Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Keeping it Simple

Well, it was time to start a new project after finishing Wicked. I went to the spare bedroom closet (where the yarn lives) to take a look in the stash for some inspiration. I found some King Tut cotton that I dug out of a clearance bin back in January. I purchased the yarn for the Nina Shawl from the Mason Dixon Knitting book.

The cotton made it sound like a light summer project so I wound up the skeins and cast on. The other reason I decide to try this project is the small amount of Fair Isle on each end of the shawl. I have two stalled projects that both involve color work. One of the stalled projects is the Color on Color Scarf from Scarf Style and the other is the Weekend Getaway Satchel that appeared in IK. Both projects stalled at the time the color work began. I really would like to get those projects out and finish them, but I've been avoiding them because of the Fair Isle. So, I figured I needed a project with a smaller amount of Fair Isle that I could complete that would encourage me to drag the old projects back out.

There are only two sections of Fair Isle in this shawl and both are a few rows of a simple checker board pattern. The first one went okay over all. My stitches seem a little too tight and pull together slightly. I'm hoping that is will bock out a little bit once the shawl if finished. I decided not to frog it and instead I'll try to knit a little bit less tight on the other end.

I really like working with the cotton so far. It does split a little, but its not nearly as hard on my hands as I thought it might be. It is so much nicer than the dish cloth cotton I've used before. I think I'm going to have to consider knitting with cotton a lot more often. Do you have a favorite cotton yarn?

10 comments:

Deb said...

Beautiful colors! It seems we'll all have to tacke Fair Isle at some point doesn't it?
I do have a favorite dotton yarn - Tahki Cotton Classic. I made my Larger Than Life crochet bag in it.

Dave said...

I'm not much of a cotton person, but I agree that the Cotton Classic knits up nicely, feels wonderful and has good drape. Definitely not dishcloth stuff. :-)

Zonda said...

Looks lovely so far! Good to know how it knits up, I have a few skeins myself! :)

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Love the color combinations! Looking forward to seeing how this progresses. Good girl..working that stash!

Bezzie said...

People whine about cotton being so hard on their hands. I wonder if it's because a majority of them have only evern knit with dishcloth cotton which is very stiff. My fave cotton is Hobby Lobby's Sinfonia--it's like Paton's Grace, slightly shiny from the mercerizing.

Great idea on the shawl to incorporate a little colorwork!!!

Stacey said...

how neat! the colors are very summery! your stranding looks great so far....

Sue J. said...

Lovely. I'll be anxious to see the progress on this. Maybe I'll change my tune about cotton. Your color choices are great.

Monika said...

I loved working with a cotton/microfiber blend Longmeadow from Webs, I think. My son liked it so much, that the Log Cabin blanket is his now. It's soft, not at all like the dishcloth cotton, which I don't like very much. Your Nina shawl is looking good by the way! ;o)

Anonymous said...

Love the colors - How long will it end up - approx? Does it feel light weight? I guess I was expecting something a little more "airy". I like it so far and if it helps get that Get Away bag done that will be good. I'm anxious to see that too....

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

it looks great so far! I immediately recognized it as the Nina Shawl before I started reading.