Queue Check: Our Issue 5 WIPs!

Hello lovelies, Hanna Lisa here! I'm so happy to be back on these pages with a little check for our knitting queue! Every once in a while we love taking stock of what's currently on (or recently off) our needles here at Making Stories, and when it turned out that we both had a couple of Issue 5 projects going, we thought this might make for a really nice special queue check post.

With Issue 5 being out in the world for a little over 2 months now, we also see quite a lot of FOs and WIPs pop up on our Instagram feed and in our mailboxes. Please keep them coming!! There's nothing that makes us happier than seeing a genuinely happy knitter wearing or showing us a project they made from one of our publications. (If you post about it on Instagram, you can always tag us in the photo as @_makingstories and use the hashtag #makingstoriesmagazine - that makes it a little easier for us to find your post!)

Without further ado, shall we take a look at what's on Claire's needles at the moment?

A couple of weeks ago, Claire was on the lookout for an easy-breezy summer knit - you know, one of those projects that you can pick up, knit a few rows on and then put it back down again, one that's really fun to knit, but also with an easy to memorize pattern? She had been eyeing Watershed since we got Thien-Kieu's submission, and it turns out it perfectly fit the bill.

With its undulating cable pattern - on a garter background, so good! - it's interesting enough to never get boring, but also easy enough to remember so that you don't have to carry the pattern everywhere. I hear that this is the one WIP Claire is reaching most towards right now!

Claire is knitting it in De Rerum Natura's Gilliatt in the colorway Gent. The yarn is a true story of sustainability: It used to be a Citrine sweater - sadly too small, and hence never worn - which Claire ripped back so that it could get used in this scarf. I love how the woollen spun base makes the cables stand out. It's almost 3D!

After finishing her last sweater, Claire wanted a palate cleanser project (which I can SO relate to!) and picked up a skein of BC Garn Hamilton No. 2 to make a Macara Beret.

From start to finish, it only took her three days, can you believe it? It's been a super fun project with a very intuitive stitch pattern - the way those crown decreases come together is just so satisfying!

I love the cream white Claire chose for her version of Macara - it feels like spring to me! She's pondering overdyeing it with some natural dyes, though. What do you think - white or dyed?

Now, palate cleanser projects is a great segue into my own Issue 5 WIPs - meet:

I love knitting socks, and for a good few years I always had at least one sock project on the go. For some reason, I stopped doing that, and so found myself without a knit-night-compatible project just when we were about to start our first monthly Making Stories knit night in March. (We're hosting a free Zoom Knit Night every first Thursday of the month! Keep an eye on our newsletter for the links!)

I had had Wild Grass by Fiona Alice on my wish list for quite a while, and when I looked through my stash I found a perfectly matching skein (a custom collaboration from way back when with Woolapyk) so it needed to happen! I really enjoyed working on these socks - they're toe up (my favorite) with a gusset and heel (also my favorite) and the sweetest little lace pattern on the top of the foot and the leg.

I modified them slightly by omitting the bobbles Fiona added to the lace pattern for the last repeats on the leg as I was on the playground when I came to that part of the pattern and didn't want to fuss with a crochet hook. I love the way they look, but they'd also be so cute with the bobbles!

When Claire and I started talking about our launch cast ons, I immediately knew what I wanted to make: Bindweed had stolen my heart. With its cropped silhouette and cabled balloon sleeves, it would be the perfect addition to my wardrobe, and so wearable: I imagine throwing it over a tucked-in T-shirt with my favorite high-waisted jeans or with a loose, breezy summer dress for those chillier summer evenings.

I cast on Bindweed pretty much right away after the launch, but haven't had a ton of time to work on it. I'm about to finish the raglan increases, and while the pattern is intuitive, I'm not yet at that point where I can work on the cables without referring to the charts. I'm so, so thrilled with the design though: I love a design that is just very well thought through, and Bindweed definitely is. From the way that you start the neckband to the finishing edges on the open front, you can feel that Ksenia's attention to detail is impeccable, and that she really knows how to design a beautiful garment.

I'm knitting Bindweed in Knitting for Olive's Merino in the colorway Plum Rose held together with their Soft Silk Mohair in the colorway Rose Clay. It's inverse to the sample where we had the Merino in a lighter color and the Mohair in a darker, and I love the slightly marled effect this gives!