stripe study

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.

17 Responses to stripe study

  1. schrodinger says:

    While I adore the shawl and have a sudden, strong desire to cast on for one right now; that last picture is full of so much awesome it may just explode <3

  2. Lauren says:

    Wow, your version is just gorgeous. I’m not happy with mine — it came out tiny compared to the huge ones I see all over Ravelry!

  3. leo says:

    Gosh I love that shawl. And I wonder what it is about the ebony needles that made your tension so much more even? That’s very interesting to me, esp since I use metal almost exclusively.

  4. elizabetht says:

    i’m totally going to make one of these… assuming i could ever pick the colors. i saw a few that used more than 2 colors on ravelry, and that’s pretty but in such a different way.

  5. pdxknitterati says:

    Your shawl is beautiful, and it looks great on you! I love the depth of color, too. Glad you had a chance to play with the ebony needles; ebony is my favorite. I’m knitting with size 8 Lantern Moon ebony dpns right now as I catch up on by blog reading. Only 84 more posts to go (yikes!).

  6. Kathy says:

    I adore Karin’s yarns! I bought some on a whim two years ago. I’m making a pair of socks that, because of the colors, may be my favorite yet. And I also was able to make a shawlette (Wandering the Moors) out of one skein of her sock yarn. She’s going to be at Sock Summit and I can’t wait to 1) meet her and 2) get more yarn.
    I think your use of indie dyed yarn adds beautiful depth to the two tone shawl. What a great souvenir of Norway.

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