If you checked back at this blog after Tuesday, you’d probably assume my foray into design had been unsuccessful. I’m happy to say that’s not the case! Unfortunately I get a lot of migraines and when I have a bad one I have to stay away from the computer and other bright things. Like the sun. Luckily, a lot of the time I can still get stuff done and knitting doesn’t need a bright light, so I have much to show you!
My odd ball
The yarn I chose for my cowl design is quite literally an odd ball. Over the Christmas break I visited Birkeland Bros. Wool in Vancouver where I picked up an awesome odd skein from their bargain bin. Birkeland Bros. don’t just sell yarn, they process wool too! (I highly recommend a visit if you’re into seeing how yarn is made – their machinery is really cool) The skein I bought was a hand spun, hand dyed merino (we think, there was no label) that was the only one left in the store.
I fell in love with the colours immediately. I don’t always like yarns with too many colours, but this had just the right amount of contrast. It’s a single ply, light worsted weight and not at all itchy.
I’d been looking for a project to use this unique ball for, so what better than a unique design!
Swatching, swatching, swatching…
I swatched the yarn on US 7 needles, producing a fabric without much drape, but not completely stiff. I started to work through the stitch patterns I had already chosen earlier in the week:
I still love fractured lattice. The pattern uses twisted stitches – a new technique to me – which are a bit like mini-cables. I really like the great stitch definition you get. Barbara Walker gives a new method to create the twisted stitches (I’m sorry, I can’t give it here, but it’s in the second book) which I think improves the definition.
Jacquard stitch, as I predicted, is not good for this project. The subtle slipped stitches get lost in the fabric. The third patter in this swatch – slipped stitch smocking – didn’t work with the fabric either.
Finally, I tried the pier-glass pattern:
I think this is a beautiful pattern, but unfortunately not suited to this yarn. I now have another patter in mind to use this with a more subtly changing yarn in greens. I may change the stitch pattern slightly, but it was a great introduction to closed loop patterns.
A pattern?
The last day of Design Week was to think about a pattern. I have one almost formed in my head: I’m going to use fractured lattice for the main body of the cowl and try to incorporate a jagged edge pattern around the top and bottom edges. The pattern will be rotated 90 degrees from the swatch above.
Despite not being able to blog for much of this week, I’ve still really enjoyed the process. I’m going to try to keep this up, and I’ll hopefully be back soon with a finished design. Thanks for reading!
One Starry Knit 