FO: Eco Stripe

FO: Doric by Cecily Glowik MacDonald 

Yarn: Cascade Eco Duo

Needles: US 8 

Raveled.

When Cascade Eco Duo is knit up one skein at a time it creates a large stripe effect. As one reader, Skrapyram, eloquently shared–it almost appears as though a pot of coffee had been spilled across the fabric. While some may adore this effect, I tried to tone it down by alternating skeins after every row. I’m pleased by the more subtle striping that resulted from this process. 

Let it be known that Cascade Eco Duo is wonderful to knit with and so soft. I love wearing my new cardi.

This is my first Cecily Glowik MacDonald pattern. Some of the instructions were a bit wonky, and felt like they had been written in a rush, but I trusted the designer and followed along much to my delight. I look forward to trying out more of Cecily’s designs. I like her simple aesthetic.

My stitch gauge was off–too large. But, I really liked the drape of my swatch so instead of using smaller needles I just knit the smallest size. And, somehow it worked! I’m always happy when my knitting intuition comes together and produces happy results.

A special thank you to Kate for taking these photos and for being willing to work with my old point-and-shoot and the limited light.  

Around town: A view of Sleeping Lady from the coastal trail. Anchorage, Alaska

Because sometimes you never know when a crisp fall walk to visit the Sleeping Lady will turn into a dark winter walk.

The stripe effect

How do you feel about self striping yarn? On one level it can be a wondrous thing and put any knitter at ease. Socks, for example can come out quite nicely on self striping yarn. Unfortunately, self-striping just makes me too nervous. If the yarn doesn’t visually show it, I want some other kind of indicator on the label when I purchase a skein or two, or in this case five.

I’m looking at you Cascade Eco Duo. You were so unassuming and delightful when I first found you but it’s since been a rocky road. The Duo in the name is to reference the blend of 70% baby Alpaca and 30% Merino. (YUM!) The softness and the way the fiber glides off and on my US #8 birch needles is simply scrumptious. However, on closer swatch inspection you will begin to see the striping creeping in.

I could even get behind Cascade’s eco practices and the fact that the self striping is actually the result of blending natural colors straight from these two lovely creatures. Nevertheless, large chunks of stripe across my bust was the last thing I intended this yarn to churn out. For a while I thought we could work together and I started designing a sweater knit on the bias. Try as I might, it just wasn’t working. Then, when I thought all else had failed…

I remembered this age old trick. Working with more than one skein at a time and sometimes five different skeins (using a different skein per row) can rely turn a sad case of chunky stripes into a fine fabric. I think my relationship with cascade Eco Duo may now be restored. I lightened up the photo a bit so you could see the difference in color texture between these swatches, it’s more muted in person. And, if you’re curious, I’m knitting this fine fiber up into Doric