I thought you might be getting bored with “here’s another completed FO (Finished Object)” so here’s a quickie post about what’s on my needles right now…

I have 2 WIPs (Works in Progress) – Gasp! 😮

I know I normally only have one WIP because I like to focus on one thing at a time and steam through it but the Purl Soho Pullover was 7kg at the end and just too heavy and bulky to take on the train! The solution? Cast on a pair of plain commuting socks with some stashed sock yarn….

Easy to shove in my handbag for on the train, in the car and to fill in the gaps between projects – I don’t stress about finishing these and they don’t really count as a WIP because they are my “fillers”…

I’m getting kinda quick at these…

I’m not thrilled with the colour combination of these Sugary Stripe Socks (too much sludgy pinky brown)but they will get worn to death under boots all winter and the Regia Design Line yarn was a bargain from last year’s Ally Pally Knitting and Stitching show so  I can’t complain…

My next WIP is Sooo much more exciting….

It’s the Cyrene Jacket from Purl Alpaca….

This Jacket…

I’d love to be able to pull off that casual elegance…

I’m knitting it in Purl Alpaca’s “medium”in their black colour (which is actually a gorgeous very dark brown) – it’s the colour that’s come off the alpaca as they don’t dye the fleeces and it happens to be the same colour as Kitty which makes it hard to see what I’m doing when Kitty wants to sleep on my lap…

This is how far I have gotten and it may look strange (the actual colour is richer and darker than this but I had to lighten the photo so you didn’t just see a black blob – like photos of Kitty!!)…

Hmmm.. Looks like a loo seat cover….

The construction is very unusual and is one of the things that attracted me to this pattern….

…the fronts and back are knitted in one piece from the out side in – I’ll explain…

See this schematic?

Now to explain the oddness…

First you cast on all the edge stitches for the button bands and the hem and decrease at the “corners” – see the bit around the edge?

Then you short row shape a gentle curve across the lower back edge……

Then you knit the back and fronts on to of that gentle curve, including stitches from the button bands as you go…. (I’ve just started this part)

This is all new to me and I can’t put it down 🙂

The pattern has been explicit and very well written so far – I suspect there will be some swearing at some point -if only due to my tension being off!