It was a wonderful weekend. I made some good progress on Garland and I got a haircut that I will admit, I’m a little in love with. I haven’t had a fringe since I was 10!! Adore.

Garland – finished for March!

I am exceedingly pleased to say that I finished the body of Garland last night and reached my March goal of ‘get to the sleeves’ on Garland. I was going to put it into hibernation for a while, but it will be perfect for this strange spring weather we are having at the moment, so I think I may make a push to finish it in early April.

I love working with Kidsilk Haze, and the fabric it makes is so gorgeous. Soft and smooth and silky, and the strands of silk in the yarn give it a sheen that is second to none. However. I find that if I am not very careful with it, it’s really easy to pull the stitches around a create fairly large ‘holes’ in the work.

At the distance in the photos, it isn’t at all obvious, so that is a bit of a blessing, but as someone who is fairly clumsy, this really drives home the point that I am going to have to be a bit careful how I treat it when it is on – and make sure I stop catching clothes on that door catch in my bosses office everytime I walk in and out!

Just a note on the pattern – the official pattern instructs you to graft the shoulder seams, and I did this with our favourite kitchener stitch with no problem. I didn’t leave long enough tails, however – so if you decide to make yourself one, make sure you leave long tails for grafting.

One of the lovely girls from Loop, Sonja (who is also a talented designer, check out her work here), has made her own Garland and did a three-needle bind-off for her shoulder seam. She thought this would be stronger, and although I loved the thinking behind it, I didn’t have enough of my knitting gubbins around me (i.e. another needle) to accomplish this when I was ready to go. I’d been putting off the seams for a while – with the momentum behind me, I didn’t want to pause for anything!

I thought it was going to be far too big and swamp me (remember the below photo?) but I really like it on. I’m feeling very enthusiastic about it again – who knew what a change a week could make!

Much love,

Corrie xx