I have always said I’m a product knitter. But Stripe Study, by Veera Välimäki, came about as close to making me a process knitter as I’ve ever been! Delicious, delicious garter stitch. See more photos after the jump!
this shawl uses equal amounts of each color

The designer of this shawl is Finnish, but I think it’ll suffice to model it here in Norway, won’t it? I set the yarn and needles aside to take as travel knitting, as it seemed perfectly mindless and interesting all at the same time. But when we got the news on Sunday, May 1, that the president was going to make an important announcement in 30 minutes . . . which became an hour of waiting . . . well, I needed something to knit while I waited! Who knew what the scary news would be? So I cast on. (And just for posterity, it was the announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed.)

The yarn, Periwinkle Sheep that I bought at Rhinebeck last fall, is a dream. The colors are so rich and deep and just plain old pretty. The base is soft and sproingy and was so wonderful to knit with. I vowed to find her booth first at Rhinebeck next year and clean her out of Sock Dreams! (I think that’s the name of this yarn.) The needles I used, Lantern Moon ebony circulars, were equally nice. I hadn’t knit with ebony before—and I rarely knit with wood, anyway—and discovered that my tension is much more even and regular with wood than with metal (my usual preference). I may have been converted, because the swish-swish of the ebony made me happy with every stitch.

stripe study!

I knit this shawl the week before I flew to Norway, on the plane on my way there, and all around the country. I knit it on the Flåmsbaden, the adorable old-style train through the mountains from Myrdal down to Flåm. Then I knit some more on the boat we boarded in Flåm, which took us through the fjords (and I took FO shots for a different project while on the boat!). I knit in the car as my parents and I took day trips around Oslo (my parents, who live here, have a car now—they didn’t on my first visit—and that has made things much easier).

I’m glad I finished while I was still here, so I could take photos of it finished in Norway. I wore it on a walk through Frognerparken, an amazing sculpture park of sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. It’s one of the big attractions here in Oslo, and my parents live near enough to walk there. I even got to wear it out to dinner with local knitters—another meetup with Guro, who I saw last time, along with Pinneguri (Ann) as well. We had a leisurely afternoon/evening, and I’m happy to have had the scarf because it was brisk by the water!

ann and guro!

I’m going to wear the heck out of this scarf. And I’ll always think of Norway!

131.oslofjord

Details on Ravelry.