Socks in Old Patons Kroy

I have been sorting my stash lately, sending some of it on to find new fans. During that process, I rediscovered some old Patons Kroy. It feels so nice and I love the colour so much that I cast on a pair of socks. I also fell down a rabbit hole…

Kroy sock yarn over time

Patons Kroy is a sock yarn. It’s been available for a long time, so it makes sense that there have been some changes over the years. This Patons Kroy is a 3-ply yarn – it’s the heathered blue one on the left – while the current Patons Kroy Socks (the variegated one on the right) is a 4-ply. The 50g put-up on the old Kroy has 250 m, while the new one has 151m. There was another older 4-ply that had 186m per 50g ball, and it’s a really soft squishy yarn. (It’s in the middle.) I have a bit of that, too. With the old 3-ply, you can get a man’s sock out of one ball; with the new 4-ply, you might run short on even a smaller sock.

I bought this 3-ply Kroy yarn about 30 years ago, in two colours – this seagreen mix and a purple. There was a yarn store on Bloor St. W. in Toronto, close to Spadina Ave. on the north side. I don’t remember the name of it – it’s possible that it was a short-term rental in an empty retail space and had no sign – but it was an outlet store like Spinrite. They sold mill ends by the ounce. It might have been another Spinrite outlet.

At that time, there was a Patons mill in Toronto still. It was on Roselawn Ave. I remember it closing and being developed as condos – it is, in fact, Forest Hill Lofts, which were developed in 2003. (Yes, I had some fun checking out the condos for sale.) Patons had a mill store a little west of there for a bit, on Dufferin near Castlefield, but then closed that as well. There was only the Spinrite factory in Listowel after that, which closed earlier this year.

Socks Socks Socks

I bought the Kroy in two colours to make a pair of entrelac socks, from Socks Socks Socks. (That’s a Ravelry link.) They ultimately frustrated me so much that I frogged them back. (The issue was entirely user error: the pattern called for sport weight yarn, and 3-ply Kroy is a light fingering. I was going to change the stitch counts to make it work, but with entrelac, that was complicated.) The yarn has been loitering in the stash ever since – although I’m not sure where the purple has hidden itself away.

It’s surprising to see that this yarn was made in Canada. The current Kroy is made in Turkey, and has been balled and banded in Canada. I’m not sure what happens now since the Listowel mill is closed. Will the yarn be discontinued? Or will they ball and band in the US? Hard to know and harder to care at this point. Patons is a Canadian company no more so I’ll be knitting from my stash.

Socks by Beehive

The pattern is an old one, from a Beehive book called Socks by Beehive #113. They must have printed a lot of copies of this booklet as they’re pretty easy to find in thrift stores and antique markets. This pattern is Knotty Pines. (Those are both Ravelry links.) I really like this pattern and have made it several times, long before Ravelry (so those socks aren’t listed on my project pages there.)

Looking at the pattern on Rav, I see the recommended yarn is Kroy 3-ply by Lady Galt, which was made by Newlands in Cambridge Ontario. Here’s a blog post I found with a bit about Newlands – and LOL I have that knitting book, too. I remember my grandmother buying Lady Galt yarn at Eatons, a long-closed department store, which is another peek at the past. (I wonder if that Newlands building in Cambridge is condos now, too. Hmm. There are a bunch of them there.)

In the meantime, here’s the first Knotty Pines sock knit in the 3-ply Kroy:

sock knit by Deborah Cooke in Kroy 3-ply sock yarn, in Beehive Socks Knotty Pines pattern

I was planning to knit these for myself, so made the leg shorter than the pattern. The foot, though, ended up being too wide for me (at 76 stitches) so the sock ended up being for the mister. He doesn’t mind that it’s a bit shorter. I’ve started the cuff on the second one – it takes a bit of concentration, since it’s not as regular a ribbing as usual. The bonus is that the ribbing lines up with the pattern once you start it, so it’s worth paying attention for a few rows.

A Cabled Cardigan for Tyler

Another post about the girls this week. I’m knitting for myself, too, but it takes a lot longer to finish up a project. Right now, I’m knitting the sleeves for a cardigan in black Kidsilk Haze, using the Hebrides pattern. I’ve knit it twice before, and it’s a gem. These little jewel-necked cardis aren’t terribly exciting, but I do get a lot of wear out of them. I’ve wanted a black one for a while, though this may be the last time for black Kidsilk Haze to jump onto my needles. I have the fronts and backs done, and will pick up the buttonbands in daylight on those 2.75mm needles.

