Between road trips, my brother’s wedding, and other obligations, I haven’t had time to keep up with my WIP updates for several months! So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been working on lately.
1950s Knitting Pattern: My vintage knitting series is making a comeback with a sparkly jacket pattern from 1953. I’ve been procrastinating on this one, because the knitting scene in the 1950s was dominated by acrylic yarn. As I’ve gotten deeper into knitting, I’ve become something of a yarn snob when it comes to making garments for myself — where I prefer to use animal and plant fibres over something that’s 100% synthetic. I don’t want to be the kind of knitter who poo-poos other people using acrylic yarn, it’s just not my personal jam anymore.
But the principle of this project is historical significance. And given the fact that, for the first time in this series, the yarn used in this 70-year-old pattern is still in production today, it’s kind of imperative for authenticity!
Long Summer Cardigan: I wanted to make something cool with all the beautiful yarn I got on our road trip. Especially something to showcase the stunning Cat Mountain Fiber Arts skein I got in New Mexico — a yarn that transitioned from superwash merino to alpaca, boucle, glitter, tweed, and more. I landed on the Long Summer Cardigan by Joji Locatelli, a fingering weight duster-length cardigan with stripes and alternating sections of ribbing, garter, and stockinette. It’s shaping up to be a glorious smorgasbord of texture.
Summer Secret Crop: My brother and sister-in-law went to Italy on their honeymoon. As a combination birthday/thank-you-for-being-our-MC gift, they brought me a bunch of yarn and beautiful handmade buttons from Samba, a local yarn store in Florence. I’m using two of the yarns, a lovely burgundy Egyptian cotton and a gorgeous marled purple linen, to make a crop top. Jessie Maed’s Summer Secret Crop in particular. This is the first time I’ve ever worked with linen yarn, and I really like the “grassy” texture of the flax fibres.
Mitred Square Scrap Blanket: It was when I started throwing my shoulder to close my yarn drawer that I realized I had a problem. I had so much fingering-weight yarn left over from various projects that I was rapidly approaching S.A.B.L.E. territory (“Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy”). Fortunately, I also had a copy of Polkadot Creek’s mitred square blanket pattern. Mitred squares are shaped from the outside in, forming a diagonal line with decreases. Slip stitches surround the edges of each square, so new ones are easily grafted on. I anticipate this being somewhat of a “forever project,” incorporating scraps from past, present, and future knits.
What beautiful and different projects to work on.
Can’t wait to see the blocks of left overs. And other stuff!
I have a bit of a yarn scraps problem to. I decided to make a kids cardi to get rid of some of it.