All the knits I finished while recovering from surgery

About three weeks ago, I had surgery. Nothing major, and it was planned - but it was my first time undergoing general anaesthesia and facing an uncertain recovery period, both of which made me quite nervous. I knew that I was going to be in the hospital for two days, if everything went well, but then it was between one and three weeks of recovering at home, depending on how fast my body was going to heal.

Needless to say, I packed knitting for the hospital, but I didn’t feel like picking up my needles until my second day in the hospital. And then I knit. I knit, and knit, and knit. Curiously enough, I always get the urge to clear off my needles this time of the year - something about the weather changing, sweater season approaching, maybe? And this year, this urge coincided with me wanting to do something while watching copious amounts of Netflix without having to think very hard about what I was going to knit. Win win!

Improvised Handspun Hat

First up on, and then off my needles, was my improvised handspun hat. I started spinning at the beginning of this year, and fell hard and fast for it. One of the cool things I learned about spinning was that there’s a spin-along that runs while the Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes cycles through France, the “Tour de Fleece”. My project for this year’s Tour de Fleece was my first three-ply yarn, spun from three braids of cotton-candy-like Rambouillet, hand-dyed by Lauren from Little Fiber Co.

I thought the three colors would look really cool in a three-ply, and I was not disappointed! I was also really pleased with my spinning on this - except for a few bits, it’s really even. When I finished it, I knew I wanted to make something to maximize yarn usage, either a shawl or a hat, and then settled on a hat.

I really like the idea behind Ysolda’s Musselburgh hat which I know a lot of spinners have knit from their handspun. It ends up being a double-sided hat as you fold the two halves in on each other, with a generous folded brim. You start at the top of the hat, increasing until you have reached your desired width, and then you work straight in stockinette for a long as your yarn allows (there’s a bit of math and weighing involved) before decreasing down for a second crown. At the end, it looks like a long tube with two round ends! You fold one half into the other one, and then the brim up.

The two things I didn’t like about the Musselburgh hat were the number of crown increases and decreases - Ysolda has you in-/decrease four times which I think looks a little boxy in the finished hat - and the mixed reviews. I know that this is a go-to hat recipe for a lot of folx, but there were also a lot of knitters for whom the hat just didn’t come out right.

As I was pondering what to do about this, I remembered that my Warmth Hat from our Kids Collection uses the same cast-on technique! I realized that I could just use my own pattern and increase as much as I needed for an adult-sized hat. Which I did - and it worked like a charm!

I really loved having this as my hospital knitting project, and for the first few hours at home. The color changes in the yarn kept me entertained, and the stockinette in the round was mindless enough that I could still enjoy my Netflix series.

Here it is, in all its glory – I look forward to wearing this in the winter!

Second Sock - Cat & Sparrow Sustainable Sock Club Yarn

One thing I started doing this year is knit up samples of new yarns that we were going to add to the shop. I found this particularly useful for our Sustainable Sock Club yarns – I always keep a few extras to add to the shop at a later date, and as some of them are quite colorful, I find it’s helpful to knit them up so you can see what you get when you purchase them.

The first time I did this was for our April Sustainable Sock Club yarn, Petal Power by Cat & Sparrow. It’s a beautiful Wool Tencel blend, where the Tencel acts as a natural strengthener. It also makes the yarn really shiny and lustrous!The perfect canvas for Rachael’s beautiful multi-colored colorways like Petal Power!

My first sock was finished in time for launching the yarn in the shop, but then time got away from me, and I hadn’t gotten around to knitting the second one up.

After finishing my improvised handspun hat, I grabbed the leftover yarn, and looked at my notes, and cast on the second one! I am always amazed at how quickly a sock knits up when you do nothing but knit on it - I think I was done with this one within a day or just a little longer.

YAY - another finished pair for my sock drawer!

Second Sock - Ovis et cetera Sustainable Sock Club Yarn

The July Sustainable Sock Club Yarn - “River” on Kanab by Ovis et cetera – suffered the same fate: I had knit up one sock for the yarn launch, but not a second one. I really adored knitting this one up - Kanab is an intriguing blend of wool and hemp, which leads to a slightly heathered look in the finished yarn. Saskia dyed this up to be almost self-striping.

Once I had finished my Cat & Sparrow sock, I immediately cast on the second one in the Ovis et cetera yarn. Again - pure awesomeness at how quickly a sock can knit up if you do nothing but knit and watch The Good Doctor!

