Mason and Helen

In addition to the skirt and vest I finished (as well as two other projects I've yet to photograph because I've been wearing them constantly and they're rather wrinkly), I've made some decent progress on my two current knitting projects. I cast on for these after I finished my Victory Tam; one project for me and one for my husband. The sweater I'm making him I mentioned before, but just as a reminder the pattern is Mason, from the Rowan Vintage Knits book. It's knitted on 10.5s/11s in a bulky yarn and so it's going SUPER quickly (especially for someone used to fingering weight yarn on 2s and 3s)! The only change I will be making is that John wants a simple crew neck instead. The pattern itself is also very simple and therefore easy to work on at night when my brain is fried from spending all day with an 8 month old and trying to keep up with housework and grading. 

The project I've been working on for myself is another quick knit, also because it's done on 10.5s in a very simple pattern. The pattern is Helen, from A Stitch In Time Vol. 2. It's a beautiful little shrug/bed jacket pattern originally from the 1930s. As the pattern states, the original model was knitted in a pretty shell pink, but for my version I am using two shades of blue wool 4 ply. It was some yarn that my mom picked up years ago and never used because the colors weren't really suited to anything she was working on. There wasn't enough of either color for a single project, but combining them in a two row stripe as I've done here there is plenty for this shrug. I really how the colors are turing out. It almost looks like I'm using a variegated yarn. The contrast is very subtle, and goes perfectly with one of my other recent sewing projects (I'll be sharing that soon). I'm about half finished with this. It's about 2 yards long including the ribbed cuffs, and the scads of this two row repeat would be a tad mind numbing if I ever had more than a few minutes to work on it, but with my knitting time being so limited it's the perfect sort of pattern to work on. Hopefully I'll be able to get it finished in the next month or so. I really want to get Mason finished first though, so the mister can wear it before the weather warms up.

Here's a sneak peak of what's up in my sewing queue as well. These are the other three pieces of vintage wool (mostly Pendleton) that I mentioned in my last post. I've already cut a skirt from each (using the same pattern as the skirt in the previous post, each with some minor style alterations), and serged my edges to make assembly easier and faster. Before I can get to sewing on the plaid or the blue I've got to do some moth hole repair (I've only found two holes in the plaid but the blue is full of little pinholes). The fabric is such high quality that I simply can't bear the thought of not trying to salvage it, especially since I got it for free. I figured I can spend a little extra time on it. The camel colored wool seems to be fine, though, so that is probably the one I will put together first. I've got a long list of projects I'm trying to work through, and I really want to finish these skirts so I can allow myself to cut out the stripe for my Hawthorn!

Have a good week everyone!

-Evie