Inspiration Saturday: Five stars for stripes

Ah, Saturday.  Time to veg out, knit, bake, and inspire!  Don't forget to check out Alicia's post as well. I'm working on a test knit for her right now, and without revealing anything, I will say that it might have a little something to do with my subject matter this week.

Stripes are such a simple way to do something interesting with your knits, while still just...knitting.  No lace work, no pattern to keep track of, not even any purls are necessary.  And the only thing better than one gorgeous yarn is another to go with it.

I've used stripes in a couple of projects already.  I made my first improvised shawl striping a navy and light blue alpaca:

I had made a few shawls at this point, so I took the basics of a triangle shawl with a center spine and just did my own thing.  The sense of empowerment I got from that is probably what got me through the picot bind-off.

I made the Perpendicular once for someone else in a swap in a non-color shifting yarn, but it looked so interesting in the Noro I had to make one for myself as well.  I loved watching the one set of stripes turn from pink to a dark-purple-almost-black while the other went blue, green, and grey.

And I think the tassel totally makes it.

And then, my most epic striped project so far was a tunic dress I made when Mission Falls first went out of business:

The original pattern (which came from Mission Falls Duet though it doesn't show up in the list of patterns) was done in a single color, but faced with shelves of pretty purples in a yarn that was going to disappear soon, I was surprisingly cavalier and added that detail myself.  It worked out great, except for all of those darned ends.

I'm definitely not done striping yet, though.  There are too many other cute patterns out there.  Heather Dixon of Army of Knitters just released two new pattern books, which includes the Zena Cloche:

Photo credit: Heather Dixon

And also from Dixon, a couple of years ago, I also love this striped tank top, Erquy:

Photo credit: Heather Dixon

Leftie is a different kind of stripe:

Photo credit: Martina Behm

My mom just got Derecho during a free pattern promotion:

Photo credit: Laura Aylor

I love the log cabin effect of this shawl's striping, I might have to borrow the pattern and make it myself.

And, of course, there is Color Affection:

Photo credit: Veera Välimäki

I might be the last knitter to actually make their own, but the hard part of choosing the colors is done at least.