Divide Bravo

I like the purl side of knitting. It's sometimes referred to as the "wrong" side, but not because knitters hate it or anything. It's just a name. Recycling sweaters has exposed me to hundreds of sweaters in all their diverse constructions, but it's the more recently designed styles that are exposing that bumpy underside. In fact, the D Squared sweater I recycled this yarn from incorporated stranded color sections that were constructed inside out.



In the Divide Series (and previously in the Carve Series) I use the purl stitch to negate alternating sections of a dual rib stitch pattern, but I also do it as a visual negation of space. I've referred to stockinette as negative space before, but the purl side of stockinette seems to fit this description more accurately, especially when used to contrast other stitches.



Divide Bravo contrasts purls with an alternating garter ribbing. I prefer to have these diamond sections closer to the brim so that they expose that familiar knit side when folded up. I like how the angularity plays with that folded edge.

Purl side play coupled with the reversibility of ribbing affords some cool possibilities.



Etsy Shop Listing

Shear Bravo

The basic rules of Shear are the parallelogram shape in the middle, flanked above and below by bands of contrast stitches that match the crown section stitches. Alpha and now Bravo have both incorporated standard stockinette stitch in these areas.



The upper band is basically invisible since it's adjacent to the crown section itself. For now this upper band only serves as a visual gap between the upper parallelogram and the ribbed decrease columns. In later editions I'll explore the possibilities of this invisible divider, but for now I'm still rockin' that stockinette "white space," as I like to put it.



Rather fitting since this piece is very understated overall. The double seed stitch that sits between the ribbing ended up quite restrained, perhaps due to the combination of my loose knitting and a dark yarn. It's like a checkerboard shadow.

Speaking of which, this is a 100% lamb's wool yarn recycled from a Gap sweater. I think this is the fourth hat I've made out of this sweater. With what's left I think I can muster up one more hat. Maybe one for me?

Etsy Shop Listing

Duality Alpha 2

This is a custom Duality I finished a while back. It's a larger version of Duality Alpha in a charcoal gray 100% cotton. Since I shipped it out the day after finishing it, I feel a little more heartbroken over it. The dude who bought it really liked it though, so that's cool.

That's the tricky thing about working with recycled materials: you rarely get the same yarn (sweater) twice. Even if I do make another, it will likely never be exactly like this one. Good thing I took pictures.

Recycling Roundup

Things have slowed down on the recycling front. It's not that I don't want to or anything, I'm just running out of room to put all this yarn. Yes, that's a good thing, but so is pumping out hats and scarves which is what I've been more focused on lately. More stash-busting, less stash-fluffing.

Over the past few months I've been getting more selective in terms of fiber content. I'm phasing out synthetics and focusing on natural fibers. It's a little discouraging sometimes when I find great colors only to put them back down because of the acrylic content.



One exception was this light gray cardigan which was given to me by my aunt. It's 80% Lamb's Wool and 20% Nylon. Sounds like good sock yarn, but what I like about it is the color. I brake for grays like this. The mid and dark grays are great too, but I like how these lighter ones brighten up an outfit while maintaining a sophisticated restraint.

I even kept the shorts (that's them in the 's' shape) which average about a yard or so in length. They might make for some snappy fringes, or pompoms or uh... kumihimo embellishments? I'm not sure what I'll do with these. Maybe something will come to me.

Divide Alpha

I'm getting better at these angular transitions, and messing with them more. The last time I did simultaneous multi-directional transitions was on Reflect Zero. I think before that it was Pyramid Charie. This time I took two transitions and intersected them, then added a steeper-angled transition after that. This resulted in some nice symmetry, at least in the design of it.

Well guess what: I like to break symmetry. So I used this intersection to split a ribbing pattern in two. And that might sound as confusing as it did to me at first, but then that's what sketchbooks are for. After confirming the math, I dove right in.



The yarn is a 100% wool that I recycled out of a scratchy sweater quite some time ago. These rustic wools are great as hats, and show off some cool texture.

The Divide Series will give me a chance to do some lower-gauge stuff which I tend to avoid doing. I guess It'll be appropriate for the upcoming months. Plus these worsted weight yarns are starting to pile up on me.

Etsy Shop Listing