Askews Me Shawl – Yards of Happiness

FO: Rainbow Askews Me Shawl

I love knitting rainbows. It’s fun to do the color changes and to see how the rainbow will really evolve in the pattern you’ve chosen. They make me smile and I swear I get asked more about what I’m knitting when it’s something super colorful. So after enjoying knitting the last Askews Me Shawl I decided to knit one for myself and with a rainbow yarn.

I saw this fun Lion Brand Mandala yarn in a great rainbow and picked up two skeins. One skein alone has 590 yards so it’s perfect for this shawl, I used almost the entire skein so I got a full rainbow (and a rainbow on the floor as I was photographing it!). I decided to balance my rainbow with a neutral so I finally frogged my Flax cardigan of it’s Cascade 220 Superwash in Doeskin Heather and I think it’s a perfect balance.

This is a great fall scarf and travel wrap. It’s big and cuddly and warm and can really be wrapped around you (or you dog). Below is the right side, although with brioche knitting it’s reversible but by definition this is the right side. The light camel color is the main color but the rainbow still really pops out behind it.

But of course I love the side where the color is more dominant. I always love the wrong side of brioche. I don’t know why.

Fall starts this week and I’m ready for chilly mornings so I can wear scarves and hats. I’ve even got a lovely yellow hat I’m excited to pair with this scarf, it’ll be such a happy combination. When everyone is on the train wearing black and grey coats I’m always standing out with bright and happy color.

And I think Jellybean thinks this is probably the perfect wrap to go with her banana button down shirt. I just won’t tell her it’s for me.

What I’m Working On Right Now: 4 WIPs

I don’t know how it happened but I’ve currently got four projects on my needles. I like to switch between different projects based on what the pattern requires of me. So here’s a look at what I’m currently working on right now.
Untitled
Guthrie 2.0!
After I separated for sleeves I put this one back in my project bag. It’s temporarily on hold so I could start my next test knit.

Rumo Test Knit
I’m working on a garter stitch open cardigan test knit. I decided to go with this yummy black cherry color Berroco Vintage yarn I had in my stash. I also decided to use this test knit to try out square needles.

I heard that square needles can be easier on the joints and I occassionaly get soreness in my right wrist due to a little cyst I’ve had for years. So I’m always open to trying something new. I feel like I don’t get fatigued as quickly using these but I’ll keep going and see how I feel about them. They are on sale through early September on KnitPicks, so I may order myself the set.
Rainbow Askews Me shawl
And with all that talk about rainbows I decided to start a rainbow Askews Me Shawl for myself. Brioche knitting it like mindless knitting to me now so after doing tons of garter stitch on my test knit I like a little break from that and brioche is a great palette cleanser. I asked my Mom what she wanted me to knit her this year and she said she wouldn’t mind a shawl/wrap so I’ve got to figure out what color combo and pattern I want to make for her, I have a feeling it will be something brioche too. And my fourth project? That’s still my squares blanket. I toss that in my purse and carry it with me and work on it bit by bit.

This has been a great week, I visited friends, museums, snuggled dogs, knit and really recharged myself. Next week I start prepping for school!

August 10, 2018 by IamDWJ Categories: Cowls & Scarves, Knitting, Stitching Status, SweatersTags: #yardsofhappiness, Askews Me Shawl, brioche knitting, Guthrie sweater, Knitting, rainbows, Yarn 13 Comments

FO: Askews Me Shawl

Before we get to the knitting I have to say, THANK YOU. To all of my readers, old and new, I thank you for all the love you’ve shown me over the last 2 weeks. I have been overwhelmed by all of the Ravelry messages, blog comments, Instagram comments and emails I’ve gotten about EVERYTHING. It has all been nothing short of amazing, kind and at times things that have brought me to tears with your heart warming words. A girlfriend of mine who doesn’t knit but loves to see what I make read the MDK interview and the comments and said to me, ‘Those people really get YOU, D.’ That made me smile. Yarn people are my people 🙂 Okay, enough with the sentimental stuff and on to my latest finished object!
Askews Me Shawl
I have found that two color brioche is kind of mindless knitting for me. When you need a reset or something in between projects, brioche is perfect for me. I can memorize the pattern, I’m a little engaged but not so engrossed and I’m always a little challenged. I’m sure that’s odd to some but we all have different knitting quirks. So after my latest sweaters and in between working on my Togue Pond Tank (since summer refuses to come) I decided to make the West Knits Askews Me Shawl.

First, can I say it’s hard as hell to photograph a full shawl. I tried to pin it to a wall to get a good pic and didn’t have enough pins! This baby is huge (taller than me at 5 feet 4 inches) and it has an unusual shape, almost like a stingray. I used almost a full skein (560 yards) of Miss Babs Yowza in Sunday Funday(the lighter variegated color) and 550 yards of Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Worsted in Georgetown, a gorgeous deep cobalt blue (I found a skein of it I thought I lost in my yarn room…clearly I’ve got to clean up more). I mix Yowza and Studio Worsted up a lot in projects (examples seen here and here to name a few), they’re both a light worsted that I feel leans more on the dk side and they pair nicely together. Added bonus their skeins are 560 yards and 400 yards so I have fewer ends to weave in when I’m finished.
Askews Me Shawl
I also realize I always seems to like the lighter side of whatever brioche project I create, which is usually considered the wrong side but since it’s reversible does it really matter? I photographed both sides but clearly I only liked the lighter side but hopefully you can see both sides when I modeled it worn. I really enjoyed this knit but this I’m not keeping this one, it’s going to a friend. It’s a bit of a thank you gift, but now I want to make one for myself with all kinds of stripes of color from my leftover skeins of dk weight yarn I’ve got hanging around. That might just be my next little in between project I work on. And speaking of gifts…
Askews Me Shawl
One of my closest friends was recently in Ireland for work and bought me what he called a cheesy souvenir but I just call it adorable. A green (my favorite color) traditional aran sweater mug!! I don’t even want to drink coffee out of it so I think it will go in my craft room and hold knitting supplies. I think that’s where it really belongs.