It will probably not surprise you to know that I did indeed finish the Wilma Cardigan:

And of course I started a new project:

This is Hillswick Lumber, designed by Ann Feitelson, from her 1996 book The Art of Fair Isle Knitting. I’m using Jamieson & Smith Shetland Spindrift in the original colors.

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know my sad news: my dad died on Wednesday, from complications of COVID. He was 91 years old and had been living in the memory care unit of a nursing home for the past couple of years, as he had full-on dementia. It seems like we lost him a while back, so it is a very strange time. The nursing home has been on lock-down since last spring so he died alone and we will not really get closure until after restrictions are lifted and we can finally have a funeral service for him. It’s a sad ending to what was an amazing life. I wrote an obituary for him, here.

So as not to end on that note:

Last time I showed you a fair isle I’m knitting using pattern charts from Wilma Malcolmson. I’m now close to finishing!

The pattern I’m working from is for a square-neck pullover. I have far more use for cardigans than pullovers (assuming I ever leave my condo again) so I adapted on the fly. I think it is turning out well!

So does Loki.

A belated Happy New Year . . . such as it is. I sort of fell out of the blogging habit. It’s a funny thing — the longer we are on lockdown and I have more free time,. the less I feel like blogging. What’s up with that.

To catch up . . .

I finished Luskentyre a couple of days before Christmas.

And I started another fair isle:

This is a design by Wilma Malcolmson. The pattern is not in Ravelry — it was published in the Swedish magazine Stickat & Sånt. The pattern was designed as a pullover but I am converting mine to a cardigan. I’m using Jamieson Spindrift Shetland.

And of course Loki is helping.

My current, soon-to-be-completed project:

This is a modified version of Luskentyre by Alice Starmore, originally published in the very long out-of-print book The Scottish Collection. The original is a pullover and I have modified it into a cardigan. I’m using Jamieson & Smith shetland wool in the original colors.

This design is named for Luskentyre Beach in the Outer Hebrides, so I selected buttons that look like wee sand dollars.

As you can see, Loki is impressed!

I finished this on Monday.

Alice Starmore’s Roscalie Cardigan, from her book In the Hebrides. I used Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. This is a relatively easy fair isle as it uses only 5 colors.

Loki spent the Thanksgiving holiday doing this:

And I did this: