A pair of long coffee brown gloves

As far as knitting goes, I’ve got several other wips and, gladly, FOs! Each of them deserves an individual entry but before I could ever manage doing it, I’ve got some photos for one project I love most.

I started knitting this pair of gloves in spring this year, hoping to be able to submit it for Knitty’s early holiday knits. But, as always, I was distracted by several other projects. To make the matter slightly worse, a deep dark brown colour like that needs your extra attention, which I couldn’t afford sometimes. Only until September did I pick them up occasionally, with knitting done the week before the last.

It has lace. It has slip-stitch.

It has cable.

They are long!

I will try to finish up the pattern asap and offer the patter for sale–I do want to offer it for free but considering the amount of time I spent writing up, answering questions, and doing anything ever related to it, and I’ve never sold a pattern before, I’ll start with this one.

Before that, a name is needed for the pattern, and more photos should be taken. To be totally honest, I still have to tidy up yarn tails and everything.

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The Double-knit Argyle Scarf

I decided to knit an argyle scarf in the hope of making it a quick Christmas gift in 2007. I remembered spotting a stylish argyle scarf from the (then) just-published Son of a Stitch n’ Bitch and decided to take that as a reference to knitted one. But soon after I realised that it was far from the right project to suit that purpose! This was what it looked like before the end of 2007:

Occasionally, I was carrying this scarf with me, trying to finish it off for different important dates (V-day, b-day and those alike). But more than often I was playing catch-up with it after those dates, such as the post-b-day effort captured here:

Fast forward. One year and one Christmas passed, and it remained unfinished. I put the blame on me disliking the double-knitting technique! When I returned to London in January, I decided to tackle it again for yet another important date. The date was in mid-January, so it means I had to knit the scarf on the move. To accomomdate to purpose, I replaced the pair of Surina rosewood needles that I used for the project to a pair of Lantern Moon circular. To my surprise, the change of needles made huge impact on my progress, and the scarf got lenghtehed quickly!!!

I was so glad that finally I’d be able to keep my words and got it ready for Dr Wang’s graduation ceremony at Royal Festical Hall!

The scarf is handsome and warm, and I would recommend knitting it as a scarf for me. However I won’t do double knitting in the near future I am sure.

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Gossamer Garden Stole, a few words

To say the least, I am so thrilled to find that so many fellow knitters faved the Gossamer Garden Stole! The pattern will go live on 1st September on PopKnits. Before that, I think I shall talk a little bit about my yarn choice.

As it is shown on my project page, the stole is knitted with both Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply, and Rowan Harris Tweed 4ply.  For those of you who know this yarn, you know they are essentially the same yarn, and they have the same shade number, the same shade name.  That’s why only Scottish 4ply tweed is put as yarn used for the project on the pattern page. However, as you can imagine, yarns I have used are in two different dye lots, and have slightly different shades.  The colour differences are almost not shown from any photos I took.  I’d like to clarify that it is not my intention to use different dye lots, just that I couldn’t locate Harris Tweed anymore (for obvious reason!) when I run out of yarns, so I subbed with the Scottish Tweed.

And why Scottish Tweed? The simplest answer is, I love the shade! I’d claim the lavender my favourite purple of all time.  It may not be a conventional choice for lightweight stole/shawl, its fuzziness makes me consider the best match for this particular stole, reminds me of seeing spider web in a hazy day.  Indeed Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze will yield a similar image, yet, I’d like to work this stole on a more easygoing yarn, because I know I’d knit and reknit for numerous times, before I settled into this pattern.  In addition, I’d like to knit a stole with extra volume! Moneywise, KSH/KSN could be cheaper for this project than Scottish Tweed.

If you want a warm yet airy stole like me, go for any 4ply wool blend yarn that pleases you most. If you don’t like hazy outlook, and prefer a clean touch, go for Zephyr silk-wool or any laceweight/cobweight yarn you like.

Thank you for your kind words.

That’s it for now.

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