Come Knit With Me

AUTUMN!!!

Shadow Weave Shawl -- Let's Knit This!

I love this time of year! The weather is turning cooler and there is a crispness in the air with that wonderful smell of dried leaves and apples. We have finished the festival season and now is the time when the studio turns a creative face to dyeing and trying knew techniques and experimentation.  The same can be said of my knitting...it's a time of quiet evenings by the fire, learning a new technique that I've had my eye on all year,

This year, that new technique is two color brioche knitting.  I am beyond blessed to be friends with a knitting designer, Patrick Donohue, who lately has been writing these fabulous brioche designs.  Beautiful intricate designs like the Flame On Shawl and My Path Wrap that draw you in and make you yearn to knit them.   Although fine for knitters who are already knowledgeable in two color brioche, Patrick assures me that these designs might not be ideal for the beginner trying to learn the technique. 

After months of me whining (if by that you understand I was lamenting, begging, crying, throwing temper tantrums) that there weren't many interesting pretty brioche designs available for newbie brioche knitters, Patrick sat down and designed Shadow Weave Shawl,  a stunning triangular shawl ideal for learning two color brioche!!!  

What do I love about this design?  The architecture is beautifully elegant yet simple and straightforward.  Alternating squares of brioche and garter contrast with the triangular shape and are beautifully offset with the long band of brioche at the bottom edge.  The small size is absolutely perfect to tuck into a jacket as a scarf on truly chilly days or to wear over the shoulders, stylishly layered over a lighter shirt/sweater on days when a little extra is needed.

Patrick knit this model piece for our shop and sent it to me about  a month ago...did I mention what a wonderful friend he is?  If you made it to New York Sheep & Wool in Rhinebeck a couple weeks ago, you may have seen it hanging in our booth.  It garnered a lot of attention!!  Especially when knitters learned it was designed for brioche beginners.  So many knitters decided to put it in their queue that we decided it would be a wonderful knit-a-long project this autumn!

Want to join us?  Here are the details:  We will be casting on the Shadow Weave Shawl on Thursday November 17th.   Our local knittting group meets on Thursday evening and several knitters in our group are participating in the knit-a-long so this seemed like an ideal day.  There is no deadline for finishing; after all this is supposed to be fun and relaxing, right??? 

I will be posting weekly progress photos on instagram and facebook on Friday so if you would like to email me a photo to include, I would love that!!! 

The shawl requires a skein each of 2 high contrast colorways in fingering weight yarn.  Feel free to pull from your stash.  If you would like to treat yourself to new yarn, I will be listing kits for this knit along in the 'What's New...' banner on the homepage later today!!  See you in a couple weeks to cast on!!  It's going to be so much fun!!