Lark Scarf

September 09, 2013



 

This week Knitionary is celebrating Accessories Week!  All week long I'll be sharing knitted accessories that I've been making on recent plane and train travels.  There's been many knitting hours logged in during travel time and scarfs and shawls are my go-to travel knit.  To make it onto my travel knit list, it has to be knit in one piece, be fairly simple and require no fitting.  Shawls and scarfs fill those requirements perfectly, and if you pick the right project, you can memorize the pattern and make it even easier on yourself! 

The Lark Scarf by Gemma Atkinson was the project I kept in a little bag right by the door and grabbed if I thought I might have a few minutes to knit on the go so it was indeed my travel knit.  I rarely knit it at home, just in snippets of time on the go, I'm really going to miss it on my needles.  Knit with an easy to remember wavy drop stitch separated with rows of garter stitch, it couldn't have been simpler.  I had it memorized in no time so didn't have to drag the pattern around.   I loved it so much I've already started another.

The yarn is the lovely new Rowan Fine Art sock yarn in colorway Tawny.  It's very soft and well behaved and I loved using FA so much that I've ordered 3 skeins in a new cream colorway to make a sweater.  I altered the pattern a bit, details of my mods are on my Ravelry page.  I used 2 skeins of Fine Art with needle size US 1.  The pattern is from the Fine Art Collection pattern book and the info and shopping links are at the end of the post.  Below is an excerpt from my original FA review.

My first impression was downright infatuation.  I received the color Tawny, a mix of soft rosy pinks, browns and mauves.  It felt like a puddle of softness in my hand.  While winding my skein into a ball, I had not one single knot or tangle in the entire 437 yards.  Also, no un-dyed or over-dyed splotches that you often see in hand dyed yarn.  Quality control I assume is high.   I'm making the Lark Scarf, Ravelry link here, using bamboo US 1, the knitting is gliding along smoothly and happily, very zen.  This is my new travel project, kept near the front door for emergency-knitting-when-away-from-home.  It has an undulating drop stitch, very addictive and fast.  I predict this yarn will be a major hit with the knitting community, it's one very lovely yarn.  Rowan has also done what they do so perfectly, offering excellent pattern support with their Fine Art Collection book that is so beautifully styled you'll want to jump right into the pages of the book and have a good long poke around.

Fine Art is sourced, spun and dyed in South Africa, and in their words "working with people from the poorest and still marginalized communities in the area".  Read all about it here, from the conception to the final dying process, it's fascinating and heart-warming.  Fine Art is composed of merino wool, kid mohair, polymide and silk.  The mohair gives it the tiniest halo, the silk adds sheen and the polymide adds durability.  It's hand wash, but that's ok, right?  That it's not overly super-washed processed is fine with me.   It will knit up to 32 stitches per 4 inches with a US 1, but knitters out there will get creative and go with different gauges to get different drape effects.  Fine Art comes in 8 colorways, all named after birds!  I can't wait to see the beautiful projects made with this yarn.




Color way is Tawny, so pretty.


After we took the photos we went out to lunch and I grabbed my scarf to wear in case the air-conditioning was unbearable, as it often is, arghh.  On the front walkway I noticed how exactly the colors in the scarf matched the colors in the September hydrangeas!  A dead match.  It's almost time to pick the hydrangeas and bring them in for drying and I'll be doing that soon.  Here's the post that shows my method for drying hydrangeas.

 


Hydrangeas look beautiful during the drying process.  

They remain gorgeous for a few seasons!

The links!

My Lark Scarf Ravelry link.
I love my original review of Fine Art, with lots of pictures.
Fine Art, the yarn, online at Jimmy Beans.
The Fine Art Collection, the book, online at Jimmy Beans.
Jimmy Beans also has Lark Scarf in kits, here.
(I saw Lark at my LYS in the blue Kingfisher, truly gorge!)
How to dry hydrangeas.

This week I'll be posting scarves and shawls that I've knit in the last few weeks.
I loved making them all and look forward to wearing them and sharing them.

xoxo


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5 Comments

  1. Gorgeous scarf Kristen.......fabulous flowers too! Did you make your scarf the full 3 skeins? I thought you might like that new colourway of Fine Art :). I've got a skein of ....whispering....purple!

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  2. Stunning scarf. Chloe






    ReplyDelete
  3. Very pretty Kristen. I love hydrangeas and will try your method, it sounds almost too easy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your scarf is beautiful, the colour is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your scarf is beautiful, the colour is gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete

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