This week's makes

This week I have two fairly labour intensive knitting projects on the go. I started knitting my Senlis cardigan (on the right of the picture below). It is perfect for TV knitting as it is just stocking stitch and rib - but there is tons of it as it is a long cardigan!

I also started a tension square for a more intricate project - I cast on the Winter Solstice shrug from the latest Knitting magazine. I'm using some red sparkly Kidsilk Night which I have had for ages (it is a discontinued yarn - like Kidsilk haze with built-in sparkle). You can almost see the sparkle in this photo.

As often happens around here, my "tension square" was in fact a sleeve. I'll admit that unless I feel a yarn swatch needs to go through the washing machine, I will often just cast on a sleeve first, particularly if it is a short sleeved garment. Surely a short sleeve is just a larger tension square with a bit of added shaping?

It was slow-going at first and eventually I had to pop to Abakhan to pick up some bamboo needles. I was finding it hard to knit laceweight kid mohair on metals. It's funny because I know some people are the opposite but with slippery yarns like Kidsilk haze I find I need to use bamboo. With the right needles in hand, the fabric grew quickly.