I also finished the Storm at Sea quilt, which feels like a huge accomplishment. It’s been a finished top and unfinished quilt for so long. I’m working on the hand quilting for the Pineapple Star – just two corners to go, then I can bind it. It’s time to get all these unfinished tops done.

In the meantime, I finished a little top-down cabled cardigan for the girls and that’s what we’ll look at today. Here’s Tyler modelling it, along with the top from McCalls 3701 and pants from Tyler Wentworth 3522.

Cabled cardigan knit by Deborah Cooke for Tyler Wentworth

I didn’t have a pattern for this, just cast on with sock yarn and made it up as I went. I kept notes so I can do it again. I also kept the cables simple on this one – it’s a two-stitch cable with a purl stitch in between each one – so I could keep track of the counts better. Now that I’ve figured them out, the plan is to make another with more elaborate cables. Those are working buttons with buttonholes, though the small holes are tricky to find.

My favorite detail is the pockets in the fronts. You can just see the one on the left side (the doll’s right). I put the stitches on a holder where the pocket should go, then cast on the same number in the next row. That gave me a slit. I continued to the hem and finished the body of the sweater, then went back to those held stitches. I knit down to make a square, then sewed its edges to the inside of the sweater. Pockets!

Cabled cardigan knit by Deborah Cooke for Tyler Wentworth

You can see the cables better on the back of the sweater, as well as the single stitch on the raglan lines. I worked purl-knit-purl on each raglan line, and increased before and after it. As soon as I had two stitches for a new cable, I started one. The cables are turned in opposite directions on the left and right, then the center back cable is four stitches on each side of the central purl stitch.

The wool is some leftover sock yarn and I worked on 2mm needles. The only change I’ll make when I knit it again is to add a few rows to the collar – it wants to curl up – and I’ll play with the cable patterns, too.

These are the patterns for the sewn garments.

McCalls 3701
McCalls 3701 for 16″ dolls
Tyler Wentworth sewing pattern 3522 Weekend Wardrobe
Tyler Wentworth 3522

The pink shirt is made of French shirting cotton, which is really lovely and fine. The weft is a slightly different colour, so it changes in the light. (Yes, I made a shirt for myself of this fabric once upon a time.) It’s actually a bodysuit but made of woven instead of knit. It was a little tricky to turn those collar points but a nice little project. Those buttons don’t work – there are snaps behind them to close the fronts.

The pants from 3522 are the ones I’ve made multiple times in pleather for the girls. This pair look a bit like jeans thanks to the fabric choice, but I’ll need to add pockets to the back of the next pair to complete that illusion. They are quick basic pants to sew.

New Projects

There’s an unusual confluence of variables in my life right now, which means I’m starting both new writing projects and new knitting projects. It’s amazing to me how similar the two situations are. It’s not just about choosing the project—the bigger issue is getting the combination of variables right. Possibilities abound! I need to get some of them settled so I can start creating effectively.

Let’s talk about the knitting project here.

First off, I finished another pair of socks. These are knit in my usual pattern, the one I have memorized, in Fleece Artist Kiki. (That’s a Ravelry link.)

socks knit in Fleece Artist Kiki by Deborah Cooke

The tag says the colourway is Pansy but I think it’s really Nova Scotia (there’s no purple in this skein). I was excited to get this yarn on sale and realized later that it’s discontinued. It’s quite a thick sock yarn, so I went down to 64 stitches from my usual 72. I knit another pair of socks in another colourway of Kiki and showed them to you earlier this year. It’s a nice squishy yarn and good to have another pair of socks done for the winter. (I may have to cast on another pair of socks, just to have an anchoring project in my currently chaotic world.)

Water by Sylvia McFadden

I also cast on a new shawl. Water is a pattern I’ve wanted to knit for a while (that’s a Ravelry link) and I finally found the perfect yarn for it. The designer is Sylvia McFadden and one of the official pix of the shawl is at right. (Click through on the Ravelry link to see more.) You can see that it’s in garter stitch with lovely wavey insertions.

I bought a collection of her patterns and knit Waiting for Rain from it – that’s the Ravelry link for the pattern and this is my blog post about my shawl.

In case you don’t feel clicky, here’s my Waiting for Rain shawl.

Waiting for Rain shawl knit in MadTosh Dandelion by Deborah Cooke

In that pattern, the insertions were of a different lace pattern and they were knit in a contrasting color. There was a lot of stripe-y goodness in that design.

