In the Cloud

I find historical dress fascinating, and regularly read the blog of the Two Nerdy History Girls, one of whom (Loretta Chase) is a favourite author. A few years ago, I wrote a blog entry about spencers, a form of short jacket worn during Regency times. That post was written in the context of Harriet's Jacket, and at the time I mused about turning the bodice of Harriet into a spencer. I never got around to doing it. I still might. But in the meantime, I'm concocting another variant of the spencer. You'll have to take my word for it, though. All you can see so far is a cloud of silk and mohair.

 

The yarn is Sandnes Garn's Silk Mohair. This is a real fave. It's not lace weight, like Rowan's famous Kidsilk, but knits to a larger gauge on 5.5 mm needles.

It also fortunately lacks the largish clumps of fluff that you often find in mohair that can make knitting (and especially ripping) a real pain. This stuff is dreamy soft, light as thistledown, and best of all, relatively inexpensive at about C$15 a ball. I'm getting ready to cast off the body and I've not used up even a full ball. If the sleeves take less than a full second ball, that will be a luxurious silk mohair sweater for practically peanuts.