Subway Shawl or Sunshine Shawl?

   This pattern is the latest instalment of my annual TTC KAL Surprise pattern kits at Passionknit. The TTC Knitalong is an organized yarn crawl that takes over Toronto transit (TTC) from various points in the city, and travels from yarn shop to yarn shop knitting all the way. You can learn more about it from their blog. For the past several years we have hosted two of these groups at Passionknit, and we offer up some goodies and a discount to our guests. Additionally, I design one pattern every year that gets dramatically unveiled for each group. I try to make the pattern something that is good for portable knitting, i.e. something that would be easy to knit on the subway, streetcar, or bus.

  Two years ago we started this tradition with the TTC Mitts:

   And last year we continued it with the TTC Token Socks:

   This year I did the TTC Subway Shawl:

   This shawl is called the TTC Subway Shawl in honour of the TTC KAL, and also with the thought that it is perfect for knitting on the subway. The pattern is not super complicated, and while it has four colours in it, you are never using more than two at any given time, so you would only need to have two balls of yarn with you. 

    Despite its underground namesake, this shawl definitely belongs in the sun. Part of me thinks Sunshine Shawl would be a more apt name because I can't look at these colours without thinking of a gorgeous summer day. My husband took these photos for me out on Toronto Island, which is a lovely place to spend a nice summer afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and none of these images gives the slightest hint of below ground transit.

   However, as someone who has spent several years commuting via subway, I think the perfect thing to make your commute less dreary is to bring a bit of colour with you. 

   Kits for this shawl are available at Passionknit in Toronto. If you are not a local, give us a call and we would be happy to ship you one! 

Sneak Preview: Mrs. Jardine

   I am very excited to tell you guys about my newest pattern that will be released very soon. I am just waiting for my boyfriend fiancé husband (someday I will get used to that) to finalize a few more photos. But here is a preview for you guys:

   This sweater is a prime example of necessity as the mother of invention. The yarn store where I work, Passionknit, had just four skeins left of this gorgeous purple yarn (Madelinetosh DK in Vishnu). So I decided that I needed to come up with a sweater that would only take me four skeins. Of course the best way to make sure I had enough was to use a fabric that was very open. I picked out one of my favourite lace patterns, grabbed a needle one size larger than the yarn called for and got to work. The product was a loose open sweater that makes a great lightweight top for Spring. I hope you will like it as much as I do.

   While I knit the sweater out of a wool, it would also look great in a cotton or bamboo blend. Something even lighter would make it perfect for the warm months to come, though its hard to believe the crazy winter we have had in Toronto this year will ever loosen its grasp on us. We can only hope, and knit.