Knits I finished in January

Yes, January came and went, and I've had this post in my drafts for over a week now. But guess what? Taking pictures in the Finnish winter is nearly impossible. From Monday to Friday, I spend every sunny second at work, and on the weekends I either can't be bothered to doll up or then the weather is brutally grey. So who knows when this post will be up. Hopefully before March. 

Now, the beginning of January was mainly spent finishing the knits I'd started in December, and by the time I was ready with that, it was close enough to February that I didn't want to start a bigger project, so that it wouldn't get in the way of Finish-it-Feb. 

The "bigger" garment that I a) worked from beginning to finish during January and b) have already worn a couple of times is the Florist Bolero by Sydney Crabaugh. 

Last February, my wife and I travelled to Istanbul, and the city quickly became one of my favourite travel destinations of all time. I knew that I wouldn't do any vintage shopping in Istanbul, but I was really looking forward to some yarn shopping. There's a Turkish yarn brand, Nako, and they do some very nice 100% wool yarns. Finding the shops was a bit tricky, though, and honestly I am still somewhat surprised that we managed to navigate to the yarn and fabric district, because boyyyy was it a long and winding road of very narrow and hilly cobble stoned alleys. And I was wearing heels! My feet ache just thinking about it. Also, if you are heading that way yourself, bring a bunch of cash with you! Most of the shops don't accept card. 

Anyway. I picked up some DK weight Nako 100% wool in a lovely mint green with this bolero in mind. It took me almost a year to cast it on, but I finally did - and then knitted it in 10 days, which is quite fast, even for me. The finished garment is really versatile, and I can already see myself knitting it again in different colours. 

The only problem was that I had slightly less yarn than I would have liked to, and I couldn't knit the cute tulip sleeves. Next time I have to buy 4 balls instead of 3, so that I can have a go at them, too. Now I just knitted a very basic short, fitted sleeve. And I actually worked the sleeves top down, which meant that I had to do the maths backwards, but I wanted to make the sleeves as long as possible without worrying about running out of yarn. In the end I had enough yarn to whip up a pair of shoulder pads, too. I just felt that a 40s style bolero needed a bit more drama in the shoulder area. 

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Technically, I finished another bolero in January, although with this one I'd already knit all the pieces in December, and all that was left to do in January was the blocking, the seaming and THE BAND, which took forever. Anyway, it was worth the effort, I think the end result is fantastic. 

The pattern is The Lavenda Droplet bolero by Susan Crawford, and I'd kind of knitted the pattern before, because I used it as the basis for my wedding bolero. The wedding bolero was however just stockinette stitch, and I knew I'd eventually want to knit the droplet pattern as well. 

The yarn that I used is a Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4 ply. I highly recommend visiting Bendigo, if you are ever in the area, because it is a lovely historical town with a great art gallery and museums. My wife and I were supposed to visit the annual Wool Show back in 2022, when we were on our honeymoon, but then we got sick and had to postpone the whole trip. We missed the show, but stayed in Bendigo for a couple of days anyway, and made a pilgrimage to the Woollen Mills, of course. I got yarn for two projects; a wine red and light blue jumper (which I finally finished last October/November), and a golden yellow bolero - and I had the Susan Crawford pattern in mind for that. And then I knit all kinds of other things until the end of 2024, when I finally cast it on. The droplet pattern is easier than it looks and the whole thing was a joy to knit, if not a joy to seam. Christ. 

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In addition to the boleros, I spent January with some small accessories. 

I cast on the first Cary's Kerchief (that pattern is also by Sydney Crabaugh!) already during my Christmas break, but didn't quite finish it before the year changed. The yarn is one that my wife got me in the Tampere Craft Fair, which I sadly missed because I'd bought a concert ticket for the same weekend. I told my wife to surprise me with some cute yarn, and the yarn she chose is a merino tweed by Silmukka (which is an indie yarn shop in the area) in their colourway Puro. As soon as I saw the yarn, I knew it would make the perfect kerchief to wear with my winter coats. The tweed flecks are black, brown and grey-ish, and since most of my warmest coats are vintage furs in an array of those neutrals, I was happy to have a yarn that would match all of them. I've been wearing the finished kerchief the entire January. It is brilliant, and keeps my ears so nicely warm.

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I enjoyed knitting (and wearing!) the kerchief so much that I almost instantly cast on a new one - this time with the yarn I got as the Squidney School of Vintage Knitting yearly gift! I am a honour roll student, which is the highest tier, and let me tell you - it is SO worth it. My favourite thing about this tier is that every month Sydney shares an authentic vintage pattern booklet from her collection, and every single one has been amazing. 

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The last knitting project of January, one I finished in a couple of days, was my go-to beret pattern, Crowning Glory, again by Susan Crawford, also seen in the yellow bolero picture above, as I knit it with the leftover yarn. I've knitted the pattern twice before, in blue and in red, because it uses a ridiculously small amount of yarn and is thus the perfect leftover yarn project. I wear the other two I have ALL THE TIME, and will no doubt be wearing this one too. 

How has your crafting year started? Have you made something that you're already reaching for all the time?