Hi everyone, the temperature here in the Midlands has begun to drop a little, and although this hasn't dipped as low as it would usually be at this time of the year (which is maybe another blog post), there's a marked difference in the temperature in comparison to last month.
In October I took my autumn and winter wardrobe out of storage and packed away my summer clothes and knits. All my cotton and cotton mix tops, short sleeves cardigans and lacy knits have been replaced by my fair isle sweaters, longer sleeved cardigans, aran knits, berets and mittens.
In September I designed a new fair isle top which I finished at the end of last month. This is a unisex v neck tank top; with a couple of inches added on at the bottom to make it a longer length (personally I prefer longer length garments rather than the usual shorter, high waisted vintage style, as I find the extra inch or two more flattering for my body shape). Additionally, as this is to be worn over the top of a blouse, the longer length ensures the bottom of the tucked in blouse is covered up; thereby creating a cleaner line to the silhouette. A more modern way to wear this would be to leave the blouse out instead of tucked in, which would create a layered look. This can look super cool and equally flattering, but gives the eye lots to look at, so the eye doesn't skimming over the body so well but is stopped at each layer.
Knitted in the round, and steeked at the armholes and neckline (my first proper attempt at steeking a garment) this piece uses one 25g ball each of the six Shetland colours used; and five 25g balls of the background colour which provides the main colour and the ribbing at the bottom, armholes and v neck edge. I particularly like the v neck ribbing - this took some problem solving to work out so that the shaping sat snug against the body, but I think this looks great. I'm really thrilled with how this top looks and the autumnal colours I chose mean the top works so well with a cream, burgundy, black or green blouse underneath. Stylish and adaptable - what's not to love??!
Not only does this top use a mixture of colours in small amounts, making it ideal for any yarn stash you have, the background colour could also be alternated so there's more options for using yarn stash rather than having to purchase yarn especially to knit this.
This brings me onto the words on everyone's lips - the cost of living crisis. Making ends meet and the general cost of living - including household bills, food shopping, clothing, rent or housing costs has been gradually increasing over the past six months, but has now rocketed over the past few months; resulting in too much month left at the end of the money for lots of people.
If there was ever a time to use up your yarn stash rather than buy new yarn for your next project; I think this is it peeps. I'm not suggesting you should abandon your local yarn shop (besides, who doesn't love to buy for a future project!) and your local yarn shop is great for needles, row counters and all the accessories us knitters love!) but if you have left over yarn from previous knits; there are savvy ways to use this up without having to spend extra cash right now.
In addition to larger fair isle projects, smaller items such as my welsh mitten pattern use just one 25g ball of each colour to make a pair of mittens and all my other accessory garments use one 50g ball, including the cable knitted or open ripple hat; whether knitted as a round crown beret or slouch style beanie. (I'm uploading the open ripple pattern this week, so you'll be able to purchase this directly from my shop or on my Ravelry Anna Graves Designs page from the end of the week). All hat patterns include instructions on knitting both crown berets and slouch beanies, so there's a bonus saving there too!
Until next time, happy knitting!
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