All's Wool That Ends Well

There's a danger when you share what you make on the World Wide Web that all appears well all of the time. Whether it's a blog like this or a vlog, or a post or a reel, the fact is that not every craft endeavour goes to plan. Two recent hand knit sweaters of mine stalled along the way and nearly ended badly.

They started, though, with some very happy purchasing. I met Marguerite of Westfield Croft at my local monthly makers market and snagged a ball of the scrumptiously soft wool she'd sourced from a local rare breed flock. So gorgeous that I photographed it immediately in my car!

When we met again at the Wool at Portsoy event some months later, she told me she had only two balls of that same yarn left - and there would be no more. The fleeces of shearling (first clip) pedigree Blue Faced Leicester sheep were collected from the Hardhaugh Blues flock, near Dufftown, then hand spun to create gorgeous yarn for hand knitting. In its undyed state it's creamy and extremely soft and bouncy.

I immediately snapped up these precious bundles so I had enough wool to knit a garment.

My Wool at Portsoy haul included my purchase from Marguerite as well as four skeins from Julie at Black Isle Yarns. Julie very kindly gifted me a voucher after I crocheted this jumper for her as a stall sample and I chose to exchange my voucher for her naturally dyed Shetland heavy 4 ply in delicate pink tones. Julie also sources fleece from flocks local to her. More on that beautiful wool later.

I searched for a pattern that would use the three precious balls of BFL from Westfield Croft. With limited yardage I opted for short sleeves.

The Rainbow Candy Summer Top by Silvia Heidinger fitted the bill. It's pictured above peeking out from behind my circular yoke. Knitted up, the undyed Westfield Croft wool has a slight halo adding to its buttery softness. I tried several striping options but thought the primary colours might make make me look like a toddler! I didn't like the gauge of the textured version and settled instead for pastel stripes of mohair silk from my stash held together with a strand of natural alpaca.

But I could not get the yoke stitch count to work. The pattern doesn't give a lot of guidance as you go along so my first version had the correct final circumference with the wrong proportions for the sleeves, back and front. I ripped it all out. A second attempt (after I made myself a row count check list) was better, but not perfect. Feeling a bit exasperated with myself, it was time to put this project aside.

And immediately cast on something else!

I knew I wanted a pattern without too much stitch detail to show off my Black Isle Yarn. Julie only uses natural dyes such as the lac and hibiscus used in the Culloden colourway I'd chosen. It's quite delicate and I didn't want the beauty of her colours to be lost in a busy stitch pattern. I remembered seeing a sample sweater at my local yarn store, Baa! in Stonehaven, with a pretty yoke and elegant stocking stitch body, sleeves and garter stitch trim. The knitting pattern is called Heron Island by Beatrice Perron Dahlen and it seemed the right choice for such special wool.

I enjoyed knitting the patterned yoke and got to the straightforward body section before my summer holidays so I could knit away without having to keep referring to the pattern.

Here I am knitting on the Arran ferry.

Only once I was home did I see the variation in shades between the yoke and body. Hand dyed yarn produces varied results and no two skeins are the same. This is one of the joys of working with wool coloured by yarn artists like Julie and the way to mitigate noticeable variations is to alternate skeins. For non knitters this means knitting with two balls at once, one row from one ball and the following row with the other, meaning any colour difference is less marked. I know this. Did I do this? No, I did not. Well, not for the first skein anyway.

I must stress at this point that this is not a fault in the yarn or the fault of the yarn dyer. In fact it's not a fault at all. Each hand dyed skein of yarn will vary even when dyed in the same batch. As I've said, this is one of the pleasures of working with a unique product.

For my sweater, though, I would need to rip it all back to the beginning and alternate skeins from the get go. I needed to think about this so I put my Heron Island sweater to one side feeling slightly annoyed with myself again.

And immediately cast on something else.

Variegated merino from Ripples Crafts teamed with teal mohair silk from Cookston Crafts

With two sweaters hibernating, I was in need of a quick win so I cast on a shawl I've knitted many times before, knowing I'd be guaranteed a successful outcome. This is the Winter Wander Shawl by Helen Stewart which features rhythmic garter stitch, a lacy section of mohair silk and a pretty picot cast off. I like to wear it bandana style.

Do you see the beady eye overseeing my knitting in the picture on the left? That's the Emotional Support Chicken made for me by my lovely friend, Alison, from her very own hand-spun yarn. I'd shared my knitting woes during our weekly Knit Night sessions and Alison thought this might help!

I'm not sure if Spangle the kitten is an emotional support but he often lounges on my lap in the evening whilst I'm knitting and (mostly) leaves it alone!

So you can see, I picked up the short sleeved top once more. Concentrated more. Loved the wool even more and finally made it to the end of the yoke with the correct number of stitches. Hooray!

The rest of the knitting was plain sailing.

And my pastel version of the Rainbow Candy Summer Top was finished. The Westfield Croft wool is soft and light and ever so cosy! The variable climate I live in means this will be worn year round and not just in summer.

Time away from a project gives clarity and realisation.

I realised that the effect I'd inadvertently created in my Heron Island sweater was like a deliberate fade. By knitting the yoke with the lightest skein then alternating two slightly darker ones I'd achieved a fade effect. This is something knitters strive for when they create a garment from multiple skeins ranging from light to dark. All I had to do to continue the effect in my sweater was to knit the lower body with the darker ball of wool until I reached the hem and complete the fade. So that's what I did.

But actually when I'm wearing my jumper, I'm much less aware of the differences in the shades and I think it looks perfect. I am SO glad I didn't rip it all out!