Marguerite loves Sophia

Introducing Marguerite, worked in a single skein of the delectable Sophia 2ply. So simple to knit and yet so effective.

I made a prototype of this shawl about a year ago and promptly forgot about it, until I heard whisperings on the Posh Yarn group about Sophia, aka the yarn of yarns. Made from 100% cashmere, it’s heavier than your average laceweight, with body and loftiness to it. I coveted this yarn. I wanted some for myself. I just had to try it.

I splashed out and bought a small skein, which weighs in at 55g (1.9oz) and 366m/400yds. But what to do with it? I remembered Marguerite and thought, for Sophia's sake, it was worth my while starting again from scratch.

It was a really windy day when we took the photos - I could barely get the shawl to stay still. My husband laughed at me from behind the camera (so what's new?). He said it looked like I would take off any minute. I replied that it wouldn't surprise me all that much if I did.

Since the shawl uses the daisy stitch pattern, this one is named for my newest niece, Daisy, who is herself named for my grandmother Marguerite.
 
Marguerite is available as a Ravelry pattern download.

Revisiting Nantucket

I have to confess I didn't do a very good job of sewing up my Nantucket jacket. After suffering the disappointment of my perfect-fitting garment growing in all manner of directions when I washed it, my cardigan then literally came apart at the seams. Being me, I let it languish it my sweater drawer for the rest of the winter. We're talking Winter 2009 here.

Then all of a sudden, a year or so later, I got this urge to fix it. Maybe it's because I heard the weather reports that predicted snow this week. Either way, out came the needle and thread at the most inconvenient hour - about 10 minutes before I was due to leave the house. Undeterred, I forged on ahead, deciding it wouldn't matter if I were late (I usually am anyway), and sewed up the offending seams. The holes were actually much smaller than I remembered, which only serves to emphasise my ability to procastinate about such chores.

When I had finished, I put the jacket on and couldn't help but notice this:



Wonky sleeve

and this:



Another wonky sleeve

It drove me just a little nutty. I was thinking about it all day. Buoyed by my recent spurt of domestic activity, I made a plan to fix it. So, I dug out from my stash the lone ball of leftover wool from when I knitted the cardigan and weighed it. It was 35g (1.2oz) so not a great deal to play with, but probably enough to extend those irksome sleeves. Chances of getting more in the same dyelot - zero, zilch, nada, nothing - I didn't even buy it locally.

I picked up around the edge and worked as many moss stitch rows downwards as I dared, bearing in mind I had to work two sleeves.

I chose moss stitch so that it would coordinate with the panels around the waist and the collar. Some hours later and after much wrestling with a 30cm circular needle, here is the finished article - not so shabby eh?



Overall I think this actually makes the jacket more balanced and possibly even a bit warmer. I expect it'll get a lot more use this winter, that is as long as the seams stay put.