This was the first shawl I made, I used Drops Alaska yarns in three different shades of grey (as you can clearly see) and the pattern is the Birdwing shawl by Stephen West. It’s one of his older designs before his current style of chaoticness, I think it was around the time he began experimenting with more unusual elements and shapes in his patterns, it’s from a decade ago. I adore this shawl and honestly wouldn’t mind knitting a second one but with rainbow colours, make it into a pride flag project perhaps?
Knitting is apparently trending so i feel the urge to share with you the fact I knit a lot, and apparently rarely take photos of my finished pieces only WIPs (i finish things, i swear…)
A “sister post” to the one where i discussed my objectives with Craft Mausoleum…this one is to show some things I myself have made! My knitting pictures are just ripped from my Ravelry account lol. I made a separate one for sewing, here.
From top to bottom, left to right: Reykjavik Soft by Meiju Kallio; Robinia Sweater by Anne Ventzel; The Witching Hour by Hannah Mann; Auri Shirt by Johanna Schutz.
Other knitting: The Doodler by Stephen West; Heirloom Quilt Cardigan by Katryn Seeburger (WIP); Alder by Faye Kennington; and a cowl I made using stitch pattern #7 from Hitomi Shida's Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible.
I finished Clue 1 of the Twists & Turns MKAL by Stephen West using BzyPeach yarn! This thing is going to be HUGE, this is just the first clue and it's already this big???
Finished a small Batad (smalltad? Bittad?) and continued to stray farther and farther away from the original pattern. How many more changes until it's the Batad of Theseus? 🤷🏻♀️ Would Stephen West approve or disapprove of this many changes to his pattern? 🤔 Will I ever undo the bind off and replace it with a super stretchy Jenys, as I should, so it drapes better? 🔮 ... so many questions, so few answers ...
Honestly, August was a rush and a half. The weekends filled with One Act Play competitions and knitting at “Knit August Nights” and the days were filled with work and paperwork and all sorts of things. It was an insanely busy time.
Incomplete knits of August 2023
However, I did manage to work on a few things. August was spent with a lot of my fingers in the pie of Ribblr – seeing if this is a…
This is a colorful and playful issue. The cover features Parker, an oversized, boxy, bottom-up sweater with short rows at the back and an cowl collar by Deborah Newton. It is an advanced project a 4 out of 4 on the scale of difficulty made from Manos Del Uruguay Maxima which is a wool worsted weight yarn. Newton also writes an article on making choices for changing the color along with 5 other versions of the yoke. It will get you thinking about colorwork and eager to do some test swatches.
Another advanced colorwork project is the Jekyll cardigan with a shawl collar by Paul Haesemeyer. Notice the i-cord trimming all around the edges. It closes with a single button at the bottom of the collar. It has a boxy shape and is made in pieces from the bottom up out of Istex Lettilopi which is another worsted weight wool. Again, you can imagine a different color schema.
The pretty mittens in blue and white birds-eye stitch pattern are called Cesar. Designed by Kristin Ornolfsdottir, they are made of Purl Soho’s Season Alpaca and a feature shows the pattern done up in swatches of 4 other color and yarn combinations. They care a 3 out of 4 for difficulty
A number of playful single-color patterns show up too. Including Petite Darjeeling which you see here in lilac designed by Chloe Elizabeth Birch who also created a woman’s size.
More likely to have universal appeal is the long scarf Rushmore by Norah Gaughan in 3 versions in 3 colors of Cascade 220 Grande Superwash, a bulky yarn. As Gaughan explains, it is a two-sided cable pattern and thus difficult to read as a chart, although you can find the charts on the Vogue Knitting website. Since it is only an 8-row pattern with a repeat within, it may be that the written instructions are enough? The large yarn size may help too with this 3 out of 4 for difficulty pattern
There are a total of 19 patterns, including several sporty pullovers, a good, a vest, a shawl and another pair of mittens. Meg Swansen’s column ponders mittens, a report on a knitting trip through Norway is included, plus interviews with Tom Daley, a knitter and Olympic diver, and designer Stephen West, as well as some gifts and books sections.
Soooo because 90% of what I'm drawing right now is under NDA (exciting but very boring cos I can't share) here's some yarn projects.
Earlier last year I found an indie dyer who makes DnD themed yarns. Chromatic Yarns. When browsing (at the time) I found 4 amazing yarns that were the exact vibe of my current bird baby. The titles were Spectre, Kenku Friend, Poison Resistance and Gift for Lolth. My beloved baby is poison immune, undead-ish and birdy. It seemed to fit. (The current collection is based on DnD books, you should check it out if you're yarny!)
I had been wanting to Knit Winter Lights by Stephen West for ages and these 4 just fit the kind of vibe I had in mind. The shawl is about halfway done, and I have a whopping 350+ stitches per row and growing! It's not going to be quick but I love how it's pulling together!
Then... I found this pattern. Dead of Night by Hannah Mann, and you can see why I just HAVE to knit it.
So I ordered myself some more poison resistance, and a LOT of black, and off I go. (pastel white for another project after I finish this one :P)
I am a serial WIPer, do not expect to see these finished anytime soon, but my progression is great! I try to craft a little every day so that one of my projects is always going forward. (These are not the only WIPs I have.)
Also... here's the colour combo for the colourwork I want to do next :P The rule I have is only one project of each "type" at once. So if I want to knit the next jumper I have to finish this one. Then I get neon pastel epic.
Please bear with my nonsense as I film myself doing an unboxing for 25 whole seconds before I get so distracted by the beautiful yarn that I have to stop.
My very first ever MKAL is this year's @stephenandpenelope Twists & Turns Shawl, and I could not be more excited, especially after giving that yarn a good squish. I picked the Life in the Long Grass Agate Dawn kit, and it is just so pretty. I can't wait for the first clue!
I finished Clue 2 of the Twists & Turns MKAL by Stephen West this morning! Not pictured: The indignant cat I shoved out of the way so I could use my bed to spread out the shawl so far 😂