All posts filed under: knitting

westknits 2023 mystery shawl kal launches tomorrow! are you ready?

I never imagined I’d be considering joining my second WestKnits mystery shawl knit along, but I am! This year’s pattern is called the Geogradient and as usual, the goal is to knit the shawl in a period of four weeks in the month of October — that is if we can keep up with all the speedy knitters out there! I still don’t know if I will buy my yarn locally, or order one of the kits that will be on sale starting tomorrow morning. Last year was my first-ever MKAL, which I knit using very bright pink colors. This year I’m leaning towards blues and greens, but the pinks have a way of calling my name! (I’m looking at you, “Flamingo” & “Miracle” gradients! 🤩) One of my favorite kits going on sale tomorrow is the “Wave Gradient” shown below. Aren’t those blues gorgeous? Blue is a super safe color, I think, especially for me, since you’ll often find me wearing jeans and white tops. But doesn’t everything go well with jeans and white? Green …

a new sweater, ready to wear

I believe there are two types of knitters, the ultra-careful ones that faithfully follow a pattern and will not give up until they “get it right,” and those that cannot help adding their own “touch” to every piece. These are the knitters that no matter how hard they try to follow a pattern, end up skipping steps, adding and removing stitches at random when they notice they’re off track, and see any mistake as a decorative element. They’ll also do anything to avoid ripping back! I identify mostly with the first group. Typically, I choose a pattern because I love what it looks like in the photo of the magazine, website, or book it is in, and I’ll often go to great lengths to get the exact yarn that is recommended. A good example is the April Blouse I’ve been working on, where I scoured the Internet to find the same yarn and color I had seen on the @sandnesgarn brochure. I’m also the type of knitter that needs to fix their mistakes. I would …