I cast on for my Big Island Wrapper last night, using Elliebelly Big Blue, a bulky weight Blue Faced Leicester yarn.
Once started, it was almost impossible to put it down. I can’t wait to come to the end of the Andalusian stitch pattern in this first section, because then I get to try Brioche for the first time. I can’t wait!
Remember yesterday's post about selecting colors to knit a Big Island Wrapper? I've been obsessing about which colors to choose and posted on Ravelry about my quandary. A nice knitter responded with a tip I should have thought of first thing and wanted to share with you all, in case anyone else finds themselves picking among colors for a project (in other words, what knitters do every day).
The tip is, take a photo of your possibilities and grayscale it.
By removing the color hues from your photo, all you see are the color values. This gives you a sense of whether you will get good contrast among your colors, assuming that is what you are after. This process is particularly helpful for fair isle knitting and I use it religiously for that purpose. But I didn't think to apply it here at first. And I'm glad I did. As a result, I've narrowed my choices to Peacock and Water Dancer, although I had started to lean towards Yosemite before looking at the grayscale photo. Here is a repeat of the color photo from yesterday.
This isn't an absolute rule and for stripes or other non-stranded knitting, you may not want a high contrast. But, this is a great tool to have in the knitter's tool kit. It will help you get the results you want.
Although I'm in the middle of knitting a sweater, I'm planning to cast on a new project sometime this week. I want a casual shawl for chilly early mornings when I drink tea and read the paper on the back deck and for evening walks at the beach. And I found this gorgeous pattern.
© Little Church Knits
This is the Big Island Wrapper, a bulky shawl with some mesh bits and enough texture to keep the knitting interesting, while giving the option of combining some fun colors together. Although it's written for a bulky cotton yarn, I'm going to knit mine in a bulky Blue Faced Leciester, for a bit of extra snuggle factor. Cheryl/Little Church Knit's patterns are all really cute, and I debated two of her other shawls before deciding on this one, although I'm sure I'll come back to knitting both Marcelle and Diamonds for Lisa. Her sock patterns look awfully interesting as well. But this go round, I've chosen Big Island, and I'm excited about knitting it.
First, though, I'm going to have to make some color choices. I've been doing some experimenting with layers of color on a skein for the last few months, and it just so happens that some of my favorites are on Elliebelly Big Blue, so I'm going to select from among them. Here are my choices — I'm sad I can only pick three of them for this project, because I'm fond of them all together.
There are a lot of possibilities with these colors. Since these colors are all experiments none of them have names yet, but I've put them together in groupings to try and help myself make a choice.
To make the choice even more difficult, I've got some variegated skeins that would work in well, including this lovely skein of Madeline Tosh Chunky.
I've been debating the merits of the different possibilities back and forth all weekend. I want something welcoming and inviting that will be very cozy — they all seem to fit the bill, although in very different ways. I'm hoping one will emerge as my clear favorite so I can get started by midweek. I need to mark up the pattern to use with Knit Companion, the program I use with my iPad for managing patterns, and then I'll be ready to start.
I've cast on for the Mithril Tee Shirt pattern.
It is, actually, being knit by me. But Harry, my huge Maine Coon Cat, thinks it's his project. I've never seen a cat so attracted to linen and silk. You sort of get the appeal for them with wool, but this one is a little bit of a mystery. He's very protective of it, though.
The yarn is a DK weight blend of 65% silk and 35% linen, Elliebelly Chemise. It has everything I like about knitting with linen, but the silk makes it slide nicely through my fingers and it doesn't have the scratchy feeling linen can sometimes have when you knit with it. This is my first foray into sweater knitting with this yarn — it's been a standard for scarves and wraps. And I'm interested in compiling a list of pattern ideas for it, so please chime in in the comments if you have any!
I’m so happy to be finished with my – now my daughter’s – Zigzagular Socks. The pattern is well-written and easy to follow and the shaping is lovely. They blocked out perfectly.
The color is much more accurate in this second photo. And you can see the zig and the zag. This is the perfect pattern for a highly variegated yarn and it shows them off to perfection.
It started a long time ago with these pretties.
These are my Vermont Applewood Interchangeably Darn Pretty Knitting Needles from Dyak Craft. I love these guys. But sadly, due to a supply failure in the laminated Dymondwood these needles are made from, they are no longer available. And, if you're like me, you need a couple of sizes of each needle on hand. So I ordered a pair of Dyak Craft's newest needles, their Northern Lights set in Robin's Egg Blue. And they're here!
I'm in love already! It's a pretty set and the color will stand out nicely behind my knitting, making it easy to see. I've cheated a bit — trying these out in a different finish before investing in the set, so I know I love the way the stitches slide off of the needles easily, but only when I want them to.
Next up for me is my long-awaited Mithril Tee in Elliebelly's Chemise Silk/Linen DK weight yarn. New needles, new project. What more could a girl ask for?
I’m looking forward to closing up the toes and finishing Zigzagular!
Although I don’t think I’m ready to play in Sock Madness, there is something wonderful about knitting socks. They are fun and soothing and it’s impossible to feel anything less than accomplished when you watch a sock grow off of five tiny needles. If you haven’t, you should try sock knitting!
Sent from my iPhone
