December quickie: Shadowlands

It’s that time of the year when gift knitting inevitable hops on your needles, and you knit the night away in a frenzy of trying to get the next gift done before the big day (am I right?). Any of our Quickies patterns would be an excellent option for your gift knitting needs (1-2 skeins of yarn, smaller accessory style projects that are typically able to be completed quickly!), and this month’s Quickies pattern is no exception! Knit Eco Chic does not disappoint with Shadowlands, a two-color cowl that is knit in the round. Featuring Malabrigo Veraon in Pistachio and Chocolate.

Just as light filters through shades of dusk, this pattern introduces knitters to a two-colored slipped stitch design. Like mountain peaks on a range, light and dark cables interplay, never entwining yet always connecting. As beautiful as the sun-kissed mountaintops and as rare as a solo sunset, Shadowlands is sure to draw every eye.

Knit Eco Chic provides knitting patterns with an eco-focus. Each design is created in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina with Puddles, the Great Dane, lending a paw.

Inspired by God’s creation outside her window, the knitter can expect the unexpected with her fresh take on structure and stitches. Knit Eco Chic graciously shared some of her design process for Shadowlands with us!

1: What is your favorite part of your Quickies design and why?

I loved the dimensionality of the layered cables!

2: What should knitters pay attention to when working this pattern? Do you have any tips or tricks that will make knitting this pattern easier?

Setting up the colors. All the testers agreed that it looks a bit of a mess at the very beginning, but once the pattern becomes established the mess disappears and you see the full design. So don’t give up if your start looks a bit of a colorful mess!

An important Tip: once the stitches that create the cables are established those stitches will always be slipped or knit. All other stitches will always be either knit or purled.

3: What does your design process look like?

It’s always a bit different, but for Shadowlands it started with a wee little swatch. I was curious to see what types of stitches Verano was most suited to – cables, lace, ribbing, garter, brioche, etc. And I also wanted to see what would happen if I took a standard slipped stitch over garter concept and worked both colors as slips.

After Malabrigo accepted my submission, I waited eagerly to see what colors they’d send. Chocolate and Pistachio as lovely together as chocolate covered nuts are good! Shadowlands’ design process highlights:

- picking Barbara Benson’s (aka Tumped Duck, a famous mosaic designer) for the best way to symbolize the dual color slips and then my tech editor asking around her circles for feedback.

- in the valley below where we live, they play live music every Friday night throughout the summer. Sitting out listening to the sounds waft up from the valley below watching Puddles play with his favorite stick and knitting Shadowlands created idyllic Friday knit nights!

- the last one was a surprise I learned in testing. Depending upon which color you choose as your MC, the cable in back will either be a shadow (like shown) or the main visual!

- hiking up the Beacon Heights trail during magic hour to capture the photoshoot and play homage to the picture in CS Lewis’ biography. Camera mom did a stellar job considering the cliff had no guard rail! God created a beautiful sunset for us to enjoy as we hiked back down to the car.

4: Was there any inspiration you had when creating this piece?

One of my favorite philosophers is CS Lewis and the movie about his life is “Shadowlands”. In it he describes a place where clouds cross over a valley and it’s his concept of beauty. That concept kept piping up as I designed and knit the multi-layered cables.