Blurred Lines Bandana Style Shawlette from Yarn & Stitches--Day 4

Are the lines really blurred?

Ah, purple.  My eyes feel glad to have a gentler color, if darker, color to knit.  

I have to confess to a few misgivings, however, on the color change. In many of Vice’s colorways, the shift between colors is gradual and flowing.  Here, I feel like we were traveling down Pink Street and just made a hard left onto Purple Avenue.  Some of that may be due to the size of the rows—the shift between pink hues at the very top where the rows were shorter is more gradual.  Down here in section 5, it’s closer to self-striping.  And rebellious little blotches of purple show up before I want them to, as if they’re cutting in line. My, but I seem to be generous with my similes and metaphors today!

I have knitted long enough to know that what I feel now may not be what I feel later.  I have had doubts about works-in-progress before, only to be thrilled with the completed project.  It’s just the same in my writing—the middle is no place to pass judgement on an effort.

One thing I do know for sure is how VERY glad I am to have Continental Style knitting in my toolbox while I’m doing all this switching back and forth between knits and purls.  This would be tortuously tedious in American Style.  Just like in ribbing, alternating knits and purls go much faster in Continental.  Yes, it takes a bit of effort to learn.  I went to a class to force myself, even though I knew the basic concept.  Next time you do color work, ribbing, moss or seed stitch, however, you will be glad you can knit Continental Style.  Think of it like learning a new software program—hard at first, but with a gratifying payoff.  

See? There I go with the metaphors again.  You’d think I were a writer or something…

Metalouse Shawl from Knit Nirvana - Day 1

Clever, colorful, cuddly...

Stephen West is a big name in knitting these days.  A larger than life character to be sure, he’s earned his reputation with some of the most ingenious designs to be found anywhere.  In a sea of needlework, you can almost always pick out a West design for it’s modern style and graphic punch.  I’ve been hankering to make one of his shawls and not gotten the chance...until now.

Thanks to the fine folks at Knit Nirvana, I’ll get my chance with the Metalouse Shawl.  Packed with the famous West eye for stunning graphics, this shawl makes good use of Noro’s exceptional colorways by stacking ridges of color in a triangle form.

The shawl is begun at the top center (I know, I know, another project where the rows only get longer….) with a tricky bit of casting on and turning.  No worries, though, West points us to a nice, clear photo tutorial to get us up and running with ease. 

The best part of this shawl so far?  I finally get my hands on a SOFT Noro yarn!  While I’ve always been a huge fan of their luscious colors, I have never liked the texture…until now.  This Shiraito cashmere/angora/wool blend is a soft as you’d think given the fiber content.  A Noro that’s the best of both worlds—gorgeous color and ahh-soft feel.  I couldn’t ask for a better knitting experience.

Brady Scarf from Ruhama's - Day 3

Who’s wearing who?

Halfway done, and I’m truly enjoying myself.  This is definitely an eye-catcher, as I get stopped every single time I knit this in public.

I’m finally getting to the length that I can see the impact of the yarn’s gradual color change.  Depending on how and where I tie it, this scarf will either look red, pink, or something in between.  That could be very versatile.    

  

Granted, I’ve seen some photographs of this fiber in more dramatic color changes, but I’m particularly happy with the one I chose.  Sometimes, when you get drama in both the pattern and the yarn, it ends up too much.  More like the scarf that’s wearing you rather than you wearing the scarf.  

Coco Chanel, who was more into pearls than scarves (and we’ll forgive her for that) understood this truth.  Her famous quote “Dress shabbily, they notice the dress--dress impeccably, they notice the woman” has an application here.  When the scarf is right for the outfit and the person, you notice the style of the person wearing it.  When it overpowers either the rest of what one is wearing, or the person herself, all you can see is the scarf.

Come on, every one of us has made something (think eyelash yarn or that thick stuff calling for size 19 needles) that swallows you whole when you wear it.  It happens.

That’s not the same thing as a statement scarf or a statement necklace.  When you let a piece take center stage in an elegant way, it works.  Provided, I believe, that nothing else on your body is fighting for the attention.  If I did this scarf in the rainbow colorway, I’d need to wear a solid black, white, or neutral top.  I think I still may need to do that with this red-pink progression, but not as strictly.  

And besides, we all know I love center stage.

Brady Scarf from Ruhama’s - Day 1

A cool scarf is one of life’s great pleasures.  

A cool scarf that’s easy yet stunning?  Definitely worth hunting down.

Good thing lots of cool knitting comes to me (not that I don’t enjoy a good fiber hunt!) in this nifty recommendation for my new friends at Ruhama’s.  I’ve been knitting Sally Brandl’s “Brady Scarf” in several public places, and I’m always stopped and asked to explain the pattern.

If you’re looking to expand your cast-on tool box, this pattern uses two.  The first cast on should be done with the long tail (my personal favorite) to ensure good elasticity.  The trademark holes, however, are accomplished with the backward loop cast-on.  Make sure you follow the directions on how to count stitches in the bind-off and cast-on rows closely, or you’ll end up with too many stitches.

While this is a highly portable pattern, the store ball is big enough to fight being stuffed into my handbag (I like to keep my knitting close at all times).  I started to wind it into to smaller, more portable balls, but quickly stopped myself.  The Kauni colorway--which is key to this scarf--is too continual to allow easy dividing.  Even if you pulled from the inside, the subsequent yardage would be on the inside of the second ball.  The only way you could manage it--and I’m not sure this is practical--would be to have two flat balls (i.e. the ones wound from a mechanized winder) and pull from the inside of both.

The holes lay out nice and distinct, which makes me happy.  My other scarf with holes doesn’t show the detail well, and you know me, I like to show off.