If you're one of the seemingly dozens of people who have been searching for the Drifted Pearls knitting pattern, this blog post is for you. Several months ago, my cousin had posted a picture of that pattern on Facebook half-jokingly looking for someone to make it for her. Well, she's a lovely person who's always doing stuff for everyone else, so I thought "hey! here's something I can do for her." Except that the pattern is nowhere to be found. I even messaged its creator on both Etsy and Ravelry to no avail. (I hope she's okay...)
A few months later, I searched again on a whim. To my delight, a Ravelry thread looking for test knitters for a new pattern came up. The pattern is called Alpine Mists by Robin Monogue, and it's inspired by Drifted Pearls. I immediately jumped in, pick me! pick me! And yay, Robin did.
The pattern is designed for either DK or worsted weight. Because all of the directions are given for length, rather than numbers of rows knit, it's really quite easy to use the yarn of your choice. I did a swatch in worsted but it was heavier than I was looking for. So I dove back into my stash and came up with this: Ultra Mellowspun DK from Mary Maxim, leftover from a previous project. I've gotten away from using man-made yarns - I may be becoming a bit of a yarn snob, in fact - but the weight, colour, and hand feel of this one were all perfect.
The test knitting experience was fun. I caught a couple of typos and made a couple of suggestions to clarify instructions, but this was a high-quality, well-explained pattern from the get-go. I suspect that's not always the case, but test knitting this one was a breeze! Robin's pattern includes several interesting techniques, all of which are throughly explained with pictures. I followed the written instructions, but it's charted as well.
I made a minor adjustment from the pattern by shortening the length of stockinette so that the lacey pattern would emerge from just below the loop. I thought I'd get more length from blocking than I did: I forgot, the man-made yarns tend not to have so much stretch. The next time around I would not shorten it quite so drastically to give a bit more leeway for a larger neck, but I think it looks fantastic.
My cousin was delighted with receiving a handmade present out of the blue. And I'm sure all of those folks looking for a gorgeous key-hole scarf pattern will be thrilled too. I know I am!
