DesigKnit

After just a week of bus knitting, Drishdi is done! This project fell into my hands more than it was designed. I went looking for yarn of a different color, but found this one and fell in love. I looked at stitch patterns in the Walker books, and then ended up seeing someone knitting something in a different pattern at the knitting guild meeting. I’d seen the stitch before, but I’d passed it over until I saw it on someone else’s needles. Her project used a completely different yarn (bulky, dark, and variegated) and she was knitting a different kind of garment (don’t remember what), but I knew at once that this was the right stitch pattern for this scarf. Her sister scarf (the red one) was a struggle to design, but this one just fell into place, and then flew off my needles in no time flat.

We took advantage of some afternoon sunshine to take some pictures. I just love how the yarn drapes, and the strong vertical ribs made by the stitch pattern.

I really can’t say enough about this yarn. It’s Cascade Venezia, and the silk in the blend gives it a beautiful shine. The colorway is called Ginger, but flowing copper is all I can think when I look at it. It glows like pure metal in the sun.

There were a few defects in the first ball of yarn, but they don’t show up in the final piece and there were none in the second skein, so I think that was a fluke. The good parts more than made up for the bad spots.

For a pattern that looked like a solid rib during the knitting, it opens up nicely into an almost-lace (see the shadows in the lower part of this picture?).

Thick and warm, but open and lacy. Bright and metallic, but soft and flowing. Love, love, love it. Every stitch of the way.

And, since the universe saw fit to give me its pattern, I thought I’d pass it along to you, too. I don’t know the name of the knitter that gave me the stitch pattern, and I don’t think I could pick her out of a crowd if I tried. She was just there at the right moment, ready to share just what I needed, though neither of us knew that I needed it. So simple. It’s just three stitches, over and over again on both sides. K1, yo, k2tog. Repeat, and end the row on a knit. Turn it over and do it again. I worked 8 repeats per row, and used a skein and a half of the Venezia, knit on size 5 needles. Gauge doesn’t matter much, because you can choose its size when you block it; there’s a lot of give in this fabric. After blocking, I have a scarf that’s 5.5 x 76 inches. Block it wide, because it will stretch long again when you wear it.

I am sorely tempted to knit this again for myself. I may someday, but for now I’m glad that this first one is a gift. This pattern was meant to be given.

Happy 2010! I hope the new year finds you happy and well rested. I’m enjoying the second long weekend; looking forward to some quality knitting time.

Everyone is looking back over the past year, and posting resolutions and goals for the coming one. I don’t generally make New Years resolutions; I do better with general guidelines than “to do’s” on my list (which tend to stress me out, and thus get ignored). The word itself has been appealing to me lately; I’ve found myself rolling it around and around on my tongue, thinking about all the meanings it holds.

A resolution can be something you decide to do, or it can be an answer to a conflict or problem. I use it most to discuss precision and accuracy – speaking about an instruments’ resolution, or the resolution of a picture.

That last meaning in particular brings me back to the new year, and embodies some of the things that I’m hoping for in 2010. 2009 was all a bit of a blur to me; there was teaching, and writing, and thesis, and Germany, and now postdoc. I’ve lived in three cities and two countries, worked two jobs and been unemployed. There have been lots of transitions, and things just seemed to speed by faster than I could follow.

For 2010, I’m hoping for more resolution; a more fine-grained, detailed look at life. I want to slow down and enjoy the moments that sum up into days and years. Some long-standing, chronic health issues are finally beginning to resolve themselves, and I’m really looking forward to a year where I feel so much better. I think this will be a year of intentional living, of reassessment, of planning. One that begins a little blurry around the edges, but will end with clarity and focus.

And, in the next post, I resolve to talk at least a little bit about knitting. Happy New Year!