Everybody wants a rock...

Shadow Shawl close-up

Shadow Shawl close-up
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

A close-up of the shadow shawl combo. I started this two and a half weeks ago, when we took the cat to the kitty hospital. I've gotten 7 of the 10 stripes done (75 stitches wide), so I'm almost 1/8 of the way through the shawl. I thought I'd show an artistic close-up, since I'm going to be doing this for quite awhile.

New shadow shawl colors

New shadow shawl colors
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

Here is the unskeined yarn. I exchanged the green / brown combo for a green / blue one, since my sister wasn't sure about brown as a neutral. I was sad about exchanging the cone of Euroflax for two skeins - 20% less yarn and fifty cents more. I helped sell the yarn I returned to Ana of Ana purls. She's moving soon, so I'll have to see how her combo turns out on her blog. She has the start here. I really like both of the combos a lot, but the green / blue one works better for my sister.

Shadow shawl, finished

Shadow shawl, finished
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

It is my sister's birthday this month! It's a big one. so I'm glad that I have such a large present to send off.

It's done!

Chevron closeup
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

The kinver shadow shawl is done, off the needles and the ends woven in. I don't think it even requires blocking. Presenting a close-up picture from awhile ago (including the beautiful stitch marker from my SP). Pictures of the finished shawl tomorrow, hopefully.

The yarns are Schaefer Anne in a black / teal / blue / dk purple colorway, and Madil Kid Seta in Grapple, on US #7 needles.

Everybody must get yarn

More on the obsession with buying crack yarn for making shadow shawls. The new Schaefer Anne came into Borealis, the Schaefer people are continuing on their red kick and extending into blindingly bright territory. There was only one colorway that I half liked, the green / blue / plum at the bottom of the set. I continue to love, love, love the green / tan skein, but my sister says she does not want brown in the skein. But I included it in attempts to sway her. There are a bunch of blue and green matches, which are nice but lacking any oomph. Then there is my favorite, at the top: the green/blue potluck from Cherry Tree Hill with Euroflax. Sadly, there are only 420 yds in the CTH, probably too little even for the non-pico yarn. (And picoing in the Euroflax! Ick!). So, do I find it so stunning just because I can't have it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Edited to add: the Cherry Tree Hill is now the second from the top, and my new favorite(?) is the Mountain Colors in Glacial Teal with the teal Euroflax. How can you go wrong, with glacier as your colorway?!

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Yarn for shadow shawl, take two

Yarn for shadow shawl, take two
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

I thought I had already blogged this, but here is the yarn for the second shadow shawl. I love the jewel-tone Schaefer Anne colorway, but this is much more "me." I did try to return the yarn for the first shadow shawl, but just couldn't bear to. So both the first and second Borealis free money cards went towards purchasing Schaefer Anne for the shadow shawl. Now that I have a third card filled up (and there is an expected shipment of Schaefer Anne), I'm contemplating the dangerous route of another shadow shawl. (Dangerous in the sense that I haven't even finished one, or even gotten halfway through it!) I would like to have "matching" shadow shawls for me and my sisters. I think the real reason is that it is so fun chosing the yarns for the shawl; whenever someone else starts down the dark side, pretty much everyone in the store drops everything to help try out different yarns...

Chevrons!

Chevron Shadow Shawl #1
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

While I was working up the energy to figure out how to pick up stitches on the Highland Shawl, I worked on the chevron shadow shawl instead. It is really an easy pattern to knit, which can be either good or bad, depending...

The 10 stripes are set up, and the middle triangle (50 more increases!) has just been started. This is on size 7 needles, so even though I am a tight knitter, the stripes are pretty subtle. On the next one, I might start with 6s instead (even though the Annie Blatt Fine Kid is a bit thicker than the Madil Kid Seta).

Itty bitty baby shawl

Halfway through shadow chevrons
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

The shawl is creeping along. The shadow chevrons are finally starting to show. Technically this is halfway through setting up the k10 p10 shadow chevrons. However, since this is knit side-to-side, and there are 50 increases beyond the chevrons, this is still a tiny baby project. So this is an establishing shot of the shadow knitting, and I'll update in the sidebar, but probably no main blog posts 'til it looks a bit more grownup.

Hello, dead pumpkin!

Continuing with the shadow shawl theme, I've purchased the varigated yarn for shawl #3. It is 800 yards of fingering weight silk in the yummy goodness colorway of 'Light My Fire' -- from Danielle at No No Kitty Yarns. I should be able to get another set of fingerless mittens out of it too. I think it will pair nicely with the Madil Kid Seta in the "dead pumpkin" color. This is all rather ambitious, of course, since I have completed exactly one fingerless mitten (minus thumb) and 10 rows of the first shadow shawl.

Further evidence of unfaithfulness...

Shadow shawl with Rowan Kid Silk
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

In more ways than one; based on comments on the photo, I might have flashed my stash a bit early. Ooops!

Here we have the Schaefer Anne, for the shadow shawl, matched with Rowan Kidsilk. Sadly, I don't know which is the bigger "nope." But I preserved it for posterity anyway.

Borealis Yarns does not carry Rowan; this means I am elsewhere, specifically at The Yarnery.

I guess I really do deserve some handpainted yarn in my life...

Start of the shadow shawl
Originally uploaded by thomasina.

I purchased the Schaefer Anne in the jewel-tone blue / purple / teal / black colorway. Although I loved the maroon and forest green in the other colorway, I wasn't as crazy about the orange and brown; that colorway was already sold by the time I returned in any case. I did also consider another colorway, which had some nice matches in a slightly heavier Madil yarn (I think Merino Mix):



I really like the colorway with the purple Madil Kid Seta (see below), but there are a couple other people doing this pairing. The blue Madil Kid Seta that I already own matches nicely, but is too dark. I really love the teal in the colorway, and would like to highlight that a bit more. There was already a special order in for Madil Kid Seta in a new color, 467 Sea Foam, so I am going to try that combo when it comes in:



PS: I obviously "deserved" some #7 32" Addi Turbos in my life, too...

To shadow shawl or not to shadow shawl...

...that is the question.
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to keep the stash restricted
Or throw caution to the winds and invest (time, money) in a shadow shawl.

Two possible color combos for the shadow shawl (the yarns are Schaefer Anne and Kid Seta):

Pros: I like the pattern, was considering taking the shadow shawl class for fun (before suddenly having an idea I'm excited about designing), I really deserve some pretty hand-painted yarn in my life (not so much opportunity with liking the cables and designing with intarsia and all), the Schaefer Anne is beautiful stuff.

Cons: I have several projects in the planning stages I'm excited about (though I suppose I could count the shawl as "research" towards one of them), I don't know what I would do with a shawl, I don't know which color set I want (partly because of the point immediately above).

Conclusion: open knitting night is eeeeeevil. Though I did get almost another rep done on the DNA scarf; it is at 4 1/3 reps now. But since things look pretty much the same as before, no new pics until I reach the ribbing.