A Successful Week

The weekend is nearly over and I've had a wonderful week.

First, I finished up my turquoise raglan jumper. I followed the Incredible Custom-Fit Raglan pattern, and was originally unhappy with the fit, but after blocking it has stretched out nicely and softened up quite a bit. The wool was a gift, and it has a very interesting texture. It's a two-ply, and one ply is loosely spun and the other ply is bouclé. The yarn looks great and I love how it has turned out in the jumper. I also added a dip at the back like I've seen on commercially knit jumpers by using short rows before the ribbing. It's completely improvised and turned out surprisingly well.

Then, I finished up a pair of socks which I had been working on for a while. I knit them in a 3x1 rib, which takes me a lot longer than plain stockinette socks. The wool for these socks was bought in Lidl and was very cheap. It also seems like great quality.

I weaved in the ends, and washed and blocked these two projects and took a very quick snap of them as they were drying.

As I had finished my big project, I went on a wool-seeking excursion so I could cast on a new jumper. My first stop was a shop called Handmade in Berlin, Germany. It's a yarn shop and café, and I'm very happy to have something like this in my area. I was very fortunate to find a wool-silk blend at 50% off in a beautiful autumn orange colourway.

I bought enough for a jumper, and cast on a swatch straight away. I tried both 4mm and 5mm needles (US 6 and 8), washed and blocked, and preferred the denser fabric. Then I measured my gauge and did search on Ravelry and came up with some patterns with the same gauge. One of the patterns which matched my gauge was the Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers, a pattern I had admired since I first spotted it a while back.

So I bought the pattern and cast on! It's in the early stages, but the wool is so soft and I can already tell that I'm going to adore wearing this cardigan.

Then on Wednesday evening, I left all this knitting behind to go home to Ireland for my graduation! Here is a very unprofessional photo of me on the blustery day:

So I'm enjoying my short time at home at the moment. I'm flying back to Berlin on Monday, and will take some nicer photos of my finished objects then, and I will also blog about what I've been knitting this weekend. Hope you're enjoying your weekend too!