Posted on

Sea Glass Shawl

Are you looking for some interesting summer knitting?  How about something in a nice, light cotton-linen blend, with pretty stripes and lace, that feels good to knit and even better to wear?  And how about a knitalong and giveaway to make it even more fun?

Sea Glass Shawl by Amanda Schwabe #summerknitting #Cotlin #KnitPicks

How about my new shawl pattern?

Sea Glass Shawl by Amanda Schwabe #summerknitting #Cotlin #KnitPicks #aknitica

I had a ton of fun designing this one.  And I had to Google the Pythagorean Theorem and relearn how to use it!  Be impressed.  It was hard.

BUT, now that I’ve done all the hard work, the knitting is easy.  And don’t you love how the lace is in the middle instead of at the edge?  Yeah, I wanted to try something different.  Just because.

It’s kind of like having a necklace in your shawl, right?  Fun.

Sea Glass Shawl by Amanda Schwabe #summerknitting #Cotlin #KnitPicks #aknitica

We begin this beauty by casting on along the bottom edge and then working up in growing-and-shrinking stockinette stripes.  I made a different kind of decrease along the spine to avoid getting a solid line.  Also, I like to try new things.

Here’s where my stupendous, mind-bending math came in:  I had to calculate the distance I had for stripes before the lace panel so I could figure out how many pairs of decreasing stripes I could fit in.  But first, I had to discover the size of the lace.  Then, I had to figure out heights of hypothetical triangles.  Really, I barely remember what I did.  It’s a blur.  But it worked, so I must be amazing.

(I hope you all know me well enough by now to recognize my weird humour.  RIGHT?  Still waiting for that sarcasm font to be invented by someone more brilliant than I am.)

Sea Glass Shawl by Amanda Schwabe #summerknitting #Cotlin #KnitPicks #aknitica

 

So what we have here is my favourite kind of knitting:  relaxing-yet-not-boring striping stockinette with a splash of interesting thrown in.  The lace panel is, as you can see, a field of mesh surrounding some diamonds surrounding some circles.  With the exception of one row at the very end, ALL the patterning is worked on the right side, and the wrong sides are all purled.

As with all my patterns, I’ve included both charts AND written instructions.  My aim is to please all of the people all of the time.  😉

Some further notes, if you decide to knit a Sea Glass Shawl:

The pattern calls for two balls of CotLin for the lace panel.  My test knitter was able to do it with just one, but I needed a small portion of a second ball.  We wrote “two” because the last thing I want is for you to be like me and run short of yarn!

There are tips in the pattern about how and when to sew in the ends for those stripes.  I really don’t recommend carrying the yarn up the sides because I, personally, don’t like how it looks.  But it’s YOUR shawl!  Do what you like.

You’re welcome to come knit along with others in my group on Ravelry.  I’ll pop in to answer any questions and to ooh and ahh over your colour choices.

That reminds me!  I knit my sample shawl in just two colours (Blackberry and Swan), and it looks fabulous, too.  What do you think?

2013-12-12 15.55.27

Man, it’s hard to photograph Blackberry.  It’s actually a super-deep, almost-black purple.  It’s really gorgeous.  And I like how the high contrast really makes the stripes pop.

But I also love the subtle combination of colours in the Knit Picks sample.  Here’s another colour combo — this is actually the one which I had originally envisioned:

Sea Glass Shawl concept sketch by Amanda Schwabe  #summerknitting #KnitPicks #CotLin #aknitica Sea Glass Shawl concept sketch by Amanda Schwabe Sea Glass Shawl concept sketch by Amanda SchwabeAs you can see, there are so many beautiful possibilities!  I can’t wait to see how everyone else knits this shawl.  Seriously, it’s so fun watching project pages pop up on Ravelry.

Now, for the fun part:  the giveaway!

I have an ebook copy of the entire CotLin 2014 Collection, and I want one of you to have it.  It’s gorgeous.  You can check out the entire collection here to see what I mean.  (In fact, I kind of want to make at least the Band Camp Pullover for myself.  Now that I know how lovely this yarn is, I’m totally tempted.  I bet it would make an amazing, cool-yet-warm sweater.  The yarn is both laid back and high class at the same time.  I guess that’s what you always get when you throw linen in the mix.)

Since I so completely enjoy knitalongs, meeting my fellow knitters, and chatting about colours and projects, I’m going to give the free copy of this ebook to a knitalong participant.

