The winner of last week’s giveaway of  40 Timeless Knits, by the Editors of Vogue Knitting and Norah Gaughan is Vikki G. Thanks to everyone who left a comment!

Last night I finished this:

This is my Throwback Cardi, a design by Andrea Mowry. I knit mine from Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Worsted and Spincycle Yarns Dream State, using the suggested 4.5mm and 5mm needles. All the deets are on my Ravelry project page.

This is not knit in the round and steeked. It’s worsted weight, and that’s bit too bulky for steeking. I don’t particularly enjoy doing colorwork flat, but I sucked it up. There are a few rows that have three colors per row and that was a bit fiddly too.

The only mod I did, apart from adjusting the sleeve length to fit me better, was to add buttonholes and buttons.

I’ve started something new, of course. I’ll show you some progress (hopefully) next week!

Meanwhile, I caught Loki mid-groom!

I was recently sent a review copy of this:

This is 40 Timeless Knits, by the Editors of Vogue Knitting and Norah Gaughan. Released by Sixth&Spring Books on September 4, 2018, it is a collection of (you guessed it) 40 patterns by Norah Gaughan that have graced the pages of Vogue Knitting magazine over the past 30 years. Gaughan has contributed over 120 patterns to VK during that time — this is her top 40!

You can view all the patterns on Ravelry, here.

Looking through this book was a trip down memory lane for me. I have been subscribing to Vogue Knitting since its relaunch in 1982 and I remember many of these designs very vividly. One of the designed immediately jumped out at me:

I knit the Chevron Stitch Pullover back when the design was first published in Vogue Knitting in 1988. I don’t remember what yarn I used, but it was pink — not a color I usually gravitate towards.

Some more favorites:

The Guernsey Pullover, from Vogue Knitting, Fall 2016. Love love love this sweater — I may have to put it in my queue.

And something Norah Gaughan does so well — cables:

The Arbor Cardigan, from Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2017.

I remember when this was first published, back in 1997:

The Dragonfly Pullover — more Norah Gaughan genius!

The book is a great trip down memory lane, as well as a wonderful collection of patterns from a knitting master.

Who’d like my review copy? To be entered in a drawing for my copy of  40 Timeless Knits, leave a comment on this post by Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 11:00am Eastern Time.

Last Sunday I sucked it up and finished this:

My Rose cardi, knit from Wollmeise Blend. Bonus: The weather has turned seasonably cool so I might actually wear it this week!

It’s dark and gloomy today, so this is Loki’s plan for the day:

I’m coming down the home stretch on my Rose Cardi. Wait . . . did I say that a week ago?

I’ve done all the ribbing — the cuffs and the bottom ribbing — and completed one of the front bands, and sewed the band to the body of the sweater.

Now I have to knit the second band and sew it to the sweater, and I’ll be done!

The bands are each around 33″ long and they are 29 stitches wide, with twisted rib and cables, so they do take a surprisingly long time to knit. I do think the second one will go faster since I won’t be stopping to measure it against the body of the sweater to ensure I get the exact length. But I am really ready to be done with this project and move on to something new.

A little voice in my head is telling me to start my next project and relegate this last band to commuter knitting, but I am trying to stay strong. If I relegate it to commuter knitting, that means I’ll be able to work on it for maybe 15 minutes three times a week, so it’ll take forever to get it done. Much better to just suck it up and knit until it is done before I start my next project. Right? Right?

Loki sez:

“Suck it up, Momma!”

Good news! I have finished and blocked all the body pieces of my Rose Cardi!

Now, the finishing. First up was the center back seam — a three-needle bind-off worked on the right side to give a raised seam:

This afternoon I’ll be seaming the fronts to the back and starting on the miles of ribbing.

With the help of my little supervisor, of course.

Back in the 1980s the fisher gansey came on my knitting radar and I acquired all reference materials I could on the subject. By the early 1990s I had moved on to my fair isle obsession, so when Beth Brown-Reinsel’s book Knitting Ganseys came out, I did not buy it.

This summer, Interweave published a second edition of Knitting Ganseys, Revised and Updated: Techniques and Patterns for Traditional Sweaters and I was sent a review copy of the electronic version.

The new version updates and expands Brown-Reinsel’s original book. While I do not have the original book for comparison, I do know that several of the patterns are new and all the photography is new and everything has been reworked.

The book is formatted as a workshop, and the chapters go through the parts of  a gansey, in the order you would knit one. So the first lesson is, of course, casting on. In keeping with the workshop format, there are instructions for knitting a mini-gansey, so each step of the mini-gansey pattern is included with each chapter. There are also step-by-step instructions for all the techniques that are accompanied by clear full-color photos.

By the time you have worked through the 9 workshop chapters, you will have a completed mini gansey. And following the workshop is a chapter on planning and designing your own gansey. Then there is a collection of 9 patterns. Most are pullovers, one cardigan, and one dress. They are knit from a variety of yarns in a variety of weights, with several being worked in traditional 5-ply guernsey wool. There is a nice range of sizes, ranging from 34″ to 56″ chest circumference.

You can see all the designs on Ravelry, here. If I had to pick a favorite, I’d choose Cordova:

It’s one of the designs knit in traditional 5-ply guernsey wool in a tight gauge.

I do not have a copy to give away this time as I was sent a pdf only, but if you are interested in traditional knitting, I encourage you to add this to your collection!

In other news . . .

I am now working on the fourth quadrant of my Rose Cardi. And Loki is taking a power nap.