Agalina is a Glacier

       Agalina.....

 Agalina is a Glacier. She sits on the western side of the Antarctic Penisula and other than that there really isn't anything remarkable about her.  Until I made her into a shawl, that is!

As with all glaciers she moves through two different systems....Plastic Flow and Basal Slip.

How does this relate to knitting you might ask.

Basal Slip is one way I could (and did!) describe a technique where you use two strands of yarn and slip the needles back to the beginning of a right side row to knit it again and Plastic Flow (movement within the ice itself)  could be the movement of yarn overs and decreases to form a lace border.

I have said it before, and I will say it again...inspiration can be found everywhere!

Agalina... the name sounds pretty, right?

A glacier really is just a  block of ice slipping and sliding down to warmer areas, where it inevitably melts and potentially once again, can end up a sheet of ice to repeat the process. An endless cycle.


Well, the shawl does have an end, the lace, which is so fun to knit, but even the slipping and sliding down to that lace border has its own charm and interest along the way.

Knit in a cozy worsted weight yarn...Cascade Superwash 220 and large for me needles (US 7 and 8 or 4.5 and 5.0 mm for my metric friends) this shawl knits up very quickly.














I used three colors, Aran (which is cream) Celestial and Baby Denim (which are both blue tones.) But my test knitters  used everything from a deep red to purple, to one intrepid knitter who dyed two gradients and used one dark to light and the other light to dark throughout her piece.





And now for the best part...this pattern is available for free courtesy of Knotions online webzine!  It is just one of several great patterns this month.  There is something for everyone in this issue, from a children's sized dress to a cabled sweater for adults, shawls (of course), hats and mitts.  Go take a peak and see which patterns you want to knit.  I have several on my list!

Happy Weekend!  As we are forecast snow flurries, I think I will do one of my favorite things...sit by the window, enjoying the fact that the weather is outside, while I am inside with knitting needles in hand!

What are your weekend plans?

~M