Shoulderwear? If it’s not a word, it should be. Anyway, I might have to buy the new Knitscene Accessories, drawn in by these two wraps:
TOP: San Cristóbal Shawl by Ashley Rao, which would be great with or without the fringe.
BOTTOM: Icelandic Star Cowl by Julia Farwell-Clay, which of course I’m imagining in charcoal and ivory even though that would suck all the cheerfulness right out of it.
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On another bright note, this week’s ICYMI post is Knit the Look: Elisa Nalin’s pink-striped pullover.
Dear Mom—
As you’ve probably guessed by now, I didn’t knit you anything for Mother’s Day this year. (Sad face.) BUT I have been thinking a lot about that conversation we had when I first started knitting. You know, the one where I showed you a bunch of lovely things I wasn’t qualified to knit? Most of those are still a bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m feeling pretty confident in my junior lace-knitting skills these days and am eager to try to my hand at something a little bit fancier for you. But this time I want you to have a hand in picking it out. Here are some ideas (additional images of each if you click the links), but if none of them makes your heart leap with longing, we can look at other options — there’s no end of them. Think about colors, too, and we’ll pick out the yarn together once we’ve decided on a pattern. Meanwhile, Happy Mother’s Day and thanks for being you — I love you!
1. Snowflake Stole by Véronik Avery, very straightforward and lovely
2. Checkerboard Lace Scarf from the Purl Bee, could easily be knitted to more wrap-like proportions if you like
3. Edie triangular shawl by Bristol Ivy, probably the most ambitious of the 4, but I can do it!
4. Terra triangular shawl by Jared Flood, simpler overall texture with a few lace repeats along the edges
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Dear everyone else, this week’s ICYMI post is last year’s Mother’s Day post, A kerchief for my mother.
This week I swatched one thing, cast on another, and the yarn arrived to finish knitting a third. Plus there’s still Acer waiting for me to fix my mistake and start moving forward again. It occurred to me maybe I should take stock of my WIPs and, uh, it’s much worse than I realized. So let’s just focus on the new guys:
The little blue swatch is for the sweater I promised my husband last fall. It’s meant to be Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Seamless Hybrid with Jared Flood’s modifications, because I’m so curious about the construction of the shoulders, but I may chicken out (by which I mean, take the more controlled path) and do it top-down. (I have until the swatch is laundered and re-measured to decide.) Bob is very, very particular about sweaters and I don’t want to risk it being even an inch short or long for his taste. I want him to love and wear it, when all is said and done.
The ivory wedge makes my heart go pitty-pat. One of the very first patterns (possibly the first pattern) I ever downloaded was Orlane’s Textured Shawl Recipe. I love that shawl more than I can say (so many beautiful renditions of it, including Nicole Dupuis’ seen draped over her couch here), but of course the “recipe” was utter greek to me at the time. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I could make sense of it and knit it. And all this time, pretty much every new yarn I meet, I ask myself if it’s the one — the one to become my Textured Shawl. I decided Pioneer is it. And I have to tell you, this combination of yarn and stitch pattern is nothing short of addictive. I cannot wait to get back to it.
Tell me about you, please! Thanks for reading this week, and have a wonderful weekend —
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I have got camping fever, people. West Texas road trip fever. Live in a van fever, even. I’m way past due for an outdoor adventure, and editing a book of camping recipes (with corresponding drool-inducing images of savory foods in cast-iron skillets over open fires) is not helping. Then along comes the preview for the new issue of Pom Pom Quarterly. Look! Oddly, I wasn’t factoring knitwear into any daydreams I may have been having, but I am now!
LEFT: These adorably slouchy Camp and Trail socks by Pom Pom’s Lydia Gluck would be a dream after a long hike into the backcountry or around a campground fire.
RIGHT: And this Flying Squirrel wrap by Michiyo (from the new Brooklyn Tweed Wool People 5 collection) would be equally perfect around camp. It’s a big rectangle shawl with anchoring armholes on two corners, which you wouldn’t always have to use. It cracks me up that the pattern is called Flying Squirrel (get it?), and that it’s defined as a “textured stole garment.”
