Fashion: Yarn Style

Celebrating Clear Air and Bricealuscious by the Sea!

 

It rained last Wednesday, clearing the skies at last and allowing us to venture out and breathe again! The rain also helped the firefighters to completely contain the fire in Butte, so Thanksgiving became a real day of gratitude for us in California. It was so touching reading all the stories of people driving hundreds of miles to bring trailers to the homeless fire victims in California. That day, we made donations to support both the people and the animals who needed shelter.

 

 

Since my husband works at a Black Friday company, which has now become Black Thursday, we stole a few hours together to picnic on the coast Thanksgiving morning before he went back to work. We had chicken salad with hearts of palm, egg salad sandwiches, German bread and brie, berries, chocolate cannoli and champagne as we enjoyed the beautiful blue skies once again.

The day was amazingly sunny and clear and we had a wonderful time basking on the rocks as well, looking at odd little stones and peering into tide pools.

 

 

The seals were sunbathing nearby, so we were careful not to get too close. It makes me happy just watching them!

 

 

It is interesting how much we take the basics in our lives for granted, such as breathing clean air. I had no idea of how important that was until I had lost the ability to do so and I suddenly felt like a character in an apocalyptic science fiction movie wearing a particle mask to work. Even the coast here had air quality in the 160 level, filled with breathable particles damaging to the lungs, while the normal range is 1-50. So this has been a huge relief and refocused me on the importance of simple things in life such as health, safety and shelter. I hope the victims of the fire will find a place to settle soon, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for them.

 

 

The last time we visited Bean Hollow, my husband challenged me to use the colors there as an inspiration for a shawl. So when I knitted my briochealuscious shawl, I chose the pink for the iceplant flowers (Fuse Fiber's Pink Drink), the green for the iceplant leaves, (Olann's Pear) and the blue for the sky and water. (Fuse Fiber's Verdigris).

 

 

The brioche in the shawl creates a luscious, squishy fabric that makes it a wonderful wrap to wear in the wind, but I needed a coat as well to keep out the cold, as it is November now!

 

 

It was really satisfying finishing this project and I recommend it as a great way to practice brioche knitting. It was a very well-written pattern, but not an easy one to execute, as the brioche rickrack edging is challenging and time-consuming. But I feel it was worth the effort.

 

Knitting Through the Smoke in California

photo from New York Times 

For the past week, we’ve been barricaded inside our homes in Sunnyvale, California, waiting for the smoke to lift. I opened the door to put out the garbage yesterday and had a giant coughing fit, so now I am even doing laundry in our garage wearing a face mask. Apparently, breathing the air outside is equivalent to smoking four packs of cigarettes, so I wear the mask every day to work. When days are difficult, I seek something positive to focus on. So I am knitting through the smoke to remind myself of the people I love.

 

 

It helps that it’s Christmas knitting season, and I’ve received some silly birthday requests. When I asked my brother David what he wanted for his birthday, he said hats for his two baby daughters and a hand knitted card for him.

 

It was no problem whipping up the Zebra and Bear hats above using a “Top This” kit. But knitting a birthday card? I never heard of that! Not that I was going to admit that to my little brother. Once he threw down the gauntlet, there was no way I would back down. Especially when he mentioned he wanted sequins. Manly Sequins?  Irresistible!

 

 

After a month of puzzling over the problem, I bought a conventional birthday card and used it for structure. Then I sewed together gauge swatches in the manliest colors I had. Using the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, I created a patchwork of gauge swatches for the outside of the card, and then zizzagged the fabric onto the card itself at the edges, folding down the raw sides of the swatches into the join so that they didn’t show. Then I embroidered his name on the inside of the card with sequins.

 

 

This was a very time-consuming project, but I chuckled the whole time. I purchased the sequins in Paris, then put it all together here when I got back and realized I wasn’t going outside any time soon.

