WIP: Harbour Lights Shawl

About two years ago, while I was in college, I went on a trip to a yarn shop with my friend Sparkle.  I was having a really intense semester, and getting out of Oberlin felt both thrilling and wrong.  So we went to River Colors and petted yarn, and I fell deeply in love with this Jade Sapphire Silk Cashmere 4-ply.  With the silk content of the yarn, the steely grey read as silver.  I couldn't put it down.  I bought it, ferreted it away in my stash and hoped for the day that I would find the right project to do the yarn justice.



And finally, a couple of months ago I was paging through Sivia Harding's patterns and found this shawl called Harbour Lights, a triangular beaded shawl that took just about 800 yards of laceweight.  Exactly the same amount as I had of the silver Jade Sapphire.  I bought the pattern and beads on a whim without even matching them to the yarn and put it on my queue.

I cast off the California Roll scarf yesterday, so I needed a new project.  So I cast on for Harbour Lights.



I think I like it.

Harbour Lights pattern photo copyright Sivia Harding.

Pattern Review: Wool People Volume 2

When I jumped on the internet this morning before heading off to school, I saw that the new Brooklyn Tweed collection, Wool People Volume 2, had gone live!  It's another great collection with a little bit for everyone: colorwork mittens, hats, scarves, and plenty of sweaters.  There's even a men's sweater in there!

I love the direction that Brooklyn Tweed has taken his company, in using the best contemporary independent designers, allowing them to retain the rights to their patterns and receive fair compensation for their work.  I'm sure that his own work as a designer has influenced how he collaborates with others, and that mutual respect really shows.

Plus: gorgeous.  These are the real standouts for me:

Fuse by Veronik Avery

I'm not entirely sure how the construction works from these photos, but I'm intrigued.  I like the drape of the fabric and the almost cowl-like neckline combined with the asymmetrical fronts; it creates a relaxed silhouette that still feels just a little bit refined.  Classic Veronik Avery.

Kendrick by Ann McCauley

This stitch pattern really sings in Shelter.  I like how the row of circles at the waist suggests a peplum, and if I were to make this sweater I would have that motif hit a little higher to really highlight that hourglass shape.  It has a romantic feel to it that I love.

Lawrence by Melissa LaBarre

I didn't really notice this sweater at first glance, but it captured my eye when I was paging through the collection a second time.  This looks like a fantastic layering piece, the perfect slouchy sweater to wear over a t-shirt and jeans or a long-sleeved dress.  The front motif adds interest to the garter stitch, and the cowl neck keeps it warm and comfortable.

Spruce Forest by Nancy Bush

This shawl has three key attributes that automatically make it one of my favorites:

1.  It's by Nancy Bush.

2.  It's a triangular shawl that takes right around 800 yards.

3.  It has nupps.

I'm sold.

Overall, I love this collection.  Shelter and Loft are already beautiful, versatile yarns, and the pattern support offered through the Loft and Fall collections and the two volumes of Wool People shows great creative energy and momentum.  The only thing I'd really like to see in future volumes is Loft used single-weight in a sweater design - there was one sweater design (Ash by Amy Christoffers) that used Loft held doubled, but I'd love to see how it works up as a larger-gauge sweater fabric.  Although with the rate that these collections have been coming out, I'm sure it won't be long before my wish comes true.

All images copyright Brooklyn Tweed.

WIP: California Roll Scarf

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I went out to Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island for the day.  I had seen this yarn, called Freia Flux Lace in the colorway Dartmoor, the last time I was at the shop during the summer, but had no idea what to do with it.  It happens that my mom recently cast on a scarf out of a handpainted silk laceweight using a basic 1-row pattern, and it looked great.  I was itching to make one of my own out of a colorful yarn, and this little ball seemed perfect!

Sometimes I have yarn that doesn't get photographed before I cast on.  It never even makes it into the stash because it knows what it wants to be and practically jumps onto the needles.

It's been really fun to watch the colors change.  I think this scarf will really benefit from a firm blocking, and I have a feeling that it will be ethereally light and beautiful when it's finished.  It reminds me of something you might see at Anthropologie, and it rolls up into a ball that looks very much like a sushi roll.

And in case anyone's interested, the pattern is as follows:

1-Row Lace Scarf

Using long-tail cast-on, CO 40 stitches.

*k2, yo, k2tog* across row.

Repeat this row on both RS and WS until scarf reaches desired length.

BO.

Block the sucker.

FIN

Stash Appreciation: Tosh Sock

My mom and I went on a yarn excursion on Saturday, when I picked up this skein of Tosh Sock in Vintage Sari.  I had seen this colorway online a couple of times, but never really loved it - but then I saw it in person and was smitten.  It's another just-barely variegated yarn, with shots of gold and lavender in a mostly pink base.  I could really see the inspiration of sari silk in this skein: the delicate gold in the weft, the jeweled, iridescent color.  I think this cries out to become one of Hunter Hammersen's sock designs, maybe one from Silk Road Socks, like Serab.

Today I'm home snuggling my yarn.  New Year's Day I woke up with a cold, and only the beckoning call of my History of Costume class got me out of bed this morning.

I do have a couple of goals for this year, both the yarn-related ones I already posted about and some others:

1.  Work on knitting down the stash.  Saturday was my last hurrah of yarn buying for now.

2.  Watch 3 movies a week, and go to more local music shows.  These were big things that Lumberjack and I did in high school together, and some of my favorite bands are still the indie bands that we discovered way back when.  In fact, my love of indie music and films is the reason this blog is called indie.knits!

3.  Eat healthier food, and less of it.

4.  Kick ass at fashion school.

5.  Adopt some rats.  My parents still have one very old little girl rat, but she's very bitey and lives several miles away.  I really miss having them around!

Now it's off to eat some tomato soup, knit, and take a nap.  Hopefully I'll get this cold beaten down soon!