Have I ever told you my friends Meg and Jo (mother and daughter), who taught me to knit, take camping trips together where they just camp and knit? I need to get in on that.
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I remember once seeing a knitter tweeting about finishing a triangular shawl and wondering whether only knitters wear shawls. I think the answer is pretty much yes. But there’s so much potential there! I am completely in love with this girl with her giant silk paisley scarf folded into a triangle and worn as a shawl with faded jeans. I love the emerald — color of the year or not — and it sent me in search of something I never imagined wanting: a colorwork shawl, in the realm of a scarf print. Or better yet, a square lap blanket that can be worn folded like this, such as Kate Davies’ Tír Chonaill — ideally converted to fingering weight, and knitted with something like Valley Yarns BFL Hand Dyed in Hemlock for the varying yellow-greens, paired with a natural. To give it that classic scarf edge, knit a thin border in the natural, followed by a wide one in a matching solid green. (And hey, for the socks, have you seen the new Petit Fours pattern at Quince and Co? A near-perfect match.)
See Vanessa’s recommendations for the rest of the outfit.
Unrelated: This week’s ICYMI post is Blog Crush: Karen Barbé, who never ceases to wow me.
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Street style photo © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission
The web is riddled with street-style blogs at this point, but my favorite is Vanessa Jackman’s. Not only does she have a great eye, but she makes it a cross between useful and aspirational with her “recreate the look” posts. So I’m thrilled that she’s consented to let me use her photos for a new feature here on FA which I’m calling Knit the Look — putting a DIY spin on things. I’m kicking it off with pattern and yarn recommendations for a trio of looks, but expect one rec at a time in the future! I hope you love it —
KATE BOGUCHARSKAIA’S SILK WRAP
For a knitted version of Kate Bogucharskaia’s silky black shawl, you could knit Grace Anna Farrow’s Ferrous Wrap or Whitney Van Nes’ Whisper Wrap, using Anzula’s Mermaid silk-blend yarn in Black, (held double for the Ferrous Wrap). Or, for a heftier version of either, use Blue Sky Alpacas’ Alpaca Silk yarn in Night. See Vanessa’s recs for the rest of the ensemble.
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HANNELI MUSTAPARTA’S WINE-SOAKED SWEATER
I think there’s actually some very subtle colorwork going on in Hanneli Mustaparta’s fuzzy wine-colored pullover. But you could get a similar depth of tone by knitting Julie Hoover’s Garance using Shibui Heichi silk tweed yarn in Graffiti held double with Shibui Silk Cloud mohair-silk yarn in Bordeaux. I might have to do this one. See Vanessa’s recs for the rest of the outfit.
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UNIDENTIFIED MODEL’S GIANT RIBBED SCARF
Child’s play: Using Malabrigo Chunky in Burgundy and 6.5mm (US10.5) needles, cast on 38 stitches.
Row 1: [knit 2, purl 2] across 36 stitches, knit 2
Row 2: [purl 2, knit 2] across 36 stitches, purl 2
Repeat these two rows until scarf measures 72 inches (or your desired length). Bind off in pattern and weave in ends.
Of course, you might need 5 or 6 skeins of yarn to make it that big! See Vanessa’s recs for other elements of both looks.
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Street style photos © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission
I’ve been really enjoying all the yarny play-by-play that Design Sponge’s Instagram challenge has prompted*, but my favorite thing to appear under the hashtag so far is Cal Patch’s latest crocheted shawl — a geometric wonder in the making. I happened to see a tweet of hers linking to the shot above and asked her whether she was freehanding it or what. Turns out it’s her own brand-new pattern, Borealis, and she’s posted several progress shots since. Like the recent Fave Haiku, it seriously makes me want to brush up my crochet skills.
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*My contributions over the weekend showed my progress as far as the elbow of the first sleeve of that ivory pullover, followed by my ripping it back to the neck. I re-knit the yoke on Sunday and am so happy I did — I just really didn’t like the look of the m1 raglans on this one.
