FO: Hitofude

So far, November has been cold and grey and damp (no surprise there, it is November after all). But this afternoon the sun came peeking out, so Mom and I took the opportunity to get some shots of Hitofude. She has some lovely walking trails nice and close to her house, so we leashed up Ladydog and headed out. It was chilly, but not so bad that I couldn't take my coat off for a few pics here and there.

So here she is  - and I'm pretty darn pleased with her. She took just over a month to knit (Oct 3 - Nov 5) and most of that was just weekend knitting - though I did get monogamous with her near the end.

She's knit in Desert Cat - a 50/50 blend of silk and baby camel. I ended up using just two full skeins (870 yards) though I did cut my size by a couple repeats - one in the sleeves (I prefer a snug sleeve) and one in the body to account for my short torso.

The colourway is "Dormouse". It's looking quite grey in these picutres, but in different light, it has a more brownish cast. It's what my old art teacher would have called a "French Grey" - a nice warm neutral that goes with pretty much everything.

The pattern is well written and easy-to-follow, despite it's unique construction. There are more than 2,200 Hitofudes on Ravelry and the pattern only came out last year!

Mine doesn't have as much swing as the original, and I'm guessing that's because of the weird number of stitches I ended up with after seaming the sleeves. But I don't mind; it fits perfectly in the shoulders (a common problem area for me) and I really didn't want to have to rip and reknit the sleeves, so I will live with a little less swing.

All in all, it was an enjoyable knit and resulting in a beautiful, lightweight, wearable garment. The yarn is soft and warm (with no itch!). I forsee her getting a lot of wear and the colour makes it compatible with so much in my closet. You may see me knit another one of these one day - I think it would look lovely in a deep wine red.

And are you ready for some fabulous news? I thought this was the last of the Desert Cat, as our supplier never seemed to have the base in stock. But I emailed her and it turns out that it's now only available by special order, so it won't show up in regular stock. Whenever we want it, we just have to let her know and in a few months, it will be on it's way to us. So that's just what we did - it should be in by the end of the year and I couldn't be happier! It really is my most favourite base.