Seasonal knitting

Looks like the weather got the memo about it being September. It's turned pretty wild, wet, and woolly outside - I barely dodged one huge rain shower catching the train to the Sticks and String group in Reading last night. It's been ages since I visited and it was really nice to see Ruth, Judith, Gabrielle, Mark, and of course the lovely Felix (who gave me yarn!).

What with the weather being on the chilly side by the time I left it was good that I'd just started working on the warmest little baby cardigan so at least my fingers were cosy whilst waiting for trains and buses.

It's another Sheep Yoke Baby Cardigan by Jen Little which I'm knitting as a 2nd birthday commission for one of Laurie's little friends (whose mum happens to be one of my sister's big friends).



The yarn is Blue Faced Leicester worsted spun DK from the Yorkshire based British Breeds Yarns. Their DK and aran weight yarns come in a range of 20 colours. The colours I chose are Natural (undyed), Denim (blue), Sage (green), Pink Rose, and Sienna (brown - not shown). I hadn't quite finished the swatch yesterday so I took along the green and pink yarn just to show the other knitters and it was lucky that I did. By the time I got home I was onto the SHEEP! I had forgotten how quickly this pattern races along.



Although I'm knitting for a two-year-old I'm currently knitting as per pattern but with a larger gauge. My swatch says that this should leave me (or rather my cardigan) with around a 25" chest which really should be ample but I've always got the option of adding in some extra yoke increases before splitting for the arms if I think it looks a bit on the small size. Apparently Laurie (who is a couple of months younger than the recipient) still just about fits into her 6-9 month sized one so I'm not too worried.

Just a word about British Breeds Yarns. They're a small company based in Yorkshire who sell natural coloured and dyed yarns in DK, aran, and Guernsey weight. Their range of natural coloured yarns includes Herdwick (light and dark grey), Jacob (in cream, grey, and marled), Suffolk Grey, Swaledale, and Blue Faced Leicester. They're not quite fully set up for online ordering by credit card so the payment is made by telephone but once the payment has been confirmed they're very swift to send out orders. My yarn arrived with me the morning after I made the payment! I was really pleased to find a supplier of British breeds wool with such a good colour range as this project (a colourwork commission to be given as a birthday gift for a baby) was my first big challenge in my attempt to knit only in British wool (or from stash) this year.