Wednesday 20 July 2011

More Shawls

This week I've been mainly knitting shawls.  No surprise there, is there?  I confess I am now officially an addict.  The mounting woolly pile is getting quite scary so I did give away my Radiance Shawl to my friend.  She looks so much better in it than I do, so at least I get the pleasure of looking at her in it!

To replace my lovely sunshine yellow shawl, I am now knitting an equally vivid shawlette/scarf type thingy.  I am knitting it in Zauberball.


The colourway is Fishe Fishe.  I think the literal translation would be Fish, Fish.  I have loved this yarn, from afar, for a long time.  I think it looks great in socks, but I know I would be unlikely to wear them in such bright hues.  I'd maybe wear socks in the more sedate colours of the range, but that defeats the object of having such glorious colour changes.  I picked up this skein cheaply, when P2Tog changed hands, and then debated what to do with it.  This week, I finally worked out what it was destined to become.  It is to become, a Hitchhiker!


This pattern by Martina Behm, is actually very straight forward.  I used to object to paying for patterns that I could work out myself, if I could be bothered.  Now I don't.  I have worked out that I didn't have the design idea that the designer had, and if they went to the trouble of writing the pattern, testing it, getting photos taken and publishing it, then they deserve some recompense.  Especially if it is only €2.50, as that really isn't a lot of money.


This pattern has become quite popular and it was only once I saw a completed Hitchhiker in person that I understood why.  It is a great showcase for yarn.  Any yarn that is not solid in colour will have the variations shown up beautifully through the graduation of the garter stitch.  The unusual construction of the pattern means the rows of the yarn are at a different angle to what you would expect.  It really is a clever and surprisingly simple design.  I'm really enjoying knitting it, and it is perfect knit club knitting.

I've actually got further than the above image shows, as I took the photo on Monday, when there was some actual daylight.  I've got stripes of red and yellow now too.


Ah garter stitch, how I love thee, let me count the ways.  I just can't seem to get away from the fact that garter stitch is amazing.  When I started knitting I didn't like it.  I thought it looked unpolished, unlike stocking stitch.  Now that I knit more neatly and uniformly I can see the beauty of the little ridges.  I can also appreciate garter stitch for it's squishy qualities and the way colour changes are blurred into a softer blend.  I also like how it sits flat with not a curl in sight!

This Hitchhiker project is my mindless knitting whilst I work on a semi-circular shawl pattern.  I have actually started and ripped it a couple of times now, but I finally have the first and second sections worked out.  I'm pretty pleased with the way it is going and hopefully in a week or so I'll be ready to get something test knit before releasing the pattern.  I'm not going to show you anything except the yarn I'm using!


Yummy, yummy Fyberspates.  I love Scrumptious yarn and it seems to be holding up well to any ripping back I'm having to do, which is always a bonus.  This colourway of Midnight, doesn't seem to be available on the Fyberspates website, but I got it from iKnit, so maybe it is a discontinued shade now.  It is a glorious shade, but I don't recommend knitting it at night with KnitPro Symfonie needles, as it is very hard to keep track of the strands of yarn as you work!

I'm stepping back a bit from the regular link up parties at the moment.  If you are interested, this will probably explain why.  Basically I can't really commit to doing ANYTHING at the moment, so I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to take part in a self imposed commitment, as I will just feel rubbish if I don't hit my targets.  However, this does appear to be a post about a WIP on a Wednesday!  Maybe I'll just link up today.





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