Enough said
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Monthly Archives: May 2026
Sunshine all around
All of the sudden, summer has arrived. It is absolutely beautiful, with warm skies and soft breezes. And it is a Bank Holiday weekend. After many years in England I had become convinced that it was against the laws of nature (or perhaps just king and country) to have a sunny Bank Holiday weekend. Yet here it is. Three days of relaxing outside with nothing to do but knit, read, knit, barbeque, knit…you get the point. If only one had a summery project on the go to accompany the weather.
Good thing, then, that I have just the thing on my needles. I bought four balls of Knitting for Olive cotton merino in Clover Green while in Helsinki a few weeks ago. The green is so cheerful; just looking at it makes me happy. The pattern is the Silfurberg tee by Joji Locatelli, shown below.
I spent some time trying to find just the perfect pattern for this yarn. I wanted something chic and summery, and also wanted something that had just a bit of a challenge to it. A touch of lace fit the bill. Even then, I overlooked this pattern at first. I think it is because the pattern photo uses a variegated yarn, which is not to my taste. The pattern really pops with this yarn, however, and it is fun to knit.
The yarn is 70% cotton and 30% wool and is a light fingering weight. It has a beautiful hand. I always hold my breath with cotton because you can never really tell how it will behave until you have washed it and worn it a time or two. Cotton has a tendency to lose its shape, and I am hoping that the wool in this will give it a bit of memory. So far, so good.
This long weekend we also have something to celebrate – Emma is here, and it is her birthday! So sunshine all around.
A good red
It started with a good red. I received a newsletter from Loop Knit that they had a new shipment of An Uncommon Thread yarn in both the Uncommon Everyday and the Cloud Fingering. Both yarns were available in the colour called “Debauchery”. How could I resist? I had wanted to make a red vest for a while, and this was a really good red.
Sometimes you have the right pattern and the right yarn, but they aren’t right for each other. I love The Uncommon Thread, and I adore this red to bits; but I made the mistake of thinking the Cloud Fingering could substitute for laceweight, when in fact it knits up as a sportweight. Thus, the light spring vest (Vest No. 2 – Spring Edition by My Favorite Things) became a much denser, warmer vest. Still beautiful, still wearable, but not what I was aiming for. It is, however, done (and I will probably appreciate its warmth on a cold winter day).
I knitted it with the two strands of yarn held together, which gave me a worsted weight gauge. I tried to account for this by knitting a smaller size, but it was clear it was still going to be too large, so I made some adjustments on the fly, and then also added in bust darts. Both of these mods were discussed in my last post.
Given the gauge, this project knitted up super fast. It should have taken two weeks to knit, three at most, but life got in the way. Since I last posted, a month ago, here is what’s been going on (this is the condensed version). I flew to Johannesburg and spent a week teaching a really good group of MBA students. My last day, Saturday, I relaxed by the pool knitting my vest:
Later that evening, just hours after I took the above photo, I became suddenly, violently ill. I will not elaborate but it was VERY not nice. I did not make the plane that day, or the next, or the next. When I finally made it home, I had only days to recover before I had to fly to Helsinki to teach a couple of workshops there. Then I came home and slept for 3 days straight. Only after all that, did the vest finally come off my needles.
I think it is pretty nice, but I really wish I had paid more attention to the yarn weight. It’s not quite the vest I was hoping for. Nevertheless, it’s a damn good red.