Gnarled Oakwoods is an Anne Hanson pattern, first published in the Twist Collective. This was knit in Grinasco cashmere sportweight.Very soft, and very delicate yarn. The pattern is huge: the finished measurements are 80" by 22". With 1000 yards of sportweight that seems difficult to accomplish, actually. I used size 5 needles, and had to sort of block negatively, that is, pull the knitting in toward itself to get the correct measurements. I could have knit tighter, I suppose, but the cashmere wouldn't have liked that. And I used less yardage (only about 900 yds) than called for.
I'm thinking this design really wants to be much bigger than that. To tell the truth, even though I enjoyed the knitting, I'm really not sold on the design. I think the two motifs are interesting on their own, but I'm not liking the way they go together, for two reasons. First, there is no transition, second, the middle section wants to block out much wider than the end sections, and I think that will make it awkward to wear well. But it's not for me, so I won't ever really know about that.
My sense is that three patterns were chosen, math was done, and size was based on that. this is a great way to make a pattern, I just don't like the result all that much for this particular one. Maybe we could have omitted the leafy edging and had a nice sized shawl. That really could have resolved it. There--I figured it out. If I knit this again, no leafy edging--seed stitch would do just as well. More photos below.
This Big Knot Scarf is from the Debbie Bliss Magazine Fall/Winter 2011. I did not knit the scarf, my 11-year-old daughter did. She's joining me in knitting samples for the yarn shop. She used Cascade Yarns Covington. I wish I had a good camera sometimes. The knots are really quite impressive. Maybe if you embiggen the photos you'll have a better view.
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