 

 

Bernhard had begged me for a hat while we stayed in Paris because it was so cold, and he received so much enjoyment out of wearing the Bankhead hat I made him that I’ve resolved to knit a bunch of hats as Christmas gifts. And now that the only exercise I have been getting the past week is walking up and down the hall of our 1200 square foot foot home, I’ve been knitting a hat while I walk. There’s a bright side to everything, right? With my knitting bag looped over my arm, I pace the hallways, knitting a hat on a 16” circular needle while my husband chuckles from the couch and the cats chase me from behind. In this way, I’ve completed the Mon Ami hat, designed by Kay Jones, for my brother-in-law.

 

 

My brother, Levon, is getting the Bousta Beanie hat that I knitted in Shetland, spindrift.

 

 

 Next up is a hat for my father. He took one look at the hat Bernhard was wearing in Paris and asked for one for himself. After a lovely afternoon visiting yarn boutiques together, he picked out this gorgeous skein of Lore by the Fiber Company at Le Tricoteur Volant.

 

 

But more about that shop later.

  

With all this hat knitting to keep me occupied, there’s little reason to go out of doors. While we are praying for rain, I am more than a little grateful that I have this knitting hobby so I don't go stir crazy inside four walls!

A Luminous Trip to La Bien Aimée follows a lost knitting disaster!

 

I have been lucky enough to spend some great time knitting in Paris, with somewhat mixed results. On the one hand, I lost half of a sweater in a cab ride on the way to a knitting meetup with my Anny Blatt friends. (Sob!!!) On the other hand, earlier I got to join a knit night at L’oisivethé, presided over by the owner, Aimee, and later, I visited her store. So the positives have at least balanced out the negatives!

 

L'oisivethé 

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s how ephemeral life and even my projects can be. That’s the whole reason I’m in Paris to begin with—as my father and I grow older, it’s really important for me to spend time as I can with him. We’ve been to several museum exhibits and a performance of Beethoven’s seventh symphony, and in the meantime, I’ve been squeezing knitting in here and there.

 

Unfortunately, the sweater I’ve been laboring on for almost a year now on size 1 needles is living it up royally without me, riding around the best neighborhoods in Paris in the back of a taxi. I can’t blame Vilma for her great escape. Who wouldn’t want to live in Paris all year round? You can see her lurking in the photo below, curled up in my hands but really eyeing the exits at the Musee d’Orsay and planning a break for freedom:

 Yes, the bottom half of Sarah Hatton’s Vilma sweater is now swanning around Paris, flaunting her sleek Finest fibers without my grubby hands on her any more. But I have a plan. Vilma's sleeves are at home, and with a little ingenuity and luck, I can knit a fair-isle body that will compensate for my 3 lost balls of yarn. Vilma is gone, but Nicole, as I will name the ingenious creation I may someday cobble together with scraps of yarn, may live on.

 

Sarah Hatton’s Vilma sweater

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vilma-5

 

As I struggled to deal with Vilma’s flight in a late-night cab, I consoled myself with a visit to La Bien Aimee. It truly is a paradise of hand-dyed yarn near La Place d’Italie. The store awning and bags are hued bright yellow to commemorate Aimee’s signature Yellow Brick Road color:

 

And I did buy a skein of the yellow for a future shawl on LBA's merino sportsweight base. The colors from left to right are Yellow Brick Road, Jonna, and Hegelia.

 

 

I could not resist buying some sock yarn at La Bien Aimee since the last pair I knitted in the BFL sock base turned out so well:

 

These are Kate Atheley’s Jarvis socks, which I finished recently and really adore.  I wanted some light-colored speckled yarn, which was available in 2 minis, and then I also picked up a great skein of purple speckled grey on BFL touch sock.

 

1 skein Andromeda, 2 small skeins of Blush + Yellow Brick Road mini skein

 

My father decided to pitch in for my upcoming Christmas present, so as a bonus, I walked away with two really gorgeous colors: The LBA sportweight merino in the vintage colorway, plus a skein of the yarn LBA only sells at their shop. Allure, in dark purple. The allure is a 70% alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere base and the colorway is “The Flying Knitter”, which is the name of a yarn boutique in a different part of Paris.