Oh, I should mention: For all of these socks I used my own Not-So-Vanilla Vanilla Sock pattern, by the way. I find that it fits my foot perfectly with a gusset and Fleegle heel construction, and toe-up knitting is my preferred way to knit socks.

Fast forward a few more episodes, and the second sock was done!

What I find fascinating about this type of dyeing is how different the results can be when knit up in the same thing! My gauge must have changed slightly from the first to the second sock, as the first one is almost self-striping, while the second one has more of a spiral effect:

Mastiha Cardigan - Thea Colman

The Mastiha Cardigan was originally intended as a show sample for the Wollcraft Festival at the end of August. I finished everything except for the second sleeve right before the festival, and then ran out of steam. It had so dropped of my radar that I was surprised to discover it in my WIP basket, even though it hadn’t been that long that I’d been working on it!

The delightful thing about this cardigan is that it knits up really quickly - it’s designed for a worsted-weight yarn, and I knit mine in De Rerum Natura’s Gilliatt, colorway Iroise.

Combine that with a sleeve that is already picked up, and a straight-forward decrease sequence, and a couple of hours of knitting time, and you got yourself a finished cardi!

I blocked this quite aggressively as I wasn’t super happy with the button band; it’s really tight which is likely a combination of too few stitches picked up, and a not-loose-enough bind-off. I think I’ll sew on the buttons and wear it a little bit to see if it bothers me, and if it does, I’ll rip out the button band and re-knit it.

Speaking of button band: When my friend Jasmin saw the WIP, she immediately picked up on the fact that I had started the button band one stitch too far in - I hadn’t picked up the outer stitch, which created a not-so-nice “step” at the hem. She had a genius suggestion: Crocheting stitches on to the side of the button band to fill the gap! It worked like a charm.

I am very much looking forward to add that into my regular wardrobe rotation!

Twisted Vines Sweater - Joan Forgione

Almost exactly a year ago, I treated myself to a sweater quantity of one of woollentwine’s limited edition yarns. Jule is not only a fabulous natural dyer, but also a really good yarn designer! She’s always looking for special fleeces and then works with various mills to bring them to life in really cool limited edition yarns.

Heritage DK was one she did last year, and it has a beautiful warm oatmeal color that just really wanted to be a cozy sweater. I cast on Joan Forgione’s Twisted Vines sweater almost immediately - it’s been on my mind since Issue 5, which is when we published it. The body knit itself up really quickly - it’s mostly stockinette in the round - but the sleeves were a bit more of a labor of love.

I remember knitting the first sleeve while we were skiing in Austria in January this year, and when we got back home, the sweater went into the WIP basket, waiting for its second sleeve until about two weeks ago. When I picked it back up again, I was pleasantly surprised at how intuitive the pattern felt, and how quickly the second sleeve knit up! Add a neckline, and weaving in the ends, and blocking, and we have a brand-new sweater.

I will say that I am not super happy with the fit of this. I knit a size 5 because I wanted a generously boxy body, but the sleeves are too wide for my taste with too much fabric at the underarm. The size I picked doesn’t fit properly on the shoulders - I think I must have picked it based on bust circumference, not crossback width, which is really what I should have done, given that this is a saddle shoulder sweater. Sigh. I am thinking of either crocheting a round or two at the inside of the neckline to see if that stabilizes it a little, or of sewing in an elastic so that the sweater doesn’t slip off my shoulders. I can’t see myself wearing this out and about very much, but the yarn is warm and woolly, so I think this will be a new hiking / gardening sweater!

Bonus: Moths Cross Stitch Embroidery - Junebug & Darling

When I was a kid, I loved, loved, loved cross stitch! I am not sure why I ever stopped doing it, but when I first discovered the really cool cross stitch, and more generally, embroidery kits that are on the market now, I immediately ordered a couple.

I had started the Moths kit by Junebug & Darling a couple of years ago, but not really worked on it in long chunks. Over time, I made progress, but one moths and the details were still missing. So in between the Mastiha cardi and the Twisted Vines sweater, I worked on this! I am really pleased with how it turned out, and how it brought me back to one of my first craft loves.

I still have the much bigger “Knitter” cross stitch kit, also from Junebug & Darling, waiting for in my drawer. Can’t wait to get started on this one!

So - these are all the things I finished while recovering from surgery! I am really pleased with all of these (except for the fit issues on the Twisted Vines sweater), and it feels super good to have (had) my needles cleared for a little bit.