After January's ta-dah moments February's coffee table update is a little subdued. No finished projects, but there is progress on one long term languisher, a new cast on and a completely different craft. 😆
First up, the resurrection.
I started Sami back in April 2021. As a reminder this is the pattern. 👇
The original pattern uses two solid colours of WYS Colourlab DK - one pink, one grey.
Instead I'm using one of the self striping ColourLab shades, 914. A stripe of yellow, orange, red and lilac. And grey shade 137.
The back was finished relatively quickly and I cast on a sleeve then... nothing.
I finally got the front cast on in November and then it sat for a while longer.
But there is a new WYS yarn coming at the end of February and I want to get this woolly jumper done before casting on a silky tank top.
Not surprisingly once I got going again I achieved quite a bit and the finish line is now in sight.
And I'm so happy my past-self did a sleeve already. 😆
Other on going projects...
I'm past the heel and gusset of my Opal 4ply sock (shade 9985 in the Joy range). I'm using my favourite 'vanilla' pattern, you can find it on Ravelry.
But I've only done a few more rounds of my Jessica Jones Cowl. I LOVE this fabric and really need to just get it done so I can wear it. The cowl is inspired by the one worn by Jessica Jones in the Netflix show. The pattern is by Handmade by Smine on Ravelry or Etsy. I've added more stitches as I wanted a looser single loop. I'm using Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply in Denim. It's a semi-solid hand dyed merino. Combined with linen stitch, you get a lovely effect as colours overlap imitating a woven fabric.
My new cast on from last month lives under the table as it requires lots of different balls. It's a shawl by Georgia Farrell, part of the new Rowan Spring Summer collection to be released in March. It uses Rowan Summerlite 4ply cotton held together with Rowan Kidsilk Haze.
This month's new cast on is a new marled shawl. Marling in this case is knitting different coloured yarn - holding 2, 3 or 4 strands - together.
I love this technique and have knitted two Garter Squish blankets using 4ply sock yarns and leftover amounts from 4ply shawls.
Garter Squish using 4 strands of 4ply, free pattern by Stephen West on Ravelry
I also used it in the AquaMarline jumper (read more in our Gallery)
For my shawl I wanted another large one, something to sit on the sofa for when it got chilly.
I decided to knit another City Block Shawl as I love the one I knitted last year and have used it a lot. The original City Block was knitted in one strand of aran weight yarn. For my marled version I will be using 3 strands of 4ply on a 5mm needle.
The City Block Shawl is constructed differently from the top down shawls that I often share in the Gallery. You can see it clearly here in a progress photo of the original shawl...
You knit a long rectangle with some shaping at the top before picking up stitches down the left hand side and shaping the shawl outward to create a triangle.
So I gathered my 4ply, lots left over from AquaMarline and some new yarns from my stash, and started knitting the rectangle. I got as far as this...
My idea was to have a dark rectangle (the right hand side of the shawl) and then once I'd picked up the stitches gradually lighten and brighten the marled effect eventually ending with a neon corner at the far left corner of the shawl.
But I got stuck.
I wasn't knitting the shawl.
Normally my marled projects race along as I love the effect so much. I knitted AquaMarline in less than a month (unheard of).
But this languished in a box under the coffee table for over a month. I think it was the colour - too dark.
So I did what I usually do when I get stuck on a project and cast on a new one.
Another marled shawl, this time the Melting Marl Shawl by Stephen West and in less than a week it looks like this.
Love it! Not sure what I'm doing with the colour progression yet but I think it looks very spring-like. Perfect for February.
Melting Marl is actually a collection of patterns by Stephen West. It includes a blanket, scarf, hat and cowl. They are part of a marling workshop too which you can read about on the Westknits website.
My final new project is not knitting related. I've gone back to my roots... embroidery.
At the end of December I shared on Facebook and Instagram the idea of an embroidery journal. I had seen Sophie's embroidery on Pinterest and after reading her website I felt inspired to break out my embroidery threads and hoop.
The premise is to stitch one image that reflects your day. Sophie provides lots of tips on her website and I'm pretty much following her guidance.
I do think this is going to be hard to keep up! To give me some incentive (and accountability) I'll share each month in these WiP blog posts.
The details - I'm using a 10" hoop and some linen, possibly 32 count. I've decided to go for a bright colour scheme and black thread. It's taken on a comic book look and I'm tempted to do a whole month just in black.
I'm definitely struggling with the size of the stitching and I need to work with the fabric more. It has been a long time since I've done embroidery and even then it was never precise so I think it may take me until July before I'm happy with my stitching. 😆