 

My German cousin-in-law, Annette, had taken the train over to see me and my husband here for a few days, so as she’s a knitter, we were able to spend a lovely "crafternoon" together:

 

 

We also attended the knit night at L’oisivethé on Wednesday, where we had a lovely meal and knit with a welcoming group. The menu was simple, with soft-boiled eggs and toast “soldiers” and a wonderful pot of tea for me:

 

 

Annette and I sat at a table with several accomplished French women as well as a Portuguese gal who was fluent in English and French as well as her native language. It was a really lovely evening, and by some weird coincidence we all seemed to be knitting with the same colored yarn! 

 

 

Well, I’m off to search the internet for ideas on a colorwork panel I can insert into my Wilma turned Nicole sweater, now that I’ve lost 3 balls of the long-discontinued yarn that makes up the body of the sweater, above. Keep your eyes on your knitting, readers. You never know when it may be getting ideas of it's own....

If I “Eat Locally” should I “Knit Locally?”

 

 

I’ve gathered two bowls full of Fuji apples from my tree and can’t wait to make them into pies! There’s something joyous about eating the fruits and vegetables from the garden outside, in spite of local varmints. It’s funny how I used to be on the side of the pesky animals in cartoon days until I started gardening myself. My babybear peach tree produced 3 fruits this year and I only got one due to ahem competition. Can you believe that in the early evening, as I stood sipping a cup of tea, a cheeky little rat streaked along my stone patio, rolling a half-eaten peach in front of him?  He stopped, took a bite, saw me staring at him openmouthed in horror, and took off, leaving his spoils behind!!!!!!!

 

I’ve given up on growing my own tomatoes due to those darned little guys, I just can’t bring myself to trap them. So it’s mostly swiss chard and herbs and roses which don’t appeal to the local menagerie. But I digress. This post is supposed to be about yarns and cultivating one's knitting life. Recently, my yarn choices have not been local. Since my husband is European, we travel at least once a year to Germany or France and I’ve been buying yarns there and bringing them home. At the Edinburgh Yarn Festival, I made a point of purchasing Blacker yarns and some Shetland wools, as well as John Arbon’s Knit by Numbers yarn. So I’ve been making a real effort to source local fibers in these exotic locations, supporting nearby sheep breeds or whatever, but never made that effort when yarn shopping at home!!!

 

Array of Local California yarns at A Verb for Keeping Warm

 

It was a knitting podcast that made me think more deeply about where my yarn comes from. Woolful’s interview with Rebecca Burgess of Fibershed was quite thought-provoking. Rebecca mentioned that California is the largest producer of wool in the US (approximately Three Million pounds) but only half of one percent of that wool becomes yarn! I was shocked! Apparently,so much clothing manufacture has been outsourced overseas that local mills have closed and the demand for California wool is so small that much of it goes into compost. If anyone is interested in reading more about this, they can access the link below:

Fibershed Nonprofit:

 

The mission of Fibershed seems to be to form relationships between sheep farmers, yarn makers, knitters, weavers, and other artisans to rebuild the chain that used to add value to California wool. I had no idea there was such an important movement going on in my state to bring back California yarn and woolen mills, and I’m really excited about it! My first step in getting involved was to pop over to a yarn store in Oakland, A Verb for Keeping Warm, to check out their selection of local yarns.

 

 Floating: by A Verb for Keeping Warm

I saw some really gorgeous yarns there, hand-dyed by Kristine Vejar, the store founder, and natural dyer extraordinaire. My husband picked up Floating right away, drawn by its softness and the beauty of the natural dyes. Floating is an alpaca, silk and cashmere blend, and I walked away with one skein. Frankly, I feel a bit overwhelmed, having discovered all these riches in my own backyard. Apart from a skein of Floating dyed with Madder and Logwood, I purchased a few skeins of yarn which I plan to knit with and blog about in future posts. Specifically, I got a skein of Verb’s new Gather yarn, which combines California wool and Arizona Alpaca, and two skeins of Twirl. Twirl is not made by Verb, but by Mary Sarley, out of her herds raised in Napa, California. 

