Westy fever : the sequel!

You know I mentionned last week that my Exploration Station was almost done, but for the chevrons?

Well, I figured the smart thing to do was to bring only this project in my bag to work on Friday, so that I would push through and not cheat!

It was a success and I was able to block it during the weekend. I am now the proud owner of this giant shawl (almost blanket big!) : 

Exploration Station by Stephen West

The process was great. A little long at times, but the stitch patterns evolved steadily. I'm happy to say that I used only stash yarn for this one. I'm on a roll baby!

This is the highlight of this FO. I love each and every one of these colours! Let's look at them up close...

 We have some Riverside Studio MCN in this deep semisolid yellow...

 

A rich grapey purple from Cephalopod Yarns...

 A soft Sand Dune beige with a beautiful halo of alpaca...

And last, but not least, Poivre colour by Julie Asselin.

Can't wait to wear this shawl when the weather cools down!

Westy fever!

Zoée and I are quite fond of Stephen West's patterns. He is bold and ingenious in his designs. They keep you interested throughout the whole process with colours, textures, construction and techniques.

Two weeks ago, I decided to follow her tracks and we started this mini-kal when I joined her for an Exploration Station. It's almost done now and I just have to push through the last section of Chevrons Shenanigans! - my boyfriend's all time favourite word in english! ;)

We then started talking about using our leftovers for a Parachutey. So we brought our stash yarn to the store and went through the colours to pick an ensemble. Mine was pretty rainbowy, whereas Zoée's was more subdued.

Zoée shared our stashes

As you can see on my project page, I mostly used Julie Asselin yarn, all leftovers from various projects! I'm so glad I was able to do some stashbusting.

Parachutey by Stephen West

But, the front panel weights only 65 g, so I still have a lot left! The only yarn I purchased, was the Baby Alpaca Lace in a creamy colour, and used about 40 g. This tank is super light and airy!

I think this is one of my favourite knit to date! I might need one in a solid colour...

Turning old WIPs into FOs!

I sometimes wonder if I have an ADHD knitting disorder. My attention span can be pretty short with some projects. Or maybe I just get bored easily... 

This  is where I usually just throw the piece in a basket, bag or whatever device used to store WIPs and cast on something else. Classic polygamous knitter's move!

The downside is, of course, that if you repeat this little pattern on a regular basis, you end up with loads of UFOs in your living room.

The upside is, every once in a while, you can search for those UFOs and get the satisfaction of quickly finishing a project that is well under way.

In the past few weeks, I was able to retrieve three scarves / shawls and get to the blocking point. Voilà :

Delovely shawlette by Clara Beauty

The yarns I used are both Julie Asselin. The green one is Fino in the Henry colourway. A soft and squishy merino, cashmere, silk blend.

 

The multicoloured purple one is Piccolo in the Nebula colourway. A sock yarn that works very well for shawls too. Project page here. 

Spectra by Stephen West

This is the perfect pattern to showcase a nice gradient colour or like in this case, a long coloured striped yarn. The one I used is Lang Mille Coloris paired with a neutral Heritage sock yarn. I have a lot of the Mille Coloris left, so I might weight it to see if I can produce another one. Project page here.

The short rows are very easy to memorize, which makes this a good project to carry around. A few rows = 1 wedge.

 

Fringes!

Sweet November Knit Shawl by Caryl Pierre

I was inspired by SpiderWomanKnits (she has some beautiful projects there!) when I decided to cast on this shawl. I can't remember if it was last year or two years ago! Poor little brain.

I'm super happy with the result and would now like one in linen as well.