Another FO, and a surprise

Pattern: Licorice Whip
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Organic dyed cotton, shade Stone
Amount used: Just under 400g
Needles: Addi Turbos 5.5mm 40cm & 60cm. Also 60cm 60mm for the edging of the body
Size: XXS
Started: 04/08/06
Finished: 18/08/06

The pattern
As you can see I didn’t knit the pattern as written. I wasn’t sure about the lace pattern on the sleeves, or doing yarn overs for the raglan increases, so I omitted the sleeve lace and increased along the raglans using the usual kfb.

I shortened the body from 16” from underarms to 14”. The pattern for the sleeves has you decreasing from 42 stitches to 28 stitches. At a gauge of 14 sts per inch, and even allowing for the fact that the lace pattern would have widened the sleeve somewhat, it seemed to me that following the pattern was going to result in a very narrow sleeve! So I only did 2 sets of decreases, knitting straight after decreasing to 38 stitches.

Apart from this, the pattern is extremely well written and easy to follow, and I would definitely knit it again. Being top down, there is no seaming to do, and the more I knit in the round the more I hate the thought of knitting a large garment flat.

The yarn
What can I say? This yarn is buttery soft. I never would have imagined a cotton yarn could be so soft, and so lovely to knit with. You get great yardage, and it’s not an expensive yarn (I paid £5.95 per 100g skein). Stitch definition is great. This yarn would work really well with a cable pattern. The only downside is that, due largely to its softness, I fear it will not be very hardwearing and may well pill. Nevertheless, I love the finished result.

Now, on to the surprise. Postie delivered this the other day














A gift from Carolyn. It’s an absolutely fascinating little booklet. Written in 1769 by John Wily who, I think, was some kind of government official in the “colony” of Virginia at the time. Not only is it a wonderful essay on producing wool, it’s also a fabulous insight into the thinking of the time:

“I must therefore beg leave to inform the public that I was some years concerned in a woollen manufactory, which thoroughly convinced me a large sum of money might be saved in this colony annually by manufacturing the wool that is raised differently from the usual method (spinning it up into coarse cloth for the Negroes) which I look upon to be next to throwing it away.”

Thank you so much Carolyn, it was a wonderful surprise!