I’m doubling up some odd purple skeins with the Cygnet fingering to get the right weight. One skein is ECY BFL, the other Posh Yarn, ?I think Betsy Sock.

I had hoped that the 2 slightly different purple shades would show up as contrasting sections, in the way that the pattern uses the MC and CC. However, the difference between my two yarn colours is really a bit too subtle! There is a difference but it’s not in-your-face noticeable. Funnily enough, what I hadn’t expected when I was knitting was that there would be quite a marked difference in the look of the garter fabric and the stocking stitch fabric using the doubled cream/purple strands. It’s interesting coming across these little quirks - speaking as a knit-nerd, that is.

Mods: unlike some other knitters, I really like the garter body contrasting with the stocking stitch sleeves. Looking at the pattern though, I felt the sleeve decreases looked a bit too extreme, so I worked half as many decrease rows, knitting them at 1.5” intervals.

Also I worked the shoulder seams as 3-needle bind offs, picked up for the collar from live sts at the back, and slipped the 1st stitch of every row on the front edges.

Pattern: fairly straightforward, though I felt there were a couple of minor errata here and there in st counts. There was no mention of seaming/grafting the shoulders. Not really complaining: a free pattern after all.

I mostly got this knitted up at our seaside caravan in Yorkshire: it only took a few days in between reading, beach-walking and generally chillin’. Lovely photos of Orla taken by my DIL last weekend at the caravan where, luckily, there was a bit of sunshine between the rain…

sweater #8, 2016