Multidirectional Scarf and Hat

When I was visiting my mother in California last October, we went to the By Hand Yarn shop in Sonora. There are no local yarn shops close to where I live in Southern Illinois, so I was eager to browse for luxury yarns. I came away with enough Berocco Denim Silk for a sweater, 2 skeins of Noro Daria to make a bag, and the focus of my visit - silk yarns. I had never worked with silk yarn before so I chose single skeins - Angora Cottage 100% silk in Night Dreams and Soy Silk/Angora/Wool in Fall Leaves, Artyarns Regal Silk 101 and Silk Ribbon 123. I was thinking of using the silks and the Daria for beaded knotwork, but being the Internet junkie that I am, I had to look up the websites on the yarn labels to find out just what could be made with silk yarn.

The patterns at Artyarns sent me back to By Hand Yarn looking for the Starburst Shawl and Diagonal Tank patterns. Further study of the ArtYarns website revealed the mutidirectional knitting group moderated by Iris Schreier, author of Modular Knits (Lark, 2005) and co-founder of Artyarns, which offered free patterns, advice, and a warm group of knitters from all over the world. I knew I had to join the group, buy the book, and learn this fascinating knitting technique.

I have been knitting madly ever since. Pictured is my first mutidirectional project, the MD scarf, worked in Caron Rainbow colorway Jetstream. The fringe is a crocheted design posted by a member of the multidirectional group - thanks, Sarah! I earned the free pattern for the matching hat, and the set was claimed by one of my granddaughters, Arlyn Danielle, when I went back to New Jersey over the holidays. The colors look great with her auburn hair!