Finished Forest Canopy No 1

I blocked the pink Forest Canopy Shawl, which was started second but finished first, owing to an interruption in yarn supplies.
It came up beautifully, and grew from 36 x 19 to 50 inches wide by 26 inches deep. This still isn't very big, of course, but it's big enough not to look silly. I love the geometric look of this shawl, and how it makes something as floppy as wool take on such a rectangular and regimented appearance. I don't know what I'm going to do with this; I'm tempted to put it in a drawer against next Christmas, but there's a friend's birthday coming up at the end of this month and she might like it.

Honestly, the white sweatshirt in the hanger shot was spotless and gleaming; it's part of the joys of digital photography that it's come up looking so dingy.


I'm on the 16th repeat of the bluey green one now; I would be further on but I had to rip back a couple of rows after a fit of absent-mindedness. The motifs on it are fully half as large again because of the yarn and needle size so it should be more shawl-y and less scarf-y.

I think my next piece is going to be more lace. I'm very tempted by the Flower Basket Shawl, which was in the Fall 2004 issue of Interweave Knits and is also available from Fibertrends. It's quite like the Forest Canopy, but with a more complex main motif so it should be a little more difficult but not terrifyingly so. Or maybe I should s just get on with Icarus. I'll see if any Addi lace needles turn up in the post tomorrow.

Kristin Nicholas's lovely book, Kristin Knits, has been published in the UK under the title of The Knitting Palette. It's a softback (although the Amazon listing for some reason says it's a hardback) and it's full of glorious, inspiring photographs and projects. All of the patterns are designed for Nashua's Julia yarn, a blend of wool, mohair and alapaca, which as far as I can make out isn't available in the UK but a little exploration would probably find satisfactory substitutes - many of the items are scarves, hats or mitts, where gauge isn't so critical. Rowan's Wool Cotton comes in a very wide range of colours as do the Rowan Scottish Tweed yarns, Debbie Bliss's Cashmerinos and Artesano Alpaca. The Scottish Tweeds can be used double if you can't get the right colour in the weight you want.

The patterns include wonderful socks and scarves. not to mention hats and mittens, and some sweaters.







All the charts are in colour rather than having letter codes, and the instructions are laid out in a very clear way.

This is such a refreshing change from those books where the patterns are in tiny print or obscurely laid out, it deserves comment.

I always like stripes.
I have a lot of Wool Cotton left over from a stripy project, so I might rustle something up soon.