Hawaiian trunks # 3

This week, I’m away on a little holiday to France. A well deserved break from the horrible winter weather,  catching up with my friends back home in Nice. But don’t you worry, I’ve been bringing my knitting with me! I have this Pine Bough Cowl to finish, remember? And how am I supposed to past the time in transports if not by doing some needle work!

And did you also think I would leave you without the latest updates on the Hawaiian Trunks designs?

The charts are now pretty much ready for me to start on the shorts as soon as I get back to Edinburgh. Well, I’ll need to get wool shopping first, but then I’ll get to the task to bring these crazy ideas to life! No more distractions! (Except perhaps inspiration for other projects... But that's ok.)

(Somehow my subconscious made me choose orange and brown pencils for the palm tree chart... Which, before I coloured the background with yellow, resulted in a striking resemblance to the logo of a certain coconut flavoured alcoholic beverage... Brain, are you trying to tell me something here???)

I'll be back in few days. Until then...

Hawaiian trunks # 2

Ta-Dah!!!!

Here is it, the hibiscus flower sample!

What do you think?

I think it looks pretty good, a promising start... True, the colours aren’t the best to display the design to its full potential. I used some left over wool here, but of course when I’ll knit the actual shorts I’ll be using some white or other light/pastel tone to contrast on a bright and darker main colour.

And I’ll be using cotton, not wool. I always pictured cotton or a cotton blend to do this project. It just seems the right material for a pair of shorts to be worn in hot hot summers.

Also on Friday afternoon, as I was finishing my sample, I have heard a couple of times this : “but, if you go into the water with these knitted trunks, won’t they shrink?”. I reflected about that a little. And I came to the conclusion that you would need to swim (quite erratically too) in a sea water that is 30°C or more for that to happen.  And even for my nephew on his island in the tropics, for whom these shorts are intended, the ocean doesn’t really get that hot. Correct me if I’m wrong...

Right, now I need to work on polishing and adding a couple of leaves and details to this hibiscus chart. And start the other chart, the one for the sunset with palm trees. This is all quite challenging but very exciting! I shall have these draft drawings ready to show really soon!

Hawaiian trunks # 1

After the Christmas craziness of knitting for what seems half of my entourage, for the past couple of months I have been working on a few projects that I’m keeping preciously for myself. But now it is time for me to realise that the season of friends and family birthdays is soon upon me again. Starting with my baby nephew’s second birthday.

Knitting something for my nephew’s birthday is always a tricky situation. Firstly because I have two nephews, and although it is the youngest we are celebrating soon, I can’t just not knit for the oldest (who’s 7) at the same time. And vice versa.  So, it is not one project I need to think about, but two. What kind of Auntie would I be otherwise?

Secondly, because my sister and her family live on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They spend Christmas refreshing themselves in a swimming pool, and their winter is as cold as a Scottish summer is hot. Scarves and big woolly hats and jumpers are rather useless over there...

But recently, exploring Ravelry for some other purpose, I came across this pattern of trunk shorts from the book More knitting in the Sun,by Kirsti Potter. It’s perfect! These two boys have their share of light jumpers already, and these shorts are wonderfully fitting for their environment and their lifestyle – running everywhere barefoot.

But I can’t just knit this in one colour, can I? No no no, not me!

Thinking of tropical islands, with sandy beaches and volcanoes (yes, you read that right) and surfers, I choose to give these shorts a Hawaiian look. I want big flowers, bright colours, possibly a sunset and palm trees! Well, I have to make two pairs of shorts, so I have room for experiment...

But let’s start with the obvious Hawaiian shirt design, the big fat flowers. So on Saturday I’ve been looking at drawing a first chart of a hibiscus flower. I simply typed “hibiscus design” in the search engine, looked at the images results and after selecting one I liked, I drew it by hand on my trusty squared Pukka pad. Ah yes, I draw my charts by hand; no tracing paper, where would be the fun in that!

working station

And a draft hibiscus chart was born!

A trial knit is undergoing, and I’m really excited to see how it will turn out! You will, of course, be the first ones to see the result of this experiment; with a picture posted here most likely by the end of the week.