Barbara Balaclava

a serious style departure

A few months ago, I cast on the Barbara Balaclava by PetiteKnit. I’d had a fancy to knit a balaclava for a couple of years, since my bestie gifted me a copy of a fancy knitting magazine (I can’t find it in storage at the moment to give you the title, joys of renovation living) that featured a balaclava pattern. Marketed as a way to keep warm whilst sitting by a camp fire, I was instantly smitten with the practicality of the design. Fast forward a couple of years, and it seems for once I was a trend trailblazer, according to this Guardian article.

My bestie, on a separate occasion, destashed me some beautiful Wensleydale sock yarn from Black Elephant. A royal blue and a hot pink, I had originally intended to knit them together in a pattern, but struggled to find something I liked that would use both yarns and not need any additional. In the end, I decided to split them, using the blue for this balaclava and the pink for a Sophie Scarf (watch this space!).

I knit the balaclava held double with Drops Alpaca Silk and the combination is just perfect. It creates a beautifully dense but flexible fabric with a perfect marled design. It’s a lovely weight of fabric for a head covering, not too thick and very soft. I’m almost sad we’re coming into the warmer months, it’ll (hopefully) be a little while until it’s chilly enough to warrant a balaclava.

It'll be interesting to see how much use I get from this balaclava, once the weather cools again. I love the idea in theory, but I struggled to style it to take these photos. I went with my heaviest winter coat, thinking that's probably what I'll be wearing when it's cold enough to warrant a balaclava, but I can't help thinking it makes me look a bit like a turtle in these pics. Skinny head sticking out of giant body. I dunno, maybe it's one to trial with lighter coats but layers. It looks cute folded down as a hoody so worst case scenario I'll wear it like that.

I’m inspired by this little project to consider using this yarn combo for a future cardigan. I saw this colour blocked cardigan at White Stuff and loved the idea as a way to use remnants of fun colours. You could pick two neutrals (navy and cream here), then add a third semi-neutral (the pale blue) accent colour and a small pop of something more bright (the coral pink). It would be a lovely way to use special yarn, souvenir or gift skeins for example. I’ll definitely be revisting this idea in the future, along with the combo of the Black Elephant yarn and Drops Alpaca.