While I work on the blocking and buying of buttons for Nicole, I've gotten started on another little project: a summer lace scarf made out of this:
I found Noro Sekku at Knit Around in Ann Arbor on a recent visit to my parents' house. I loved the colorway (quelle surprise, eh?), but really gave it a chance because of the fiber composition: 50% cotton, 17% wool, 17% nylon & 16% silk. Lightweight and not too wooly, and a touch of nylon to make it durable. I'm pretty sure it's colorway "04" but the ball band has gone missing at the moment (I was unable to remove the inner cardboard plug, so started knitting it from the outside in).
Because I wanted to emphasize the striping, I looked for a pattern that would make the fabric undulate a bit. I've always loved "Tilting Blocks" out of Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
, and this seemed like the perfect time to test it out.
This pattern can be worked with stockinette or garter stitch blocks separating the open blocks. I set up three repeats of the pattern with a selvedge stockinette stitch on either edge, using 2.75 mm needles. Then I chose to alternate garter and stockinette blocks, doing three rows of each and then switching back to add more texture. I think the gauge is good for this project -- nice and soft and drapey, but the solid blocks are not too see-through. With 460 yards in this skein, I'm hoping that I make it to at least 4' of scarf. I thought about making it narrower, but liked the balance of the odd number of repeats best.
While this project isn't truly mindless, the pattern is much easier to memorize than you might think. I'm enjoying it so much, I've been thinking about a summer sweater out of similar weight solid color yarn. Hmmm....
I found Noro Sekku at Knit Around in Ann Arbor on a recent visit to my parents' house. I loved the colorway (quelle surprise, eh?), but really gave it a chance because of the fiber composition: 50% cotton, 17% wool, 17% nylon & 16% silk. Lightweight and not too wooly, and a touch of nylon to make it durable. I'm pretty sure it's colorway "04" but the ball band has gone missing at the moment (I was unable to remove the inner cardboard plug, so started knitting it from the outside in).Because I wanted to emphasize the striping, I looked for a pattern that would make the fabric undulate a bit. I've always loved "Tilting Blocks" out of Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns
, and this seemed like the perfect time to test it out.This pattern can be worked with stockinette or garter stitch blocks separating the open blocks. I set up three repeats of the pattern with a selvedge stockinette stitch on either edge, using 2.75 mm needles. Then I chose to alternate garter and stockinette blocks, doing three rows of each and then switching back to add more texture. I think the gauge is good for this project -- nice and soft and drapey, but the solid blocks are not too see-through. With 460 yards in this skein, I'm hoping that I make it to at least 4' of scarf. I thought about making it narrower, but liked the balance of the odd number of repeats best. While this project isn't truly mindless, the pattern is much easier to memorize than you might think. I'm enjoying it so much, I've been thinking about a summer sweater out of similar weight solid color yarn. Hmmm....
Good pattern choice. That yarn composition is unusual to say the least! How does it feel knitted up?
Very sweet. I haven't seen that yarn, though I've been avoiding the yarn shop. My nearly once a week trips were getting a little out of hand!
Just about ANYTHING Noro gets my approval. This scarf looks like it's going to be amazing.
Look how pretty that is!
I'm starting to think that this yarn is just going to keep turning up on peoples blogs tempting me until I yield and buy 10 balls. Darn that's pretty.
I'll keep my eyes open at my LYS for that yarn - it's looks great. As usual with Noro yarns, it's hard to believe that your knitted garment is a result of the skein I am looking at. It's part of the charm of the yarn but it does make it hard to predict results, doesn't it?
I have knitted that pattern myself, into a pair of socks, and enjoyed both the knitting of it and the result.
Linda