#skeldale knits

[simplybydreaming]

I finished Siegfried Farnon's yellow cardigan with time to spare and not only that but I dressed up AS Siegfried to wear it in honour of the Christmas Special!

It's been so much fun making this jumper and I absolutely adore it, its so cosy and warm and yet I am not overheating and it is utterly marvellous!

I started this on the 1st November and I am honestly so thrilled that I have managed to get it finished in time for the Christmas Special as I dreamed!

Next up on Darrowby knits- I have already started both Dorothy's white Darrowby Fair jumper AND in tandem I have started Audrey's burgundy cable cardigan - but in red because it arrived a lot brighter red than anticipated!

[simplybydreaming]

Darrowby Knits: Dorothy's Darrowby Fair Jumper - the final jumper!

I finished Dorothy's Darrowby Fair jumper! Not bad for having frankensteined two or three patterns with a mock cable stitch and much, much trial and error!

I know where I would want to amend this pattern if I were to do it again - the sleeves have a nice little puff to them but I'd want an extra pattern repeat or two in the top section of the jumper, and I could do a lot more with making it fitted. But, my frankestein sleeves worked, and I used mattress stitch to pattern match all the cables so it has quite a nice finish!

Some close ups of the jumper details below :)

This has been a learning curve in terms of remember kids! Keep a note when you adjust a pattern! And experimenting does sometimes mean it goes wrong and you have to bitch and frog back to the start. Again. But it was fun! It also blocked to be quite a bit wider than I was expecting - i probably could have done a base-pattern size down. Either way, it is very cosy!

[simplybydreaming]

Darrowby Knits update: Audrey's red cable cardigan

It's been a solid few weeks since I started and I finally got into the swing of all the cables and also - someone pointed out I was twisting my stitches on Dorothy's jumper and it made SUCH A DIFFERENCE! that bobble stitch became so much easier!

So here is the whole of the back panel of Audrey's cable cardigan! (Having to use books to weigh the sides down they gone all curly)

I actually am really enjoying this now, I swear the second half of the panel went so much quicker than the first half because I'd settled into the repeats and didn't need to refer to the pattern constantly!

And a close up of the cables...

For anyone searching for the pattern its an Etsy find, I searched for vintage cable cardigans and this was a 1960s one but there are loads of fun ones!

And finally - ft the feline menace attacking the loose ends:

[simplybydreaming]

Darrowby Knits: Audrey's Cable Cardigan

Its been a while since I have done an update but I had to stop knitting quite so much because my attention span has been a bit shot (and focused on Stargate SG1) and is hurt my wrist so I needed to slow down.

I do, however, have a lot done! The entire body is done, sewn at the shoulders and the button band and the neckband are done. I don't have buttons yet - I haven't been able to find any i like so I am going on a haberdashery adventure at some point. For now, I pinned the cardigan closed at the front an sides so you can see how it looks.

I had to learn a new technique to do the button band in that you join the band as you knit and honestly I am never doing pick up a gazillion stitches to sew a button band ever again - i have no idea what the technique is called but it's like a slip stitch join? Idk. It slaps though.

Look at how seamless that join is. Beautiful.

My cat is also shedding like mad, so everything is covered in tricolour fur. I've given up trying to get it all off and will just give it a go when its all made up.

One sleeve is already done and the next one is going to be started tomorrow so I think I am in the final stretches of this cardigan!

I actually like that body-only bit so much that I am considering getting some navy or grey yarn and making myself a vest come winter, if I don't have other projects lined up.

[simplybydreaming]

Darrowby Knits: Dorothy's Darrowby Fair jumper (Series 1)

In Series 1, during the Darrowby Fair when Dorothy pops in to see Audrey and ends up helping with the tours and flirting a little with Siegfried, she has on a lovely cream/off-white jumper on with a panel of some sort of arrow-like cables that becomes full cables for the top few inches and sleeves.

Of course, I wasn't able to find anything resembling a pattern for the jumper but I did have pictures and zooming in on my laptop and a plain t-shirt pattern in aran yarn in a magazine. So I decided to make it up as I went. The cables are a sort of arrow shape?? There was a lot of back and forth on the cable type to use but I finally settled on a 6-stitch slip cable.

Today, I finished the back piece, and I am happy with how it looks! It's most assuredly inspired by - not an entirely faithful replica but I am giving it a good shot! Wool is off-white and looks a little yellowed here due to the lighting.

There was a lot of frogging and re-doing to get the number of cables right in the middle, but I settled on five and nine as its a six-stitch cable and any more is impossible with the number of stitches across the chest.

In comparison to my Audrey-cable cardigan, this is so much simpler and has become my bus/works project. Hopefully I can get it ready to wear fairly quickly as a result and I also hope that I remembered the number of rows etc right because I was the fool who forgot to write it down till I was nearly finished lol.

[simplybydreaming]

Siegfried cardigan update - week 2!

Midway through the week I finished the entire back piece and it was a lot bigger than I was expecting! It was nice and cosy having such a big rectangle on my lap while knitting - its the perfect weather for thick cosy knitted items. My cat has alternated between napping on my shoulder while I knit or taking personal offence at the yarn and trying to chew it. Bless.

I'm cracking on with the front panels - I decided to knit them in parallel rather than one piece at a time and I have the fun of little tiny pink bows periodically! Aim for this week is to finish the front.

If I keep this up I may actually get it done for the christmas special after all! I've already started thinking of which other warm winter knit to crack on with afterwards. Options are Helen's green jumper, Audrey's red cable cardigan or Dorothy's cream jumper from the Darroby show episode.

[simplybydreaming]

Siegfried-Cardigan Update Week 1

A week ago i said I was going to make Seigfried's yellow cardigan- ideally in time for the Christmas special - and as I have a fair bit done I thought I'd post an update.

Seigfried's cardigan is a fisherman rib with a seed stitch border in yellow. I found a raglan sleeve pattern that looked similar enough so am making that in yellow 100% wool aran - though imo the yellow isn't quite Yellow Enough alas. It'll do!

As of the end of week 1 I have about 35cm of the back panel all made up! Which is quite a bit faster than I usually knit. I am enjoying this.

With my cat for size! Of course, she thought it was a bed for her...she has been 'helping' after all (I keep getting soggy yarn)

Tune in next Sunday for another Siegfried Cardigan update!

[simplybydreaming]

Darrowby Knits Master Post

For the easy finding of the Darrowby Knits collections!

Siegfried's Yellow Cardigan: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Finished Cardigan

Dorothy's Darrowby Fair Jumper: Part 1, Part 2, Finished Jumper

Audrey's Cable Cardigan: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Finished Cardigan