Tag Archives: lisa richardson

Done!

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Finally, I finished my Hebrides in black Kidsilk Haze. I’d finished the pieces in October and it’s been waiting to be sewn up. On New Year’s Day, I thought “enough!”, turned on a bright light and threaded up my needle.

It’s done.

Hebrides cardigan in Rowan Kidsilk Haze in black, knit by Deborah Cooke

We’re having snow today, so the light in the house isn’t very bright. I tossed the sweater into the snow outside for this pic.

Hebrides is a pattern from Rowan 52 by Lisa Richardson. (That’s a Ravelry link.) It was originally knit up in Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe, and I’ve knit two in that yarn.

Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah Cooke
Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah Cooke

It’s a great basic jewel-necked cardigan. The Kidsilk Haze is both light and warm – that green and purple one has done a lot of travelling with me. It takes up almost no space in my carry-on and always looks great.

I’m not sure the pattern is available online anymore. Rowan changed the name of it at one point to Belle and the sample was in a solid colour of KSH. (Another Ravelry link.) The Ravelry link for the pattern on the Rowan site goes 404, but most of them do since the Rowan site was redesigned. It looks as if it’s available in more publications, though whether those are downloads or print editions is something you’d have to check out.

Will I be making another one? Hmmmmm. Maybe. But it won’t be black! LOL

Make Mine Black

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Here’s a sweater I started a while ago and shoved away. I dug it out again recently and got back to work. What made me put it away? The yarn is black and it’s Rowan Kidsilk Haze – and I knit at night while watching TV. Fortunately, it’s in stockinette and I was able to find my rhythm this time.

Here’s the current state of my progress on the back of the sweater:

Hebrides in black Kidsilk Haze, knit by Deborah Cooke

You can see that it’s crumpled where it was shoved in the bag. What I’ve knit recently is smoother. The pattern is Hebrides, which was a free pattern from Rowan by Lisa Richardson – although it was designed for Kidsilk Haze Stripe. I knit it twice in that yarn:

Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah Cooke
Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah Cooke

It’s just a basic sweater with long sleeves and a round neck. I wear these cardigans all the time, especially the purple and green one. The KSH is awesome, too – the sweater is light (it weighs less than 150g) and I especially loved it for travel. You can scrunch it into any bag then pull it out whenever you need it.

I’ve needed a plain black cardigan for a long time and had the black KSH in my stash, so a match was made. Sometimes Ravelry is a bit scary – I evidently cast on the back of this sweater in July 2016. (!!) Well, I’ll get it done by next July. I remember that the back was the trudge and the project picked up speed after that. Maybe not the best choice of a night knitting project in the winter, but knitting KSH in the summer heat didn’t work out either.

I’ll keep on keeping on with this one, but will probably sneak some smaller projects into the queue in between.

Bute Completed

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This week, Fibre Friday feels particularly celebratory. I’ve finally finished a sweater that has been on my needles for three years – Bute, from Rowan magazine #52. This sweater is a fair isle cardigan, and I actually knitted it in the specified yarns and specified colours. ( I know. That never happens. Stop and take a breath. It’s going to be all right.)

Here’s a detail shot of the back in progress:Bute by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Colourspun and Felted Tweed by Deborah CookeLots of colour changes in this one, and LOTS of ends to sew in. I’m glad that I wove or sewed them in as I went.

It turned out to be a beast of a knit, because I didn’t realize the sizing was unisex – or at least, I didn’t understand the implications of that. I knit, frogged and reknit this sweater so many times that it still makes my teeth hurt. In the end, I (a person likes a 42″ width for a comfy cardigan) ended up knitting an extra-small.

Yes, you read that right. XS. And yes, I knit the back in the M width and frogged it, then I knit the back in the S width and frogged it, because my mind simply could not wrap around the notion of me being an XS, even when I read the finished size measurements. There you go. (What are all the teeny people doing with this pattern?)

In the end, though, I love it. I did shorten the sleeves, and it did get longer when it was blocked, but it’s a great cardigan and I know I’ll wear it a lot.

I’m also glad to get my needles back!

I did make one mistake on my final knit – I switched out one of the greens without meaning to do so. The green band with the beige squares should use the more olive green, but I used the solid dark green by mistake. Once I had started that way, though, I finished it that way. That means I have more of the olive one left over.

Here it is:Bute by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Colourspun and Felted Tweed by Deborah CookeThis cardigan is presented in two colourways, and I bought the yarn to knit the blue one for Mr. Math. It is, however, entirely possible that I will knit it for myself, now that I know what size to make.

Before it was blocked, this sweater wanted to be corrugated, because of the alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette. I was amazed by how much that relaxed in the blocking, and how much longer the sweater became. It really has a lovely fit.

My Ravelry project page is here.

What do you think?

Another Hebrides

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I finished this sweater last week and just love it:Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah CookeThis is the Hebrides cardigan pattern (a free download from the Rowan yarns website) knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe. This is the Cool colourway. (The pink isn’t quite as bright IRL as it appears in the photograph above, btw. ) When you look at the pattern on the Rowan site, you can see from the styling that the ease is calculated for you to wear the sweater right against the skin. Because I knew I’d wear this as a cardigan over top of blouses or t-shirts, I knit one size larger and left out the waist shaping. I knit one of these before in the Twilight colourway and knew immediately that I’d wear it all the time. (I do.) It was clear that I needed another one. For my size, it took about 2.5 balls of KSH Stripe.

I also found some perfect buttons in my stash – these were harvested from a Ralph Lauren skirt I made years ago. The skirt wore out (it was loved to death) but I liked the buttons so much that I kept them. Now they’ve finally found a new home. They’re exactly the right tones of blue – they’re a bit stripey, but that didn’t show up as well as I’d hoped.Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah CookeI’m going to cast on yet another of these cardigans, this time in a solid colour.

What do you think?

Hebrides Cardigan

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This is a cardigan that I finished this week – I love it so much that I wore it before taking a photograph of it! It’s knit in my favourite yarn, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, in one of the KSH Stripe colourways, Twilight. As you can see, this yarn is self-striping, which is another of my fave concepts in yarn.

In addition, I think this is the first time I’ve ever knit a pattern not just in the specified yarn (no substitutions here) but in the colour illustrated. Here it is: Hebrides by Lisa Richardson knit in Rowan Kidsilk Haze Stripe by Deborah CookeAnd here’s the pattern, called Hebrides, which is a free download from the Rowan website. It’s in stockinette stitch with moss stitch borders – the colour in the yarn does all the work of making it beautiful. I used more buttons than the pattern did, but that was just about my only change. I really like abalone buttons, and they look particularly good here. 🙂

This sweater is so wonderful. It’s light and soft, yet very very warm. Perfect!

I’m going to knit another, because I know I’ll wear this one so much. I already have more KSH Stripe in the Cool Colourway. I did knit another cardi in KSH Stripe in the Forest colourway, but I don’t wear it at all. The difference is that it has a sweetheart neckline, which looked great in the pattern photo but doesn’t look right over shirts and blouses. (The model was wearing it without a blouse underneath.) So, before I cast on the Cool cardi, I’m going to frog and reknit the fronts of the Forest one, to give it the same neckline as this one. I’m not really looking forward to that job, but it will be worth it in the end.

What do you think?