Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Shrug experiment

Cables and lace

I want a little summer shrug.

I have been searching high and low for a shrug pattern. I wanted some lace, but not too lacy. I wanted some cables, but not too bulky. Picky, picky. I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I would know when I saw it.


Then I saw this picture.




Debbie Bliss shrug in Pure Silk book. The picture is so unattractive! But something caught my eyes and I began to search through Ravelry. Much better pictures there. Love it! Yes. Cables and lace. Just the right kind of cable and the right lace. This is want I want. But not in silk. Not me. Cotton. 24 st to four inches in stockinette. Hmn. Cotton. I can never get gauge in cotton.

I couldn't get gauge. I tried it in Sublime organic cotton. DB cathay. Rowan wool cotton. Couldn't get gauge. Went down to needles size four and still the work looked sloppy. Tried it in pattern. Nope. Didn't like what I see. It just didn't feel right. Hmn. Didn't look good. I wanted this.

Then Caroline at Uniquities, my second-favorite LYS, said to try Rowan's Calmer, a cotton DK yarn with a little elastic. She said I would like it.

I love it.

Just right. And the yarn was on sale. So much for stash diving. This is a DB lace-and-cable pattern but I am not using her shrug pattern. I don't like that it is done in parts and seamed together. The shoulders don't look right. Back to Ravelry and the search. I am following this 1936 shoulderette pattern:

Much better.

Now I am knitting in earnest. I also finished my second pair of socks (knitted two at the same time). Now I will just need to clean up a couple of single second socks and I shall be crusing away with two at a time onwards! It is so rewarding.

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