Originally written in Spanish.
Stephen West is a designer that needs no introduction. He is world-renowned for his colorful and unexpected-shaped designs. On April 1st, he released the Dustland Cardigan, a one-color texture project.
I first saw the Dustland Shawl in July 2021. It was knit in a solid medium gray DK weight yarn to make its texture the real protagonist. It combines stitch patterns such as garter stitch, broken rib, and diagonal rib. This series of stitches are alternated every few rows, making it a fun and straightforward shawl.
This project originated within the Westknits classics, unknown to me until then. Ten years earlier, West had released a hat, legwarmers, and mittens with the same game of textures and a great result. The designer told us on social media how wonderful it was to relax knitting a one-color project. Soon the colorful designs returned, such as the Shawlography MKAL, and we met his dog Brioche.
In the middle of the following year, he surprised us with a new chapter in the saga. Dustland Sweater was a collaboration with La Bien Aimée. In a yellowish-green color and with eight sizes, the beautiful textures returned. According to West, it's a beginner-friendly project. Another season of color returned, and we met Stitch, Brioche's canine sister.
Sometime later, West gave spoilers of his first sock pattern, and two weeks after the mystery began, the Dustland Socks were released. They are top-down socks with a garter stitch heel available in 5 sizes.
Socks, sweater, shawl, hat, legwarmers, and mittens—there are options for all tastes. Stephen ended 2022 with his stash-busting workshop about organizing and taking advantage of your colorful yarn scraps and announcing 2023 as the year of socks.
Just when it looked like the saga had come to an end, the Dustland Cowl was introduced—an infinity-style cowl neck that is knit in the round and then sewn with a half turn.
And the saga's latest episode is the cardigan, as I said before. With nine sizes and support videos, it could be the first cardigan project for a beginner knitter.
This saga comprises eight chapters—eight projects in which you can enjoy the combination of knit and purl stitches. You can choose which project you like best or knit the complete collection.
We still have one question to solve: is this the end of the saga? Well, as a spoiler, I don't think so. A new ebook is coming with designs for our best friends, and it seems that there will be some texture in it. For the moment, we can say that the Dustland saga will go on…
