We both have projects we are trying to get finished…slowly progressing stitch by stitch. Then, wham! Something new comes along that blows you off course! We were taken astray by a new design by one of our favorite designers: Suvi Simola. The pattern is for a unique shawlette called Filtering Daylight. Suvi also designed Baby Cables and Big Ones Too, which both of us made a couple of years ago, as well as a gorgeous cabled tunic for Vogue Knitting.
From Sally
Last year I bought a single skein of Kitten in a pale shell pink at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. This yarn is an indescribably soft and luscious combination of cashmere and silk. I had been looking for just the right project for it. I thought I had over 400 yards, but as it turned out my skein was mislabeled, and I only had about 325 yards (which I confirmed by checking with Tess Designer Yarns after noticing the difference on Ravelry). With a hundred fewer yards to play with, my options were more limited. This shawlette looked purrrrfect. (With a yarn named Kitten, I couldn’t resist.)
As it turns out, I didn’t have quite enough yarn: I stopped after four repeats of the feather-and-fan pattern at the bottom of the shawl (the pattern calls for five repeats). I could have knit that portion in a cream or other contrast color, but preferred to use up my yarn. I had one gram left over; I cut it close.
This is a smallish shawl, perfect when you don’t have a lot of yarn. It also knits up really quickly, and the center portion is fun and easy to do. Side note: I hadn’t started a shawl from the center out in a little while, and so I googled Emily Ocker cast on and Magic Loop just to remind myself how to get started. A post I wrote on this blog was one of the search results! I blog because I have no brain or memory. The post I found is here if anyone is curious.
From Susan
I did not have a nice yarn for the body section of the shawl on hand, but I did have a beautiful sagey green for the border in alpaca and silk (Miss Babs Tierno in Beach Glass). I bought three skeins of this when I was in DC a while back, but have never found the right project — though I have made many attempts!
I then purchased a skein of Cascade Epiphany in natural, which unfortunately has been discontinued (?). I have always loved this yarn, but it is pricey. This seemed like the perfect small project to test it out on.
The pattern is a deceptively quick knit. I easily finished it in a weekend, and would have been done even faster if I hadn’t made a rookie mistake. The decreases are all done on the top edge…I did a couple on the bottom edge due to lack of attention to my knitting. When I ripped back, I decided to try to rework the short rows and tried out about three different ways. After all the ripping and reknitting, the yarn looked absolutely GRAY. SO, I ripped yet again. If I had just gone forth one time, it would have gone a lot quicker.
On Lettie
Detail of point when blocking:
I wore it already (which is why it looks wrinkled in the “table” shot) and really liked it — very soft in both color and fabric and very pretty.
It only takes one little blog post from someone and I’m off on another tangent. I don’t get people who don’t have similar problems.
Comment by Penny — April 7, 2012 @ 9:25 pm
Both shawlettes are stunning. And that Kitten… and MS&W is coming around again. Uh-oh.
Comment by chloe — April 7, 2012 @ 9:37 pm
yumo, both are very pretty.
Julie
Comment by Julie in San Diego — April 8, 2012 @ 3:03 am
As always your knitting is gorgeous. I’m glad to know of a good pattern that doesn’t take up much yarn. Thanks!
Comment by Angela — April 8, 2012 @ 11:33 am
Your shawls look so beautiful, thank you for knitting my pattern!
Comment by Suvi — April 8, 2012 @ 12:22 pm
OMG- I predict she’ll be able to take a vacation on her earnings from this one!!
We’ll all be making our own bit of filtered sunlight. I have a yarn crawl planned in 2 weeks, now I know what to shop for! Thanks!
Comment by pattie — April 8, 2012 @ 12:23 pm
Both of your versions are beautiful!
Comment by stashdragon — April 8, 2012 @ 12:33 pm
Absolutely glorious… both!
Comment by loveinamist — April 8, 2012 @ 4:10 pm
SO pretty…both of them!
Comment by rebecca — April 9, 2012 @ 10:26 am
They both look great. I am heading to my stash room to dig for yarn now.
Comment by Michele with one "l" — April 9, 2012 @ 10:50 am
I’ve joined a group on Ravelry in which we are encouraging each other to knit a “major” project. I want to knit the Shetland Tea Shawl–or some other version of the Pi Shawl out of a fabulous cashmere silk that is very, very tiny. On Friday I tried to start it and failed miserably with the Emily Ocker cast-on and dpns, so my next attempt was going to be E.O. cast-on and magic loop. So, guess which link I’ll be following! Thanks so much!
Comment by LauraSue — April 9, 2012 @ 2:51 pm
So pretty!
Comment by Kym — April 11, 2012 @ 7:12 am
So beautiful..I want to thank you for the yarn prize..2 skeins of Loft..I have been wanting to try this and not sure what it is gonna be but the color is beautiful.
Comment by Sherry N — April 11, 2012 @ 6:44 pm
As usual, absolutely beautiful 🙂 Great addition to a cool spring evening. Love it!
Comment by Love To Crochet — April 14, 2012 @ 8:29 pm