Boyfriend sweater

I'm happy to report that knitting my boyfriend a sweater did not curse our relationship :) We're still going strong. As usual, I turned to the brilliant Elizabeth Zimmermann for the pattern. It's seamless hybrid, shirt yoke version, picked by Neal and I was happy to oblige. I just love the seamless construction and I can't get enough of it. I've already acquired enough wool for the next one.

The yarn is HF merino aran (the yarn has changed slightly recently, it's now a bit softer and also superwash, big thumbs up from me!). The colourway is Ink, a deep semi-solid blue and needle size is 4.5mm, so the whole thing went really fast, I'd say it took me mere 3 weeks to complete.

On another note, we have a new puppy! Well, to call him 'puppy' is a bit of a stretch... he's a 7 year old German Shepherd, a really big one too. We're calling him Brian. I got him as a foster dog, but we fell in love with him, so we have decided to keep him. I say 'we' but he's officially Neal's dog. He's lovely, calm and gentle. He has spent the first seven years of his life in someone's back garden, tied to a pole.

When we got him, we noticed he's limping a lot and his hind legs are very weak, so we thought he had displasia. But further tests showed no or minor displasia for his age, but a mysterious swelling in his right knee. His right knee was in fact 3 times as big as the left one. The vet said it's most likely a result of a past injury. So poor Brian got his surgery yesterday and he's now recovering. He's on strong painkillers, he's doing OK. I can't wait once he's in full health, there are so many things in the world for him to see!

btw: he really needs a different collar, he has this half-choker one on at the moment, but it's so loose on his neck that even if he pulls on the leash it actually doesn't close up on his neck. Just so you know. I don't personally like those collars, I feel like for most dogs, there's no need.


That brings the count of dogs in the house to 3. Thankfully, the garden is almost an acre big and the house is really big too. It also means a LOT of vacuuming :)

in progress

I'm on a third hat and the colour preference is quite clear...
The bottom one is mine, the gray ribbed one is this one and it's for my boyfriend and the third one is my work knitting, so it's going really slowly.

My hat is made with a lovely handspun merino, that I have overdyed black. It's been sitting in my stash for ages and I finally got to use it. It's so pretty and the colour changes are so subtle.

For the third hat I'm using HF pure cashmere lace yarn held quadruple (!) which is a bit cumbersome, but the resulting fabric is quite nice, soft and cushy.

I'm on a bit of a stash-busting spree, and when I found this pattern, I had the yarn for it. It's a HF Wensleydale fibre, spun as a single, so it stripes, which is perfect for this patter (at least in my head...)

I'm working the shawl on a diagonal, so I won't have to weave in as many ends. (the pattern suggests to cut yarn after working each scallop, which doesn't sound appealing at all) I'm using a thinner yarn and a bigger needle, hoping for a large lofty shawl.

You definitely need a marker to indicate the right/wrong side of the project. I'm using a simple safety pin with a bit of yarn attached to it. (safety pins slip in and out, but the bit of yarn always stays on the right side of the knitting)

Socks

New pair of handspun socks in HF Superwash Blue Faced Leicester top.  Aren't they so cute?

The yarn is a sport-weight 2-ply and I love the subtle striping.