The Shift

Way back at the start of August I wrote about a neat fall-ish project, The Shift, and I finally finished mine! I asked you if you thought I should try out someone else’s colours or go my own path, and I think everyone (including me) was in agreement that I should trust my intuition, so I did. I chose 3 colours that I thought would work, crossed my fingers, knocked on some wood, and set to work. At first I was thinking “I don’t know about this …”, but as the project progressed I saw what was taking place and it was AMAZING!

How I Chose Colours

The pattern is always alternating 2 colours: one works as a background and the other is the dots in the foreground. The background colour will stand out more than the foreground colour. I found that colours A & B ended up being the dominant colours, and C was used mostly for the foreground/dots.

1. I picked three colourways that looked like the colours could work together. One had reds, one was neutrals, and the third was dark things and a bit of greens.
2. One colourway was darkish (colour A, one was medium in its brightness (the red, colour B), and the last was lighter (the neutrals, colour C).
3. My colours: A) 2328, B) 2361 and C) 2349.

An interesting thing … as I was working I realized that colours A 2328 & C 2349. could also work really well with a cool colour for B, like the blue of 2362 or the green 2298.

The Yarn’s Performance

Schoppel Edition 3 was beautiful to work with and the finished piece looks and feels gorgeous. The designer, Andrea Mowry, has a sweater pattern named Shifty that can be made with the same yarn, and I would totally, unequivocally do it! Mowry suggests going down a size in the sweater pattern if you are between sizes, and I think that is perfectly feasible with Schoppel Edition 3 because it stretched easily when I blocked it.

Addenda: to test the tension in the round I think I would try making a Shiftalong Hat first, as a swatch for the sweater. Measure the tension before and after blocking to get a good idea of how much change you can expect. Reviewing the comments of finished projects, you might end up going down a size (or more).

To make a Shifty you’ll need the following Schoppel Edition 3:

• Sizes: 30 (34, 38, 42)(46, 50, 54, 58)”/76 (86.5, 96.5, 107)(117, 127, 137, 147.5) cm
• Color A: 5(6, 7, 7)(8, 9,9,10) balls
• Colors B & C (each): 1(2, 2, 2)(2, 2, 2, 3) balls
• Color D: 1(1, 2, 2)(2, 2, 2, 2) balls

A Small Hack

The yarn was very, very soft, and will be absolutely no problem wearing against your skin. It comes in balls, and I found that rewinding them into cakes on a ball-winder made them easier to work with. I also used my old Pantyhose Hack, which kept things more orderly. Since you’ll have 3 colourways going, I suggest using 3 different colours of pantyhose or Yarn Sleeves.

The Pattern

The pattern wasn’t hard, but I did have to pay attention to where I was and keep track of my rows. To do this I used a row counter and made notations in pencil on my pattern. If you find that confusing you may want to put the info into a spreadsheet program to keep track row-by-row.

The stitch pattern is a slip stitch, and on a few occasions I had to tink my work a row or two when I wasn’t on the ball. It is not a project to do while distracted (ie. drinking).

Materials

• Schoppel Edition 3: 3 balls (1 in each of 3 colours). We used A) 2328, B) 2361 and C) 2349.
• 3.75mm needles (circular or straight)
• tapestry needle
• Row counter (optional but useful)
• Pattern: The Shift

I was going to take a picture of the finished piece laid flat. Unfortunately, I forgot and seamed it up! So I’ve used some photo magic to give you an idea of what the full piece looked like.

Here is The Shift, all seamed up and ready to go. I think the pointy part is supposed to be worn in front or to the side.

Conclusions

The yarn was great, the pattern was great, the finished project was great! I recommend it and I would do it again.