Remember this? Way back in June you voted…and the three of us have been working to create magic ever since.

knitting and yarn collaboration

It’s time to reveal what our efforts have brought forth. Let’s start with the yarn. Kim from Indigodragonfly created a subtle speckled yarn on her Chameleon Sock base (63% SW Merino/20% Cashmere/17% Silk 365 m/400 yds per 100 g). This base is an unusual one – the silk in it is a separate ply and takes both colour and light differently. Check out the incredible beauty of the Architexture colourway:

Chameleon Yarn from Indigodragonfly - an exclusive colourway inspired by the Urban Creative Exploration

Acid green. Blue. Purple. Right? Architexture is a dream.

So then it was the designers’ turns to be inspired. The yarn was so subtle and flexible that I knew I could go with texture, cables, lace, or twisted stitches…whatever excited me. I decided to go with a few techniques to bring the photo to life. The Street Art Cowl is a bandana cowl: all the drama of a triangular shawl without the bulk behind the neck or the tendency to fall off! The diagonal lines of the lace echo the sharp diagonals in the inspiration photo while the circular cables on the edging reference the huge whisk-like bulb.

Street Art Cowl - A knitting pattern from Imagined Landscapes Designs. One skein project that looks like a shawl but wears like a cowl!

 

Street Art Cowl - A knitting pattern from Imagined Landscapes Designs. One skein project that looks like a shawl but wears like a cowl!

$5.75 CAD

You start working flat as you would for a triangular shawl and then join in the round once the top is wide enough. At that point the patterning begins and you watch the subtle colourway dance and shine. The chevron lace pattern is really fabulous – as written originally for flat knitting it required working the pattern on both the right and wrong sides. Here, worked in the round, the sharply horizontal lace and stacked yarn overs easily create a really compelling line.

Street Art Cowl - A knitting pattern from Imagined Landscapes Designs. One skein project that looks like a shawl but wears like a cowl! Lace and cables

I admit that the big whisk in the sculpture was a bit of a love-hate feature. I love circles, and I love the idea of this incredible metal piece of street art. But circles and knitting aren’t easy friends. There really aren’t many ways to get circles in knitting. I swatched all of them. (Not really!) In the end I went with a modified version of the dollar cable in Barbara Walker’s Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It works as an edging since it’s basically a wide ribbing.

Street Art Cowl - A knitting pattern from Imagined Landscapes Designs. One skein project that looks like a shawl but wears like a cowl! Gorgeous and unusual circular cables on the edging

Awesomely, Kirsten of MediaPeruana also designed a cowl that’s also a bit of a shawl. Maybe we were both thinking of the winds of autumn! We didn’t share any details as we worked so our surprise and smiles were real last week as revealed the pictures to each other. Check out the delicate femininity of her beautiful Paisaje Cowlette:

Paisaje Cowlette from MediaPeruana Designs as part of the Urban Creative Exploration

Both patterns and the yarn are going to be at Rhinebeck this weekend for New York Sheep and Wool. You can find them in the booth Indigodragonfly is sharing with Jennie the Potter – Booth 9, Bldg 27A. Try them on, be inspired. They’re available as kits with this stunning colourway or you can buy them on Ravelry if you’re not travelling to the show: Street Art and Paisaje.

 

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Urban Creative Exploration Reveal!
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Sarah October 19, 2017 knitting, Patterns, yarn

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