FOs: Red Leaves and Lucky 61

Finally managed to get some pictures of my latest Finished Objects!

Both of these beauties are knit out of yarn from The Muse Connection Vol II in July. Both Anuzula Yarn, the red is Squishy (merino/cashmere/nylon) in Red Shoe and the blue is Haiku (merino/bamboo/nylon) in Aqua.

Lets start with Red Leaves, from the Rustling Leaves Beret pattern by Alan Dakos. Oh Red Leaves. Perhaps you'd be better named Everything That Could Go Wrong... Because everything did! 

You can read more about Red Leaves' Misadventures here. But suffice to say that further to that post, the blocking did not go well and it ended up far too big. A re-block shrunk it, but I like my hats nice and snug and secure, so I threaded through a little elastic to make it fit better.

It's now more a beanie than a beret, but it's fancy and soft and a beautiful colour and I love it. I would definitely make this pattern again, but as an bit of an Alana fan, I'll probably make some of her other hats first. 

Oddly enough I wasn't that distraught when the blocking went wrong - I think this became very much a process piece for me as I was so determined to figure out what I was doing wrong and learn. Mostly I am just super proud of myself for sticking at it and getting it finished.

Lucky 61, so named as this was a raffle prize and 61 was my lucky number, is Urban by Veera Valimaki. This I will definitely knit again, in a variety of lengths and colours, it's definitely a wardrobe staple shape for me. 

I would love to knit a more tunic length one to wear with leggings, maybe in a slightly larger size so that I can layer it with a long sleeved t-shirt. Maybe one around this length in a slouchier size for layering with t-shirts and jeans.

This was my first go at knitting a jumper in the round and I'm a convert! I'm not a fan of seaming (who is?!) but I can see that structurally, the in-the-round construction does not give the same finish that seaming does. However, I'm a slouchy person. I'm not particularly polished, so my wardrobe tends more towards comfort and movement rather than structure and fit. So I see a lot more in-the-round in my future.

Also I am in love with the wooden buttons. Love love love!