 

 

  I’m really excited about sampling these yarns and finding out more about how I can support this home-grown California wool movement. In the meantime, I’m heading off to Paris in a few days for my yearly visit with family....

News Flash—Spindrift Rescues Brioche Shawl!!!

 

 

A round of applause for Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift! It saved the day!

 

Here is what happened: My Briochealuscious shawl, that I had labored over, was in distress. Panicked, I searched for a savior, and found it in the guise of Shetland yarn!  

 

You see, I was acting on advice from Nancy Marchant about the slipperiness of superwash wool. She has designed tons of brioche, and when comparing the durability of projects knitted in normal wool versus supwerwash, she discovered her brioche garments made with superwash or silk had lost their structure, lengthening to the point of ridiculousness.

 

Alas, such is the lure of indie dyed sock yarn that I went ahead and put some little panels in my shawl anyway, since the designer, Mowry, used superwash yarn in the pattern, so why couldn't I? Unfortunately, the brioche looked like a dog’s breakfast.  Clearly, only a superstar like Mowry could pull off the knitting in superwash, at least short term--Marchant says it's over time that the brioche will fall apart because those threads are so slippery! I guess mine just looked sloppy from the beginning due to my loose tension. 

 

 

Ouch! Doesn't that look hideous? After this disaster, I paired my pale blue Cross Creek sock yarn with a raspberry strand of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift to support it and keep everything stuck together. Marchant had suggested pairing a "wooly wool" with superwash if you insisted on knitting it in brioche. This was a vast improvement, but the area where I joined my edging to the brioche section  I’d knitted purely in superwash wools still looked really wonky--it's the green and white panel + trim:

 

 

I realized that green and white superwash band had destabilized the whole garment and joining directly to it wasn't going to work. Solution? I grabbed some cream Shetland Spindrift yarn and knitted 7 total rows of garter stitch with it and the raspberry to create a grabby edge I could attach my rick rack edging to. This meant I was adding a stripe section out of the pattern, but it worked perfectly! Here is a closeup of the new join:

 

 

 

Isn't it amazing the difference yarn fiber makes? Now my blue superwash sock is surrounded on all sides by red and cream Spindrift, which is truly acting as the glue connecting the sections. This experiment has convinced me of the wisdom of Nancy Marchant’s advice and I will never try to brioche with two strands of superwash again. You see, the superwash treatment strips the scales from wool fiber, making it impossible for the yarn to stick together as it did before. It seems the structural integrity of brioche depends on that sticking factor. So it will be Shetland, mohair or other rustic wools leading my brioche knitting now!

 

 

Cheat Sheet: yarns to avoid when knitting brioche:

 

According to Nancy Marchant, you should avoid superwash yarns, silk blends, bamboo and tencel/rayon. Stick with “wooly” wools and you will have no problem preserving and keeping your brioche garments long term.

 

Yarn Choice could Save or Destroy your Brioche Knits

 

Have you ever spent weeks or months executing a complicated project in expensive yarn, only to see it dissolve over time?  I am hoping to share information that will prevent this from happening to you in the realm of brioche knitting!

 

Knitting Fresh Brioche Book

Two weekends ago, I attended Nancy Marchant’s class on Fresh Ways of Knitting Brioche. It was an amazing class, and I am truly grateful to Vogue Knitting Live for hosting a yarn event close to me, in San Francisco!! I had only knitted a brioche hat and was insecure in my brioche

increases and decreases so I found Marchant’s class at VKL invaluable. 

And look at this gorgeous sample of one of her leaf brioche pieces!

