yarn challenge.  It was fun for me to look try and find the perfect pattern for my yarn.  Hopefully I will have enough yarn to complete the sweater and that it will look great when it's done.  Trust me when I say that I do not go through this much thinking everytime I pick out a pattern to knit.

What will my next knitting challenge be?

Through the Loops Mystery Shawl 2015

Sometimes I think I have an attention problem when it comes to knitting.  One of my favourite pasttimes is to peruse Ravelry.  I love finding the latest released patterns, adding some to my favourites list, and putting patterns that I just have to knit into my queue.  At last look my queue is almost at 150.  A tad long most people would say. I won't even mention how big my favourites on Ravelry is!  I used to have only one project on my needles.  Now I have many cast on at any given time.

But every now and then there is a pattern that I see, that I can't seem to resist. It doesn't even make it to my queue but gets cast on right away despite the fact that I am currently knitting enough to keep a full-time working girl busy.

The latest pattern that fits this category is Kristin Kapur's Through the Loops Mystery Shawl 2015, a KAL which began in the beginning of June.  I completed Kirstin Kapur's Knit a Long last year and absolutely loved it.  The beauty of a Mystery Knit a Long is you have no idea what the finished pattern is going to look like when you start. If I had seen what the finished product looked liked last year I would have shied away from knitting it, because I would have thought it was too hard for me. But I managed to finish each clue successfully and was so happy when I realized I had knit my first lace shawl:

Algiers in Black Trillium Fibre Studio Pebble Sock

I will admit that initially when I read that this year's pattern was a two-coloured half-pi shawl I lost interest as I am not a fan of that shawl shape. But then I quickly changed my mind when I saw what the shawl looked like after Clue 1 and Clue 2 were released. I knew I had to jump in. I had some perfect stashbusting yarn to use, no money need be spent.  It was a no brainer.

I tried to catch up on the released clues but that didn't work too well.  I finished Clue 1 and then I hate to admit it but I reknitted Clue 2 three times and had to rip it out each time.  I don't think that the pattern is too hard for me, it just requires a higher level of concentration which I seemed to be lacking this month, due to my busy work obligations.  So I made myself step away from this pattern until my holidays began which they do now. I hate being so far behind but I have resisted looking at the Spoiler Thread to see what the rest of the Clues knit up like.  I can still be surprised.  Hopefully now I can concentrate fully on this gorgeous pattern.

Ahhhh, first world problems.

Love it.

This is what the pattern looks like after Clue 1:

Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label:  Thrills colourway

In the meantime I focused on knitting my Acer Cardigan as it was more of a relaxing knit.  I am happy to say that the body is done and all that is left is the sleeves and the buttonband and neckband.  Here is the latest picture I took:
  

I can't give you a more recent shot as it has been raining nonstop all weekend. Good knitting weather, but not good for taking pictures.  

I hope you are all finding time to relax this weekend.  And if you looked at the Spoiler Thread for my shawl don't tell me!