A couple of months ago a did a post about some popular sweaters I was thinking about knitting and FYI I cast on the Tea Leaves Cardigan for my Mom. She is pretty fabulous to knit for since she is 1. small. It takes the least amount of yarn and time to knit her a sweater because she is a small, it’s pretty great. 2. appreciative. Mom is a crafty lady herself and she always appreciates a hand knit. 3. wears knitting. It’s so nice to make things for someone who not only appreciates the work done, but loves to wear knitwear! She doesn’t worry about itchyness (although I do try hard not to knit itchy things obviously) and she is willing to design an outfit around a pretty knitted item, instead of the other way around. The sweater is well under way in SweetGeorgia Worsted, the colourway is Cypress.
This brings me to my next obsession: lace. The weather is slowly turning (looks like one nice day and one rainy day but I’ll take it) and I find nothing lovelier than lace in summer. Last summer I completed 5 lace shawls and this summer I am planning at least 5 more. I thought I would share my top picks.
1. First up is Brooklyn Tweed’s Rock Island. This is not a shawl for the faint of heart. It has lace on both sides (no purl row breaks) and a slightly more complicated construction than the traditional triangle. It is, of course, stunning though! And without sounding redundant, it’s very lacy. There are a lot of shawls out there that have large portions of stockinette or garter stitch with a little lace edging. These are fabulous, don’t get me wrong. But Rock Island, while it does have some garter stitch, has a lot of large holes, making it a more open piece. 680 yards of lace is needed for this project.
2. Damask is one of the most popular projects on Ravelry at the moment and I think it’s just lovely! I’m not sure if it’s partially because I’m a real sucker for mustard yellow right now but there are some really beautiful projects in the pattern. I am thinking about some Malabrigo sock or possibly some Alchemy Juniper for this project. 380-650 yards of sock weight (approximately 28 stitches per 4 inches) is needed for this project.
3. Vesna is a shawl from the latest Twist Collective and it’s done up in one of my personal faves, SweetGeorgia Merino Silk Lace. I have a skein of this with a generous 680 yards so I could start either the Rock Island right away…tough decisions!
There are Gourmet Crafter patterns and yarn as well as Tin Can Knits book 9 Months of Knitting! Gourmet Crafter yarn is inspired by photographs I have taken of the world around me. Whether it’s Moraine Lake in the Rockies or Cherry Blossoms on Highbury street!
