Fibre Arts Friday

Yes, I know it's not Friday. I'm guessing that other people browse blogs a little like me, visiting your favourites and then going down their sidebar to their list of favourites and seeing where it takes you. I ended up yesterday at Wisdom Begins in Wonder (here's a hint, I will mostly visit if the blog title is a little ambiguous.) The anonymous owner runs Fibre Arts Friday, a meme-thingy where people share their fibre projects, nice because it is all inclusive and it can be any kind of craft that you like. Do pop over if you like that kind of thing and see the shares. 

So, this week I have mostly been playing with Araucania Azapa, a wonderful blend of merino, alpaca and silk. I like buying both Araucania and Mirasol yarns because the companies are Fair Trade and support the local communities they work within. This bright pink was bought on a whim from Aileeens on Ebay. It is so soft you just want to cuddle it and now I've thought that I want to make a whole blanket from it (I only used two of the three hanks so I need to find a use for the last one.)

I used a pattern called Celtic Vest (this is a link to the PDF which is a freebie from the Fleece Artist website. ) It is most peculiar knitting, something I have never done before, knitting with two balls at the same time, and I don't mean held together. You do this weird cast on; knot them together then making a loop with one ball and knitting the stitch with the other, so at the other end you have two yarns waiting to be knitted with. Then you take one yarn and knit across (I marked the second yarn with a safety pin so I would remember which was which). It didn't say use a circular needle but you have to because you then slide the work back to the beginning and using the second yarn you do K1 P1 across. Then you do the same thing back the other way.

What you end up with is this deeply ridged texture:

It is knit side to side in one piece and then sewn at the shoulder. I fiddled with the pattern a  bit and added some random stripes of Araucania Patagonia, a cotton yarn in pale blue and pink, just for variety.

All in all I am pretty chuffed with it, and it is lovely to wear, which I have done every day. I can see it becoming the new favourite.