mes amies
La Fontaine is a shawl designed by Sara of Rose City Knits and knitted in yarn hand-dyed by Amy of Limonene Designs.
What makes me happiest about this project is that I count both Amy and Sara among my friends.
I fell hard for the deep semi-solid dark green and have been in my green-phase for a while now. While it is a wonderful yarn for socks, I knew a simple shawl would best showcase this perfect colour. I wanted to knit La Fontaine since Sara first posted teaser photos of her design in November 2010. I knew it would be a perfect match of yarn to pattern.
Amy takes great care in dyeing her yarn and fibre and ensuring that what she sells is as colour-fast as possible and takes care that the dye is properly set and rinsed. I’ve worked with several of Amy’s hand-dyed yarns and fibre. I can say that there is no hint of smell from the setting agent, a problem that I’ve found in some popular hand-dyed yarns and why you won’t find me working with them. I have also not experienced bleeding when I rinse to block my finished knits. Amy takes great care in her work and her colours are divine.
Sara’s love of combining tradition with twist is apparent in this design. La Fontaine is fresh and timeless. The main body of the shawl is knitted in a simple repeat (perfect for commuting or car knitting) and it has two other benefits: it makes it easy to quickly count how far along you are and it is interesting enough to keep you from wanting to poke your eyes out when you are knitting over 250 stitches in each row and want to be at the interesting edging already. The edging is traditional and paired with the body it creates a throughly modern and timeless shawl. Sara’s pattern is clearly written and laid out in a thoughtful way, conserving space on the page but not overwhelming with too much information or clutter. It is the first pattern I’ve successfully knitted completely from my tablet, without resorting to printing out a portion of it at any time.
I can’t say enough wonderful things about this project except that I wish it weren’t June so I could wear it more often!
My ravelry project page for La Fontaine
Amy’s shop is Limonene Designs and she also offers a growing collection of knitting patterns on Ravlery.
Sara can be found at Rose City Knits and additional designs can also be found on Ravelry.
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What a spectacular combination of yarn and pattern!
thank you!