More Louisa Harding love

Last off my needles is Louisa Harding's Reef from Ondine. Knitted in Adorn Yarn's Cotton Cashmere DK. This is an easy knit with minimal sewing up as you knit up from the underarm on one circular needle. I did quite a lot of adjustment to the fit, to make it a bit longer and to account for my broad shoulders. I have been calling it my high-vis jumper, and it is a really hard colour to photograph, but it's nice to have something fun and bright to wear on dull days!

I started these ages ago when we went away for the weekend, rashly casting on four garments at once, and now I've finished them all. Previously I finished Breaker, also from Ondine and also knit in Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK, but I struggled to fin the right buttons. Again I lengthened the body and the sleeves as well as making it broader across the shoulders.

I've just cast on Louisa Harding's Tea Cup from Queen of Hearts, using Filatura di Crosa Golden Line Superior which is a bit of a splurge, but it was on sale at Clegs. Knit with a double strand is making it progress quickly, helping me catch up a bit with my aim of finishing 12 adult garments by the end of the year. Six down; six to go!

I've also got to cast on Michael's birthday jumper (due in 13 days...well maybe not). I'm going to make him Erika Knight's Deep V Sweater from her Classic Knits: 15 Timeless Designs to Knit and Keep Forever, making a few adaptions for the male torso. He's chosen the same Antique Red as the ribbing in my Reef, so we won't be able to wear them at the same time, that would be way too matcy-matchy.

Oh, and yes, I do own a sewing machine and I do buy material all the time (especially in remnant sales), but somehow I'm just not getting anything done...

Am I insane?

Most probably, yes. I've signed up to IntSweMoDo 2011 (International Sweater-a-Month Dodecathon) in June with only one finished object for the year under my belt. Here are the next two, with two more well underway and plans for five more which takes me up to 10 for the year...yeeks!

First is the most recently finished, an easy knit from Louisa Harding's Blue Monday, the Tuesday tunic. Knitted in Adorn Yarns Silky Merino DK, colour Ash. I'm hoping this tunic will help me combat our rather bleak winter weather.

Again, for those of you who care...these are my first images with my new point and shoot camera the Fujipix x100. Set on raw (and having to use Adobe's DNG converter which is very annoying) and Velvia simulated saturation for a bit of film nostalgia. The lens is super, but it is quite clunky and slow just as this review says, so I for one am hanging out for a firmware update.

The other is Mandarin from Louisa Harding's Chinoiserie. This was a much slower knit...mainly because of the colour work on the cuffs and peplum. The rest was plain sailing and I used Adorn Yarns Cotton Cashmere DK, knitted a bit tighter on 3mm needles instead of the recommended 4mm on the ball band (as a loose knitter I always go down a size and for cotton I need to go down two sizes). I was a little worried that it may create too firm a fabric that would go stiff on washing, but it's just fine.

I wish my sewing was progressing as smoothly...