My first sweater: the Twenty Ten cardigan

I recently decided to try my hand at knitting bigger projects and my sister asked for the Twenty Ten cardigan by Veera Valimaki. It seemed much harder than anything I'd ever done before but I always welcome a challenge and so I started. Bought the yarn, Cascade Ecological Wool, from the Laine et Tricot website (she has a great selection and is super quick to answer and send out the yarn). I had never seen such big skeins before and the ball I made was huge! I knit it in a size L and only two skeins were enough! I could not believe it! Seriously, 20€ for a hand-knit sweater! I'm amazed...

J'ai décidé récemment de me lancer dans la confection de projets plus ambitieux et ma soeur m'a commandé le Twenty ten cardigan de Veera Valimaki. Ce projet me paraissait beaucoup plus compliqué que tout ce que j'avais fait auparavant, mais j'aime relever des défis, je me suis donc jetée à l'eau. J'ai acheté la laine, la Cascade Ecological Wool, sur la boutique en ligne de Laine et Tricot (cette nana a une super sélection de laines et répond et envoie super rapidement). Je n'avais jamais vu d'écheveaux de cette taille et la pelote était énorme! J'ai tricoté le gilet en taille L et seulement 2 écheveaux m'ont suffi! J'avais beaucoup de mal à y croire! Sérieux, 20€ pour un gilet tricoté à la main, je n'en reviens pas!

Anyway, it was much easier to do than I had anticipated and I am definitely going to knit many more sweaters, maybe even for myself, who knows?
So here it is, I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it worn but my sister is away on business and I could not resist showing it.

Enfin, c'était bien plus facile que je ne l'avais imaginé et c'est sûr, je vais en tricoter d'autres, peut-être même un pour moi, qui sait?
Alors, le voilà, désolée de ne pas avoir de photo avec le gilet porté mais ma soeur n'est pas là pour le moment.

I'm finishing my roommate's Abalone, only four rows to go but that body edge is loooong! I am NOT looking forward to the I-cord bind-off on this baby, it's going to take hours...
So instead, I cast on my Henslowe! It was a spur of the moment thing. I did not intend to start a new shawl, especially since my Color Affection is still waiting and far from finished, but... Oh well! I really liked this design by Beth Kling and I had a skein of Malabrigo sock in Abril. It is a beautiful colorway: purple, blue and pink, I am in love with it!

Je suis en train de terminer le modèle Abalone que je tricote pour ma coloc, plus que quatre rangs à faire mais la bordure du corps est trop longue! Et rabattre les mailles en I-cord va me prendre des heures, c'est certain, vu le nombre de mailles que j'ai relevées.
Donc, à la place, j'ai commencé un Henslowe! C'était vraiment sur un coup de tête. Je n'avais pas l'intention de commencer un nouveau châle, surtout que mon Color Affection m'attend encore et qu'il est loin d'être terminé, mais... Tant pis! J'adore ce modèle de Beth Kling et j'avais un écheveau de Malabrigo Sock dans le coloris Abril. La couleur est superbe: du violet, du bleu, du rose, c'était le coup de foudre!

Présentation d'une Amateur Knitter

Hi everyone! Julia, aka Amateur Knitter speaking. For a long time I had a blog in which I mostly wrote about my love of reading and all things Jane Austen and BBC related. It was fun and I discovered things and people I never dreamed I would... After a few years, I realised my interests had shifted, not changed entirely, but I could not find the will to continue. In the meantime, I had discovered knitting and the wonderful world of Ravelry! In the early days, I never quite understood how people could say they were addicted to knitting. To me, it was a nice hobby, sure, but not something I thought I could really become passionate about... Well, needless to say I was wrong!
I've been knitting for 2 or 3 years now. I taught myself for the most part. My grandmother did teach me how to cast on, knit and purl but a stroke left her unable to knit and I had to fumble onwards on my own. I turned to Phildar catalogues for patterns and beginners instructions but after a while it got frustrating. One, their patterns are really unclear and hard to decipher. Two, I don't love their designs...
And then, one day, a few months ago, I discovered the magic of Ravelry and that opened up a endless horizon of possibilities. Hooray for Ravelry I say! I've mainly stuck with accessories, which seemed easier and more accessible to a somewhat beginner like me. But I do love a challenge and I love patterns that teach me new techniques and methods, such as knitting in the round, magic loop, cables (Oh, how I love cables!), and so on... My most recent discovery was grafting with the kitchener stitching method, I learned it this morning.
For my sister's and my roommate's birthdays, I offered to knit them each a sweater and they chose the patterns they loved. For my sister, it was the Twenty Ten cardigan by Veera Valimaki. Needless to say, I am absolutely obsessed with her designs, they embody everything I love about knitting: simple, modern designs. The funny thing, though, was that I was extremely ambitious when offering to knit two sweaters with only one month til the first brithday, and both birthdays being ten days apart. Thank god my roommate chose the Abalone pattern by Beata Jezek, easy and simple, plus it's a quick knit, so I might finish it in time! All of this meant that I have been knitting like a crazy woman for the last few weeks and I'm looking forward to finally knitting something for myself. You see, I have the unnerving tendency to give away my finished projects to people when I fully intended to keep them for myself.
Anyhow, I have just completed my very first sweater and I couldn't be prouder. I don't think I ever really intended to manage it, and I was stunned to do it in about three weeks! My sister's Twenty Ten is blocking as I type, drying away on the balcony in the breeze of a warm Paris evening.
I followed religiously all of Veera's instructions. Her patterns are so well-written, so clear and almost effortless to knit. Just do everything she says and you're golden! I love the diagonal buttonband, the high collar, the short sleeves and warm body of this cardigan. I don't think I would have chosen it for myself, but it suits my sister perfectly. No blocking necessary as it was already the right size, so I just laid it flat and hoped for the best. It seems to have grown in size somewhat though, which worries me, but I'll just have to wait and see how it ends up once it's completely dry. I'm really new to blocking by the way, and I don't enjoy it one bit...
So I hope this blog turns out well and that I will persevere in keeping it afloat and fed regularly. I might also embark on other topics but we'll see about that later! It's a work in progress!