In case you hadn't heard...

Ugh, the weather in Melbourne has turned dramatically.  Gone are my beautiful warm Autumn winds and sunshiny days, and in their place is the bitter cold that is usually attributed to deep Winter here in Melbourne.  

As a result, I'm definitely feeling the need to start knitting sweaters.  The annual planning has begun with a vengeance, and I can't wait to get started on my 2015 collection of garments.

I'm trying to live a bit lighter as a general practise at the moment, and this correlates to my knitting by the aim of working through some more beautiful stashed yarns, so I initiated my search on Ravelry based on the yarns on hand and started tagging them with "winter2015".  I narrowed it down to these six, and after much (oh so much!) deliberation, I have settled on starting with Daelyn (bottom LH corner) - a simple relaxed pullover with some lovely textural detailing.

Blank Canvas, Ysolda Teague; Ommegang, Thea Colman; Airbrean, Isabell Kraemer; Daelyn, Isabell Kraemer;  Mailin, Isabell Kraemer; Portage, Melissa Schaschwary

This lovey Berroco Ultra Alpaca in the "Lobster Mix" colourway, which is a rich plummy-brown heathered colour, is a great pairing for this pattern, and so far it's knitting up so beautifully.

Warnings of the stretch of this yarn I have heeded, and will be knitting it at a slightly tighter gauge than required. This works well however, as I am kind of between sizes so I'll knit the larger size and tweak to fit as required.  It's designed to be worn with positive ease and I'm basing the measurements off my Beeline which is a great fit and similar style.

The yarn is already proving to be as delightful as I had hoped, with all those tones coming together to form a beautiful, complex heathered colour that chameleons with every change of light and angle.   The texture and knitted hand of the wool/alpaca blend is equally satisfactory to the tactile senses.   Can you tell I'm a bit enamoured by this project?

I'd love to be monogamous on this one but unfortunately the dark yarn is a bit difficult to work on at night, and it's too big to transport on the train with me each day so I'll do a few rows each morning before I leave, and dedicate my weekends to it. 

To fill the gaps I've got some more socks on the go (I know, you're shocked right?!).   These are for my Mum, who has a birthday coming up at the end of May.  Originally I thought I'd give them to her for Mother's Day then we all decided that we wouldn't do gifts this year, just nice cards and a lunch, so I will now keep working along and be well prepared for her birthday instead.

I'm using some Colinette Jitterbug in "Caramel" that I picked up when Sarah Durrant closed up shop last year.  I'm a big fan of Jitterbug, both as a yarn base and for the colourways.  It isn't everyone's cup of tea, mainly due to the absence of nylon for durability, but I've never had an issue with the wear of this high-twist pure wool yarn and I do find it keeps toes nice and warm.  This is one of my own basic sock patterns, a simple waffle rib that forms a nice snug fit on the foot so I hope Mum likes them!

Another sock yarn favourite of mine is Regia, and the recent limited edition Arne & Carlos collection they've released has been high on my radar, especially these two colourways.

Summer Night #3657

Fall Night #3655

After a little initial trouble finding it in stock my order finally arrived  today, and as soon as I finish Mum's socks I'm planning to knit these toe-up and use up every last scrap of yarn, so they will probably be close to knee-hi stockings. Which, of course, will work perfectly with the faux fair-isle, Scando theme they've got going on.  They look quite similar in these photos, but in reality they are very different.  The Fall Night is quite dark overall, with bright orange pops and the Summer Night is very teal blue, cream and coral.  

So there you go.  Soon to be toasty from top to toe in preparation for Winter.  Because it's coming.  In case you hadn't heard.