Waiting for Rain shawl knit in MadTosh Dandelion by Deborah Cooke

I’m knitting my Water shawl with Fleece Artist Anni (that’s a Ravelry link), a limited edtiion yarn that is also discontinued. It’s fingering weight and a blend of merino and mohair. It’s a bit more itchy for me than anticipated, so is a better choice for a shawl than a sweater. The colorway is called Frozen Ocean, which seems very apt.

Here’s how it looks so far:

Water designed by Sylvia McFadden knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Anni in Frozen Ocean

The color is really not true in this image. It looks very green here, but is actually turquoise. I made good progress but am now at the first insertion and need to pay attention to the lace stitch. This bit isn’t TV knitting. 🙂

Portia deisgned by Norah Gaughran for Berroco

Which meant (inevitably) that I was casting around for a TV knit, since we’re binging mystery series these evenings. I’d been thinking of making an asymmetical sweater for the girls, which reminded me of this pattern. Portia is another sweater I always intended to make. (Yes, that’s a Ravelry link.) It was designed by Norah Gaughran for Berroco and has such an interesting design.

I actually have the specified yarn, Berroco Peruvia, but don’t have quite enough of it. I could make the smallest size, but that seems overly ambitious. It’s unlikely that I’ll lose a bunch of weight, sitting on the couch knitting. (That’s a Ravelry link because yes, Peruvia is discontinued.)

So I ended up auditioning yarn candidates from my stash – which is awfully similar to auditioning opening scenes for a book, my daytime task this week. The first candidate was some Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, which is exactly the same weight as Peruvia. (That’s a Rowan link as my colorway is discontinued but not the yarn itself.) Mine is a rosy colour, though, and I’m not sure I’ll wear a sweater coat in that shade. It’s a lot of pink. Beautiful yarn, though. I need to figure out what to do with it now.

Next up, some Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran in a scarlet shade. (Another discontinued yarn; another Ravelry link.) Very pretty but I thought the yarn looked too thin when knit to gauge. I could use smaller needles, but then the dimensions of the garment would be changed. Given the design of this sweater, it’s tough to anticipate how to adjust the fit.

#18 Shawl Collared Coat from Noro Magazine #1, designed by Mari Tobita

Next candidate: Noro Nadeshiko. This is lovely squishy yarn, an angora, silk and mohair blend. It’s a little heavier than Peruvia but I really like the firmer fabric when knit to gauge. I had bought this to make another sweater coat, this one from the original Noro magazine, designed by Mari Tobita, at left. It’s called #18 Shawl Collared Coat. (Yes, more Ravelry links. The problem with a well-aged stash is that everything is discontinued.) This coat has really pretty shaping in the back.

The colourway I have is less stripey than the one in this picture. It’s mostly shades of grey with a little bit of brick-red and a bit of white. I’m concerned that it might look too stripe-y in Portia, but am giving it a try. Here’s what I have so far:

Portia by Norah Gaughran knit in Noro Nadeshiko by Deborah Cooke

This is the centre-back braid, knit down from the back yoke, so it’s going to taper from here to that lowest point. The red looks more emphatic in the photo than in real life.

After this triangular piece is knit, you then pick up the side panels along the edges and knit toward the front. If I continue with the Noro, I’ll have to make sure that the stripes are symmetrical. I’m just too matchy-matchy to be happy with the result otherwise. I’ll see how it looks when the triangle is done.

With any luck, I’ll soon have both a knitting project and a writing project launched!

Audrey is Done

This year, I have a plan to finish up some of the projects that are on my needles. Some of them have been waiting for my attention for a while. (Sleeve Island is a precarious location for me. Sweaters can be marooned there for years!) I had a look through all the project bags at the first of the year and chose this one to finish up first.

Audrey is a cardigan designed by Martin Storey in Rowan Angora Haze. It’s on the cover of the pattern book, Rowan Angora Haze, which is now discontinued. (That’s a Ravelry link for the pattern book.) The yarn is also discontinued. Here’s the Ravelry link for Rowan Angora Haze yarn and here’s the Ravelry link for Audrey.

Audrey, a cardigan designed by Martin Storey in Rowan Angora Haze, photo by Rowan

It’s a pretty cardigan in a very fuzzy soft yarn. I’ve blogged about this one before, since it’s been SEVEN years since I cast it on. Gah. It’s ten years since I bought the yarn and the pattern, which means it aged in the stash even before I cast on. (This little summary and a birthday on the horizon makes me give my stash a side-eye.)

