Mixing Yarns

Unable to resist a bargain, I pounced on a pack of end of dye-lot yarns at a local shop.  The shopkeeper had very cannily teamed the random grey and maroon with a dark purple and a soft raspberry.  Once I was home I fished the grey mohair out of my huge wool stash and thought for a few days about what I should make.

Now I am well on the way making a cardigan.  This is the first item I am knitting myself for years.  Will it be ready to wrap up and surprise myself with at Christmas?

Although I love random yarns, I can't help controlling them.  They have a nasty habit of falling into solid blocks of colour, and arranging themselves differently according to the number of stitches in a row.  Casting on and working the first two rows of rib in dark purple contains the random effect; also, because the purple is 100% acrylic and the grey random is slightly thinner and 75% acrylic and 25% wool, the purple will give a more hard wearing edge.

The rib is worked on size 10 (3¼ quarter) needles.

For the main part of the knitting, I have changed to size 8 (4 mm) needles.  The stitch is my favourite basket weave, with the plain and purl rows worked in the grey mohair, and the knit 2 purl 2 rows worked in the grey random, purple and raspberry in a sequence of stripes.  The effect is textured and lightly fluffy, with the colour showing to best advantage on the front...

...and the fluff being thrown mainly to the back.

I am already dreaming up a matching hat.  Or would that be too much?