Super Secret Test Knit

Super Secret Test Knit - revealed

In August I said I was doing a super secret test knit for my friend Anna, also known as One Pink Plum. As has been well documented, I love a KAL (knit-a-long) and a test knit is just a KAL for a project that hasn't been published. Anna had asked me if I wanted to test knit the Picnic shawl for her and I said yes very quickly! At Bendigo I had bought everything on my shopping list, and nothing that wasn't when Anna provided me with the yarn quantities. We happened to be outside the shed when Averley Finnsheep was, and I scuttled in there and bought these two skeins of light green yarn so fast!

Knitting the shawl itself was a bit of a roller coaster. It's got three charts, and when I got the third chart established I just kept struggling. In fact, on the Friday night after I started it I was talking about giving up, I was struggling with the pattern so much. On Saturday I saw Katie, who was doing the same test knit and she was a little surprised with my struggles. After I got home I sat down and it was like a switch had flipped. Off I went on this delicious knitting journey. Just enough interest to not be boring, and I didn't have to look at the chart again, because it was suddenly simple and intuitive.

It made this squishy and delicious fabric, and was just so much fun to knit ...except that my yarn bled like crazy, so my hands looked dirty the whole time I was knitting it, and it took about 11 rinses until the water ran clear.

I've knit with Averley before and never had a problem. I guess with plant based dyes you don't always know what you are getting.

I enjoyed this test knit, and even more I love the finished shawl, which is quite scarf like. Even though it looks amazing draped around the shoulders like in my photoshoot pics, realistically I wear it wound around my neck, like in this less posed picture.

It's got tons of knitterly details, like the integrated i-cord edging. It's being published in Laine magazine this week, so if you want a squishy delicious shawl pattern, you know where to look.

Comments

Why Andrea Mowry, why? (A rant and a rather nice finished object)

As mentioned, prior to our hiking trip I suddenly, and rather randomly, decided to knit Andrea Morwy's Traveler Shell . It's basically an open fronted rectangle in a knit purl pattern. The pattern is FOURTEEN pages long. Why is the pattern 14 pages long? Because, instead of explaining the ten row repeat and then putting the shaping on top of that (e.g. decrease while continuing to knit in pattern), she writes out the entire ten row knit purl sequence every time something changes. Additionally, most of the time she starts with even number being the right side and wrong numbers being the right side,which is just plain odd. It's confusing and it's like she wants to keep you looking at the pattern for every row, rathe than following the very intuitive stitch pattern, which I had memorised after one repeat. The instructions for the band just say 'pick up x number of stitches'. No ratios, no acjnowledgement that different bits of the band have different ratios. Afte...

Linky Wednesday - the one with the pause

In meditation it's said that the pause between the in breath and the out breath is a gap, a space to rest. Well, I'm in that in-between space for reading, listening and knitting. This is a random photo of a highlight of my week - I filled up my lolly jar. These are just supermarket party mix. During the lockdowns, we sources a great pick-and-mix delivery service, but at some point they started sending from the UK, which is a bit silly. Rachey messaged me a new one she found, and I impulsed purchased a kilo of mixed lollies, and then she sent me a link to the biggest lolly shop in Melbourne, which also delivers sweets by the kilogram, so i think I'm sorted for the rest of the year! In reading I've just finished The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham . It's the second last book in the Summer of Mystery, and I have to admit, having now read nine Margery Allingham books, that they are OK. I wouldn't have read them if they were not connected to this club, but on...

Geogradiant MKAL Part 1 - that was unexpected (spoilers)

Stephen West released the first MKAL clue on Thursday night. I started knitting it without looking at spoilers. When I got up on Friday he had sent through an "alternative" clue one. I then went and had a look at the spoiler thread to try to work out what was going on. Which was that some people thought the pattern looked like a "German hate symbol". I knit on anyway, since I was half-way through. Then he took down the original clue, replacing it with a mitred square in garter stitch. The Ravelry forums and Instagram are a complete shit-show, even though Rav is being moderated. It's been a bit disheartening, having something that is usually quite light and fun weighed down with all this. I admire Stephen's quick and sensitive response to this drama. I also feel that anything can look like anything if you squint. To me this looks like a Celtic knot. I think mine is pretty, and I'll knit on through all crises.

What I made, by Sharon

Search This Blog