I just knit Kristen Kapur's small shawl pattern, Lavalette. Or, be you not a Raveler, try Lavalette. Either way, the pattern is super adorable, the perfect thing even in this pervasive moist heat. Plus, when I wear it frontways, my front looks way awesome, as noted here:
I mean. KA-POW, right? Boom! Boobs! Or maybe I'm looking too hard into this. The pattern was nice and easy, a good coaxing into the world of triangle shawl manufacture. I think I'm getting the point - centered spine, garter stitch border, yarn over, do something spiffy, yarn over, knit the centered spine, yarn over, do something spiffy, yarn over, k2. Turn and k2, yo, p to last two stitches, k2. It's just those spiffy inbetween bits that designers seem to keep coming up with, and Kapur's is a nice combination of some things done by knitting things together, and clever yarn overs, with nice stretches of stockinette. Nothing too lacy, yet the openwork section really bloomed with some blocking. I will knit this again, and it's rare for me to revisit a pattern - this is just such a good one for self-stripey yarn. We won't go there just yet. I want to say something nice about Kapur's suggestion to donate to Alzheimer's research - what an awesome designer to offer her work for free, and suggest a worthy cause as the recipient of contributions.
OOOOkay. The yarn. Noro Sekku and I'm not even going to post a link to it because I'm mad at it. But it's the yarn that I used in the shawl in the picture of the ba-daows above. Noro. I can't quit you, my Japanese friend. My Japanese friend that is colorful and charming and occasionally feels nice to the touch. My Japanese friend who should stop worrying about diet so much and go ahead and never get down to lace weight again. This yarn makes me crazy and would set a perfectionist to much rending of teeth and gnashing of garments. It's skiiiiiiiiiiiinny and then it's thick. Like real thick. Like a tuba milkshake and then back to piccolo vinaigrette. Okay. I can roll with that - this adorable pattern can take that and run with it; I think it looks charming. But. But. A knot. A knot just before a particularly cute color transition and then they SKIPPED the BEST COLOR in the WHOLE DAMN SKEIN. Okay besides the totally acidic viper green, because I adore that color, but OMG WTF happened to my indigo?
See this?
That tiny little snippet of electric violet up there beneath the orange and before the teal? That's ALL of that color in the WHOLE DAMN SKEIN. I normally do not fuss about my Japanese friend, cute and funky and quirky. Noro helped me see colors together that I'd never put together and I've worn some bright-ass accessories made of Kureyon that I probably wouldn't wear otherwise. But. I would have been okay if it were orange and brown and yellow and green and teal. I would have been okay with that. However, I know Noro well enough to gently pry into the secrets each skein of their multicolored yarns to get some idea of what I'll be getting and I swear I saw more ultra-purple than just that bitty little stripe. Plus a knot. So no. I am not going to be able to recommend the yarn to any of the knitters I know who bother to take care with our work just to pay good money for pretty yarn that leaves two ends for me to weave in and made me do color fixing in the middle of a project. Not that my Japanese friend cares. She's got enough color freaks wrapped in her spell that she won't miss me at all. But I'll miss her.
Lavalette? Knit it!
Sekku? Don't bother!
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