 

 

Now pay attention, readers, because I learned a really valuable piece of information from Nancy Marchant. Let’s face it, she is the world expert on brioche knitting and after having designed and knitted tons of brioche pieces and seen how they wear over time, she really knows what she is talking about:

 

DO NOT KNIT BRIOCHE USING SLIPPERY YARNs!

 

Yes, it is true that two-color brioche looks gorgeous knitted in superwash yarns. But don't do it! Nancy told us that she had used Indie dyed yarns for the construction of all the projects in her last book or two, and she discovered that superwash yarn is too slippery to hold the brioche stitch together. Over time, the garment could lose its structural integrity! As an example, she described a brioche scarf she had knitted for her daughter that started off pretty wide and short. But because the scarf was knitted in two superwash yarns, and that yarn was too slippery to keep those brioche stitches stuck together,  over time the scarf became longer and longer and narrower and narrower until it was no longer a thing of beauty but a snake instead. YIKES!

 

 

To implement the brioche knitting skills I was learning from Marchant, I was knitting Andrea Mowry’s briochealuscious shawl, pictured above, which starts with garter and seed stitch before it works its way into brioche. The yarns, as you can see, are indie dyed: some olann sock lite, in pear green [Pear] some fuse fiber studio superwash merino [Pink Drink] and fuse sock [Verdigris], and the ivory yarn is Miss Babs 2ply toes. As I was knitting up the shawl, the garter stripe and moss stitch sections looked fine in the superwash yarn but the brioche section looked less stable.  Can you see the difference?

 

 

I decided that short sections of two-color brioche, held fast by surrounding sections of moss stitch knitting would probably be okay, but I knitted the green and white brioche section on a smaller needle. I did feel an entire rick-rack edge made of brioche would not be advisable to knit in the superwash yarn. The border of a shawl is an important structural component and takes a lot of handling so I wanted to ensure a firm fabric. Nancy Marchant advised that as long as one of your two brioche colors was a grabby wool yarn, you could probably get away with using superwash for the second color. So that is what I am doing. I have switched from my lovely fuse fiber ombre pink to Jamieson’s Spindrift, which is a tweed yarn. Do you see the difference in the fibers?

 

 

While it is true that the Fuse Fiber studio drink pink colorway is much “prettier” than the Spindrift, when I experimented with combining it with my other superwash yarn to form two inches of the brioche border, it was limp and droopy and I could see exactly what Marchant was talking about. The fabric looked unstable and I felt this brioche trim would ultimately loosen and lengthen considerably, warping the entire shawl. By using the spindrift as the background color of my rick rack and using my superwash yarn to form the knit stitches that showed, the Spindrift creates a frame for the ombre effect of the companion superwash yet sticks it together:

 

 

Unfortunately, the looseness of the join made by the slippery superwash

stitches at the border join looks sloppy against the spindrift. 

The difference is stunning, isn't it?  So I am going to unravel the border 

AGAIN (sigh!) and reknit it, using a smaller needle and tightening my yarn 

when using the superwash. If that doesn't work, I will scrap superwash 

altogether and use another spindrift yarn to finish the border, but

then the colors wouldn't match the rest of the shawl and the effect

would not be the same. Also, I ask myself it the brioche section 

in green and cream is too unstable for me to join this edge onto?

These are all questions I wouldn't have known to ask before.

 

List of Yarns to Avoid when Knitting Brioche:

 

According to Nancy Marchant, all slippery yarns are problematic. This means you should avoid superwash yarns, silk blends, bamboo and tencel/rayon. Stick with “wooly” wools and you will have no problem preserving and keeping your brioche garments long term.

Review of Lyonesse yarn from Blacker

 

 

Last March, I was lucky enough to attend the Edinburgh yarn festival with my husband and some of his family. While at the EYF market, I purchased only one batch of yarn for a garment, as my stash has been piling up of late. I had heard lots of wonderful reviews of Blacker yarns and the company founder, Myra, helped me pick out my yarn at her stall —what fun! I have always adored this mint green color for spring/summer, and I have been trying to knit more in warm-weather-friendly fibers since California has become so hot. So I chose this 50% wool 50% linen blend in dk weight to take home with me. It is called Lyonesse, and also has a 4ply weight.

