Sea Anemone Shawl

Last week, I decided to play with the idea of knitted circles. The interesting thing about knitting is that it is worked on a grid. You cast on x number of stitches onto a static needle, then you build rows on top of those x stitches. There are chances to manipulate your x number to shape the final product. Contrast that with crochet, which can be worked on a grid, but really the crocheter is only working one live (meaning you can pull it right back out) stitch at a time.

What could be better to play with the idea of circles (after plenty of scrap yarn swatching). This beautiful locally hand dyed yarn is a joy to work with; the colors shift so regularly but I don't think I have seen the same exact shade twice. Seeing the colors shift and change has made working up the plain garter stitch much more enjoyable. Anyway, back to circles. 

I decided to use garter stitch (which is knitting every row) because it creates a square stitch gauge (measurement). I figured that a square shaped stitch would give something closer to a circle than a rectangularly shaped stitch. I am also knitting this fingering weight (the yarn weight used for socks) shawl on a US 10 needle (that measures 6 mm, I use a 2.25 mm needle to knit socks). Hopefully the final fabric is light and airy with enough flexibility for the circles to come through in the final product. Honestly, I can't see anything but the Little Mermaid in this shawl. Once it is blocked, I will take some close-up shots of some of my favorite color changes.