2 By 2

So last night, I started this! I’ve been doing a ton of non-me-related knitting lately and  I’ve been dying for a pretty, gentle, just-for-me knit where I might learn a thing or two. I chose Cladonia by Kristen Kapur, partly because of the stripes. I am extremely fond of 2-row stripes. I even love the 2-row striping one needs to do when working with hand-dyed yarns.

There’s just something lovely about stripes. They can be soft and subtle as in this shawl by Tanja Steinbach. It’s worked in Tahiti by Schachenmayr, which is a really pretty sport weight cotton. I managed to procure a skein of this at Needle in a Haystack in Picton a couple of months ago and have thought many times about going back for more. Perhaps this shall be my motivation. Look how subtle these are; the grey and white garter stripes look as if they’re studded with little pearls or gems. Lovely. Liaison by Annestricke.

Stephen West is a master of stripes, both the 2-by-2 variety and the brioche variety. I know I need to knit a Stephen West project at some point, I just can’t decide which one! This one, Wavelike, is fabulous, but I think I may be leaning toward Exploration Station.

I admire the way Ambah has chosen to combine these seemingly disparate elements in the Lilli Pilli shawl. Somehow, they bond to one another, though, don’t they? And I’ve always been a big fan of running a self-striping or gradient yarn against a solid or semi-solid as has been done in the Nymphalidea Shawl.

A big favorite of mine is the 3 Color Cashmere Cowl by Joji Locatelli. I think I really NEED this piece, especially if it could be cashmere. It’s like a knitting sampler. I could see myself wearing this all year ’round. After all, here in Canada I’m only comfortably warm for 2 days out of the  year…