A Walk in the Park

Posted on April 21, 2025 by knitigatingcircumstances

I finished my version of the A Walk in the Park shawl:

The shawl is part of The Signature Collection designed by Erika Knight in collaboration with A Yarn Story, the Bath yarn store run by Carmen Schmidt. I knit it as part of the KAL with A Yarn Story. The design is actually for a triangular shaped shawl, as below:

I have never been a huge fan of triangular shaped shawls, and no matter what I do, I can’t seem to style them properly. However, I really liked the contrasts in this shawl between the deep brown and white graphic stitchwork and the bright pops of colour. I decided to knit the shawl as a rectangle instead. It was a bit of a gamble, but I think it paid off.

I bought the kit in the original colours of Walcot yarns Origin, a lovely, bouncy worsted weight wool. Emma and I had a chance to see the shawl in person at the Unravel Festival and decided to substitute the soft purple-y pink yarn for a brighter pink (which I blogged about here).

I then had to decide whether to knit it back and forth width-wise or lengthwise. In the former case, I could fit in all of the different pieces of the original pattern (and then some) but the stripes of colours and textures would run across the shawl from side to side; in the latter case, the stripes of colour and texture would be very long, running from end to end, but I would have to select which bits of the pattern repeats to include and which not to include (because the width of my rectangle would be less than the long edge of the triangle shape). I chose the lengthwise option, in part because I like knitting shawls that way, and in part because it gave me the look I was after. You can see below how nicely those long stripes of pattern look.

I did some calculations and decided to cast on 360 stitches, using a US8/5mm needle. I then basically knitted the beginning sections of the pattern, but without any shapings (no decreases), and with some variations in how many repeats of each pattern to knit, so that the combinations of stripes of various widths and textures and colours would look pleasing to me. I started and ended it with 1×1 ribbing in the bright pink.

One of the difficulties I found while knitting it is that the gauges for the different textured patterns was not the same. For me, the unblocked gauge of the slipped stitch stripes was 26st/10cm, while the gauge of the slipped stich squares was 24st/10cm, and the gauge of the moss stitch was 22st/10cm. I became convinced that this would end up in a disaster as the fabric was incredibly wonky given the wildly different gauges of the varying stripes. I was also worried about the ribbing, especially on the cast-off edge, which tended to roll backwards. You can see both of these problems in the below photo of the edge of the unblocked shawl:

I kept knitting, however, even in the growing evidence of disaster because (1) I couldn’t bring myself to stop, and (2) I have tremendous faith in the power of blocking. And, if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty good.

Today is the final day of a long holiday weekend. Life has been pretty crazy lately, so I hope that you have been able to find some peaceful moments to enjoy the start of spring; perhaps with a walk in the park?

Communing with knitters

Posted on April 19, 2025 by knitigatingcircumstances

I had hoped to write to you earlier about my knitting adventures in Scotland a few weeks ago. I really had a blast up there. Two days after I returned from Edinburgh, however, I flew to Copenhagen where I managed to get really sick. Being really sick while on a business trip is not a jolly experience. Teaching all day and staying in a hotel when you are sick is bad enough, but it is more so when your husband is in Egypt visiting the pyramids. This did not put me in a blogging mood.

So, let’s go back to the Edinburgh portion of this story, which was excellent fun. I was there to attend the Wooly Good Festival. A bunch of knitting friends from Ravelry were planning on being there, and I thought it would be fun to go and meet up with them in person. I had booked tickets to the event back before I flew to Johannesburg in February, but I somehow neglected to book myself into a hotel or to buy train tickets. A few days beforehand, I realised that I needed to get organised. I put up a note on Ravelry, asking for a recommendation for a hotel near the event.

