Another Faded Knit

 

When the Second Quarter KAL for ESK was announced as a fade project, I found two possible combinations in my stash.  I went back and forth between them for a bit, but then I thought, "Why not make both of them?"  My Stay Out of the Forest was my first fade project, but as soon as I finished it, I cast on for my second fade project - a Free Your Fade.

This is knit exactly as the pattern is written using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Cousteau, which fades into Spectrum on the same yarn base, which then fades into Malabrigo Mechita in Aniversario.

It's an easy knit and after the first couple of repeats, you barely need the pattern open while you knit.  I would definitely knit this again, in fact I'm thinking of trying a black/gray to white fade.  I love the jewel tones in this one, but I think a neutral one could be really useful.  I don't have any yarns for it in my stash, so I'll have to do some shopping first!

A Forest Dark

 

I've finished my Stay Out of the Forest!  This is a seriously huge shawl, but the tails aren't in-the-way long like they would be if this was a triangle shawl.

I knit it in Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Worn Denim, Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles in Dragonfly, Dream in Color Jilly in Galaxy, and Malabrigo Mechita in Whale's Road.

It was a fun knit, but at the end the rows were getting really long.  Like over half an hour to knit each row long.  It's been a long time since I knit a shawl with this general shaping.  I've been doing so many asymmetrical triangle shawls lately, I'd forgotten how long the last rows tend to be on symmetrical top down shawls.  On the other hand, it was super easy TV knitting that I could easily pick up and put down, which definitely made it a nice project!

Have a great weekend!

A Forest Dark

 

The second quarter KAL for ESK this year is a Fade Along, in other words, knit something that fades from one color to another.  I'm planning to do two fading projects, but I've only cast on my first one at this point.  I'm knitting Stay Out of the Forest using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Worn Denim (I had an extra skein left from my Aki cardigan earlier this year), Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles in Dragonfly, Dream in Color Jilly in Galaxy, and Malabrigo Mechita in Whale's Road (R to L in the picture). 

I took this picture yesterday afternoon, so it doesn't show last night's knitting but I'm currently through the first color (Worn Denim) and more than halfway through the second color (Dragonfly).  I'll start striping in the third color (Galaxy) in another couple of rows or so.  The knitting is easy to do, but the way the shawl is shaped, the rows are getting pretty long. 

I'll admit that I was a little concerned with how Worn Denim would fade into Dragonfly, but I'm actually really happy with how it looks.  The Dragonfly-Galaxy-Whale's Road fading will be smaller color jumps.