Hurrah, the Zigzag Jumper is finished! I know I have been very quiet around here – I’ve been trying desperately to finish the jumper, and it’s hard to blog and knit at the same time…
Additionally, John and I will be moving next week so there has been a fair amount of house-hunting and packing going on. I currently have just two projects available to me as the stash and the yarns etc have gone away into taped boxes – I panicked and bought some new yarn and needles so I could cast on some socks the other day, but I am resisting the urge to cast on as I want to finish some UFOs at the moment. I have picked out a glorious pattern for this, and can’t really wait to start!
Zigzag Jumper
This has been a relatively fast project for me – I cast on on July 4th and finished today, August 30th. I can thank many hours of resting and hiding from depression for this, so at least something good as happened! The full story of why I decided to start the jumper was discussed in the first episode of the podcast – listen here – so I won’t go over it again. The pattern is Zigzag Jumper by Linda Parkhouse.
This was so much fun to knit. I was going through rows and rows and rows at a time without really realising how much I had done. There’s something extremely rewarding about a pattern with a lot of slipped stitches in it!
The jumper is very, very warm. I wore it today for a while but had to take it off because I felt like I was roasting – but I am so excited to have it that I keep wanting to put it back on again. This is no doubt due to the fact that the whole jumper has a double layer of yarn – it’s not quite as thick as fairisle, but a beefy sweater all the same. It will be wonderful for the winter!
Just as a reminder, the yarn was Wendy Mode DK. I came under some criticism from yarn purists, who I will not name as they are lovely people, for using a yarn that has an amount of acrylic in it, which was rather frustrating. I am generally a natural fibre kind of gal, but at £20 for the whole sweater in the most obscenely brilliant colours, and also machine-washable, I have absolutely no regrets in buying the yarn. It may not have been as sweet to knit with, but that is surely my choice?
Anyway, the yarn itself is a tiny bit scratchy on the skin – I’ll probably want to wear this without a top underneath it as it is so warm, so this may be something that I’ll try improve when I wash it, by using a lot of fabric conditioner. That’s my only major gripe – although it was quite hard to sew up the sweater using the yarn as the yarn kept snapping in my mattress stitch and I had to remember to tighten more quickly than I usually would. This is not a big deal.
I adore the colours (and so do most people, John is still calling it the Watermelon Sweater which is almost certainly what it will be rechristened now that I have finished it) and I am so glad I’ve had a bright project to keep me going through a few tough weeks. I would recommend this pattern to anyone who wants a bit of crazy in their lives – you can obviously tone down the colours, but it’s a quick knit and easy enough to be TV knitting or similar.
Podcast News
I have been wanting to record the second episode of the podcast for weeks, and I have all of my prep ready, show-notes written up and a rough draft of the structure – but I’m struggling with mental health rather a lot at the moment and spending a lot of time when I would normally be doing normal people things – i.e. going to work, cooking, eating, washing – in bed. As a result, doing any ‘extra’ projects has been a bit beyond me. I am hoping to record sometime next week! But as it will be moving week, this may be a little difficult – so just stay tuned and listen to some of the excellent podcasts with recent episodes below if you have never heard of them and would like some knitting/crafting chatter while you work.
Shiny Bees Podcast
Knitmore Girls
Knit British
Caithness Craft Collective
So, that’s it from me! I’ve tried to make it a bumper blog-post as it has been so long since I blogged, and I definitely achieved that!
Much love,
Corrie xx
A perfect fit! Its gorgeous!
Thank you!
Your jumper is wonderful. So bright and cheerful. Hope the move goes smoothly xx
Thank you so much – current flat is a disaster zone with some huge boxes all over the place!
It’s your jumper and you can knit in whatever you like! Not everyone likes, wants or can afford natural fibres. Some people are allergic to them. Whatever their reason, they shouldn’t have to justify their yarn choice to rude people.
I think your jumper looks lovely.