Posts
I had never met Gaye before, but when she walked in wearing her Jane Thornley, Rogue Wave Wrap, I knew she was my kind of friend. I explored Jane Thornley's web site and Ravelry pages, and I think she is also my kind of friend. I immediately knew I wanted to embark on a knitting "off the grid" kind of adventure that is the basis of Jane's designs. In other words, I wanted a Rogue Wave Wrap. Katy, Gaye and I went to a few knitting shops on the coast, and began digging through the sale bins. Katy and I started collecting what would eventually become our own wraps, keeping in mind that we both had lots of left overs in our home stashes.
As I started thinking what my own Rogue would be like, I recalled that I actually had already knit a rogue/off the grid type shawl. I called my previous shawl my Stash Buster Scarf.
When I got home, I gathered stash yarn and combined it with some of Katy's hand spun silk and
added it to my sale bin yarns.
 |
| The light blue on the bottom right is Katy's hand spun silk. |
Several days later, Taylor and I got in the car and started a two week road trip to Ashland OR. Napa CA and Davis CA. Actually, Taylor started driving and I started knitting. As we got closer to Ashland, I realized I was now in Rogue River country -an appropriate location for my current knitting endeavor.
Jane's directions are minimal. Anyone should be able to follow them to make a triangular shawl, starting with the bottom point. I, however, managed to "go rogue" before knitting more than 4 or 5 inches. Jane recommends that the knitter cast on three stitches at the beginning of each row. She said, "Cast on." I read, "Cast on," and proceeded to do my own thing. This is, after all, knitting "off the grid." Instead of casting on, I increased three stitches at the beginning of each row by picking up the bar, or knitting in the front or back of the first three stitches. The result is:
If I wasn't such a rogue knitter, the red at the top of the wrap would be at the bottom. As the stitches lie, that band of red (which is actually purple) will be the neck edge. When I realized that my wrap was coming out upside down, I considered ripping out my stitches. However, I imagined that Jane would have told me to go with the flow - so I did.
I'm definitely in the flow with this project. Since we are in Ashland to attend plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this project provides relaxation between shows. It is also appropriate because Ashland is kind of a hippie type town where I'm sure there are many "off the grid", "rogue" kind of people. Here's a sample of what I found walking down the road next to Lithia Springs Resort, where we are staying.
