Just Hanging Around Knitting . . .

jenjoycedesign©azul-band

Last Friday was the Independence Day holiday here, and we went on over to my brother’s  as there was quite the party happening in his little Appalachian-esque neighborhood. Well, there I am knitting, you know ‘on-the-go’ , with the knitting bag slung over my shoulder and knitting as I always do. My youngest niece, Miss Eleven-Years-Old  knows how to knit,  and is getting better, so I said “Lets get you some knitting ! ” … so we walked down to her house and raided her mom’s stash & needles, and found a darling knitting bag and we set her up to knit-on-the-go too. So there’s the two of us among the wild & crazy dancing & feasting folk outside, she and I knitting together  near the whole time, while walking about here and there with knitting satchels slung over our shoulders, swaying to the music … knit-dancing ! … and thoroughly enjoying our peaceful & productive selves ( stopping only to munch cake and other wonderful things ) . She got nearly half of a garter-stitch cotton dish cloth finished, and I made great progress on my hat band.  I knit until it was too dark to knit any longer, however, Miss Eleven carried on knitting into the darkness which totally killed me, her eyes like a hawk’s .

Backstory over. About the forthcoming big Autumn Thing, this year I’ve got some ideas, I may either come up with a whole new design from which I will write & submit a pattern, but I best not dawdle.  The motif I have got going here, about a wide and shaped band for a hat, and playing with some 2ply (Starmore) wool, I’m on a roll.  I’ve got most of my big chores out of the way for the week, so looking forward to just hanging around knitting !

Azure

I’ve been knitting in a heat wave for a couple of weeks, thirsting for that which best expresses my summer blues, and so I’ve produced the latest which I call it simply ” Azure “. It is a perky beret shape I’ve experimented from my latest pattern Dicey , that is I am considering augmenting the pattern with more beret shapes, graduating from the traditional Scottish Beret into less voluminous ones.  This one is definitely narrower and vaguely muffin-shaped as are some of the Old World Scottish bonnets I’ve seen. 

But what I love most about this beret is the color-work in the band while the crown is a single complimenting color, it is all about the subtle Fair Isle motif that one can barely see,  from the two shades of blue, one angle the motifs pop out, another they disappear into each other.  I am going to have to design a new pattern from this, because I love it so much.  With Dicey and this experiment, I have learned how to make a lined band, concentric decreases, experimented with several shapes of varying lengths, and practicing my new invention, the turning i-cord which is the edge of the band, super tidy and substantial, and also focusing the design into the band alone, in a Guarda Pampa sort of affect.  Oh, and I’ve also been toying with the little puff thing on top which the Scottish call a toorie!


jenjoycedesign©Azure