The Purrfect Yarn: penguono

I thought that it might be a fun idea to round out the year with a look at what I knitted in 2017.

So, let's get into it!

In 2017, I finished 26 projects in total. This is an improvement of 6 projects from 2016, and it was an absolute bumper year for shawls.

Of the 26 projects, a massive 11 were shawls. That means 42% of my knitting time went into shawls. The one thing I swore I would never knit as a beginner knitter!

So, let's take a look at them!

The first shawl of 2017 was the beautiful Aisling by Justyna Lorkowska. I actually started this shawl way back in 2015, but the edging really got me. I found the cabled pattern really hard to wrap my head around, and the huge amount of stitches was really intimidating to me. But I buckled down, stuck on some This is England and bashed out those many, many stitches. I'm really happy with this shawl, the pale colour is some gorgeous glittery Sparkleduck yarn. It shimmers so wonderfully under the lights. It's also a lovely big, drapey shawl.

My second finished was was The First Light by Veera Välimäki. I have complicated feelings about this shawl. It's knitted in the most beautiful, silky Stranded Dyeworks singles yarn, but absolutely no amount of blocking will make this shawl sit nicely on my shoulders. It feels very tight around the top of the shawl, and granted I do have fairly broad shoulders but I'm disappointed by how inelastic the top edge is. I wonder if it's possible to gently unpick it and reknit? Or perhaps it should be regifted to someone with more narrow shoulders!

2017 really was the year of finishing longterm WIPs. The gorgeous Vedbaek by Karie Westermann was the third shawl I tackled. I originally started this in 2015, but managed to convince myself the design was harder than it actually is - although I suppose this is a good indication that my knitting skills are definitely improving over the years. I knitted this out of some beautiful Malabrigo in the Candombe colourway. However, despite ordering two skeins of the same dyelot they came out so wildly different, it's hard for me to give this shawl the love it deserves. It's mostly my own fault, I should have alternated the skeins as I was knitting, but I didn't realise they would be so different that they looked like different colourways. It means the shawl has a big pale green strip towards the bottom, while the rest is a sort of grey, purple with flashes of deep green. It really is a shame, because it's a gorgeous shawl until the last three or four inches.

If you follow me on any form of social media, I can almost guarantee that you have had fleeting glimpses of my Penguono. And if you're my friend, we've probably had indepth discussions about how much I hate doing moss stitch, how I struggled with picking up selvedge stitches, but overall just how much fun I'm having working on this project. Despite the moss stitch and selvedge stitches.

I'd been eyeing up Stephen West's colourful Penguono (a portmanteau of penguin and kimono, if you're getting curious tickles in the brain) for a long time. I ummed and ahhed about casting it on for the longest time - I'm not a garment knitter, I'm think it might be too oversized for me, will I just look crazy?

But then my scraps of DK, worsted and fingering were building up and I was desperately in need of some colour in my life, my wardrobe consists mostly of grey and black if I'm honest. So, I plucked up the courage and began.

To my utter horror the first section is a huge swath of moss stitch. I have complicated feelings about this neat little stitch. I love the way it looks and feels, but oh my I hate knitting it. There's something about the rhythm that just throws me completely off and I can't settle into the comfortable and soothing click-click.

But I persevered and carried on, through the dreaded moss stitch, onto colourful welts and stripes of acid brights and soft pastels. It was wonderfully fun to see different colours and patterns emerge with the wools I was teaming together (Penguono uses yarns of various weights held together to achieve your designed gauge).

I can't really explain the joy I found in digging through my scraps and pairing (or tripling!) combinations. There's also some sort of inner smugness when you manage to use up a whole ball of leftover, am I right?

I stumbled over a bit while picking up selvedge stitches and made a bit of a mess, but I reasoned with myself since it's underarm - who's going to see it anyway?

And the more fun bits, like the front of the jacket and trim just flew off my needles.

It took me just under a month, a whole sheep or twos worth of wool (seriously, this thing gobbles up yarn. So if you're going to knit it, make sure you're prepared and have a LOT of leftovers).

But honestly, now the cooler weather is upon us, it's barely left my back! And of course, there's the rosy glow I get whenever someone asks "did you make that?" and then gawps open-mouthed at me when I nod. It's bright and bold, but totally beautiful.

It's a Penguono!

You can view my project on Ravelry here. Although, honestly I was kind of terrible with keeping up with updating the yarn I used and notes. Sorry!