Unusually for me, I've decided to make myself a jumper, which will be the first time in probably 7 or 8 years, if not longer. This is because I don't like knitting for myself, I never look as gorgeous as the amount of effort put in might warrant and as I'm on the larger side, the amount of knitting is immense. However, this particular pattern, Weston Rose by Thea Coleman caught my eye and so I'm having a go.
I chose to use The Fibre Co's Lore because it was DK and I had a pack left over from when we stocked it. We no longer do so, because you didn't seem to like it and never bought it, but let's not get sour about that. Anyway, to be honest, this is the first time I've used it and it really is very nice. I even wondered whether I should stock it again, but then got a hold of myself. The contrast is Wollmeise DK, chosen because they have lovely colours and I just love it. I knit these cowls La vie est belle (Dieppe) by Isabell Kraemer in it. If you are a friend of mine of a certain age with a big birthday looming, don't look at this link - it will spoil the surprise.
Anyway, the patterned bit is created using mosaic knitting. I am familiar with this as I bought the Mosaic Knitting book by Barbara G Walker, which we stock and tried it out. It's great and I would really encourage you to have a go. It's what I call lazy knitting as you repeat two rows with lots of slipped stitches. Very, very simple.
It reminds me of being at infant school and our craft lessons. You had to work through a series of projects one of which was a half cross stitch pincushion, a bookmark in full cross stitch and then a knitted dishcloth in that awful beige cotton. I really didn't like using this and my friend, Caroline finished hers and progressed on to making a felt horse. Oh, how I wanted to make a felt horse. Hers was blue with a yellow mane and I loved it. So, in order to speed things up I hit upon the idea of moving the stitches from one needle to another and not winding the yarn around. Surprisingly it didn't work and sadly I never got to make the horse, but I am now well set up for mosaic knitting. The irony of this story is that I have thought about that wretched horse ever since and mentioned it to Caroline not very long ago. Not only had she completely forgotten she had made the thing, she had been completely unaware of the very big grudge I'd held for the past 50+ years. She's fully aware now though.
Moving this on, all the other mosaic knitting I have done has been on shawls knitted back and forth. This is what it looks like in garter stitch
Basically, you knit with the main colour, which normally changes every two rows, and slip the stitches of the contrast. This is then repeated on the second row. When knitting back and forth, you need to ensure that your yarn is held to the back of the work so that the slipped stitches are 'clean' at the front. However, if you make a mistake with that, it's easily changed on the next row. It looks really attractive and the Barbara Walker book has loads and loads of patterns to try. This is two shades of De Rerum Natura Ulysse Nuit and Ciel if you're interested.
I hadn't really thought about mosaic knitting in the round and when I started was pleasantly surprised that it's even easier as you don't have to worry about holding the yarn at the back when you purl as you don't purl! Also, it doesn't look like garter stitch it looks like stocking stitch and so it's just like Fair Isle, without the effort. Here is a photo of progress so far - it really does look as though it has been knitted 'properly'.
I'm not completely sure the two yarns work perfectly together, possibly the Wollmeise should have been something more woolly, but I liked the colours too much to change it. My only worry now is that it's not going to fit - probably shouldn't eat that KitKat I've got for this afternoon. I will keep you updated with my progress.
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