This project exists because I am on a yarn no-buy year (with specific rules). I wanted to knit with cotton as we are in a very warm and dry summer here in France, I wanted to knit from my stash, I liked the blue colour fades from these two cotton skeins from HobbI I really do not like knitting with. It is very splitty even with bamboo needles.
That said, the Painting Triangles Shawl by Stephen West caught my eyes as soon as I saw it in his Painting Shawls book. Ever since, I thought about a blue fade. Sooooo, there it is, knitted from my stash, a piece I love from a cotton I highly dislike.
A perfect finished object that matches my likings, the season, my goals, and that brings me happiness 😺
I have leftovers, in different quantities depending on the colour. I need to repurpose them, either in washcloths or may be in a test run for a stitch pattern for a scarf ?
During the summer travelling months, I knew I was going to spend some money and buy yarn. I was completely OK with that and still am. I had planned and prepared for it even though unexpected choices had to be made. These places I went to (one in July, two in August), I won’t have opportunities to visit again in quite a long time. So be prepared for some spending, in particular if we sum up July and August.
So in August I went to the Pyrénées, a much awaited trip for a short vacation. I first stopped to spend a few days with my mother and go with her to the first attorney appointment for my fathers assets (he passed away in June). After all that was done, I went to pick up my second son on the way down to the Pyrénées and we spent a week there, making the most out of this shorter stay. I then went to spend a week at my mother’s home, and that will be for the August check-in !
I am quite a bit behind everything, blog and Instagram posts, YouTube videos, I hope you will understand I needed a little break from social media 🙂
Aulon – Beautiful in the summer fog ❤
The week of vacation program included hikes and buying my beloved mohair yarn from this small farm up in the mountains. I have already posted about it in a previous post from last year. It looks the same, although the mountain is a bit browner and much less green, due to the lack of rain and unusually high temperatures. The goats are kept near the farm to have food and water. They used to spend the summer higher up in the mountains, but it would not be safe for them with this very hot weather.
Unfortunately they were out of the colours I had in mind, so I went for the Mohair Cardé, a rougher yarn where the threads have not been combed to bring the fluff out. I has a beautiful stitch definition, is very well suited for colour work, and produces a very warm finished object. You can see it in action in my Pull Zenzi.
I have a sweater quantity of the beige and blue colours, 4 skeins of the grey, 3 of the pink and 2 of the yellow. I think the pink and the yellow are not coming back..
I bought the yarn with intentions, for one plain sweater and for one colour work. And all got changed after I bought a newly released pattern in August – Teaser teaser, stay tuned !!
While I was in vacation, Sari Nordlund released the Kuutar top and had an offer for the Kuutar family. I won’t wear a top, so I bought the Kuutar Tee pattern I had my eyes on. I already have the Kuutar sweater pattern in my queue, they all have very beautiful designs and yokes. I may get to it before the end of the summer, or I may not – so it will be for next summer 😺
Regarding my money expenses, the total for July goes up to €360 for a grand total of €717.59 since the begging of the year. A bit more than usual, a bit more than expected, without guilt !
I now need to organise my thoughts and plans, and assign these skeins to projects. I think I will have another blog post and video about this in the next week.
On the yarn no-buy subject, I have finished the Painting Triangles Shawl by Stephen West, with this cotton I do not like. Using bamboo needles helped as they made it a bit less splitty, but I still had to be very careful while knitting. I am so pleased to have made something I love out of this cotton I really do not like. The finished fabric is fine, the finished shawl is big, very big, and looks quite beautiful to me.
Would have I knitted that shawl if I was not on a no-buy ? I do not think so. I would have either knit another pattern or bought some other yarn or cotton. I am very happy and feel very satisfied I used my stashed cotton to make something that brings me joy.
So I bought yarn according to my rules, I used my stash to knit a shawl I love from a cotton I did not, I call that a success even though my yarn expenses have made a huge jump !
This is the project I have been mostly working on recently. I guess I am a monogamous knitter at heart !
I am using cotton from my stash, a cotton I do not like because it is very splitty, even when using bamboo needles.
I already used most of a long changing colours ball when I knitted the Papillon / Butterfly Shawl for my beloved SIL 2020 Christmas present :
The colour effects are nice, she loves it as she cannot wear wool. The perfect project for the recipient, one of the projects that gave me the most headaches ! Being that careful to catch all the microscopic cotton strands was a bit .. difficult.
Given all of these drawbacks, I love the pattern and the project, Stephen West is a real winner for me and I am very happy I could get my hands on the Painting Shawl Book the pattern is from.
The blue fades are perfect. I balled up the remaining of each colour, labelling them with a number, and worked my way through the two skeins colour changes, from dark to light to dark again, and so on. If I run of a colour, I’ll use the closest one, or mix-match what I have ! I love the effect, I love the fabric.
I used to knit one colour section in one sitting, it is now difficult as the number of stitches increases every other row. I cannot do it under an hour any longer. Well, I need to switch my mind from speedy knitting to marathon knitting 💙
Knitting a project I like from this cotton from my stash I did not like is one of the nice side effects of my no-buy project !
Knit Now 