Knit 1, Make 2

I thought it was interesting. A fun idea, but not really for me. I was intrigued but never saw myself diving in. I’m talking about the Marled Magic Mystery Shawl by Stephen West. I was not going to knit this shawl. Too much yarn, not my jam, just not me. And then…

And then I saw the shawl that Molly of A Homespun House finished and something clicked. Suddenly it seemed an opportunity to learn, a chance to push myself, a reason to throw myself headlong into the color obsession that seems to be eating at me.

What color obsession, you may ask. This:

Pink and mint is everything I want. Any variations of this seem to suffice but I love it so much. My current socks are even a sweet and soft pink and minty fresh green and blue combo:

And so, I decided to go for it. I spent a lovely evening diving through my stash, coming up with anything from full skeins to minis to leftover scraps. It was a lot of fun to take Stephen’s advice to heart: “More is more and less is a bore.” I added anything that called to me and then edited out a few that detracted from the whole. In the end, I wound up with this lovely hoard:

I’m so in love with it I could barely wait to wind up the skeins before starting. I made myself wind everything up, though, knowing that it would be most fun to be able to just grab and go as I knit. I am nearly halfway through the first clue and enjoying every row. I was skeptical of the whole marl concept, but it’s a thrill to see how different yarns change the feel of this steady pink.

Of course, much like everyone else in the knitting world, I want some mohair for my shawl. Just a little fuzz to liven up one section. So this morning, I took a detour on the way to the grocery store to hit up my LYS, Cloverhill. I was planning to just pick up a skein of kidsilk haze, but then remembered that I still haven’t used the gift-card that Kevin so sweetly gave me for Christmas. Well, don’t worry, I flat out destroyed that gift card this morning:

In other news, I’ve swatched for my very first sweater. I was inspired by Amy over at Crazy Mom Quilts to knit the Harvest cardigan. I have a sweater quantity of Knit Picks Preciosa that was meant for a pullover, but this cardigan is calling my name. My swatch is too big though, so I need to go down a needle size and swatch again.

All of this and the first pattern of the shawl society will be released on Thursday. I had better get knitting!

YoM days 111-115: Sock knitting

YoM day 116: Shawl kntiting

YoM day 117: Sock knitting and a swatch

YoM day 118: Sock knitting

YoM day 119: Sock and shawl knitting

Happy making!