I’m getting better, but it’s a slow process. I’m not taking antibiotics or steroids (other than my regular inhaler) anymore, and I started taking daily longer walks this week. I’m still quite weak, and still cough a bit. I’m also terribly bored… seriously, I’m a person who loves being on my own and spending time at home, but I also like being outdoors, and being active. 3 weeks of very low activity seem to last forever and I’m already planning some awesome hikes and trips once I feel strong enough.
The weather matches my mood perfectly (although today it’s actually quite nice for a change); it’s windy, rainy, and dark. So in order to defeat bad mood, I took out some Noro Kureyon sock yarn from my stash and decided to knit with it, just because working with all these beautiful colours make me feel a little better. I used it in two of my most recent projects.

First was Pistachio Saffron, an oversized, casual jumper/ sweatshirt designed by Carol Feller. I combined Noro Kureyon Sock with some merino and silk from Irish Fairytale Yarns in dark purple, which I had bought a long time ago thinking that it was more brown than purple (that’s the risk of ordering online…). Since purple is one of the few colours that I generally don’t like too much, I had no idea what to do with it. Silk makes it a little shiny, so I knew that knitting something for my nephew was not an option (he’s still going through the stage where anything that looks “too girly” is rejected, so even though he loves purple, he wouldn’t wear it). Adding colourful, cheerful stripes of Noro seemed like a great solution to make this dark, purple colour a little less depressing, and the Pistachio Saffron pattern offered a way to do it.
I had initially started knitting the jumper strictly following the pattern, but then decided that I wanted more colours, and knitted the Noro stripes after every 4 rounds of main colour instead of after every 12 rounds. Other than that, I only made it a little longer than the pattern advised.
And indeed, just watching the colour changes made me feel better, as predicted! There’s something about Noro yarns that makes them really unique; they can combine the wildest colours together and make them look great. The colour changes are neither too long, nor too short – just perfect to enjoy knitting even more. However, I have to say that Kureyon Sock is not going to be one my favourite Noro yarns. It’s normal for this brand that their yarns have variegated thickness, but since Kureyon Sock is overall fingering weight, these changes in thickness go a little too far, alternating between worsted and lace. The lace-like parts are just to fragile and delicate, and I had to constantly remove them from the skein, for fear of them breaking in the finished sweater.
When the jumper was ready, I still had an almost full skein of Noro left, so I removed the purple/pink/navy blue parts, and decided to knit my first pair of real gloves (with fingers!) in the shades of green and blue.
The pattern is designed by Drops, and called “Catch a Rainbow“. It was actually really easy and so much less fiddly than I’d expected! These gloves made me so confident that I immediately started knitting a different pair, which I’ll certainly post here when it’s finished! I think gloves might become my little knitting obsession for a while, because I enjoyed knitting them so much π

That’s all my latest news; not much is going on except knitting, reading and recovering slowly. Oh, and my cats have new cardboard boxes π
That jumper is just gorgeous π. Are you planning to keep it or would you like to sell it? I’d be in the market for a super cool stripy purple jumper π. Nice work on the gloves tooπ
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Thank you! I don’t really sell my knits, only make them for myself ir family, sometimes for a charity. But it’s great to know you like them!π
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That’s cool π It definitely is stunning
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Great to see you’re on the mend Kat, perfect knits, as always. Big hugs for you and your kitties from meβ‘
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Thank you! π
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Color therapy. What a great idea! I love the gloves. I can see how wearing such a colorful set of gloves would brighten your mood. You should search out a pattern for glove socks and make every toe a different color. I’m in the middle of a bright fuchsia pink/magenta/purple shrug, and I just ordered some more yarn in cool greys and turquoise blues. It’s DK weight and I’m thinking shawl.
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I love your shrug, the purple in it is much brighter than mine which on its own is a bit sad looking. Colours always boost my mood!
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Just catching up on overdue reading and I’m so sorry you’ve been so sick again! Sending healing thoughts your way.
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Thank you, it’s slowly getting better!
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Love the gloves, adore the cats!
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Thanks! π
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Ahaha that is the cutest photo ever! I loooove the jumper too. The weird thing is, when I saw the picture first time I saw it as brown with rainbow stripes but then as soon as I read that it was purple, it suddenly looked purple to me. Eyes are so weird!
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Yes, I saw it as brown too and when it arrived I was disappointed! It is a tricky shade to photograph I guess. It is pretty though, just not something I like on myself.
My cats are crazy about the boxrs, we shop online a lot and they always think the boxes are for them π
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I’m glad you are feeling better! Knitting with cheery colored yarn seems like a good idea to lift your spirits π As always, I’m amazed at how quickly you can make these beautiful items!
The cats in cardboard boxes…too cute π
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Cats in boxes always make me laugh, they get inside and look so pleased with themselves!π
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So glad you’re getting better. The colors in the yarn are gorgeous indeed, and I just love the jumper! I like what you did with the gloves as well – the green and blue look great on their own. Are the new gloves with the removed purples/pinks? Hope the cats are enjoying their new ‘gifts’ π
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There was not enough purples for the gloves, they are waiting in my scrap yarn basket for their chance to be used π
Cats are always enjoying new boxes, that’s one gift that never fails to make them happy π
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