A Finished Garment (Well Nearly)!

I have been sitting at the window shown in this picture, glancing at the town of Darlington while I knit. The urge to make a new garment came over me last Thursday and I searched the internet patterns and fell in love with "Montparnasse" by Berocco in their favourite free patterns section and then on Friday I headed off into town to find Becky at her stall at the craft market.

She had some fabulous wool from Wensleydale Longwool SheepShop.



I wanted it in the grey but there were only a couple of balls available so I headed off to visit the shop near Leyburn in North Yorkshire to get some.

You know what it's like when you want to start on something right away.

Luckily I found the place and they had a gorgeous dark grey called "Storm". It took half an hour to get there and an hour and a half to get home because school was out in Richmond (I did a little detour) and everyone in North Yorkshire seems to go to school in Richmond.

But at last I got back home with quite a few knitting hours left in the day and sat down and cast on. A couple of glitches.....My tension was up the spout and I had to start again after a few inches.....I was short by one ball of wool because I knitted it longer, but I phoned them and the shop had one to me the next day.....The armholes were too tight but instead of undoing the sleeves and re-knitting them, I knitted a gusset for each oxter.

There it is in the picture waiting for me to pick up and knit about 220 stitches around the opening. I managed to get some kilt pins and a circular needle in town. I love Darlington. It sells everything I want, on the doorstep.

With luck and a neat stitch pick-up I will be able to finish it in time to wear it next week on my holiday to the Highlands of Scotland. Highlands, Loch Ness, Skye and John O'Groats.


I would have finished it sooner but my waterclour painting lessons have taken up some time too. We've done a lot of trees, foliage and bark and some attempts at water. They look good from a distance!

The holiday is a bus tour so I shall take a couple of socks to finish to complete a couple of pairs as well as a sudoku book, a couple of paperbacks and a big map of the Highlands so that I can map-read all the way and keep a track of where we are going. I cannot travel without a map.

More news on my return.
Cheers Gillian