I honestly can’t say I enjoyed knitting this piece but I also can’t say I didn’t. It was challenging but not difficult. It’s all just knitting and purling after all.

What got me were the uneven stitches that come with intarsia. I think that creatives are often prone to perfectionism. So all these oversized stitches drove me a bit bonkers.

I also need to mention the zillion yarn tails that needed to be woven in. I swear I spent more time trying to tidy up the back of the work than I did knitting the damn jacket.

Then, like a big dummy, I decided I would sew in a liner to hide all the grossness on the inside. I didn’t take into account that the liner would affect the elasticity of the overall garment. So when I tried it on, the sleeves didn’t sit right and there was no fixing it… unless I removed the lining.

So the 10+ hours I spent sewing in the linings by hand was partially a waste of time. I left it on the back and two fronts though. But if Sandy tries it on and it sits oddly, we’ll just remove the linings on all the pieces and he’ll just have to look at the mess when he wears it.

I’m not really sure why someone would choose to make more than one intarsia sweater! Haha. My friend Michelle and I were chatting about this on Tuesday. These Mary Maxim sweaters were huge when we were kids. We grew up laughing at how cheesy some of them were (naturally, we thought we were too cool for them). But they were everywhere in all there acrylic glory!!

I’m happy for Mary Maxim though. They must be laughing to the bank these days thanks to Ryan Gosling and the costume designers from Project Hail Mary.

If you’re on the Tube and you want to know a bit more about what I’ve been up to, here is my newest episode:

Cheers!

I wanted to leave a note here to let you know that I’ve started writing over on Substack. I’m still Mimimustknit and I still write about knitting there. But I’ve also started writing about other things.

I decided to start writing there because I love the idea that my “essays” get delivered to your email inbox. How cool is that?!

I find it difficult to keep track of all the people I want to hear from when I have to deliberately go looking for new posts. I LOVE getting the blogs, essays or newsletters delivered right to my email.

If you feel the same, here’s how you can find me. Subscribing to my posts is free. I know there are a lot of paid communities there but mine is free.

I’ll be back soon with an update on my Project Hail Mary jacket.

If you missed the first post, you can read it here.

The Learning Curve

After ripping and re-knitting a few times, (and finally sitting down with this Youtube tutorial), I think I’m starting to get the hang of this intarsia thing.

I think.

This photo is why I got so frustrated! How is this so hard??! I didn’t take a photo of my fist attempt because, like I mentioned in my first post, it was just too gross.

Improvements

Staying Motivated

I’m finding it challenging to stay motivated to work on this project. When you’re not in love what you’re working on, it’s easy to get distracted by new ideas or projects.

Will Blocking Fix My Uneven Stitches?

It’s got a lot of wonky-ness and I’m praying hard that they will even out in blocking.

At the end of the day, it’s far from perfect but it looks like a fox. I’m calling that a WIN.

Knitting and Audiobooks

Books on audio and handcrafts are like PB&J, aren’t they?

Have you read/listened to anything good lately? I’ll take recommendations in the comments.

Here are a few books I recently finished and loved:

Have a fantastic couple of weeks and I’ll see you back here with (I hope) a finished back and the start of some front panels!

I’m finally finished writing up this pattern. I’m pretty excited to share it with you.

The vision for this pattern came to me when I visited a friend who lives in a beautiful home on the water. I thought “It would be so nice to have a row of beautiful, chunky shawls that can double as blankets, hanging by the back door ready to grab on your way out on a cool summer evening“. I pictured a rustic hand-made “coatrack” with three or four of these, in natural shades, hanging around, waiting for their wearer to head outside to sit on the back porch or by the fire.

Want a printable version with video tutorial and all the yarn weights? You can grab it on Ravelry HERE.

Materials:
2 skeins of Cascade Eco +
scissors
darning needle

Needles:
I used 7mm needles – no US equivalent is available. I would size down to a US 10.5 in order not to run out of yarn if you’re using the Cascade Eco +.

Dimensions:
The shawl has a wing span of 56″/142cm, knit in a diamond shape and folded in half. Each edge measures 40″/101cm.

This chunky knit shawl is worked in a diamond shape and folded to create a cozy, oversized wrap. It’s a simple increase-and-decrease construction, making it perfect for beginners.

PATTERN:

Tips for Knitting This Shawl: Keep your I-cord tension loose for cleaner edges.

With 7mm circular needle (US 10.75 or 10.5 if the former are not available to you).

Cast on 3 stitches using the knitting cast on.

Work 4 rows of I-cord.

Pick up 3 sts along the I-cord, bring working yarn to the front, pick up three stitches along the cast-on edge. (9 stitches)

INCREASE ROW: *K2, kfb (knit front and back), knit to three stitches remaining. Slip 3 wyif (with yarn in front).

Repeat the increase row until you have 168 sts on your needle.

DECREASE ROW: **Knit 3, ssk (slip, slip, knit two together through the back loop.

Repeat the decrease row until you have 9 sts left (3 I-cord, 3 middle, 3 I-cord).

I-CORD BIND OFF: *knit 2, SSK. Transfer your stitches back to your left needle and repeat two more times, until you’ve decreased the three middle stitches. Now you have your beginning I-cord and your end I-cord. Flip your right needle so that your tip is facing the same direction as your left needle and graft the 3 front sts and the 3 back sts using Kitchener Stitch.

If you make a Wiley Lane Shawl, tag me on Instagram @mimimustknit—I’d love to see it!