 

 

The yarn is not particularly soft to the touch because of the linen content, but it is not harsh either. This is very important for me, as I find I cannot stand to knit 100% linen yarns. I used a square wood needle, the Knitter’s Pride cubix, and this helped me knit the yarn pretty comfortably. It got easier after a few days of knitting and after that it felt fine on the hands. The biggest advantage of a yarn with this much linen content is the way it shows off lace work. I chose the Vogue Lace Hem Top, and boy did the leaf pattern show up distinctly in this yarn!

 

 

Unfortunately, the short rows I knitted for my bust darts in front also show up pretty clearly. I will avoid knitting short rows in this yarn in a prominent place in future. Can you see the oblong of back and forth rows right over the bust? Because I knitted the short rows back and forth instead of in the round, they had a different texture from the rest of my knitting, which was  in the round. I am hoping that repeated washings will soften the lines there, but this yarn really shows details like that prominently. 

 

 

I am glad to say I found Mari Tobita's Lace Hem Top pattern enjoyable to knit. I adapted it by knitting the size small from the top down and adding extra decreases for the waist, then I increased again to the larger size as I was knitting from waist to hips to keep the intended A-line shape of the pattern. I altered the top because I find that baggy knits do not look good on my figure unless the yarn I’m using has a lot of drape, and that is not the greatest strength of the Lyonesse yarn, although it has some drape due to the linen content.

 

 

The greatest plus for me about this yarn is that it was comfortable for me to wear in August and September when it is particularly hot in California, but it was more comfortable on the hands when knitting than a pure cotton yarn. I will definitely make summer tops with this yarn again if I am ever lucky enough to travel to the UK and find it!

 

 

Walking Paris in Handknitted Socks

 

Indigo Leaves by Joji Locatelli

 

Many visitors think of Paris as a city of major monuments—the Eiffel tower, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe. But we walkers know that it’s the small moments discovered by chance that are the most beautiful. The incentive to lose yourself in Paris is huge because you never know what you will find when you turn a corner—a neighborhood arch? 

 

 

A twelfth century tower around the corner from your favorite bistro?

 

Or a statue, like La Flamme de la Liberté, that you discover when emerging from a metro stop

 

 

It is not just the buildings that tempt one to range through the city, but the architectural details like antique door knobs.

 

 

Spying a grinning face or animal peering from a doorknob, I imagine the hands that have touched them over hundreds of years. And the doors themselves, from all different eras, which have opened and closed on generations of Parisians.

 

 

Is it any wonder that Paris is so tempting to walk through? The narrow alleys, flanked with antique buildings on all sides, enclose you in an intimate atmosphere:

 

 

And the light, ever changing, beckons. Imagine opening a door into a cathedral to find light rays piercing an arched hallway:

 

 

Or illuminating a stained glass window during a quiet afternoon...

 

 

And, finally, glittering through rain-drenched streets at night:

 

 

Then there are the Parisians crowded everywhere, smoking, bicycling, laughing, talking with dramatic hand gestures--the men outfitted in tight brightly colored pants, the women discreet and trendy, and the children prancing through the streets as if they owned the town.

 

 

It is the fault of Paris' siren call that I have become a sock knitter. The hours of walking through narrow cobblestone streets, up and down flights and flights of stairs take their toll. Halfway through my Paris visits, I have to ice my feet and by the end, I can barely hobble onto the plane. So this year, I arrived with a strategy. Courtesy of the Bakery Bears Podcast, I learned that well-fitted hand knitted socks can reduce walking and running fatigue so I was determined to make some of my own.

 

 

 

As a beginning sock knitter suffering from a concussion, I decided to start as simply as possible. I purchased Very Pink’s Learn to Knit Socks pattern which uses worsted weight yarn and is illustrated by a step-by-step video. I found it quite easy to follow and I just added in a little Peerie flooer from Kate Davies hat pattern which I had knitted recently. However, I did not like the shaping instructions which led to a really pointy-looking toe. It's also pretty obvious I was kitchnering to join my toe stitches for the first time. The toes of those socks look rough!

