Nightshift in Summer Sesame PROJECT

Nightshift

We finished this wrap last month, but then we sold through the yarn and I had to wait for our re-stock before blabbing about it to you (we now have plenty on hand now).

I decided to give the Nightshift wrap by Andrea Mowry a warmer weather makeover and a little bit of streamlining! The pattern is pretty straightforward and well written – the colourwork is done with slipped stitches, a simple technique anyone can pick-up, and the edges are worked as you go, so there is minimal finishing. We used Berroco Summer Sesame, a soft, light-weight, machine washable, and easy to work with cotton blend yarn with an ombre colourway and a bit of texture that gives it a bit of dimension.

The original pattern uses 6 different colourways of a gradient yarn, so I simplified things a bit by using only 2 colours Berroco Summer Sesame, and leveraging its natural ombre colour gradation. The substitution served a few functions:

1. The colours took care of themselves, we didn’t need to pay attention to colour changes: the main colour (background) is 5250 Sand, the contrast (bumps & blips) is 5252 Kaleidoscope.
2. It made following the pattern simpler. We started with the set-up section, then just repeated section 1 nine times.
3. We didn’t need to use 6 different colours of yarn, which cut the cost of the project in half and brought it into a comfortable & affordable range.
4. You don’t have to worry about choosing the wrong colours. Using 5250 Sand as the background, you can choose any of the other colours of Berroco Summer Sesame and they’ll look great together. If you want a darker background I think either 5242 Ocean or 5238 Orchid would look great as the main colour with 5250 Sand as the contrast colour (the inky blue of Ocean sets my heart aflutter … dark blue can be such an effective non-neutral).
5. The aesthetic is very wearable. You can gift this and anyone can wear it. The yarn is also suitable for vegans and anyone who has allergies to animal products.
6. There are fewer ends to weave in!

Size/Dimensions

• 55″/140cm wide (tip to tip, measured across top)
• 31″/79cm deep

Materials

• Berroco Summer Sesame: 2 skeins 5250 Sand, 1 skein 5252 Kaleidoscope. If you want to make your wrap larger I recommend getting an extra ball of each colour (ie. MC: 3 balls, CC: 2 balls).
• 4.5mm/US7 – 32″ circular needles
• Row Counter
• Pattern

Potential Colour Combinations

• Main Colour: 5250 Sand, Contrast Colour: any of the other colours!
• Main Colour: 5242 Ocean, Contrast Colour: 5250 Sand
• Main Colour: 5238 Orchid, Contrast Colour: 5250 Sand

Other Project Ideas

You can use Berroco Summer Sesame to make some of the other ‘Shift’ projects by Andrea Mowry.

• It would make a really pretty spring/summer Shifty pullover, but you’ll want to go up to a 4.5mm/US7 needle and down a size or two in the pattern.
• You can also use to to make The Shift cowl, you’ll again want to go up to a 4.5mm/US7 needle, and you’ll probably only need 1 skein in each colour.
• Inclinations Shawl: use a 4.5mm/US7 needle and 3 to 4 balls of yarn.