I then received a note from Sara, inviting me to stay with her and her husband, Richard. I had never met Sara before, so I was a bit concerned about taking her up on the offer. She wrote to me with a (very long) list of all of the knitters who had stayed with them in the past; it seems that her home is a halfway house for wayward knitters. As it turned out, Sara and Richard were lovely and I had a great time. On the Friday evening, they hosted a party for a group of knitters:

I knew all of these women through Ravely, but had only previously met two or three of them, so it was a delight to spend time with them. They were also great enablers at the festival, and it was fun to shop and gab and commune with knitters. I feel very privileged to be part of such a nice community. I think I was relatively modest with my purchases, buying four skeins of yarn, a knitting journal, a felted necklace and a few odds and ends:

I am chagrined to say that I went to Edinburgh and didn’t do anything but hang out with knitters and buy yarn. It really is a gorgeous city, and it has been over a decade since I was last there. I did manage to get in a few photos of the city as I was leaving to catch my train home:

Doug, in the meantime, spent a week in Cairo. He was busy giving talks and attending meetings, but he did manage to get to both the old and new museums, and to visit the pyramids and wander through some of the old sections of the city. He was last in Cairo in 1975, and it has changed a bit (as has Doug).

The long Easter weekend is here, and we are relaxing after our travels. I have finished one knitting project, and almost finished a second one. Stay tuned to this space for a full report.

Clearly not switched at birth

Posted on April 2, 2025 by knitigatingcircumstances

When Emma was visiting a few months ago, we went to the Unravel Festival of Yarn and purchased the yarn for her to knit the Field Shawl, by Maxim Cyr. Here is a photo of her wearing the sample at the festival:

A few days ago, I get a call from Emma. She has started the shawl and she is upset. “Mom, there is a little bump of colour showing up where it shouldn’t be. I can’t figure out why it’s there. I have already ripped the whole thing out and re-knitted multiple times. It is still there. It is annoying me. Here, I will send a photo.”

She sends us the above photo and Doug and I look at it. “I am not seeing anything, Emma. What do you mean?”

Emma says: “Enlarge the photo, Mom. See? It’s like a pixel.” Aha. Here is what Emma is referring to:

We talk about the nature of knitting, that a knit stitch on the one side causes a bump on the reverse side. Emma is not having it; this pixel doesn’t correspond to a grey knit stitch on the other side. I spend some time trying to convince Emma that this is nothing, that she shouldn’t worry about it. Her knitting is so beautiful and neat. The shawl will be gorgeous, etc.

Emma says: “Mom, I have been looking at all of the photos of finished projects on Ravelry and none of them show these pixels. I must be doing something wrong. Why is this happening? I want to understand the process.”

We hang up. I immediately start systematically checking Ravelry project photos and find one that also has identical pixels, clear as day (but only if you are squinting and searching for them). I send her the photo. Hahaha!

The next day, Emma calls. She is annoyed with her increases. They don’t look neat. She has already ripped out and re-knitted the beginning of the shawl multiple times, but she wants it to be perfect. I said “Have you tried kfb?” Emma decides to rip it out (again!) and try kfb. I counsel her not to rip, but to start a new piece using kfb, and then compare.

Last night, Emma calls up and she has now knitted a new beginning of the shawl, like a swatch, in which she has tried multiple increase options for each section – kfb, m1l, m1r, place the increase 1 stitch in from the i-cord, etc. You can see the photos of both pieces, front and back, below.

We then spent an hour debating each section. Which has the neatest looking increase? Which is easier to do? Which produces a better i-cord? What increase produces the most pleasing shaping? And yes, are there any pixels popping up?

I tell Emma that she doesn’t need to be worried at this level about her work, because all of the options are good. (Also, she has figured out how to run the mohair thread up the side through the i-cord, so no threads to end off. Big win!) Doug then helpfully points out that I have spent the evening systematically tinking back my current knitting project (360 stitches to the row) because I had made a completely unnoticeable mistake some rows back.

Emma says “See, Mom, this is evidence that I was clearly not switched at birth by the hospital.” As if we needed evidence, when she is a living, breathing “Doug mini me”. (Seriously, though, isn’t her knitting lovely?)

Tomorrow I’m heading to Edinburgh to attend the Wooly Good Gathering. Maybe I will see some of you there?