A few new shawls

This is Kirsten Kapur’s Cladonia minus its lovely loopy picot edge because, alas and alack, I ran out of yarn. So, mostly alack. I was determined to give the edging a try. With ten inches remaining I ran out of yarn. ARGGH. Honestly, though, I’m not a big loopy fringe person so I’m totally satisfied.

As cool a shawl pattern as this is, and it is, my guess is what captivates is this yarn. This yarn is Gauge Dye Works MCN fingering yarn, self-striping. I’ve had the yarn long enough that my ball band is from the before-times when this company called itself Caterpillar Green. Here’s my skein of their Olive Branch colorway.

It’s spectacular yarn.

I am very pleased about the name change because I knit this shawl in late July and early August during the height of a serious gypsy moth infestation in my neck of the woods. The assault of the caterpillars and their frass (as in from-r-ass) was totally disconcerting. Usually I save a ball band until I’ve completed a project. This one I discarded quickly. It conjured up evil feelings as I contemplated having to abandon our deck for almost two months while the wiggly ones ate our big oak tree. Ugh. Back to the sublime. My pretty shawl. Here’s a close-up.

Cladonia is easy peasy worked from the top down. The lace work at the end is simply accomplished. And by then a knitter is committed to the project and that helps concentration.

With Gauge Dye Works yarn the yarn does all the color work. You find the end with a length of undyed yarn, snip it off, and then–at least in Olive Branch–you’re good-to-go. Triangle and half circle shawls work well. And by poking around on Ravelry or participating in the Gauge Dye Works group you can see how various yarns work up in various patterns.  My skein was 170 grams, just under 600 yards.

Here’s Cladonia spread out to to show off its full wingspan of 54 inches across the top and 27 inches at its deepest. This yarn makes the somewhat boring stockinette main section of the shawl interesting. You can’t help but look forward to the next color shift.

If you’re interested in purchasing Gauge Dye Works yarns your best bet is to sign up for their emails. Because once a batch becomes available it sells out super-fast. The price is, well, a lot. But I think it’s totally worth it to have this much of a yarnie adventure.

It’s definitely time for me to post my version of Laura Aylor’s Summer Camp small shawl. In a calm non-jewel-toned moment awhile back I purchased two off-white skeins of Rhichard DeVrieze Peppino. That’s his wonderful merino fingering weight yarn. So I had 450 yards of yarn that begged to be combined with something else. My something else turned out to be a 438 yard skein of Wobble Gobble‘s merino fingering weight.

Summer Camp is very lightweight. I wanted something that I could wear on cooler summer evenings while being feted at the pizza place in the back of the BP station, a major Hillman activity hub that also houses a Subway. It could even dress up my Dollar Store shopping trips. Not that there’s been any out-on-the-town dates of late. Or any non-essential shopping trips. Not this year. But we can still knit!

Summer Camp is a wonderfully clear pattern. Aylor even includes a row-by-row stitch count chart, laid out stripe-by-longer stripe. I started mine with the solid color so that the scallops in the bind-off would end in the speckled Wobble Gobble.

Here’s a closer look at the Wobble Gobble I used. Wonderful yarn.

White knits

So far I’ve recently written about my new orange, blue, brown, and red knits. I know. Not really much of a way to organize my presentation. This is the last planned post that plays with just one color. And this time it’s white and sort-of-white.

Didn’t this turn out sweet? It’s Knitwise Design’s Hunting Season Hat. In my version, I’ll have to dub it Snow Season Hat. This is my third time knitting this hat and I’ve yet to knit it in blaze orange. This version is knit in Blue Sky Extra. There’s a bit of story to that. I bought my Extra in New Orleans on a business trip at a wonderful shop in the French Quarter. I knit most of it up in my Minnie. It’s a wonderful Aran weight yarn, in 55% merino 45% alpaca. And the extra must refer to extra soft because it definitely is.

I had extra Extra, so I lengthened my Annie Baker Designs Minnie to an extravagant 69 inches. It’s 11 inches at its widest point.

It was such a pretty thing. “Was” is the operative word. I simply couldn’t figure out how to wear it. I watched some videos on how to wear shawls and scarves. I got advice from friends. I finally decided to wear it once and someone told me it made “a bit of a statement.” Indeed. I frogged it. The yarn had been garter stitched for more than three years when I unravelled it and rolled it into a nice big ball. It was very kinked up but, honestly, I just didn’t feel like going through the effort to wash it and re-skein it. I just knit my hat, kinks and all.

I couldn’t be more pleased with it. Here’s a look at its crown decreases.

Hunting Season Hat barely made a dent in my frogged Extra. So I decided to knit Antonia Shankland’s Hello Cowl. It’s a Ravely freebie.

It knitted up very kinky looking and needed a complete soak to relax into the pattern. The soaking caused the crispness of the patterning to disappear. But I still like it. A lot actually. I cast on 130 stitches rather than 110 to widen the circumference. We’ve had some very chilly pontoon rides on the lake this week. I wore the cowl, some of the time, as Glass Head is modeling it. Sort of a snood.

I know I will get much more use out of this hat and cowl than Minnie. Minnie is a very sweet pattern, though. Don’t shy away from it just because I couldn’t get it to look quite right on me.

