Brownie points

Posted on September 29, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

When I completed my latest shawl (you can see it in this post), Doug commented that he liked the colours and that they would make a good waistcoat. I immediately thought of Kate Davies pattern, Ursula (Ravelry link):

While the pattern is for a woman’s cardigan, the stitch pattern seemed to lend itself to this colour palette, and I bought some sample shades of Jamieson Shetland Spindrift 4-ply yarn and started fooling around.

Above is my swatch. I initially choose a mossy green for the first stripe (on the bottom) and then realised that it wasn’t the right green to go with the pink and purple shades – it had too much yellow in it. So I tried a green without the yellow tones (Conifer – top stripe). I liked this, which is good because it meant that I could stop swatching and start knitting.

Unfortunately, I then asked Doug his opinion on the ribbing. The Ursula pattern calls for 3×2 ribbing, but did Doug perhaps want 1×1 ribbing since I was turning this into a men’s waistcoat? Doug looked at photos of various projects on Ravelry and concluded that he didn’t like either 1×1 or 3×2 ribbing, but that he would like 2×2 ribbing. I then, very sensibly, decided to knit swatches of each type of ribbing, so that he could see for himself. (I’m nice that way.)

l-to-r: 1×1 ribbing, 2×2 ribbing, and 3×2 ribbing

The Ursula cardigan has 4 inches/10 cm of ribbing, but I wanted to use 3 inches/7.5 cm for the waistcoat, so I knitted each ribbing swatch to that length so that Doug could get an accurate idea of what it would look like. Conclusion? He decided that he didn’t like either the 1×1 or the 2×2, but preferred the 3×2 (which, if you recall, is the ribbing that is called for in the pattern). Do I get brownie points for this?

Having decided, I then ordered the yarn for the project which arrived amazingly fast.

Yay! New yarn! New project! And brownie points, too!

I usually try to post on the weekends. I was working last weekend, and I will be working this coming weekend, so I will just have to post when I can for a few weeks. Bear with me. I have a finished project to report on, too, but haven’t been able to get photos yet. It is what it is.

Sad

Posted on September 22, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

I usually have my next few posts lined up in my head, and I had planned to spend Saturday morning writing a new post and putting the finishing touches on the green linen project. Then, I woke up to the terrible news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death.

Ginsburg was such an inspiration to me as a young woman, and she has continued to inspire me, and to inspire my daughters as well. We have lost a true hero. I hate that her death will be turned into a circus of villainy and hypocrisy, as those in power on the right gleefully pounce. I spent the weekend feeling sad and disheartened. However, for me and for millions of others, nothing will diminish her legacy. We will mourn her, and we will celebrate her life. We will continue to care about justice, and we will continue to fight. And we will vote.

Post for a sunny day

Posted on September 13, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

The weather gods are shining on us this weekend – it is an absolutely perfect early fall day. The sun is shining, the breeze is breezing, the bees are buzzing, and the neighbours are not mowing their lawns or out with buzz saws doing who-knows-what. Its really too nice a day to spend writing a post, so I will make this one super short.

In my last post, I noted that Doug loved my new shawl. He said to me, “These colours work so well together. I would wear a vest made in these colours.” Oh, you would, would you? So, what to do of course but order three shades of grey, three of pink, three of purple and three of green, so that I can do some swatching. This is what I ended up with:

Not quite the same depth of colours, particularly with the purples, but I think I can pick out a set that will work out okay for what I have in mind.

In the meantime, I cast on for a tee using the Kalinka linen wool blend yarn. The yarn really shows up some contrasts quite nicely. I used twisted ribbing and was amazed at the distinctions between the front and reverse sides. Here is the front:

And here is the reverse:

I have been happily knitting away on this project which is coming along quickly. Here is my latest progress shot:

Ten points to anyone who can guess the pattern!

The perfect day is calling to me. I wish you all a safe place and some peaceful knitting.

Finished at last

Posted on September 6, 2020 by knitigatingcircumstances

I have finished my improvised version of Martina Behm’s Match & Move Shawl, and I think it turned out pretty fabulous.

This shawl came about through some deep stash-busting and far too much thinking. I originally ordered yarn from Plucky Knitter way back in 2011 to make a Color Affection Shawl. It contained three skeins of Plucky Primo Fingering. Believe it or not, I was already writing this blog back then; here is the post (with the great title, “Holy Distraction, Batman!”) where I talked about receiving the yarn in the post. A few years later, in 2013, I wrote about trying to find a different pattern for this yarn.

Eventually, in 2019, when I was searching for a project to take on a business trip to South Africa, I decided to make the Match & Move Shawl, but with stripes in three colours instead of two. This turned out beautifully, until I ran out of yarn (by not following the instructions properly, as blogged here). I eventually ordered another skein of Plucky (the dark purple) to match up with the other three colours, then misplaced the scarf for half a year, and finally got back on track. Whew! This shawl has been through some stuff, which makes it appropriate that it ends up being a product of 2020. (It has survived, so will we!)

I have talked many times on this blog about how I dislike triangular shawls. I knitted this despite that, and I have to say that I adore it! The colours are so rich and work so well together. Depending on how you wrap it, different colours come to the fore, the deep pink in the photo above, and the grey in the photo below.

I started the shawl by following the pattern: bold stripes of colour, alternating green, grey, pink. Then, I realised I would run out of yarn and started smaller blocks of colour, before buying the deep purple and adding it in near the end. So one half of the shawl is very orderly and the other half is very haphazard. Sort of like me! No wonder I like it. It makes me think I need to improvise more often.

The yarn is completely luscious. It is an expensive option for me, especially here in England (when I ordered the kit all of those years ago, I was charged a customs fee for it when it arrived in the country – a very large fee). Adding on the expense of the fourth skein (luckily purchased in London from Loop) means this is a fairly pricey shawl. But I must admit that it is gorgeous, and feels so great to wear. Even Buddha think so: