Tag Archive | mosaic knitting

FO: Back to the Fuchsia

Jul2

I managed to finish my Back to the Fuchsia shawl on the last day of June, a lovely bit of symmetry since I started it on the first day. I’m actually surprised I finished it that quickly, since there were a few times that the houndstooth pattern felt like it would take forever. But this was my main project for the month so I didn’t really work on much else. And I’m so glad I made it – it’s such a fun shawl!

The cream and black were both leftover partial skeins from stash so I’m thrilled to use them up. The black (actually charcoal) is a merino/silk blend from Julie Spins and the cream is Malabrigo Sock. The pink I bought for this project and it’s Baah Yarn La Jolla in Pink Tourmaline. I’ve got about 57 grams left of the pink so it might work well paired with a multi-colored yarn in a bigger shawl. I loved working with it – it’s so nice and crisp.

Blocking was a bit of a challenge. The designer recommended pinning first and then spray blocking, rather than soaking and then pinning. I don’t really know why but figured I’d better go with it. Because the lace sections had more stretch than the houndstooth, I had to fuss with it a lot to get it pinned out evenly and in the right shape. Got there in the end!

With that done, yesterday I had a bit of knitting time and had an initial thought of, “Wait – what am I supposed to work on now?” before remembering that yes, I do actually have several other WIPs that could use my attention now.

I also finished Friday Night Lights yesterday (alas) so I’m pondering my next binge. Thinking about The Bear. Anyone else seen it?

Happy Sunday, friends.

Mix Tape Cowl

Jan2

Yesterday I managed to cast on five new projects! I didn’t get very far on any of them, but they’re ready to go when I want them. The one thing I realized is that they’re all a little more involved than I expected — not all that difficult, but none of them are easy mindless knitting. I’ll definitely need to add another project to my list for that purpose. Today I worked on my Mix Tape Cowl by Carissa Browning. It’s mosaic knitting, which looks so much more complicated than it really is, and this pattern is super easy to customize, with different stitch patterns you can choose from. I’ve got my first stripe done.

I definitely have to pay close attention to this one, because one mistake can throw off the whole pattern! It’s really fun, though, and I can tell it’s going to be addictive with those short, differently colored stripes! Did you cast on anything fun so far this year?

Happy Monday, friends.

FO Friday: Dissent Cowl

Oct16

This project was SO fun. I LOVED knitting it and I think I finished it in four or five days. Now I want to do more mosaic knitting! I kept going each round just to see how it looked with the lighter yarn peeking through, and the way she designed the “jewels” is so cool.

The pattern is the Dissent Cowl by Carissa Browning and it’s available on LoveCrafts and Ravelry. Though it looks complicated, it’s actually easy enough for adventurous beginners on up. I mentioned before that I talked one of my work knitting friends into trying it too, and after a little hiccup at the beginning, she’s sailing along and loving it. So don’t be scared of it!

I knit this as part of a knit-along run by my favorite LYS, Yarn Social, so of course I got my yarn there. The dark purple is Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio DK in Park Heights, and the lighter speckled one is Primrose Yarn’s Jasper in Milky Way. They were perfect, exactly what I wanted. The Primrose had just enough of the dark purple speckles to blend but still pop. And they were both great to knit with, thick and squishy. The mosaic knitting, since it’s all slipped stitches, makes a really dense fabric. I don’t think the wind will get through this!

Now I just have to decide whether to wear this cowl or my Empower People cowl on voting day!