I was asked to make a stole. Warm to keep the person in winter. Preferably in brown or beige. ‘Merino or alpaca?’, I asked. I was told that both could do, and that I could also throw in some mohair. And possibly some tweed, as it’s in right now. Well, I decided to take on the challenge. Looked around and talked to some folks on Ravelry. Here’s the outcome. I love it, and I hope so will the recipient. I ended up using 7 yarns. 3 of them were different colourways of Merinogold by Grignasco (100% merino, 125m/50g), then Shimmer by Knitpicks (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk, 402m/50g), Silky Tweed (55% wool, 25% silk, 20%PA, 125m/50g) and Kid Melange (65% super kid mohair, 5% wool, 30% PA) by GGH, and Quito by Filitaly Lab (90% baby alpaca, 10% merino, 150m/50g).
I combined the construction idea from several things I’ve seen. I like how feather and fan supports striping pattern. And alternating the yarn each row, cutting it leaving longish ends create a nice fringe and eliminates my everlasting problem on hiding the ends on stoles/shawls/scarves. I decided to knit in long rows, so that the length of the row is the length of the stole from side to side. This way the fringe will decorate the shorter sides.
I cast on using cable cast on218 sts (12x18sts of the pattern repeat plus two selvage stitches) on a circular needle 5.0mm. The only one I had at home had a sturdy and short cable which made the work a bit fiddly, but it was manageable.
The pattern I used for feather and fan:
Row 1. Knit
Row 2. Purl
Row 3. (k2tog x 3 times, [k1, yo] x 6 times, skp x 3times)
Row 4. Knit.
If I ever do it again, I think I’ll try the 6-row variant, where you purl 1 row and knit one row after row 3, and then do the ridge).
You need to tie every two tails you have free together as soon as you have them, so that the last and the first stitches of every row do not become loose.
I kept the order in which I used the yarns the same throughout, except for the last repeat, where I wanted more thicker yarns together before the bind off together, to make a stiffer edge. I used the elastic bind off, as the usual one pulled too tightly. Blocked on wires (for the first time in my life – and loved it). I knitted for 26 repeats (104 rows, b/o the 105th row)
Initially, I planned to leave the tails of the yarn loose, but as I used large needles, and the rows are quite tall, there isn’t enough of 