Sometimes things work out for a reason. I never wanted to delete this blog, and yet I never really planned on coming back either. I am still blogging at restingmotion, and will continue to do so, and yet, as I find myself knitting again I also find my mind purling away, and here I am again.
Let's just go with the flow for the moment and see where we end up.
I've been knitting. I stopped for a while. Well, I didn't exactly stop, but my progress was slow and intermittent at best, and often retrograde. And then, suddenly the yarn and the fingers and the brain waves have connected and creation once again takes place.
First there is this scarf:
It is complete and has a role and a life as itself, a lovely lacey scarf, and yet it is also incomplete, with potential yet unexplored.
The yarn is Lontue by Auracania. The pattern is for the Janus Shawl, but as you can see it is not yet a shawl. The basic idea is that you knit this lovely lacy scarf and then you add the the crocheted edging that turns the scarf into a shawl.
For now I am stopping at a scarf, but I have not yet abandoned the idea of finishing the shawl, I am just making the most of this transitional phase. I am finally unpacking and organizing my studio (sewing/knitting/needlework) and in the process of putting up shelves and workspace have piled all my materials in a room in a most unorganized fashion. Somehwere in that pile of boxes and bags are the remaining two skeins of Lontue and the pattern, and they will eventually be unearthed and this scarf may yet be transformed into a shawl.
Once I finished the scarf, which seemed endless as it was a project with which I struggled through a long period of intermittent difficulties, I was ready, finally ready, to start something new. Plans and ideas popped into my head like bubbles and I didn't exactly know where to start, until I saw some bright green cotton yarn.
I had actually planned on starting a different project when a lovely green silk, rayon, and cotton yarn by Debbie Bliss, Stella, came into my life. I didn't have much, 5 skeins, or roughly 450 yards and the yarn is fairly thick and heavy, so I knew I wanted something rather open and airy. There was a model on the floor of an open drop-stitch top, and I knew it would work, so I picked up the pattern, "Summer Poncho Knitted" from Loopville, my new LYS.
I was thinking this would be a quick project that I could wear now, while the weather was still warm to hot, and that a little instant gratification might be just what I needed, something to whet the creative juices and make me eager to jump into a more time-consuming project. A week later I had a sweater and I like it.
The sweater is really very simple, two large rectangles knit in a k5, p5 rib with every fifth stitch being dropped on bind off. I knit it on size 10 needles, and although my gauge was actually smaller than the pattern, the silk and rayon content of the yarn, along with its weight, actually made the final cloth much more drapey than the original, so final dimensions, post-blocking, actually ended up slightly longer than the original although with the same width.
For now I love it. Whether or not it will be a longterm staple in my closet or it will be ripped and transformed at some future date is yet to be determined. I keep making similar sweaters, but I also keep forgetting how easy they are to snag. Perhaps this will be the exception. Perhaps I am becoming more mindful. Perhaps not. For now, this is perfect.
Green Janus Shawl (Scarf) on Ravelry
Green Summer Poncho on Ravelry
