Summer has come and passed*

September 6, 2010 0 comments Article FO, knitting

* from the lyrics of ‚Wake me up when September ends‘ by Green Day

After a short but very hot summer it already feels very much like autumn in our neck of the woods right now. Although the sun is still shining brightly in a brilliantly blue sky it’s already pretty nippy in the shadows and the nights are getting quite cool. The days are getting noticeably shorter, too. Now starts this magical time of year when most knitters turn back to their needles and tackle old unfinished knitting projects and start planning new projects with renewed energy. Finally the hot days that turned even the lovliest linen yarn into a sticky, icky affair that is best left in the knitting basket are over. And I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I saw the supermarket already had all those yummy Christmas sweets stocked. Jeesh, time’s flying. Let’s have a look back then at some of my summer knits.

Clothilde Shaw

Clothilde – Small shawl out of Saffron Dyeworks Wasabi sock yarn.

This is a wonderful little shawl that works wonderful with slightly variegated or semi-solid yarns. It was so much fun to work up this quick small shawl. The dovetail lace pattern is entertaining and just when you might start to be bored the lace edging starts. And if you want to you can knit this in ANY yarn and to ANY size. Perfect.

Pretty lace, pretty yarn, pretty color

The stunning purple blue color eludes the camera.

Pattern: Clothilde by Kristen Hanley Cardozo
Yarn: Saffron Dyeworks Wasabi Sock, Butterfly Bush (100% Merino 365 m/100 g)
Needle: 4 mm

There’s been more lace shawl knitting this summer but I’ll put this in a post of its own since it turned out downright spectacular.

Linen Dress

Garter stitch yoke with a stockinette stitch heart for decoration.

This one is an improvised design. It’s a basic top down raglan construction with an equal number of stitches for front, back and arms to create shoulder straps instead of sleeves. The gauge is very open and see through since the yarn is a very skinny weaving yarn. Even though this is a summer knit I’m hoping this will make a nice layering piece with long-sleeved shirts all winter long.

Linen dress for Little Girl

Yarn: Bockens Lingarn 16/2, lavender (690 m/125 g)
Needle: 2.75 mm

The Skirt

I’ve never knitted a skirt before. I always REFUSED to knit a skirt because I wasn’t conviced it would wear all the well. The usually look very flattering on skinny models posing for a magazine but I’m by no means a skinny person and I just couldn’t imagine a wool skirt looking good after a day of sitting around in an office chair for a day. But then I saw this wonderful swingy summer skirt on Ravelry. I could instantly imagine wearing something like this. So off I went to buy some sturdy DK weight linen/cotton yarn to to purchase the download pattern.

The beginning with casting on over 400 sts was pretty strenuous. They hardly fit on my 80 cm Addi Turbo needle. But things got easier and faster with every decrease row. The construction is very clever and typical of Nora Gaughan. The pattern itself isn’t very clear written and could have been explained easier, imp. But after some extreme knitting the skirt was done in under 3 weeks. And I love it!

Linen/cotton skirt

Pattern: #12 Skirt by Nora Gaughan, Knit.1 Spring/Summer 2008, also available at Vogue Knitting Online Store
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Cotton Linen, black (78%/22% Cotton/Linen100 m/50 g), 12 skeins
Needle: 4 mm

Fluttery Linen Top

This linen top was also a spur of the moment thing. I’d seen some very nice projects in this pretty linen yarn and when I found this yarn in a store I had to take two skeins with me. Now what to do with 520 meters of dk weight linen yarn?! Then I found this top in my Ravelry queue and off I went. Knitting with Karen Noe Linea has been a real pleasure. And the mindles stockinette in the round provided good carn and on the road knitting.