Christmas knitting

How is your Christmas knitting going? I’m almost done, and I might even squeeze in an extra project!

The orange Christmas sweater was washed and blocked last week so it’s ready to wrap up this weekend, knit in lovely orange tweed Peace Fleece. The pattern is from a hysterical Patons vintage book for raglan sweater patterns in several different gauges for men and women.

The patterns are actually really good,  you just have to get past the photo shoot which looks as if it might have been directed by Benny Hill. I’m calling this the Librarian Sweater, those 1960s librarians sure look like they got up to some fun in the stacks.

It was only when I got to the final seaming up that I discovered a rather startling mistake. Well, I did discover it quite early but I thought it would be ok. The pattern has a quite modest 12 rows of ribbing for the waist and armholes and I had knit 16 rows for the back. I just figured I’d knit 16 for the front and use 12 rows of ribbing on the armholes. Sadly, I thought I’d knit 16 rows of ribbing for the back but was actually 18 rows so I was 2 rows out between the front and back. Drat. I’d done one side seam before I noticed and it didn’t look too noticeable, so I eased it a bit more on the other side and with blocking I don’t think anyone else would notice it.

It’s also my first v-neck sweater, which I was a little worried about, but which came out just fine.

My other Christmas knitting is three pairs of fingerless gloves for three brothers, and I have just two fingers left to go! There really is only one trick to knitting gloves: make sure you don’t knit two right ones (yes, really).

And, finally, I have quite a bit of red and white Millamia yarn left over from the Merry Knitalong this year and I thought I might get in a bit more stranded knitting practice – and a little boost to the Christmas festive spirit – with the Nordic Star Christmas stocking, a free pattern from Millamia. No promises, we’ll see how we go. Hope you have a lovely holiday season!

Orange jumper and undyed yarn

My orange tweed Peace Fleece jumper is coming along and right on schedule to be finished by Christmas. I bought six skeins last year and I might even get this project done using just five – fingers crossed – which would be great for future Peace Fleece purchasing. This is a plain raglan sleeve pattern using that Benny Hill librarians pattern book by Patons, actually quite a good pattern as it turned out.

I had intended to make it to the Brooklyn General Store on my short visit to New York City to pick up some more Peace Fleece, and I was on the subway heading there on my last day, having checked out of the hotel, when I realised that I’d left my iPod sitting in the iPod dock in my room at the Pod Hotel. Drat. I wasted an hour heading back to get it and didn’t make it to Brooklyn after all. Thankfully I do have a couple of online sources for Peace Fleece though. In another #yarnshopfail I also headed to Purl Soho on my last day and, although it was past opening time and I could see someone inside, the front door was still locked. Double drat. I didn’t really have time to linger so I went around the corner to Jonathan Adler instead and bought a Christmas decoration to add to the collection.

I did have one yarn shop success though, my visit to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio where I picked up four skeins of their undyed pure wool at 15% off. The label says it’s perfect for hand dyeing and tomorrow I’m going to Jules’s natural dyeing workshop. Very exciting!

Glasnost gold sweater

For day 25 of #blogjune

On Sunday I posted about starting over with the yellow tweed jumper, but before that I have made a start on another new project: a plain men’s sweater in Peace Fleece Worsted. Like this…

…except I’m making the vee-neck version.

The pattern is from Patons Australia book 1266 Jet Men which features 20 patterns for men’s sweaters and cardigans including some really nice classic designs like this. The patterns are for Patons Jet 12-ply but luckily Peace Fleece Worsted has the same gauge of 16 stitches to 10 cm.

I’ve used Peace Fleece once before, in my grey tweed cardigan, and I love it. It’s certainly not the softest yarn to knit with, but it does soften a little once you’ve washed your project. Best of all though, I love the subtle tweedy colours.

Some tweeds can be a bit clownish with bright blobs of incongruous colours, but the colours in the Peace Fleece are subtle and understated, even in their brighter ones like this.

This colourway is Glasnost Gold, at first glance you’d call it orange but really it’s a rich red brown with flecks of sage green and red. I love the Peace Fleece colour names too, this one is named for the Russian word for “openness”.

Grey tweed cardigan

For day 6 of #blog12daysxmas

the cardigan fronts finished

Some of you might remember this yarn from a previous project which didn’t work out but I am now full steam ahead on my current big project, my first cardigan. With pockets!

The yarn is Peace Fleece Worsted in “Father’s Gray”, a beautiful yarn full of character made from wool and mohair in a charcoal colour with flecks of green and brown. The Peace Fleece web site describes this colour as “dependable, practical and beautiful… it’s named after Marty’s Dad, who died at the age of 99 in 2008.”

The yarn does feel a bit rough when knitting but becomes softer after washing and, fortunately for me, it copes brilliantly with being frogged and reknit several times.

I’ve chosen a vintage pattern “Mariposa” from a Patons Australia pattern book Style knits that I think was published around 1959, the year I was born! All the patterns in the book are named after the ships that sailed to Australia at that time, some of the ships that I visited as a youngster.

