I haven’t had a FO to show on friday for a long time. Hopefully that spell is broken, because this is the first of three summer lace sweaters, and time keeps ticking along. In my quest to expand personal color horizons, I used this aquamarine colored Canopy Fingering from The Fibre Co; they call it “tanager” like the bird, and I call it bluer than mint, that too-ubiquitous shade we’re seeing everywhere right now. Although I did buy a mint bag for summer – but I digress.

The alpaca/merino/bamboo has a nice hand, and it blocked well, too. The weather looks promising for a photoshoot this weekend, so lace cardi number 1 should be on its way soon. Which is good, because I just committed to two more – different of course, but still lace. What’s up with that? I think it’s the Stitch Mastery software I bought for myself; after putting in some time on the learning curve, I need to keep in practice. The program is great, by the way, as is the developer Cathy – who is always accessible for questions and help. I might even be motivated to do some charted cables in the fall. But for now, it’s all lace, all the time.

Charting, green, what’s next?

The silver is a 620 yard skein of sportweight BMFA Woobu, which I picked up during the NJ Yarn Crawl at Knit Knack during my trunk show. The elecrtic blue is all of 1120 yards (!) of fingering weight, from the Sliver Moon booth at Rhinebeck this fall. Together they practically obscure my desktop keyboard.

They seemed like a good idea at the time; top down summer cardigans, no joins, no ends to weave – and I’ve no doubt they will be good. The blue was a bit of a challenge to wind, though; not only did it exceed the capacity of my ballwinder (even with the metal arm pulled as far away as it could go without bending), but it also swallowed the beginning tail of yarn when I pulled it off.  So of course I thought I’d just yank it back out again, and somehow it came out the bottom end in a tangle that refused to pull free of the center. I rewound it from the outside, the last 100 yards or so by hand onto the excessively giant ball.

Now I feel compelled to find the perfect stitch pattern to make it all worthwhile. Meanwhile, back to my last, tiny, manageable 200 yard ball of Canopy fingering:

The most powerful Love Potion in the Harry Potter world, Amortentia causes powerful infatuation or obsession in the drinker. It manifests as a different aroma to each who drinks it, recalling one’s favorite person, place or thing.

Indulge your own deep love by knitting your Amortentia shawl with a favorite color or irresistible yarn. This shawl is cast on with many stitches at the ruffled edge, which is knit with optional beads for extra sparkle and weight. By the end of the ruffle, the number of stitches is reduced by 2/3, then like the twists and turns of love, the edging and body are divided by a garter ridge, and the stitch pattern reverses itself into a wide rib. The long and narrow body is knit with short rows to the top edge, and finished with simple garter stitch. Instructions for two sizes are given, and differ only in the frequency of the short rows.

Irresistible looking from both sides, Amortentia is meant to be the embodiment of everything you love.

Techniques & Skills Used: long-tail CO, knit/purl, beading (optional; prestrung and crochet hook methods, with link to tutorial),decreasing,short rows.

Size: S (L);approximately 62” wingspan and 9 (16)” depth.

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Silky Merino (51% silk, 49% merino; 150 yards/50g; 2 (3) skeins; S shown in Unknown Lavender, and L shown in Amoroso. The Silky Merino grows substantially when blocked, and makes a very drapey luxe shawl. For a similar result, choose a single ply yarn with significant silk or other non-springy fiber content.

Other Materials: US 7 (4.5mm) 32” circular needle, or size to match gauge; Stitch markers (2); Size 6/0 seed beads (350), optional; 1.25mm crochet hook for placing beads; Yarn needle.

Gauge: 17 st and 28 rows/4″ in stockinette stitch; 16 st and 28 rows in K3P1 Rib, after blocking.

See it on Ravelry, to read more or purchase the pattern.   

I’m a grey lover, but even I am tired of being surrounded by dry grasses and bare branches for 5 months. I’ve been embracing color lately – more about that in future posts – and I definitely see some cerulean, aqua and verdigris in my future. Maybe in combination with dolphin grey and sand beige.

And lest all these lovely blues and greens proved too much for me, I brought along as my WIP the large version of my upcoming Cauldron shawl, knit in these brownish tones of Redwood Bark Silky Merino. Kind of coordinates nicely!