Light Asherton Scarf

I have one more sewing project, finished in 2021, to photo and show you, but here is my first project, finished in 2022. It is a scarf I cast on December 27th and knitted hurriedly through the last days of 2021 and the first days of 2022, so that Gaby could take it with her, blocked and dry, to Vienna, as a present for her boyfriend.

The yarn is again Italian bobbin yarn, 90% merino ultrafine and 10% cashmere. It is very thin, 1500 m / 100 g, so I wound it in four balls and knitted the shawl in four threads. After blocking it softened and the cashmere content fluffed, so the texture became very nice to the touch. However in retrospect, I wish I had knitted it in 5 or even 6 threads, as it came out a bit thin and light.

The pattern is probably my most favourite men's scarf pattern - Asherton, which I already knitted once several years ago. Not only is this pattern beautiful and swanky, but it is also free! The chart is fairly easy to follow and it produces a subtle and interesting reversible relief. The original pattern is written row by row and stitch by stitch, but as I am a visual knitter, when it comes to instructions, I prefer charts and proportions and despise garrulous wording, so last time I knitted this scarfI drafted a chart, which I published on my Ravelry page. This time I simply printed the chart again and after one repeat memorized it and followed it without any need of consulting it. I really don't know how people knit without charts!

 

Pattern: Asherton Reversible Scarf

Yarn:  Filatura Papi Fabio Dorotea, 1500 m / 100g, 130 g in four threads

Needle: 3.5 mm

Time to knit: one week

Blocked size: 23 cm wide x 173 cm long

Because my yarn is very thin and I knitted the scarf only in four threads, it came a bit light, more suitable perhaps for Vienna autumns and springs, rather than winter. Still, I hope it is wide and long enough to provide adequate cover. Now I am in the process of designing a suitable hat to go with the scarf, as I have plenty of the yarn left.

Purple Dotted Rays

One more Purple Dotted Rays! I love this pattern and I love Stephen West's designs, so addictive!

I started this shawl at the beginning of February this year and happily knitted it in less than ten days. 

The yarn is Italian bobbin merino, white, which I dyed in various shades of red, purple, brown and grey. I am truly in love with the combination I was able to achieve.

When I cast on the shawl back then, I was in a frame of mind towards turning my hobby into a small business and registering a shop on Etsy. So the shawl was to be one of a dozen of items to be listed in the shop. However, after attending several seminars and reading further on Etsy businesses, I became convinced that it was not for me, I simply lack the entrepreneurship enthusiasm, required for such a shop to succeed. So, for now, the idea has been abandoned and the shawl remains the sole item I made for purchase. I intend to keep it for myself, or possibly gift it to Gaby.

But why am I showing it today? Because, back then in the middle of February, I finished the shawl at 99.9% Yes, I ran out of yarn some 20-30 stitches before I finished the I-cord cast off.

I still have over 300 g of the original white yarn and I tried at least 5 times in the course of the year to dye a small amount of it to match the colors of the shawl. But it is so difficult to recreate such a random and colorful combination. The attempts came out too purple, too red, too violet, always strikingly different.

Then, after dyeing my Berry Punch Yarn earlier this month I tried again. My first attempt was sort of orange-purple, but a good base for further retouching. On the following day I added some blotches of grey, bordeaux and brown and I declared it finally good enough to have the shawl finished.

And here it is, in all of its glory on another very cold, bleak and windy December day, in combination with my new purple corduroy skirt and my beloved black Grasser sweater.

Pattern: Dotted Rays by Stephen West
Yarn: Merino Extrafine 150 g, hand dyed
Needle: 3.5 mm circular Addi
Time to knit: 10 days + months of hyatus

Hipster Shawl

Last week I finished my Hipster shawl and I've been wearing it from the moment I put the fringes on it. How did I live without it before?! I'm so happy how it turned out, I love the color and the yarn.

I had 200 g Italian bobbin tweed, 75% virgin wool 25% poly-amide, very thin - 800 m / 100 g, which I overdyed in warm chocolate color. I sampled knitting the yarn with two and three threads held together and liked better the two-thread sample, knitted on 3.75 mm needles. As this made my yarn and needles much smaller than what the pattern calls for, I continued knitting and serendipitously had enough yarn for one full repeat of the pattern. And again serendipitously with this additional repeat my shawl turned exactly the size it is supposed to be according to the pattern. One more reason to love this shawl!