I used to look up the ships that were due in port and then write to the P&O offices in Collins Street asking for a boarding pass to visit the ships because “my wife and I were thinking of going on a cruise” and then, boarding passes in hand, I’d wag school and take the train down to Port Melbourne. I got to go aboard the Arcadia, Oronsay and Chitral before P&O probably realised that they were dealing with a 15 year old schoolboy and the game was up.

My cardigan pattern is named for the liner Mariposa that sailed across the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney via Hawaii, probably not a voyage that would require a grey tweed cardigan.

Peace fleece

for day 29 of blogjune

I’ve had six skeins of Peace Fleece Father’s Gray in the stash for quite a while now. There are 200 yards of 12 ply yarn to a skein so six skeins should have been enough for the cardigan I was planning, but after doing about half the back I was thinking it might end up a bit snug and I might need to go up a size… which would mean I didn’t have quite enough yarn. Drat.

With yarn, as with many things in life, it’s wise to have a little extra on hand, and luckily I tracked down one more skein (in the same dye lot!) and it arrived in the post this week.

Now I just have to decide whether to start over with the cardigan or think about what else I can make with seven skeins. More possibilities!

Like the Manos del Uruguay that I posted about yesterday, Peace Fleece has a great story.

“The Peace Fleece offices are in a barn on a sheep and horse farm in the small, rural town of Porter in the foothills of southwestern Maine. Peter Hagerty and his wife Marty Tracy started buying wool from the Soviet Union back in 1985 in hopes that through trade they could help diffuse the threat of nuclear war. Since then Peter has journeyed through eastern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East in search of farmers and shepherds who are willing to set aside historic enmities in exchange for opportunities leading to mutual understanding and economic interdependence.”

My colour Father’s Gray is described as “dependable, practical and beautiful… it’s named after Marty’s Dad, who died at the age of 99 in 2008.” I also used to knit my own Dad some socks for his last birthday before he died, so I feel like there’s a special yarny connection too.

Peace Fleece

These beautiful swatch cards of Peace Fleece yarn arrived in the post box yesterday…

I’m going to ask Wayne to pick out a colour from the Peace Fleece swatches for a Christmas jumper or cardigan.

I bought 2 skeins of grey Peace Fleece from Brooklyn General Store last year for my dad’s socks, appropriately named “Father’s Grey”. Wonderful and full of character, from a distance the colour looks charcoal but close up you can see the different shadings and tiny flecks of white and brown and green. It comes in 200 yard skeins so I have quite a bit left over and I’m thinking of combining it with my single skein of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in a Jane Ellison scarf pattern. The Shelter is almost the same colour, a charcoal grey called “Soot”.

Speaking of “Soot” that’s also the colour name of the Rowan Felted Tweed Aran which also arrived in the post yesterday. I really just wanted to try it out so bought just 2 skeins which are destined to become fingerless mitts for early morning bike rides to work.

And finally, the four vintage wooden buttons I bought on Etsy to finish off my button collar pullover have arrived with 2 extras I wasn’t expecting. As I now have 6 beautiful weathered wooden buttons, I might save them for a Christmas cardigan.

My dad’s socks

Last week I finished the back of my vest and the front AND back of my button collar pullover project, so I decided to take a little break for a smaller project.

Stitchonomy prize stash!

At first I thought of starting something with the fab Morris Pure I won in the Stitchonomy competition (yay!)

But then I thought I should really get cracking on the warm woolly socks I want to knit for my dad. He hasn’t been too well lately and he needs to keep warm so I’ve decided to knit Hannah Fettig’s super thick and warm Man Socks from her book Closely knit. I bought the yarn from the Brooklyn General Store in New York, 2 skeins of Peace Fleece worsted wool yarn in a subtly flecked grey colourway, appropriately called “Father’s Gray”.

I’ve got some time off work in a couple of weeks so if I keep the needles clicking I can hopefully get them done in time for a visit then — an early birthday present.

"Man Socks" by Hannah Fettig

Stash plans: Peace Fleece

My dad needs to keep warm so I’m planning a pair of super thick and warm socks for him in this Peace Fleece Worsted called, appropriately, “Father’s Gray”. The pattern is Hannah Fettig’s “Man Socks” from her book Closely knit.

I was intrigued by the Peace Fleece label with the name in English and Russian – a lot of their yarn names are also Russian – so went to find out more from their web site…

“Peter Hagerty and his wife Marty Tracy started buying wool from the Soviet Union back in 1985 in hopes that through trade they could help diffuse the threat of nuclear war. Since then Peter has journeyed through eastern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East in search of farmers and shepherds who are willing to set aside historic enmities in exchange for opportunities leading to mutual understanding and economic interdependence. “

Peace Fleece offers knitting yarn made from a blend of Russian, Romanian, American, Israeli and Palestinian wools “helping historic enemies cooperate and prosper through trade”. It’s good to know my Dad’s socks will be doing their little bit.