Portuguese Shores progress

I’ve been really enjoying working on my Shore cardigan. I look forward to the evening hours when I can plop on the couch grab my project and knit away while enjoying an episode of my latest Netflix addiction.

Don’t you love it when you are working on a project and every time you dedicate yourself to it, you notice a visible ‘grow spurt”? It’s so satisfying. Of course all this “mindless” knitting can result in a blunder or two. I was lulled into such a good rhythm that I just knitted away without thinking, only realizing too late that I should have tried on my cardigan before finishing the hem. Because when I did, I realized that the model wearing the cardigan in the picture and I are not the same proportions. 

Ripping out 25cm of a project is never pleasant, but unfortunately necessary in certain situations. Luckily I quickly recovered from my mistake and have now even finished both sleeves (no 2^nd sleeve syndrome here) and I am about to  start on the neck and button band. 

I cannot wait to give this knit a proper bath and block and then, weather permitting, find the perfect location for some nice photographs.

Portuguese Shores

Have you ever visited a place and been overwhelmed by a feeling of "right"? This is the right place for me, this feels right, I'm all right here, better then all-right.

I was overcome with these feelings this summer when we visited Portugal. I loved everything about it, the food, the views, the culture, the people, the atmosphere, and of course the wool. 

Portugal has a rich history of wool and fibre, beautifully showcased by the Retrosaria Rosa Pomar yarn shop. I've already written about my visit to the shop and the first project I made using the yarn I purchased there. I have now found what I believe to be the perfect pattern for the Beiroa yarn I also brought home from Lisbon.

Once again Instagram served as a catalyst for this idea. Not too long ago a fellow knitter with a lovely feed threw out the idea of starting a Portuguese inspired KAL. Whether it'd be portuguese wool, a portuguese pattern, or a project inspired by Portugal, the possibilities are endless. This proposal instantly made me think of the Beiroa yarn I have in my stash. A bit of research led me to decide on "Shore" as my choice of pattern. 

A lot of resource information has already been  shared on the Ravelry thread and I can't wait to learn more, read more about Portugal's knitting history. 

Wool @ Home - Living Room

We are now living through the coldest month of the year. The days are still too short for my liking, and the temperatures steadily below freezing. To combat the seasonal blues that generally accompanies this time of the year for me, I always make sure that I’m cozy and warm, that a comfy blanket and a knitting project are always within reach. My living room is also dotted with nods to my love of wool.

Reading time, whether it is for me or with the kids is best spent under a great big wool blanket.

Listening to music with a nice glass of wine, after the kids are in bed, is best spent in a comfortable arm-chair right by my knitting basket.

And the occasional nap-time spent on the couch is all the more comfortable if you have a sheep-y pillow to snuggle into.

They are subtle hints to be sure, but for those who know me well… impossible to miss!

For previous instalments of Wool @ Home see here and here

Discovering Portuguese yarn

For me, no trip is complete without a visit to a local yarn shop. Prior to our vacation in Portugal I did quite a bit of research to decide on which one I would duck into during our stay in Lisbon. There were a few to choose from, but as much as I would love to do a yarn crawl in many destinations, there is no way I could expect the family to join along with the same enthusiasm such an endeavor would elicit in me. 


I chose to go to “Retrosaria Rosa Pomar”  and let me tell you, I was not disappointed by my choice.
If, actually no, WHEN I go back to Lisbon I would love to try one of her classes and see if I can learn the Portuguese style of knitting, which she teaches at her shop.

It is a charming yarn shop, tucked away on the second floor of a building in the lively Baixa neighborhood. The space is airy, with yarn spilling from vintage suitcases and off rustic tables. The choices offered are also great. I am starting to become increasingly fascinated with trying locally sourced yarns. I like the idea of  supporting a movement that is bringing focus to sustaining and bringing back to life an industry like the one behind  sheep and wool. My decision to visit this shop was cemented by this post on the Tolt blog a while back where Rosa and her shop were introduced. 

I could not leave the shop without having invested in a few well-chosen skeins. This lovely fingering weight Mé-Mé 2 Ply yarn is currently on my needles and turning into a beautiful Guernsey triangle.

Then there’s a sweater’s worth of worsted weight Beiroa yarn, made from the wool of Bordaleira Serra da Estrela sheep (doesn’t that just roll off the tongue ?) which I have earmarked for Carrie Bostick Hogue’s Shore Cardigan.

And last but not least I convinced a friend visiting Portugal only a few weeks after me to stop by and bring back enough of this yarn to possibly make Hannah Fettig's Gable sweater.

I cannot wait to be able to show you the FO’s once done, and hopefully not a year from now!