Let’s look at those blog posts before we explore the why of the timeline. Here’s the first one, and there’s a mention of my Audrey in this post, then here’s the most recent post about (ha) the plan to finish it, dating from two years ago.

The big issue with this knit was that I didn’t like the shape of the sweater as designed. It’s kind of an 80’s shape, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist, an inverted triangle. I didn’t originally realize that from the pictures – I saw it in the schematics and instructions. As a pear-shaped individual myself, I knew this wouldn’t work. I eliminated the increases in the upper body, which then meant that the armhole decreases and the shoulder cap had to be recalculated. I also changed the neck, so that there’s another button there instead of a ribbon threaded through a casing. Then I discovered that the sleeve instructions made a sleeve that was far wider than I wanted, so I frogged the sleeves back and started them again. Finally, the dark fuzzy wool was tough to read in the cable and eyelet pattern. This wasn’t television knitting at all, even though I soon memorized the pattern stitch.

This project was castaway on Sleeve Island twice – once for the recalculation of the sleeve cap and once for ennui – as well as having an earlier time-out or two. The yarn shed like mad at first, even after being put in the freezer (that’s an old tip for sheddy yarn) but when I picked it up this last time, it seemed to be shedding less. That’s a good sign for actually wearing the sweater and not having everything I own covered in purple fuzz.

Here are some in-progress pix of the body of the sweater from those older posts, one with a test button. I’m going with those faceted clear ones – they’re pretty but not too fussy. A plain button wouldn’t be right with this sweater IMO.

Audrey by Martin Storey knit in Rowan Angora Haze by Deborah Cooke
Audrey by Martin Storey knit in Rowan Angora Haze by Deborah Cooke

Now it’s done (finally!) and I love it. It’s very soft and fits exactly as I’d planned (yay), and oh, it’s warm!

And here it is FINISHED!

Audrey, designed by Martin Storey, knit by Deborah Cooke in Rowan Angora Haze

I bought 12 balls of yarn and used almost 10.5 of them, which means the sweater took 1438 m or 1573 yards. (I don’t even want to think about how many of them I knit twice.) Here’s my Ravelry project page.

If I knit it again (not a chance!) I’d make the armhole a little more shallow, maybe even an inch. I’d add that length into the body so the sweater overall was the same length. I bought 12 balls of black Angora Haze way back in 2013, enough to make this sweater, but I think I’ll knit it into something more plain than this cardigan.

Crystal Twist Conundrum

I showed you the Crystal Twist shawl I started to knit with a skein of hand-dyed yarn, without beads, a few weeks ago. The pattern is quite pretty but I started to be concerned about yarn quantity. Here’s how far I got with my one skein.

Crystal Twist shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

I’m supposed to knit to 51″ length, but that measured side is 31″. The pattern specifies one 400m skein of fingering weight yarn, which is what this is. I’m using the specified needles and my width gauge is spot-on. Hmm. I couldn’t figure this out. I thought there was a mistake in the pattern, but the designer contacted me on Ravelry – I should have measured the angled side, which is, in fact, 51″ long. Ha! I have enough yarn to knit the finishing rows and bind it off but I’d like the shawl to be bigger.

This skein is a one-off, so there is no more. (I dyed it.) The base yarn is discontinued. Hmm. This makes for a conundrum! I left a bit of yarn so I can do some stripes to transition to another yarn for the rest of the shawl – if I can find a good candidate.

The hunt is on!

Meanwhile, I’m working on a second sock…

Crystal Twist Shawl

Crystal Twist is a triangular shawl with a cabled border. (That’s a Ravelry link.) It’s knit in fingering weight yarn with beads. I saw a kit for this pretty little shawl, but decided to buy the pattern on its own and shop my stash instead of buying the kit.

I had a skein of Knit Picks Bare Merino Silk fingering, which was one of several yarns including in a dye-your-own kit I bought from them ages ago. I made mine purple and there it is on the left. (The yarn on the right is KP Stroll which is a sport weight that I haven’t knit up yet)

Knit Picks yarns acid-dyed by Deborah Cooke

The incredible thing is that I didn’t have any beads to match a purple yarn. I guess I’ve used them all up. This is a bit of a wasteland for buying beads so I decided to knit the shawl without any.

