Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Made to Match

I am sort of an eclectic personality when it comes to personal style and decorating, so I rarely ever deliberately try to get things to match perfectly,  but recently I felt the need to do a few matchy-matchy projects:

My Nephew is getting married this coming weekend.  I needed a new dress for the wedding, but the only nice dresses I could find were sleeveless ones, so I decided I could knit a quick shawl to go with it in case (as it usually is) the air condition was set to artic-blast and/or the weather chose to be a little less than summer-wear friendly in the Northwest region.  So I dug around in my stash and found some lovely yarn that worked with the colors of my dress.... then I looked around for a pattern.  Initially I was going to knit this but decided the initial lace pattern might be too deep for the quantity of darker yarn I had.  Then Wendy decided to do a summer shawl KAL... I wasn't sure about doing another mystery project on top of the ones I already had going, but by the time I wrapped  up those two and had empty needles waiting, she was already up to clue #3.   One of the knitters in the Friday afternoon group at the shop was working on this KAL and I had seen her shawl in progress.  I checked out the pattern and the stitch count + row numbers seemed doable for me, so I cast on fearlessly.  I breezed through the clues like nobody's business knitting at a very Wendy-esque speed.  By the time I had worked my way through the last row of clue #3, the final clue was up and I whipped through it in record time (for me anyway).  I love the finished shawl... and I think it really does go nicely with my dress:

Finished Shawl
I think these colors match nicely

Project Notes:
Pattern: Wendy Knits Summer Mystery Shawlette
Yarn: Maggiknits Linen (which knits like a dream) in blue & turquoise
Size nine needles / CO 30 May BO 2 Jun (crazy!)

 Since I never don't have socks on the needles I usually have a back-up pair going to the ones I'm knitting for my challenges.  I cast these on mainly to have something to work on with the ladies in the Friday afternoon group until we pick the next KAL pattern.  I had used some of this yarn for my two-at-a-time toe up class sample which ended up becoming footie socks because frankly the plain stockinette just seemed too boring to go on.   I suspected I'd have been happier doing stripes while I was working on these, but you know, two at a time 2 balls x 2 ends? Crazy, right?!  There seemed to be enough left for anklets.  And I had planned on knitting a couple of pair of cotton (blend) anklets to wear while I'm in Portland anyway.  Once I got thru the foot of the first sock and almost ready to start the toe; I started to get a little worried about whether I had enough yarn (I had some odd ends from the first pair, but didn't want the extra weaving-in).  So I did the unthinkable... YUP! I cast on sock number two from the other ends of each ball (see above) and proceeded.  I knit till I got to the same point on sock #2 and determined I had plenty of yarn left for both toes.  Oh well, best laid plans and all. Oh, and bonus! They go pretty well with my walking shoes.
A match made by Noro

Project notes:
Pattern: my basic sock
Yarn: Noro Taiyo Sock (cotton / silk blend)
Size 2.25 dpn 


Now I'm off to see what else I can get knit :)

Happy knitting!

Nana

1 comment:

Lynn said...

wow I love your shawl!!!!