The Second Shawl

Knitting really is helping to give me a sense of "normal" right now, not that anyone is really feeling normal and the world is anything but normal...

It is completely normal to buy a special skein of yarn and then have no idea what to do with it!  So you search through the patterns you have, and on Ravelry and they all either use much less or much more yardage than you have!

Twilight Song Shawl is the answer. With its unusual increase ratio (3.1 sts to every 4 rows) this curvy heart is interrupted midway with two bands of lace “edging” and finishes, having used most of your yarn, with the tiniest knitted-on border that can be worked from either the RS or WS of the shawl.

I knit several samples for this one, mostly to prove that it really does work with any yarn!

Laceweight...

Fingering....

Worsted...

 

Aran

 

For those pieces I used as little as 266 yards to as much as 850 yards of yarn!  

You can get the pattern from Knotions or Ravelry now!

Other than knitting what are you doing to keep a small sense of "normal" in your life?

Leave a comment and let me know!

Until next time...

Happy Knitting, stay safe and most of all, remember, we are all in this together, so be kind!

~M

#AloneTogether

The world is a very different place than it was when two designer friends and I worked #AloneTogether to create an unusual shawl for Knotions, but the timing seems very appropriate for the publication.

photo by Kellie Nuss Photography for Knotions.

Let me start by introducing you to the other two parts of the team!

Linette Grayum has had several patterns published in Knotions, but I originally "met" her in the Indie Gift Along when I worked on one of her hat patterns as one of my projects.  She and her family travel around the US in a tiny camper and her designs are usually inspired by nature.  You can see some of her travels on Instagram.

Tanja Luescher has also had several patterns published in Knotions.  I'm not sure if we "chatted" during the Gift Along, but we both belong to another group on Ravelry that is "chat heavy" so I have got to know her quite well!  I made her International Cowl this past year and loved it!  She, her husband and her cats live in Switzerland.  You can see more of her knitting and a few pictures of her cats on Instagram.

Together, but apart, we created a shawl that is knit in five segments.  Each of us knit our own sample segments, then I knit theirs to seam together with mine and send to the photographer. A group project, but the individual members of the group never met in person.

Perfect for an #AloneTogether knit along if you would like,Galaxy Traveler takes you on a journey across the galaxy, with a spacethip that takes you past stars and comets to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.  You can knit all the segments, pick your favorites and mix and match five panels or knit with your friends (Alone or Together) to create a truly unique to you shawl.

Available now from Knotions and on Ravelry!

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the second shawl I have in this issue of Knotions...

Until then, remember...times are hard, but you can do hard things, be kind to each other and knit on!

~M

Like Sand Through an Hour Glass

These are the days of our lives.

The world is certainly in turmoil...so how're you holding up?

I'll be honest, we have been a bit "up and down" in my little corner of the world.

For those of you staying home, staying away from other people as best you can, please accept my personal thanks.  I know it is hard!

My family...we're all essential industries, so the work and going out continues, but only to work and my one trip to gather supplies to feed us.

Gathering supplies has be, shall we say, interesting!  The panic buying from people who don't know how much of things they will need to survive two weeks at home has been incredible, and just when the world wide toilet paper shortage got into full swing, my washing machine died!

A week of rationing toilet paper (as hand washing meant cloth alternatives were not high on my list of things I wanted to do) commenced before the new one was delivered. In an abundance of caution I had it delivered to the front porch and manhandled the thing into the house and up onto the pedestal that I had built for the prior one.

It's taller than the one we had before, so TDQ can barely reach to put detergent in it, but I am not losing the cubby under it where the laundry baskets live so she will have to stand on tip toe to wash clothes.  But...nothing says Happiness like not having to hand wash all your things!

Like many of you, I thought I would turn to knitting for comfort in these wildly stressful times...and I can't wait to share one of those projects with you this weekend!  Here's the tiniest of sneak peaks....

As you can tell it will be a Knotions pattern...there will be two that I will be talking about on Friday!

Until then...stay safe, don't hoard and knit on!

~M