I finished the Show Me Your Spots cowl a few weeks ago, but was unable to get myself photographed wearing it until this week. So here we are, in all our glory.
As I mentioned in my cast-on blog post, this pattern was chosen because it is a stash-buster. Lauren Sauvage publishes it on Ravelry, but also makes it available on her blog as a free pattern.
Now that it’s finished, I kinda like the way it fits and looks on me. So I reserve the right to keep it for myself, and not gift it.
Next week you get to see the stash-busting shawl that I am making. It is also a stash-buster. I’m improvising the design as I go along. It is looking great and I’m very keen to finish it up and show it off.
This project got its start as an example for a shawl design class I taught in August. It is also a response to the situation I’ve been griping about called Left-over Sock Yarn.
Some of you may remember this photo.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Once I truly looked at the yarn that was in the bowl, I realized that I had the makings of a multi-color garter ridge shawl. After discarding the red and green yarns, I took a cue from my own advice about color value and separated the leftovers into two piles – darks and lights.
The medium blue ball in the center is the connector between the lights and darks. I also tossed in the very pale blue full skein with a thought that it could make a good border.
The light yarns went into one bag, the darks into another. Starting with the medium blue yarn I cast on about 30 stitches and worked three ridges of garter. Initially I chose yarns by randomly drawing balls from each bags, alternating light and dark and knitting as many rows as I felt like before changing colors. But very quickly, a desirable pattern emerged – four ridges of light alternating with three ridges of dark. The extra ridge of light separated the color changes.
After working the black yarn, I started over with the darks – blue, brown, royal blue, teal, black.
I call this my Sea and Sand shawl.
Once I get up to around 300 stitches, I’ll choose a color to make the border. My creative juices are flowing as I consider pattern options. Since it’s a shawl border, the pattern must be very stretchy. First I thumbed through Barbara Walker’s fabulous “Treasury of Knitting Patterns”(published in 1968) where I spotted a few possibilities. Here’s three that meet my criteria:
All three could work very well. I’ll be knitting some swatches of these patterns.
Thank you Barbara Walker. Your book is truly timeless.
Despite my moodiness, I managed to complete a little knitting project this week. The pattern for this knitted and beaded collar, above, is found in 60 QuickLuxury Knits, published in 2014 by the editors of Sixth and Spring Books. I suspect that it is now out of print. I bought mine through an on-line used book store.
There are likely to be similar pattern on Ravelry.com.
As I was knitting, I thought about the late Justice Ginsberg and her iconic fashion (and political) statement collars.
One of many obituaries published last year.This one is known as the Dissent Collar
Mine was made with some fingering weight yarn found in my stash. The charcoal yarn is a blend of silk and wool. The pink is a blend of rayon and wool. The beads are 6/0 glass seed beads in a color called Red Rainbow, from the local hobby store.
I hope I get to wear mine soon. One couldn’t choose a better role model than RBG.
While sitting on the porch this morning and staring at the remains of my coffee, it occurred to me that now is the dregs of summer. With nearly four weeks remaining, it feels like summer is in its worst stage. A late August heat wave has knocked the wind out of summer’s creatures.
Hydrangea’s brown flowerheads
By 9 am the thermometer has already reached 80 on its way to a dance with 100 degrees later today. The trees and shrubs are shedding some of the extra leaves they had optimistically grown earlier this year when rainfall was plentiful. In an effort not to add insult to injury, I have stopped mowing the lawn. It hardly matters, since the grass stopped growing once the heat and dry took hold. Well, except for the crabgrass. That manages to hog all the available moisture to itself.
Slightly fried hosta
I am keeping the birdbath full, although birds are in short supply this morning. Hardly anything is moving. Even the cicadas are silent. As I round the corner of the house on my way to the front yard, I encounter an exception.
These two little goldfinches had been feeding on echinacea seed heads. They scold me for disturbing their breakfast and fly up to the neighbor’s roof.
Continuing on my way through the gate, I spot one plant that is happy for the heat.
This lantana, which had been nothing but leaves all summer, suddenly burst into bloom. Like it was waiting for a hot dry spell. You won’t be surprised to learn that lantana is a plant of the southwest.
Lethargy is setting in. My husband gave me the third degree about my mood. Must I have to have a reason for feeling morose, dear? And if I do, must I tell it?
My mood doesn’t improve when I again ponder the dregs of my sock yarn skeins.
The cowl project I had started last Monday was not inspiring me anymore. I don’t know what it is about a cowl. It sounds like a good thing to knit, and yet, when it is done, I never seem to like the result.
That’s enough for now. To avoid pulling you, my dear readers, into my state of lethargy, I will close this sad post. Perhaps during the week-end I will have something creative to share. The heat is supposed to moderate a little.
Not sure why it took so long. I guess that I was having too much fun on my recent vacation to focus on knitting. I also had no internet access for almost two weeks.
The pattern is Hermione’s Everyday Socks (for some reason, I am unable to pronounce that name!) I made no adjustments to pattern – just knit exactly as written.
I enjoyed this pattern and would consider using it in a future project. They feel a little loose – guess I should have used a smaller needle size.
The yarn is Wisco Sock from Ewetopia in colorway Superior.
Here’s the link to the pattern. There are 34,000 projects attached to this pattern in Ravelry. Even for a free pattern, that’s a lot of endorsements. If you feel compelled to give it a try, click here:
Daily Fiber 