To qualify for the draw:

Head on over to the Aknitica Designs group on Ravelry and tell me what colours you’ll be using to knit your very own Sea Glass Shawl.  Will you use three?  Only two?  Will you go bright or subtle or high-contrast?  Let me know in the group’s Sea Glass Shawl Knitalong thread.

You’ll get bonus points (read: extra entries) for every social media share you connect to this post!  Share on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and then send me an email at amanda at aknitica dot com with a link to each share.  Don’t forget to tag those posts with #SeaGlassShawl

I’ll give you two weeks to enter the draw and order your yarn, and then we’ll get started knitting together!

And then….. da da da DAAAA:  At the end of the knitalong, we’ll have another prize!  Every finished project will be eligible.  I think we’ll have two draws, actually:  one for a hard copy of the CotLin 2014 Collection, which I will mail to the winner, and another draw for a free pattern of your choice from my self-published Ravelry patterns.

Yay!  I think this will be fun.  So, will you be joining me?

 

Sea Glass Shawl by Amanda Schwabe  #summerknitting #CotLin #KnitPicks #aknitica #SeaGlassShawl

Posted on

Vacation Knitting!

Because what would a vacation be without yarn?

I knit up the last piece of Eva’s sweater, and I think I’ll continue the vacation vibes by sewing it up this week. It’s a Duffle Coat by Debbie Bliss knit up in Knit Picks Swish DK in Amethyst Heather.

I also cast on these Wallflower socks, which I’ve been drooling over since I took the Two Hands, Two Colours class from Sally Melville at my local yarn shop. The Knit Picks Chroma is so sticky! I love it.

Before I could start them, though, I had to finish up these Jaywalker socks that were on the needles I needed. (The poor things had fallen victim to the New-yarn-arrived-so-I’ve-moved-on-to-another-project-and-I’ll-get-back-to-you-later Syndrome. I hear it can sometimes be fatal if left too long. As it was, they barely escaped without serious side effects. Thankfully, after some stitch counting, pattern puzzling, head scratching, husband laughing, and more stitch counting, they’ve pulled through the crisis and might even match — stitch-wise, not stripe-wise. I sometimes like a good, confusing, mismatched stripe.)

I also tried out a new stitch pattern I’d had brewing in my mind for a manly scarf. (For some reason, my husband says I don’t knit for him. I don’t know what he means! After all, that pair of socks I knit for him last year will be ready as soon as I sew in those last three ends. Sheesh.) Right. So, here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, it went great.

And, last but not least, I worked on some sizing for the child-size version of the Tulip Preemie Hat. I was aiming for a one-year-old size to fit Eva this winter, but I think it may need some work. See what buying a written pattern does for you? It saves you time and frustration because someone else has been frustrated for a time instead.

Oh yeah! I don’t know how I forgot about this one, but I also cast on another Ten-Stitch Blanket with some yarn I picked up in a shop near the cottage. It’s Bernat Mosaic in about five different colourways. It’s acrylic (bleah), machine-washable and -dryable (yay!), and WAY cheaper than the Noro Aya I used in the same pattern for my sister-in-law’s wedding present (yay again!). Even though I strongly believe we knitters should never have to sacrifice using quality natural fibres, my wallet doesn’t always agree with me. And, I have to say, the colours in this yarn are gorgeous, the mixture of them is more to my taste than the Noro’s was, and even though my brain knows I’m feeling acrylic instead of a luscious blend of silk, cotton, and wool, my fingers can’t really tell the difference. Plus, I’ve only come across one tiny knot so far, which is far less than the ten-dollar-a-ball, “high quality” Noro can boast. Oh, and when my kids spill cheerios all over it, make a fort out of it, and just generally rub their kidliness all over it, I won’t care because I can throw it in the washer.

To top the vacation off, I made the mistake of heading to Wool-Tyme for their tent sale, where I picked up a pile of yarn for ridiculously low prices. I’m quite excited about some of it (sock yarn and bamboo DK in vibrant greens and purple), and some has me scratching my head wondering why I thought I needed six huge balls of bright orange acrylic yarn just because my kids like that colour.

Good yarn that will be made into preemie hats
Questionable yarn that will nevertheless make my kids insanely happy as a blanket

Now this orange yarn, on the other hand, is something I consider a good buy. Eco Wool, on sale!

I’m picturing it, along with the leaf green, as stranded mittens for the boys to keep their little fingers double cozy this winter. Makes me feel all good and motherly.

Now, to stay home, stop spending money, and happily work my way through my stash.