Seafoam Shawl from Knit Now Magazine

I have had a week off work and so I ought to have got a lot of knitting done.  I haven’t done as much as I would have liked – but then I never do.  I decided that I wanted to knit something easy.  Last year I had bought some Noro Silk Garden 4 ply yarn – and I decided to make a shawl using that.  This shade is number 389 and I used just over 3 balls.

I found an easy pattern called a Seafoam Shawl in the latest Knit Now magazine (issue 69). The pattern was designed by Katie Martin as part of The Challenge feature of the magazine.  The designers are challenged to design something using 100g of yarn.  You are supposed to use a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply yarn which is 400 metres long. I had to use more Noro Silk Garden 4 ply in terms of weight because each ball is only 150 metres long.  This means that 3 balls should have been enough – but I expect my tension was a bit suspect.  I didn’t check it – it doesn’t really matter in this case.

As I knitted the shawl – it curled up – and now even after I have blocked it – it does not stay flat – but I am really pleased with it.  The pattern was easy to follow and only contained one minor mistake. It said you needed 28 stitch markers whereas you need 29 – but I used odd bits of yarn because I only have about 8 actual stitch markers – so it was no problem to cut another one.

When I was thinking about what to write about this year – I thought I would have a look at the different knitting magazines which are currently available in the UK.  Knit Now is a magazine that I have bought a few times recently.

I might have bought it more often but it tends to have free gifts in bags around the magazine – so you can’t look at it or even properly look at the cover.  I hate free gifts!  I never know what to do with them and if I give them to someone else – I have probably left the associated pattern in the magazine.  Knit Now is better in this respect – there is a free gift but the pattern is separate and I have taped the two together – ready to give them to charity.

Knit Now does seem to be an interesting magazine with a cross-section of patterns.  If I had unlimited time - I would knit some more of them.  As well as the patterns which seem to follow a theme - there are interesting articles, the usual yarn analysis and news.  The main distinctive features are – the promotion of local yarn stores and the range of sizes included in the patterns.  I will be buying it next month.

Knit the Sky Scarf Update

Each day of this year so far I have been adding 2 rows of garter stitch to my “Knit the Sky” scarf.

It is a bit grey at the moment but there have been a couple of brighter days.  I am trying to record the colour of the sky around the time I have my lunch (whenever that is).  Today I think It will be off-white.  The test for this project will come next week when I am travelling around a lot – will I forget to notice the sky?

Last Saturday I managed to get to Oxford.  I wanted to take some yarn, needles etc to Oxford Yarn Store.  They are collecting yarn to be sent to Northern Greece for the refugees to use.  I remembered that I had read an article in which Horst Schulz said that he had learned to knit in a refugee camp and how good it was to have something to do and a way of making money – by knitting things to sell or swop for essentials.

When I entered Oxford Yarn Store heavily laden with bags – I said – I want to leave with less wool than I arrived with!  I did buy some more yarn – but I was applying the Sally Melville principle of how to use up your stash – you buy a main colour to bring odd balls together.  So I bought 5 skeins of Rowan Fine Art Aran which were in the Sale.

It is a dark purple shade – although I know it looks black in the photo.  I wanted something dark as a background colour to make the bright colours of Noro Kureyon stand out.  I have a project in mind and would like to start it but I think I ought to finish a few more things first!

Knit the Sky Scarf

I managed to remember to start knitting a “Knit the Sky” scarf on 1 January.  I found the yarn that I had hidden away in the wardrobe and looked at the grey sky and decided to cast on with a combination of grey and off-white.   

I am using 3¾mm needles and a variety of thin yarns.  I had originally intended to use more than 5 shades but I have now decided to follow the pattern which suggests – white, light grey, dark grey, light blue and bright blue.

The idea is that I will knit 2 rows each day choosing a colour combination that best reflects the colour of the sky on that day.  I am going to use garter stitch.  I had thought about using something else such as some kind of basket weave stitch – but I have decided to keep things simple. 

I had also thought about choosing a particular time of day and knitting the colour of the sky at that time – but that is too difficult.  The only time of day that I might manage to see the sky is mid-day – but then sometimes I am still working then - somewhere that I can’t see the sky – so I will look at the sky a few times during the day when I remember.  Today I have chosen grey and off-white again, but this morning the sky was light blue and for a time a bit later on it was a grey/blue, but generally today the sky has been light grey and cloudy.