Pattern: Hipster Shawl by Joji Locatelli
Yarn: Toscofilati, Erica 4, 85% virgin wool 25% polyamide, 200 g
Needle: 3.75 mm (US 5)
Time to knit: 18 days

Asherton Reversible Scarf

Modelled above by my son, this is another present for a friend. The pattern is easy, yet interesting and engaging with its pure geometric lines and it is totally reversible. For me this is one of the best men's scarf patterns out there.

Pattern: Asherton Reversible Scarf
Yarn: Zegna Baruffa, Spring 1, 100% merino, Italian bobbin yarn, 200 g
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: 4 evenings

The yarn is very thin - 800 m / 100 g, so I knit it in four threads held together. The color is gray melange, with subtle purple, yellowish, blue and red nuances mixed with the lighter and darker gray and it's a chameleon - dependent on the direction of the light it might look lighter or darker.

The size I chose is 20 cm wide and 160 cm long - I think an average size for a man's scarf. For this size I did three repeats of the pattern in width and ten and a half (the half is for symmetry) repeats of the pattern in length.

This merino is very soft and pleasant to the skin, I hope the new owner would appreciate it. I had ordered 300 g of this yarn, so now I'm knitting a hat to make it a set.

Purple Hat and Cowl

A new set of a hat and cowl I knit for Gaby. Though the hat is knit with Cashmira 100% wool and the cowl with Lanagold 50% wool, 50% acrylic, both are Alize yarns color 111 (purple), so the colors are matching.

Pattern: Chain by KK design
Yarn: Alize Cashmira 100% wool, 80 g
Needle: 3 mm, 4 mm
Time to knit: 2 days

I first saw this hat in Natalia's blog, queued the hat and downloaded the pattern, which was then a free pattern. It is an easy pattern with some very clever crown decreases, which I haven't seen before. I made two and a half repeats of the hat body chart before the crown decreases. The hat has been in use for already a week and Gaby likes it.

The cowl came as a logical continuation of the hat - I had some 130 g of Lanagold in the same color and I wanted to make a cowl. I could have made it a smaller more narrow cowl with just these 130 grams, but I opted for a broader one (about 35 cm wide) and it soon became clear that I'll need additional 100 g of yarn. I bought another skein of Lanagold 111, but the new batch is more saturated in color, as is noticeable in the above picture. Anyway I knitted the cowl in the two shades of purple, I prefer to think of this defect as an intended effect :)))

Pattern: Purple Cowl (personal pattern)
Yarn: Alize Lanagold 111, 230 g
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: 5 days

Shells & Tide

This is what I've been working on during the month of November - a big shawl in light fingering weight wool. Frankly, the chart is not very easy and intuitive and required attention most of the time, so not the ideal TV knit, but I am very happy with the result. I knit it for a friend and I do hope she will like it. The shawl is intended for the winter, but as it is very light and airy I believe it would be fitting for the summer evenings too. Actually, I liked the result so much that I'm thinking of knitting a similar one for myself, when I have the time.

Pattern: Shells & Tide by Veronika Jobe
Yarn: Alize Cashmira Fine 100% wool, 200 g
Needle: 3.5 mm (US 4)
Time to knit: one month

First Snow

Following last week's sunny weekend we began the new week with our first snow in the city - two days of heavy snowing made Sofia a winter fairy tale land again.

And what's better in winter than the smell of roasted apples with brown sugar, rum and cinnamon :)

I've got a new FO - a free shawl pattern named Shells & Tide by Veronika Jobe. It's written for worsted weight yarn, but I made my interpretation in light fingering weight 100% wool - a scarf rather than a wrap. The unblocked scarf is 150 x 35 cm and I'm currently blocking it to 200 x 47 cm.

Stockholm Scarf

A few pictures of the thrice knitted snood in Merino Bulky. I like the third version - a single loop Stockholm scarf, knitted in the round, and it was finished just in time for the ten days of freezing cold weather we had in Sofia.

Pattern: Stockholm Scarf by KnittedBliss
Yarn: YarnArt Merino Bulky 200 g
Needle: 6 mm
Time to knit: 3-4 days

Pictures taken along the abandoned tram track, running through our residential area. The line was cancelled with the opening of our part of the subway, but the track is still there - so there was no danger of being hit by a tram while shooting these pictures :)