I was a bit confused by the first chart, because row 1 is a wrong-side row, making row 2 and all even-numbered rows right-side rows. This was the opposite of my expectation, but once I had that sorted out, I was off. It’s a nice easy pattern to knit – you start at a point and increase until you have six cable bands, then the other stitches are in stockinette as the shawl grows wider.

I had another small issue when I started the second chart – which starts on row 1, a right-side row! – in that I was short a stitch. I did it over and over but couldn’t find the stitch. I had 52 stitches as specified but when I count the chart, I get 53, which could be the issue. In the end, I just crossed out the column for stitch 16 and carried on.

Here’s how it looks so far:

Crystal Twist shawl designed by Emily Wood and knit by Deborah Cooke

I like the colours and the pattern, but am not that fussed about the yarn. I thought it would be soft, but it feels a lot like cotton when it’s knitted up. Maybe I’ll knit a second shawl in another yarn and with beads. For the moment, I’m knitting on!

Another Pair of Alaska Mittens

Last week, I shared a pair of mittens knit from a free pattern, Alaska Mittens. It’s not a free pattern anymore, btw. I had started a second pair and since they’re done, I’ll show them off today.

Alaska Mittens knitted in Sirdar Tweedie Chunky by Deborah Cooke

This time, I used two yarns together – a strand of that same Sirdar Tweedie Chunky and a strand of Rowan Kidsilk Haze. The KSH makes the knitted fabric softer and gives it a bit of fuzz. It might prove to be warmer, as well. I incorporated my changes from last time, and started the thumb gusset four rows later – that took out two increases, which made the thumb smaller. They fit perfectly!

Alaska Mittens knitted in Sirdar Tweedie Chunky by Deborah Cooke

My only quibble is that since I started the thumb gusset later, I should have kept working the stitches on the palm side in ribbing, instead of changing to stockinette. See?

Alaska Mittens knitted in Sirdar Tweedie Chunky by Deborah Cooke

This pair took 77 grams of the Tweedie Chunky and 17 grams of the Kidsilk Haze. I made the M size, with the modifications discussed last week.

You can guess what this means. I’ve cast on a third pair, in the green Sirdar Tweedie Chunky again with a strand of a yarn similar to KSH. This pair will be perfect. 🙂

I have some other projects moving closer to completion and hope to be able to show you something more than mittens soon! Happy knitting!

Alaska Mittens

I knit some mittens this past week—even though it was a zillion degrees outside. This pattern was free and it looked intriguing. I had some yarn in my stash so away I went.

The pattern is called Alaska Mittens by Anna Zhuravleva—here’s a Ravelry link—and it’s still free as I write this. It calls for aran weight yarn, and I had some Sirdar Tweedie Chunky in my stash—that’s a Ravelry link, too—it’s discontinued so I’d found it on sale once upon a time and just liked it. I have three colourways but used the dark green, which is #285.

Here are the mittens, knit in the M size:

Alaska Mittens knitted in Sirdar Tweedie Chunky by Deborah Cooke

I found this pattern a bit confusing and ended up writing all over my chart while knitting the first one. The second one went more smoothly as a result. You work Row 2 fifteen times, and since the next row is labelled R3, I missed that the first time – I changed it to be R17 and renumbered the rest of the chart. I also added a G on the rows that I was to add a gusset stitch and drew a line across the chart where the palm changes from ribbing to stockinette. I think there is one mistake in R13 of the original labelling of the chart – the two knit stitches should be purls.

The chart for the fingertips really confused me, so I drew it out again. I wanted the decreases to be one stitch in from the edges, so there are two stitches that run up to the top of the mitten. The chart shows it that way, but if there are two knit stitches, you can’t K1, SSK without taking up the third stitch. I also had to work two additional rows in the middle before doing the middle twist, as it occurs every 4 rows, not every 2.

I also found the thumb a bit too wide for me at 16 stitches and took it down to 12. I had added four extra rows of ribbing to make a longer cuff on this pair. These mittens weigh 73g and I have 76g left of the green. I’m hoping I can knit another pair with just the specified cuff length.

I cast on another pair in another colourway of the Tweedie Chunky and am working it along with a strand of Kidsilk Haze. The result is very squishy and soft:

Alaska Mittens knitted in Sirdar Tweedie Chunky by Deborah Cooke

This one has the cuff in the specified length. I also started the gusset increases four rows later, so I’ll have two less stitches for the thumb—instead of having to decrease twice, I’ll just have to decrease once to get the thumb the right width.

