SUMMER OF BASICS.

Yesterday I wrote about the Brooklyn Tweed Lace KAL, but that wasn't the only Make-Along I took part during the summer. I briefly mentioned the Summer of Basics MAL in my previous post, and thought I could share a bit more about it today.

Karen Templer from Fringe Association started a 3-month long Make-Along running from the beginning of June until end of August. The initiative was to knit 3 items for your wardrobe. They could be anything, and done with any technique as long as they fitted your own personal interpretation of "basic" (hence the name, Summer of Basics).

I had great plans about learning to sew and making a shirt and pants (oh how ambitious!), to be paired with a knitted cardigan or a pullover. That never happened. Instead I ended up knitting all three items, of which one is the Selune scarf featured in the previous post.

I didn't really have a clear plan what I was going to make when I started out, but I was quite happy to notice that all the designs I chose in the end were by Julie Hoover. I wasn't surprised though, as I really do think she designs timeless and elegant patterns. Even after finishing these three, I still have more than a couple of her designs in my Ravelry queue.

The other two I knitted were the Cline pullover and the Goode sweater. Both are quite loose fitting and have dolmain sleeves. For Cline I used Rosy Green Wool's Cheeky Merino Joy in shade Black cat, which I bought in Berlin in July. I really like the yarn since it's ecological. I wish the market and selection of ecological yarns was bigger, as I would really only like to buy yarn that has been produced in a sustainable way. I knitted it together black Drops Lace to get the right gauge. The combination of these two yarns resulted in super soft and comfortable sweater that I really love wearing.

I knitted the Goode sweater with cream colored Holst Garn Tides, which is a slightly marled silk-wool blend. It feels a bit coarse agains skin but I'm sure it will soften when it gets a bit more wear. I knitted the bottom part of the sweater in a round instead of flat and in two pieces, because I was lazy. I only separated the back and front when the pattern tells you to start casting on new sts for the sleeves. If I was to knit this pattern again, I would shape the shoulders with short rows and join the front and back together with 3-needle bind off instead of binding off stitches in a sloped manner and the seaming the pieces together. I think that would result in neater shoulder seams...