 

 

My next time using the pattern, I was able to adapt the toe shaping somewhat. I did find the socks extremely comfortable to wear, and they truly did reduce my walking fatigue during the Paris visit. So I knitted myself a third pair:

 

 

My only issue with this pattern is that it calls for Cascade 220 yarn, which is 100% wool, and I am already finding my green toe in the pair above showing signs of wear. Then again, I have been rotating these three pairs of socks continuously since the Paris trip and so clearly the only solution is for me to take my courage in both hands and knit fingering-weight socks. That will allow me to use an appropriate nylon blend sock yarn so that they will last. I will definitely be knitting one of Kay Jones's sock patterns like the Prairie Socks once I get up my courage! In the meantime, I've started with Joji Locatelli's Indigo Leaves pattern which uses work sock, a plump sportweight yarn, which feels like DK in the hands. That has allowed me to change down from a size 5 to 2.5 needle rather than a size 1 or 0 I know I will need to knit a bakery bears sock. Eek!

 

 

Next time I visit Paris, I will be fully armed with a wardrobe of socks that will cushion my feet against the concrete. As I slide my toes into their warm, cushy protective shields, I’ll sigh in anticipation of the next walking adventure!

Inara by Ambah O’Brian

 

Two color gradients on the opposite side of the spectrum! What a genius idea to combine them in one shawl! Because of the way the two gradients overlap each other, this became the most fascinating shawl pattern I have knitted to date. The designer, who I believe was an artist before delving into knitwear, was clearly inspired when she created Inara!

 

 

I used two gradient sets of Miss Bab’s 2ply Toes yarn in grey and red focused colorways:

 

I must say that the instructions to this shawl are a bit bare-bones and I was stumped by how to overlap the gradients at first because there is no verbal explanation of the color sequence, only a very brief diagram consisting of paired letters. It took me some time examining finished objects on ravelry and unraveling my first section before I understood how to sequence the two spectrums  as the designer intended. That is the one flaw I found in the pattern, otherwise it was straightforward. The lace pattern was both fun and easy to knit and I think it adds delicacy to the shawl which really enhances its beauty.

 

 

The springy merino by Miss Babs creates a wonderful, cushy fabric to snuggle into and I’m sure I will wear this shawl often. I’ve been looking forward to knitting this pattern for a long time and I’m not sure of what shawl to cast on next. Does anyone have any favorites to recommend?

 

The Emma Tee by Sarah Hatton

 

My obsession with the discontinued Rowan yarn, Calmer, has not diminished. When I decided to knit a simple tee for summer, it was the first yarn I reached for. I used Sarah Hatton’s pattern, Emma Tee because I feel Sarah Hatton is really at the top of her game right now in designing wearable garments with fun designs. The skirt it's paired with is my funsie from Paris, a skirt and top set with lace/metal grommet trim I bought at Maje.

 

Although there is no waist shaping written into the pattern for this tee, I did add in a bit. But since the pattern is ribbed, the fabric does draw in and create a flattering drape on the body with or without waist shaping even when it is knitted in a cotton blend.

 

 

This will be my go-to knitted tee for summer, because the fabric of Calmer has such a lovely drape and feel against the skin. The only yarn I have found in recent years that remotely comes close to its perfection is Rowan Softyak dk.

 

 

Softyak is a mostly cotton yarn but somehow the addition of a bit of yak gives it a lovely drape and hand feel. I knitted a fun lace top out of the softyak last summer, called Tatsu.

 

Tatsu was designed by Marie Wallin and is really wearable and light even in the heat. I suggest trying out softyak yarn if you are interested in knitting a tee for summer. Since I still have a considerable stash of Calmer, however, some of my summer tops may be knitted out of it for years to come.