In Which I Amuse Myself...And The Green Woman
Again, she's been a very, very patient Green Woman, and I knew that I should probably do something to make her happy.
Having missed my first deadline for the baby gift (my guild meeting...I wanted badly for my friends to see the finished piece!), I decided to cast on something NEW Tuesday night. It was high time to get over my recent spate of single-minded knitting, and I had just the thing in mind. Lucky for me, the needles that I had ordered for that project had arrived that very afternoon.
As some of you may know already, I have a fondness - ahem, bordering on an obsession - for circular shawls. It is therefor completely to be expected that I had fallen in love with Renee Leverington's Mandala pattern some time ago. I've spent a lot of time drooling over finished Mandalas on Ravelry, and knew that it was only a matter of time before I would have one of my own. I wasn't sure, though, of how I wanted to do it. Beads or no beads? Handpaint or solid? Fingering or laceweight?
And then I received a Knit Picks order. Sigh.
I've been very good at NOT buying unnecessary yarn for a good long while now, but when I had made that order I had fallen completely in love with their new Tonal Shadow laceweight. The Queen Ann colorway was one of a couple that sucked me in...which is not a surprise as the yellow/pink pairing is my second greatest color temptation. (Behind all things GREEN, natch.) The funny thing is that the yarn that arrived was not at all what I expected. On my screen it was a soft, pastel-y color. In my hands it was deeper, and much more vibrant. No matter - I loved it every bit as much, and maybe more. I immediately knew that this yarn was intended for that Mandala.
I already had an inkling that this yarn was going to do a funky spiral - thanks to a quick perusal of other mandalas on Ravelry made from the various Knit Picks multicolored laceweights - and I must say that I am absolutely enchanted by that effect. (Note - if the colors were even a smidge more of a contrast, this would be really bad, but as is it doesn't detract from the lace pattern too much and is thus amusing me.)
The best part about knitting the mandala? It's totally a choose-your-own-adventure pattern, with four different patterns for each section. While I hated those books as a child, I LOVE this about knitting!
Then something funny happened. I found myself wondering on Wednesday about some Malabrigo laceweight in my stash. (Purchased at The Loopy Ewe.)The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the color would be a perfect counterbalance to the shawl in my hands...one warm and one cool. Ooooohhhh..... and then I could try out other pattern combinations. What the hay! Might be fun to do two at once!
The fact that I immediately fell heavily under the spell of the softest, yummiest, most wonderful yarn in the world has been fun. It'll pill like crazy - but I couldn't care less!
This is where both shawls were late yesterday afternoon. I'm using the same size needle (US 4) but am selecting different options for each pattern section.
Having missed my first deadline for the baby gift (my guild meeting...I wanted badly for my friends to see the finished piece!), I decided to cast on something NEW Tuesday night. It was high time to get over my recent spate of single-minded knitting, and I had just the thing in mind. Lucky for me, the needles that I had ordered for that project had arrived that very afternoon.
As some of you may know already, I have a fondness - ahem, bordering on an obsession - for circular shawls. It is therefor completely to be expected that I had fallen in love with Renee Leverington's Mandala pattern some time ago. I've spent a lot of time drooling over finished Mandalas on Ravelry, and knew that it was only a matter of time before I would have one of my own. I wasn't sure, though, of how I wanted to do it. Beads or no beads? Handpaint or solid? Fingering or laceweight?And then I received a Knit Picks order. Sigh.
I've been very good at NOT buying unnecessary yarn for a good long while now, but when I had made that order I had fallen completely in love with their new Tonal Shadow laceweight. The Queen Ann colorway was one of a couple that sucked me in...which is not a surprise as the yellow/pink pairing is my second greatest color temptation. (Behind all things GREEN, natch.) The funny thing is that the yarn that arrived was not at all what I expected. On my screen it was a soft, pastel-y color. In my hands it was deeper, and much more vibrant. No matter - I loved it every bit as much, and maybe more. I immediately knew that this yarn was intended for that Mandala.
I already had an inkling that this yarn was going to do a funky spiral - thanks to a quick perusal of other mandalas on Ravelry made from the various Knit Picks multicolored laceweights - and I must say that I am absolutely enchanted by that effect. (Note - if the colors were even a smidge more of a contrast, this would be really bad, but as is it doesn't detract from the lace pattern too much and is thus amusing me.)The best part about knitting the mandala? It's totally a choose-your-own-adventure pattern, with four different patterns for each section. While I hated those books as a child, I LOVE this about knitting!
Then something funny happened. I found myself wondering on Wednesday about some Malabrigo laceweight in my stash. (Purchased at The Loopy Ewe.)The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the color would be a perfect counterbalance to the shawl in my hands...one warm and one cool. Ooooohhhh..... and then I could try out other pattern combinations. What the hay! Might be fun to do two at once!
The fact that I immediately fell heavily under the spell of the softest, yummiest, most wonderful yarn in the world has been fun. It'll pill like crazy - but I couldn't care less!
This is where both shawls were late yesterday afternoon. I'm using the same size needle (US 4) but am selecting different options for each pattern section. The Green Woman is indeed very happy, and I am indeed very amused. Some things are just too much fun for words!
Now...if only I could figure out what to do with the giant drawerful of shawls I already have....
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