Forays into fairisle

This is my first attempt at Fair Isle, or stranded colourwork as it is officially known… Gotta love free patterns and this is no exception.

Thanks to DROPS, this pattern was a doddle to do, though it would have helped if I’d had rather more of the main colour to start with… Let’s play the ‘Guess where I ran out of yarn and found the original dyelot was nowhere to be found and the only available dyelot was a different shade altogether so we’re not going to panic’ game…

It’s all acrylic stash – Robin and Stylecraft, and it was made in an age 5/6 as I had no faith in my ability to do it/finish it/like it and thought I’d give myself a fighting chance to not waste expensive yarn, and also give me time to put it into hibernation if needed. To the Boy’s horror, though, it turned into an utterly addictive project and the fair isle yoke was done in less than a week. The only pause was required to try (and fail) to source more Robin (oh the shame) and then give up and finish off the hem and cuffs in Stylecraft.

Gotta love the trend in girls’ clothes to go from dress to tunic to jumper/top which means that the ladies get to wear such things for so much longer than boys. Hoorah for pounds per wear, definitely! Though I’m sure Matilda will blame me in future for forcing her into far-too-big/small/long/short clothes before she could have a say in her wardrobe. Ho hum.

On an aside, this lovely number is made from handpainted yarn from Tangled Creations and knit in the round with the gorgeous Violet Dress pattern to be found for free here.* The hem was misbehaving slightly when it was first made and my boredom at the endless stocking stitch revealed itself in a too-short skirt, so I resumed the rounds with crochet with great success.

*(more coming from Tangled Creations shortly… watch this space…)