Simplicity

Simplicity in knitting can be beautiful, so boring you want to gouge your eyes out with your needles or both.  This was the case with Lisa’s stole.  After having lunch downtown one day we went into a cute little gift type shop next door to the restaurant.  They had a selection of stockinette stitch stoles to which Lisa immediately gravitated.  Now of course, being the knitter I am, I said something to the effect of “don’t buy that, I’ll just make you one” before even thinking about the 60 or so inches of stockinette stitch that it would require.  At least it was easy television knitting!  I gave her a few yarn choices of which she chose Berroco Pure Merino in a lovely neutral brown/tan (1995).  The yarn is great…very soft, the stitches are nicely defined and it drapes beautifully which is perfect for a stole or wrap.

The main feature that drew us both to the inspiration piece were three large buttons.  Finding such a thing in the wild proved difficult.  After looking online and at a few fabric stores for cool buttons in the 2-3″ range I finally went with something that was meant to be a pendant.  I found coconut husk Blue Moon Pendants at Michael’s which I then drilled holes in to create buttons.  The resulting look is very nice.  I’d love to have one of these stoles for myself but I think I’ll pass until such a time comes that I own a knitting machine.1 I’ll be writing up the pattern (such as it is…so easy I’m sure no one actually needs directions) shortly.  I didn’t get any good pictures so I’m hoping Lisa will model it for all of us at some point.

I have moved on to something just a tad more interesting to knit; the Bauhaus Fair Isle sweater for Jim.  I must be insane to knit fair isle for such a tall (6’4″), long limbed man, but yeesh, I do really LOVE him and all so I guess it’s ok.  I’d be about two inches farther along if I was not such a twit!  I’ve only ever knit one other fair isle project and that was last year at this time.  Apparently my tiny little knitting brain just can’t retain the fair isle “rules” for that long.  For your reference (and mine…I actually had to look up “rule two” in my own blog )

Rule number one:  chart out the pattern in excel to make it bigger and easier to read and actually start in the place on the pattern required for your size.  I actually did that before the yarn even got here but then I was knitting along and got to the end of the ribbing while we were watching a movie.  I hadn’t printed out the excel chart yet so I just continued on with the pattern so as not to interrupt the mojo.  Dumb.  Started at the right place in the chart, then as I went along switched to the wrong place in the chart and pretty soon BAM!  Totally messed up and time to rip.  Rule 2:  When knitting two handed continental fair isle, the color that is supposed to “pop” aka the foreground should go in the left hand and the background color should go on the right.  Remind self of this fact FREQUENTLY, like oh, every time you change colors.  Rule 3:  Not so much of a rule as an observation and suggestion…when doing corrugated rib, colors should change on the knits stitches instead of the purl stitches.  When I knit Autumn Rose, that is how the pattern was written and the color changes look very nice.  This pattern calls for doing it on the purl stitches which created a funky little two line sort of pattern for the one row of green as you can see in the picture.  If I had to do it over I would switch to doing the color changes on the knit stitches but this is just personal preference.

There is one mistake I didn’t correct but I’m not pointing it out…it’s in a transition row between patterns so as long as I do it the same through out I’m happy to let it be.  Overall, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made since I started Friday evening, but I really like to cut down on the mistakes so I can try to get it finished before Christmas.

We’re visiting with Jim’s mom in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  Hope everyone has a great holiday and safe travels with lots of good food, family, friends, football and of course, knitting.

1. hmmmm, I have a 40% off coupon for Michael’s right now [↩]