Gimmerburn

A while back I mentioned some beautiful 4-ply alpaca which I had bought from Doe Arnot. After much deliberation I made this from it:

(Yes, that is a knife in my pocket.) It's the softest, most comfortable warm jumper I have. I love it. It's like being able to wear really snuggly pyjamas all day. I made it loose because the alpaca is so fine and wants to drape itself around. Secretly, sometimes I'd rather not be wearing a figure hugging sweater. Some days I prefer to flollop a bit.

The design gives a nod to the Tudor era with cuffs and edgings in very fluffy angora so it is a bit like fur. I thought of how nice it would have been for the Tudor ladies to be able to wear knitted clothes instead of being laced into boned bodices. I can feel for them now because from time to time I play in a concert with a recorder consort and we dress for the occasion.

It's a great relief to shed all those kilos of fabric and boning afterwards.

How much easier to play the music dressed like this, though without the sunglasses of course:

Also, I thought about the fate of Anne Boleyn and worked the King Charles brocade pattern into the main body of the jumper because if you're going to come to a sticky end it might as well be in something comfy.

Tam Update - A Starry Tale

Yesterday someone asked me if I'd been knitting any more tams. Well, yes . . .

The pile is getting rather ridiculous now. Perhaps I should sell some somewhere, somehow. My trouble is that I make each one different even if I use the same design, so they take time and the wool is not cheap. The price would have to be more than anyone is prepared to pay so in the end I give them away.

I found some lovely 8-ply alpaca in Doe Arnot and Flagstaff Alpacas range. They had a lot of marled wool in different shades and I thought I'd see how it looked knitted up in Fair Isle tams. I also tried using variegated colours which gave an impressionist look to the tams.

Here are some examples:

This one is Meadow Flowers. The odd thing about this tam is that the flowers only become noticeable when the tam is being worn.












Here is the same tam in different colours:

Quite different, isn't it?

Here are two more marled tams -  Butterfly and Star (using some Gimmerburn), and Tall Ships

and Hearts and Flowers

This is Gold Star in two colour combinations:

There are a couple more, using the Renaissance Dyeing 4-ply Poll Dorset. I'll give you a preview and I'll be writing up the patterns for them soon.

Heavenly -

and Icelandic Trees.


Hope you like them.