The Hourglass Sweater, finally finished. Five times to be exact. The yoke apparently was so much fun, I ripped it four times to get it the way I had in mind. Not too high, not too low, neither with unequal numbers of stitches for the sleeves, nor ugly loose, baggy-ish... So many things can go wrong. Eventually it went just the way I was happy with. The yarn, Longchamp MISTY, colourway 2201 did not complain at all about all that ripping and reknitting, which was great to see. I like the subtle stripes and also the thin-thick-ish texture of the fabric. Funny effect on the sleeves.
After knitting body and sleeves I had to consult more experienced knitters at ravelry about how to bring it all together on one long needle, the same difficulties I experienced last time making the sweater...
I used thicker yarn than last time, made it one size larger (chest 104 cm) to have a sweater to wear over something, like a blouse or so. Also I made the body longer and for the yoke I added 5 additional decrease rounds, ending up with a yoke 18.5 cm high instead of 16.5 cm. And I switched to a thinner needle for knitting the yoke. My impatience to finish the sweater made me knit too fast, the stitches got rather loose, so I went down from 4.5 mm to 3.9 mm which worked well.
Early plum blossoms in the park inspired me to use a plummy stamp to create a cute label. A label I had in mind all along but hadn't thought of adding anything to MOONSTITCHES.
And while speaking about cute plum blossoms...
The tea I am currently drinking... one most special New Year's edition from LUPICIA, in a golden tin, flavoured with shiso and beans. Very interesting. Very Japanese. When I first came to Japan I would flee whenever I smelled shiso, the same with nori, now I LOVE both... eight years under the Japanese sun...
This was my last Hourglass Sweater, next I'd like to try a cardigan, maybe with some cables, If I dare so. I think I'll make first contact with cables knitting myself a Tudora, Katrin's is so lovely and the pattern does not look too difficult. I noticed over at ravelry there are 185 projects listed for the Tudora, and it is in 467 queues... quite popular! I love, by the way, checking out patterns at ravelry, so great to see how everything looks on actual people!
I am knitting a hat right now, accidentally felted one of my crocheted ones and needed a new one. So maybe at the weekend I can start with cables.
Until tomorrow!