West Yorkshire Spinners

I’ve wanted to try a top down sweater for AGES but never found the right pattern or had the right needles etc.

But now the excuses are over!

I bought my first pattern from Ravelry (after years of only looking at the freebies!) from Jennifer Steingass. I’m doing the Dreyma Sweater in brown and cream.

And what’s more it’s my first garment in natural fibres which haven’t been dyed.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners in an aran weight. I chose a dark brown and a nice cream in their Jacob Aran range. It’s 100% British wool and as far as I know it hasn’t been dyed.

You can get it here from The Knitting Network if you want, I love the feel of it. As someone who usually knits with acrylic, it’s nice to try something a little different!

I had to buy a few sets of needles as my local yarn shops only do 80cm circulars…I mean, there are so many other sizes we need! Don’t people ask for the 40cm, 60cm or 100cm ones?!!!

I found some Addi circular ones from Wool Warehouse online, they’re a bit more expensive than the ones I’ve been used to, but OMG they feel so much better to knit with!

I’ve done the collar so far, did that in an afternoon and then realised that going from 40cm to 80cm was too much so ordered a 60cm circular needle and we’ll see how that goes. It just came in the post today from Wool Warehouse, so they have super fast shipping for a regular shipping fee.

I don’t knit in the round much so I’m sure it’ll be fiddly until I increase a few more stitches for the yoke when I can use bigger needles.

I’m loving it so far though!

Here’s what it looks like at the moment:

I’m onto the first round of the yoke except I’ve done it wrong and will have to unpick the white stitches.

I’m kind of stuck with the ‘No Stitch’ squares on the colour work pattern. I don’t understand how to actually go about doing a no stitch!! That sounds ridiculous but do I slip stitches or what? I’ve sen instructions online that tell you to ignore the stitches and just stitch what you get told too…but then the yarn must stretch over the stitches that haven’t been stitched?

Where is that emoji with the head exploding? My mind isn’t blown out of awe it’s being blown at how simple yet confusing this is for me. Never mind, I’ll figure it out.

I’m still loving having something in the round to work on even if there are a few awkward bits.

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I’ve made a lot of bread the past 2 years, but since December 2020 I’ve hardly made any. Until today.

It’s a cottage loaf recipe (using butter instead of oils) and I added a mix of seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, linseed etc to the white flour.

I had to use up the flour by next month so it was good to get back into it again, even if I was a little slow getting all the bowls and ingredients out!

Did you know it was Lammas/ Lughnasadh this weekend just gone?

I’m not a Pagan at all, but the Wheel of the Year (all the Pagan celebrations like Spring and Autumn Equinox, Samhain (Halloween), Yule, Imbolg…) does make a certain sort of sense to me.

Lammas is a time to celebrate the harvest coming in, people make corn/wheat dollies, bake bread, have feasts, preserve food, have bonfires…

So, here is my Lammas (short for Loaf Mass) bread complete with plait and everything!

I like the feel of late summer when the fields start to turn from green to gold. I’ve heard the farmers in the nearby fields getting the harvest in for the last couple of weeks or so.

And really, I just wanted to make a loaf of bread!

I had some seeds leftover, so instead of finding them a plastic bag or somewhere to put them and forgetting to use them, I just threw them to the birds and filled up the bird bath with water, so the birds can have a mini Lammas feast too!

I saw about 15 House Sparrows in the garden after I did that. They’re very sweet birds -some even nested in our roof this year. They’ve stopped cheeping now, so I think they’ve all left the nest!

Here’s a pic of the finished loaf.

I’ve struggled with making crispy loaves and I think I know the secret now…put a bowl of hot water under it when it’s cooking so the oven gets all steamy.

The smell of fresh bread has gone through the whole house now…Yum!

(Can you believe the plait looked perfect before it was baked…now it looks wonky!).

As well as getting a few jobs done today like shredding papers, tidying up etc. I also did a spot of knitting. This is where I am on my orange jumper:

I’ve done just over the first pattern repeat. You can’t see it properly I don’t think, but there are 2 bits of stocking stitch on each end, 2 cable and lace panels and then a section of stocking stitch in the middle.

It’s a beginner friendly pattern and it was in one of those knitting magazine books where it’s just patterns and they take patterns you’ve seen in other magazines a few times before, but bring it into one place. Does that make sense?!!

Like a more expensive and thicker version of a knitting magazine, by the same editors and publishers, just no articles and very few ads.

I know what I mean! It’s from a few years ago, and I did the back last year, about this time actually, so it feels a bit like deja vu!

I’m on the front now and then sew it together, do some short sleeves and neckline once it’s sewn up and then it’s done. Hopefully I can finish it this year…I started the rib of the back piece in 2018 I believe, then put it away for ages before picking it up again last year.

I love it still, but I’m sick of seeing it on my needles. I want to wear it!

The yarn was really cheap, less than £2 I think, it’s King Cole Big Value Double Knitting in Shade 3029 Rust.

The pattern was by Pat Menchini, I can’t see a name for it. There is an optional cowl to go with it, but I’m just doing the jumper!

Yes, the rib at the bottom is HUGE!

Sometimes I can have a real go at it and get a whole pattern repeat done in one go (that’s 24 rows) and other times I lucky if I manage 2 rows!

But I love the pattern on the cable panels on each side.

And look what came in the post today from Deramores…my Christmas sock yarn!

I only got one ball…I’ve only ever made 1 sock in my life (that’s not 1 pair…I mean 1 sock!) and I guess I had half a ball left for the other one. Hopefully I have enough to make a pair out of one ball…although I have some orange sock yarn to use for the heels or toes if not.

If you want to have a look for yourself, I’ll pop an affiliate link here (for The Knitting Network). There are other lovely Christmas colour ways in this range too. I really like the Fairy Lights colour too…

Now all I need is an easy beginner sock pattern…and the patience of a Saint since it took me 3 weeks to make my first ever sock a few years ago (no wonder I only made one!!). Hahaha!

Also, on a completely unrelated topic…look at that sunset last night – it’s on my iPhone which just doesn’t do the sky justice at all!

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