Last year in July I came upon a sale of bright pink Drops Muscat cotton yarn and I grabbed 8 balls of it and overdyed it in black to move the color to variegated dark purple. The yarn was intended for my mother, but as she is not a very keen knitter, she asked me to knit a cardigan for her, using the yarn. Years ago I had knitted two Joys by Kim Hargreaves - one for Gaby and one for my mother and she still wears her Joy with pride and erh, joy :). So what she had in mind was something similar, and my immediate idea was - Christina by the same designer. I love the pattern and I'm a little surprised that it has been forgotten - the last finished Christina on Ravelry is from 2017.
I'm well ahead in my knitting, with one back and two sleeves already done. I've blocked one of the sleeves and what a difference blocking makes to this texture! I can't even imagine how uninformed I was in 2012 - I didn't block my Christina and it shows in the blog pictures. Thankfully now I know better - not only do I block my finished objects, but I try to knit big enough gauge samples and wet block them before taking them into account.
Because the yarn is hand dyed, I alternate skeins, knitting two rows with one and two rows with the other skein. It slows me, but it does make a difference and provides a more smooth transition from skein to skein. The picture below shows the difference in size and texture between the blocked and the still not blocked sleeve.
I'm off to cast on the right front :). I should be able to finish the cardigan in time for the warm spring and summer evenings ahead.
What flower is that? It's so pretty and love the pinks. I think it's so cool how you dye yarn to a color you don't like. I should have it done for a few I don't like; I have a friend who does that kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The pink flower is a blossom of the peach tree in front of our building.
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