Cashmere Affection

Although I've mostly been showing off my quilt progress, lately, I have been steadily knitting on one project or another.  While I had Cashmere Affection on the needles, it was almost exclusively on that, since it is such a fun and easy and lovely project (and since the yarn I was using was so luxurious and breathtaking.)

It only took me about two and a half weeks to knit the whole thing up, and I really enjoyed it.  It was a bit fussy for a while, when I had three strands of yarn hanging off it, but even that wasn't enough to annoy me.  While I was knitting, I thought there was no way it was going to end up as huge as some of them I've seen on Ravelry, since it didn't seem that squished up on my needles.  Even when I bound it off and had it off the needles, it didn't seem so big.  Once I wet blocked it, however...  wow.  I tried to lay it on my bed to block, but had a foot or two of length hanging off both the head and foot end of my bed.  I had to lay it out on my living room floor, and even then it barely squeaked into the space I had.  This thing is huge!  I had expected it to have a bit more depth, but it's quite narrow.  I could have stretched out the garter stitch to give it more depth, but that takes away from the squishy-factor of the garter stitch, which I'd rather not do.  If I knit it again, I'll probably make some alterations to add some more depth to it, especially since there is lots of spare yarn to work with.

The colours I chose are pretty bold and perhaps even clashing - in some lights the Royal Flush looks more red than fuchsia, and the whole thing takes on a bit more of a Moulin Rouge feeling.  In other lights it's a bright wild pink and the shawl feels more like a wild bouquet.  In any case, it's super snuggly: garter stitch in the softest cashmere/wool blend is definitely a recipe for success.

One More Guest to the Party

In case any of you weren't already planning your own Color Affection, here's another beauty shot to inspire you.  I finally (finally?  It's only been a few days) added the third colour - Royal Flush, a bright fuchsia pink.

I wanted it to add some pop to the shawl, and it sure does.  The short rows in garter stitch are fun, easy, and look cool, and the upcoming wide band of Royal Flush at the bottom of the shawl should really anchor it.  Looking forward to further progression!

And Then There Were Two

When my sisters (bless them) gave me a gift certificate for Tanis Fiber Arts for my birthday, I hemmed and hawed a bit about what to use it for.  I initially planned to put it toward some aran-weight yarn for a Velvet Morning Cardigan, which I've been coveting for a while, but I already have one fair isle cardigan I haven't been working on, so why add another to the pile?  I also thought about getting one of her palettes, to play with some Granny Squares.  Eventually I realized that the best thing to do would be to buy some cashmere for a Color Affection, one of the latest viral knitting patterns (even more so, I'm sure, since the Yarn Harlot threw hers into the ring.)

So I hemmed and hawed a lot more about which three colourways to choose, and eventually just went with the first combo that had appealed to me (which is my usual M.O.)  When I told my sis that I was planning a Color Affection, she asked me if I was doing it for the TFA Colour Knit Along.  I was so absorbed in my planning that I'd completely forgotten that Tanis was doing one!  I checked the dates and decided there was lots of time to join the fun, so when the yarn arrived on Tuesday, I immediately wound up three pretty little yarn cakes and then cast on.

Today I finished the first phase of squishy soft garter stitch (in Lemongrass) and finally added the first pretty little stripe of Lilac.  It's actually taking a lot of self-control to make myself write this post, when I'd rather be working on adding more and more little springtimey stripes to the shawl.  In fact, to heck with this!  (I never had much self-control, anyway.)  I'll show you more when I get that third colour added!