Social Knitting Inspiration Part 3

I finished the green and ivory stash buster project from this post. 

It made for easy knitting during the Christmas holidays, always a good idea between the cycle of cooking, cleaning, entertaining and staying out late to socialize. It turned out like this: 

I used a combination of garter stitch and 2 x 2 rib. I double stranded the yarns in several combinations and then knit one row of each combo over a 3 row sequence. I also added short rows in the garter section so the bottom is wider. After I added the fringe I weighed the left overs and I had about 40 grams. Mission accomplished on my stash down.

Then I needed something else easy to work on. Of course I had forgotten about the blue project. (Next step, put getting organized on the New Year resolution list.) I started and finished this:

I'd been wanting to try out this construction method for a while and had written out the basic instructions in a notebook I keep for that purpose. (Fortunately, I could find the notebook.) You are only seeing half the shawl because I couldn't fit it in the photo when it was open. Both sides end in that spiral and it's folded at the centre.

It's all in fingering weight yarns and does that curling thing on the edges when you let them hang free. It happens because there are so many increases made in a very small area. 

After that one, I started swatching for another stash down project. So far I like that one so much it could become a pattern so you may see it sometime in the future. Now I have to go find the bag with the blue and green yarns and put it somewhere accessible so it will be ready when I get back to it. 

Social Knitting Inspiration

I mentioned recently I was going to set up some really simple social knitting projects. The things I'm working on for patterns often don't work well for my carry along projects and I have lots of small amounts of yarn I don't want to give away or waste. 

I spent some time on Pinterest looking for silhouette ideas and specifically chose things with more than one colour. Notice that two of these items are crochet. I did that on purpose. Projects are made up of colour, texture and shape. I can generate ideas from alternate fibre sources and I prefer to do so I know I'm not being overly influenced by another knitter's work. I look at vintage garments, woven fabric garments, crochet and sewing sources as well. I know I don't want to use garter stitch but I do want an easily memorized stitch. Using crocheted items will move me further away in terms of a stitch pattern. Apparently fringe is calling to me?

In terms of colour, I have lots of blue, some greens and  mauve's to play with. I could do some sort of striping with double strands, perhaps changing out one colour at a time.

There's a pause here while I do some swatching, weighting of yarn to guesstimate yardage and work some calculations. I think I'm aiming for something like the two photos on the left. I want something longer though. I like the soft cowl like neckline on the crocheted version but I'm not sure that will work with my yarns. A backup plan would be to add an edging to draw the neckline in if it looks too stiff. 

Then the silhouette would be more like this, without the bottom edging:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-eleanor-portal-capelet-and-scarf

I could also keep going and add a scarf like this:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-eleanor-portal-capelet-and-scarf

This is how far I've gotten. I've done a swatch and cast on. Ignore the bright yellow yarn. That's a provisional cast on with waste yarn. Next, I like to let ideas marinate for a little while.