Multistripe Stole

My Multistripe Stole is finally finished. I cast on this stole in May 2013 and cast off in early June 2014. I have knit other projects during this time, but it seems strange not seeing the Multistripe Stole’s box sitting beside the sofa, it had been there for so long it had become part of the furniture.

When I cast on it never occurred to me that it would take me over a year to complete the project. I had visualised wearing it draped over my shoulders on cool summer evenings last year.

I used 19 different sock yarns from my yarn stash in a Summer Garden colour theme. I was thinking of roses, hardy geraniums and pansies all set off by a vivid summery blue sky. Using the 4 ply and sock yarns has created wonderfully drapable fabric. This was a wonderful project for using up left over part balls of sock yarn. I used a mixture of commercially dyed yarns and indie hand dyed yarns. To give the final stole a more cohesive look, I did 3 repeats of the 19 different yarns, finishing with the same sock yarn for the garter stitch edge.

The stole would also have been wonderful knit using a selection of long colour repeating yarns like Zauberball and Mini Mochi in contrasting colour combinations. It would have been fun watching to see which colour combinations would come next. A different option would have been choosing one long repeating yarn like Crazy Zauberball and contrasting it with a plain coloured yarn or hand dyed semi solid yarn.

My Multistripe Stole was based on the Multistripe Stole on page 15 and page 28 of “Knitting with the Color Guys” by Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably. Their stole was 69 x 190 cm (27 x 75″) in size but my finished stole was larger at 86 x 208 cm (34 x 82″) as I cast on extra stitches and knit the edge border at the same time as the body of the stole. I wrote about my initial feelings about knitting this stole in my post Multistripe Stole Time.

I steam pressed this stole on my ironing board as I don’t have a large enough flat space (or enough mats) to wet block a project of this size.

By the time I finished the Multistripe Stole my love for this project was seriously waning. I wasn’t convinced when my sister saw it and said it was beautiful. But I persevered with the project. Would I knit this stole again – not unless I suddenly became the proud owner of a knitting machine!

I was pleasantly surprised by how photogenic this stole turned out to be. My Multistripe Stole looked really lovely with a backdrop of pink summer roses.

I have worn my multistripe stole several times draped around my shoulders on a cool summer evening after the sun has gone down, sipping a cold drink while chatting in the garden. Perfect.