Shawl Mania

I finally have solved the cold shoulder wrap design problem. I wanted something I could throw on and toss off when having a 'moment' and here it is. I used one skeing of cheapo Caron TLC Acrylic and three balls of Fun Fur, size 11 circulars and the pattern is below. (note the attractive cowlick I am sporting. Haircut today at 2).

It is warm and fluffy and fast to knit, like five hours of television time, and of course it is RED.

But then, one must have a tasteful black version, so I used some already on hand black Funny and picked up two skeins of Wool-Ease and vroom this one appeared. It was faster because I used 13s. I ran out of Funny before I was finished and that made me, yes, made me return to the lys to get another. I had to substitute Brazilia, but it was dizactly the same, so who can tell?

Of course I found some other yarn that I had to have. Damn. It's a sickness.

No cowlick at least in this picture.

I had some of my hand dyed mohair that went well with some Diane Bartels hand dyed silk and ivory (total yumminess) and love how the colors reflect the autumn leaves outdoors these days. However the yarn looks equally good with Frieda Green or red. Yellow is the base color.

I had no idea that I was making a shawl collared shawl as I knit this last night. I stayed up late to watch a Martha-on-Letterman rerun, and finished it in one sitting. 11's again and stockinette (with 3 sts of garter at each edge to prevent rolling in) instead of garter, until it came to the ties part, when I switched to garter completely.

Using two yarns held together and 11 or 13 circular needles, no gauge noted.

Pattern: cast on two stitches, knit every row, and at the beginning of each row k1fk1b until you reach the point where the top will fit nicely over your shoulders. I never counted the stitches of course. But when it got wide enough I cast on 20 sts at each side and continued the increase.

When the ties/top edge are at least 14 rows from the cast on 20 stitches part, bind off using a larger needle or just really loosely.

I will be sporting these shawls at Art Quilt Tahoe, and have packed off my quilts and some fabric already so that my luggage will have plenty of room for yarn. I have two sets of workshops for this two week trip and three days off in San Francisco (recuperative time, really) before the second set of workshops and lecture. I will have to have something to do with my hands... I hear there are yarn stores in SF. hmmm.