Interweave Knits: Bistro Lace Stole

And this is my second pattern for this Interweave Knits Summer 2011 issue: a Bistro Lace Stole.

photo by Interweave Press

This stole is KNIT not crocheted! The motifs are worked individually on double pointed needles and joined as you go => NO SEWING motifs together at the end! Yippee!

photo by Interweave Press

I always admire the many crochet motif stoles and even though I am an avid crocheter, I just didn't want to fall into the "granny squares" category...

... time to come up with a quick and easy knitted flower motif using thicker weight yarn that would still make an airy, elegant and drapey stole.

When Interweave sent me the yarn, I was in heaven: Loarna's Laces Lion & Lamb Multi (50% silk, 50% wool; 205 yds/187 m per 3.5 oz/100 g; aran weight/10 ply/8 wpi). This yarn was so buttery soft and has this incredible sheen to it... what a pleasure to knit with and then to wrap the stole around you...

photo by Interweave Press

The pattern is very yarn conscious, meaning that you get a rather nicely sized stole out of surprisingly little yardage. For this rectangular layout, ~63" x 19", you needed only 1 skein of each colorway for roughly a total of 600 yds.

At first the chosen colorways were a bit puzzling to me as I wouldn't have chosen that particular color combination and it took some trial and errors to come up with a layout that had the colors all play nice with each others. :) But in the end it was a great look and very satisfying.

I already had some yarn from my stash set aside to make this stole for myself. Now I just gotta find time to knit it...!

EDIT: The stole for myself knit up so quickly (done in 5 days!) and was so yarn efficient that I have plenty of yarn left for more!