Maybe you remember that I totally overbought on my Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran when I knit two Canada Geese for my grandkids?  The pattern said one skein of white. I was making two geese. I bought two 100 gram skeins.  Think about a Canada Goose. Their only white markings are a neckband and their chest. So I had gobs of acrylic Aran weight yarn left to work with. Hats. Knitting hats in warm weather is a thing with me.

This one is Lea Petäjä’s Neulepipo Novita 7 Veljestä. When I put the title into the Google translator it translates as “Knit Hat from Novita 7 Brother.” Novita 7 Veljestä is a yarn from Novitaknits, a Helsinki company. I’m a fan of no-nonsense pattern names so “Knit Hat” suits me.

It’s an excellent combination of meandering cables and nice beefy bobbles. I’ve always enjoyed working a rolled brim when the rolling is tamed by ribbing. And the crown decreases work well too.

My white Paintbox Aran yarn Canada Geese purchase still wasn’t exhausted. This next hat from the goose stash is another Ravelry freebie: Foryla by ArtbyTekora.

Foryla means “whirl” in Cornish. These alternating medallion cables do have a whirl quality to them. They were a boatload of fun to knit. The crown decreases got rather untidy though. But unless someone is filming a drone video above you that doesn’t matter too much. This time, I think that the body of the hat makes up for it. And it’s entirely possible I goofed on following the crown decrease instructions.

For a closing laugh since I know how many of you are not dishcloth knitters, here’s Evelyn A. Clark’s Bathtime Blossoms, a Fiber Trends pattern. I knit mine in sportweight Appalachian Baby Design US organic cotton. Call it a spa cloth if that better suits. This yarn was left over from a baby hat kit I knit up years ago. Such a pretty thing! Using up oddments  is yet another good excuse for dishcloth knitting. If you need any excuses, Dot, now that you’ve begun your journey into dishcloth knitting.

Red knits

Fichu Bleu, by Orlane Sucche, was a very pleasing, soothing knit. That means something even in the best of times. In trying times it means even more. Mine is worked up in Why Not Fibers Spunky, a 100% merino sportweight. Here’s a closer look at the stitch pattern.

This is a free pattern on Ravelry. I continue to be amazed by the generosity of the knitting universe. Fichu Bleu has been in my queue for many years. I don’t often knit in sportweight. I know I could have knit it in worsted weight and ended up with a shawl with more ample coverage. Awhile back, I was gifted 3 skeins of Spunky in the raspberry colorway.  I wanted to find the perfect pattern. I believe I found it!

Since I had enough yarn, I worked one extra section A before beginning the garter stitch final section. After studying the notes of other Ravelers, I decided to follow the lead of those who used an Icelandic bindoff to assure that the bindoff would be somewhat stretchy and a bit decorative. I worked the bindoff from the right (public) side. My shawl, after a light blocking, has 56 inches of wingspan and is 22 inches at the deepest section (in the middle).

This is an excellent, no-nonsense shawl! It been cool lately in northern Michigan and I’ve already gotten some good wear out of this shawl.

It’s probably a goofy way to organize blog posts, but lately I’ve been doing color posts. Orange, blue, brown, and now it’s red’s turn.

This weird thing with the very sweet cable, knit in sport weight yarn, is another Ravelry freebie: Bea John’s Helferlein. I’m guessing you know what it is…unfortunately.

Yep. It’s an Earsaver. The idea is that you put this on the back of your head somewhere and hook your facemask on the buttons. That way your mask bypasses your ears and saves you from ear chafing.

This sounded like an incredibly good idea to me. I wear glasses and bluetooth hearing aids so there’s not a lot of real estate left behind my ears. When I wear a mask, it can get tangled up in my aids when I take my mask off. More than once I’ve had my expensive uglies try to take a flying leap.

I am super impressed with the cable in Helferlein. Someday I’m going to use that cable in something else. But, for me, the earsaver just doesn’t work. If I put it on toward the back of my head, Helferlein falls off once the mask is attached. If I put it on toward the top of my head, my mask doesn’t fit right. Maybe I have an odd-shaped head or unusual masks, because these things are working for others. Very cute fast knit. I just wish it would have worked for me. (Edited to add that Bea John visited this blog and left a comment that “if you wear Helferlein on your neck and leave the elastic bands of your mask below your ears, it fits best.”)

This next is another impressive entry into the mosaic cloth category: Amy Marie Vold’s Cannery Rows. It’s part of her Pickling, Canning, Preserving ebook. I knit the towel sized item.

The pattern allows the knitter to choose from quart, pint, and half-pint motifs. I had a blast knitting it. I knit mine in Cotton Aran by Paintbox Yarns.

While we are on the subject of mosaic cloths and red, this next is Shore Lunch Cloth, from Vold’s Gone Fishing ebook. I enjoy knitting many, in fact almost all, of Vold’s designs. But Shore Lunch is a big favorite. I knit this set in DROPS Paris, another all-cotton Aran-weight.

Graham is next up. I knit this version in Shepherd’s Wool Worsted by Stonehedge Fiber Mill. Souched or cuffed, even worn inside out, this hat is a must-knit.

Graham is a Ravelry freebie that’s been knit 8,511 times as of September, 2020. This one is my 5th. It’s a good, solid, unisex hat that’s easy to knit but not boring.

Red knits is just about finished. But I’m pleased enough with how Fichu Bleu came out that I thought I’d give you another look. I’m planning to knit it sometime again soon. It’s one good knit.