#needleworkmonday | Getting Ready for the Summer Break

It's been raining. We had clouds on Friday and other parts of the UK had a biblical downpour, but we just had some halfhearted spitting as if the clouds had forgotten how to do it. I was in and out of the house checking whether I had to water the garden (I had been left in charge of my neighbour's courgette plants, so responsibility was weighing heavily).

On Saturday, it was still trying to rain. We had the great wind which brought down my sweetcorn plants (everything else survived) and, finally, after messing about all day, we had a heavy downpour in the evening. The temperature dropped, and the rain has continued intermittently for the last 36 hours. We haven't had flooding here (I was on standby with stepladders and dust sheets in case the gutters overflowed), but some low-lying parts of Leicester are underwater.

With no harm done and the reservoirs filling up, it was perfect weather for knitting.

Summer knitting experiments: Not a grey mouse child's cardigan and Cordial by Sarah Hatton women's cardigan. I enjoyed the crochet so much, I found some Ricoh creative cotton in the sale basket at my local knitting shop for some more experiments.

The little blue and orange jacket is my first completed crochet project (I have only learnt this year, thanks to @crosheille and @anjkara). I was inspired by @neumannsalva's Not a grey mouse tutorial. I have been itching to try a crochet garment after weeks of practicing how to keep the yarn on the needle to make a stitch. (I had the same problem when I learned guitar, my fingers don't know how to behave)!

I struggled with the tension but eventually I found a compromise. I really enjoyed making this in soft cotton yarn - the blue is Rowan handwash cotton double knitting, and the orange is Ricoh creative cotton double knitting. The fabric they create is soft and pliable (really nice to work), but holds its structure. I struggled with the sleeves - the orange one is not quite right but @neumannsalva pointed me to some additional help about crocheting in the round. I practiced making a separate tube before attempting to attach the blue sleeve.

As well as my first crocheted garment, it was my first attempt at top down construction. You can see in the picture that I have bought some more yarn to experiment with: baby and children's clothes are great for learning new techniques. Even with three tension squares, numerous undoings and learning how to crochet tubes separately, this still took only a week to make. You need lots of quick wins when you are learning!

The adult cardigan is also a quick knit and could be completed in a week. The original pattern, Cordial, is available on the Rowan website (on the website it says it is designed by Martin Storey, in the pattern book its says Sarah Hatton). I have adapted it - I've left out the cable pattern and chosen double moss stitch (one of my favourites) over moss stitch for a really chunky pattern.

This cardigan is knitted from the bottom fronts upwards, both fronts are joined at the neck and then the back is knitted top down, kimono-style, leaving just the side seams and underarms to join. There's no ribbing, no neck or front bands, and just one button fastening. However, the truly amazing achievement with this garment is that it is the right tension! I was so pleased when I measured the back width after completing the sleeves and it was correct!

minnowuprising

I'll be publishing the last report about growth in the #needleworkmonday community later this week. I've found it a really interesting experiment and learned lots myself. My curation, especially, has improved, and I've ventured into exploring dLike and other dApps 😱.

August Summer Holidays

I'll be taking a break from Steemit during August, but I'll be back in September. I hope everyone has a lovely summer and I look forward to catching up with you in the autumn.

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