MISSING LINKS REPAIRED: BLUE SKIES OVER JULY

KNITTING SUMMER LIGHT

Month Year

The Celestial Blue Summer Wrap

Happy summer, everyone. As a little gift, I'm offering a recipe for the Celestial Blue Wrap that appeared on my blog this June. It's really a variation of the Feather&Fan Organic Wrap mixed with the textural aspects of the Paua Shell Topper but is a lovely thing to knit for all color and texture lovers. Choose your own colors or go with mine, inspired as they are by that luminous blue in illuminated manuscripts and by all my most vivid images of sea swirls and frothy tides.

It's a rare color of blue I've chosen --
clear, bright and almost shimmering with light vibrations. I searched far and wide for just the right hue, finding it along with its spring green companions at the places listed below.

I used approximately 500 yards of yarn including 1 hank of Mango Moon's Silky Ribbon in Neptune (have you tried M.Moon yet? They expanded their range and this ribbon is both reasonably priced and simply gorgeous) ; 1 hank of Malabrigo angora in Boscando Azul or indigo (their angora is the best -- a celestial bunny if there ever was one); 1 hank La Lana's Bombyx silk in Apple green (now extinct, apparently so aim for any apple green yarn) and three kinds of variegated hand-dyed silks in blue and green mixtures, many of which are rich, glossy but often unnamed creations by dye masters such as Fleece Artist and Makulu, which makes yummy Icelandic silk with a deep luster.

If silk is out of your range, keep your forager's eye peeled for similar hues in your local yarn store or online shop as they are often the result of magic rather than science and hard to duplicate. Cotton or rayon, even wool would work fine. Whatever yarns you select, choose those with a soft hand and add at least one ribbon or tape to punch up the flavor. Remember, this wrap is meant to flow over your shoulders and slip down your front in waves of color and light so try to match the spirit to the knitting.

And, to further your knitting experience, try knitting while immersing yourself in ethereal or impassioned music. Sarah Brightman's Symphony really inspires me for this kind of free-flight light and fiber crescendo. Give it a try!

To begin, either follow the construction outline for the Feather&fan wrap using only the stitch modifications below or go with the following:

With size 8mm/US 11 circular needles (24" if you can get them), cast on 30 stitches. Knit the following refrain, repeating the sequences described and increasing 3 stitches at the begining of every row.

Celestial Stitch Vignette

Choosing a ribbon to begin with, knit three rows of garter. Change yarns to a thinner silk or yarn of choice and knit one sequence of feather and fan (*k2tog six times, yo k1 six times; repeat from * to end of row. On reverse, knit across, knitting into the yarnover loops to make stitches)
Changing yarns to angora or mohair, knit two rows
Change yarns to ribbon and work a two-row sequence of undulating wave stitch as follows:

Knit 1 *wrap yarn around needle once, knit 1 stitch, repeat from * three times. Next, wrap yarn around needle twice, knit 1 stitch, repeat from* three times. Next, wrap yarn around needle three times, knit 1 stitch, repeat from * three times. Repeat sequence across row, ending with a knit stitch.

Change yarns to thinner yarns and work 6 rows of garter.
Change yarns and work another sequence of feather & fan as described above

Repeat vignette above, changing yarns and continuing with the increases until you have approximately 100 stitches on the needle. Still following the stitch sequence (or mix it up in free-range style), begin adding volume across the row by increasing more or less evenly by about 10 stitches every second row 3 times while still continuing the gentle additions of 3 stitches at the start of every row. Your goal here is to grow your wrap in depth while simultaneously growing its width and volume. The best way to manage this is to monitor the growth until reaching your preferred length and width. I find that a final stitch count of between 200-300 stitches works best. After that, your wrap begins overtaking the neighbourhood.

Once you are close to your preferred depth and width, cast on 10 stitches at the beginning of every row four times. On next row following these increases, begin binding off 10 stitches at the beginning of every row four times (this forms the ties or long front tendrils). Work one row with ribbon and bind off.

To finish, either knit or crochet a plain border around the outer edge or work a picot edging such as I've used.:

Picot edging:

With yarn of choice, bind off 2 stitches * Slip remaining stitches onto right hand needle (or vice versa if you're a noble lefty), cast on 2 stitches and then bind off 4 stitches. Repeat along entire outer edge of wrap. Basically, what you're doing here is creating a little nob of yarn which is then bound off in the traditional way by passing 1 stitch over another. Give it a try!

KNITTING THE LIGHT