Shibui Knits Medley Stole - My Big 2020 Project

 

One of my big projects in 2020 was a stole using the ShibuiKnits Medley pattern from a kit I purchased from Modern Daily Knitting.  Honestly, I don't think the pictures on the Shibui site do this pattern justice.

Modern Daily Knitting Picture 

 I did make a few changes to the pattern.  I added one more color to my project, Shibui Tweed Silk Cloud in Twilight purchased from WEBS site.  I put it between the dark grey and the cream stripes.  I also added a slipped stitch edge despite the pattern saying not to.  I prefer very straight, neat edges and I like the bit of structure added by the slipped edge.  I also saved the small bits of yarn left and added a circular crochet medallion to the bottom edge of the dark grey band.  I couldn’t bear to not use every bit of such a luscious (and expensive) yarn.  This project was my first using luxury yarn.  It made a simple stockinette stich very beautiful.

 

My Finished Project

The stole took me about 10 months to complete.  I am a slow knitter and Tweed Silk Cloud is a lace weight yarn.  I had to almost completely redo 3 sections because of dropped stitches.  I tried to fix them using a crochet hook but no matter what I did, I could always spot the repaired area.  If I had left them, I would have never been happy with the finished product.  I still have not blocked it (as you can tell from the picture) but I have been wearing it anyway.  It is light and warm with a beautiful drape. 

The colors were not ones I would usually combine but I love the result.  I need to rethink my color strategy on future projects.

I've had a lot of questions about the medallion.  It has a magic loop center and is a mixture of double crochet and single crochet rounds.  For pops of color, I added some surface chains to the top so I could use up a much yarn as possible.  When it is feasible, I like to add small, unique touches to my projects.  

I was happy with the end result.  I want to design a crochet square based on the basic principles used here.  I see the potential for eye-catching accessories and afghans.