You have to pay a bit of attention with this pattern, but the mittens are really nice. I particularly like that the cables mirror each other on the left and right mittens. They fit well, too.

Finishing Audrey

Rowan Angora Haze

Audrey is a cardigan designed by Martin Storey in Rowan Angora Haze. It was the design featured on the cover of Rowan Angora Haze pattern book (that’s a Ravelry link, since the book is out of print). It’s another project that I cast on very soon after the pattern was published – in the specified yarn – but then lost my mojo. As usual, it was the sleeves that got me. The book is now out of print and the yarn is discontinued.

I started this one in February 2016, and blogged about my progress a couple of times. Knitting Audrey was the first post in 2016, then there was an update in 2019: Navelli, Nightshift and Audrey. I talked about the sleeves in this post about my Navelli.

Audrey by Martin Storey knit in Rowan Angora Haze by Deborah Cooke

I made a few modifications. In the book, the sweater is styled with a ribbon at the neck, like a bed jacket. The collar is actually a casing for the ribbon. I did a regular round collar instead. I omitted the increases in the body – the design is a bit 80’s with the shoulders being wider than the waist. Mine is just boxy.

This was my last progress shot of the sleeves:

Audrey by Martin Storey knit in Rowan Angora Haze by Deborah Cooke

And that’s pretty much where I stopped cold. I had a feeling the sleeves were too wide, so put the project aside to think about that. I took it out in January when my Starling Wrap was done and knew I was right. 5.5″ into the sleeves, they were 12.5″ wide, even though I was making the smallest size. So (sigh) I frogged the sleeves and cast on again. This pattern has a couple rows of garter stitch at the cast-on edge, then increases in R4. This time, I didn’t do the increases, but just switched to the larger needles and started the cable pattern. What a difference that made!

Here you can see the new sleeve, which is knit to the underarm. (Yup. There I go, tossing my knitting into the snow again. The light is so much better outside right not.)

sleeve for Audrey, designed by Martin Storey, knit by Deborah Cooke in Rowan Angora Haze

I’m much happier with these proportions – the top of my new sleeve is about the same width as I’d reached in a few inches, following the pattern directions. Now I need to figure out the sleeve cap since my stitch count is much lower. I’ve ended on the same row of the pattern repeat as for the body of the cardigan, so the pattern will line up. It’s just a case of working out the decreases. I have a plan, and we’ll see how it goes – I’ll put in a lifeline, just in case.

More Hats & New Patterns

No post last week because I was publishing a book. My knitting always falls behind in those last few days to launch. This week, though, I have two new hats to show you. I love them both! It doesn’t hurt that I found the yarn at the thrift store, either.

Both use the Vulgar Knitter’s First Snow hat pattern, which I really like and have used many times before. (That’s a Ravelry link.) Here’s a post featuring some other hats I’ve knit with this pattern: First Snow Hats.

The first of the two new ones was knit in Cascade Yarns Jewel Hand-dyed, a discontinued yarn in a beautiful red colour. (That’s a Ravelry link.) The colour is 9969. It still needs a pompom but I’ve ordered a black one.

Hat of Cascade Jewel in First Snow pattern knit by Deborah Cooke

The second hat is knit of Malabrigo Worsted – this skein had no label at the thrift store but I recognized it all the same. I think the colourway might be Forest. I knit this one a bit longer, with 10 extra rows of ribbing and an extra repeat of the 7-row braid.

Hat of Malabrigo Worsted in First Snow pattern knit by Deborah Cooke
Noro Magazine #17, Fall/Winter 2020

I’ve picked up two new pattern books this past month that I also wanted to share with you. I’m fascinated by the sweater on the cover of each one. First there’s a new Noro magazine. This one is Fall/Winter 2020 and #17.

Look at that fascinating cardigan on the cover! The design is really clever.

You can see a carousel preview of the magazine’s patterns on the Noro Magazine site right here or on Ravelry right here. I think it’s a really great issue.

Pompom Quarterly issue 35 Winter 2020

Secondly, I ordered a copy of PomPom Quarterly issue 35, Winter 2020, which was edited by Stephen West.

Again, it’s the sweater on the cover that caught my eye – this one is knit with mini-skeins of graduating colours. It’s also available in a cardigan version, which is just as gorgeous.

You can check out the included patterns on the PomPom website, right here, or on Ravelry, right here.

Incredibly (!) given my stash, I don’t have the yarn to cast on either of these sweaters, so I’m thinking about yarn choices. Which would you knit first?