Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

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  • Tea Cozies – my Toys

    Tea Cozies – my Toys

    I have been knitting Tea Cozies pretty much as long as I have been knitting. At first – they were just for me. I knit them for my pots and as gifts for friends. It wasn’t until 2009 that I posted my first cozy patterns. Victorian Cozy, Harvest Cozy, Bluebells in a Row Cozy and Thistle and Heather Cozy. They all grew out of my first retreat as the “headline” teacher.

    I think my latest cozy pattern was over 8 years ago, in 2016, Andean Dreams Cozy. So I am wayyy… overdue for a new cozy pattern. This year I am going all out. There will be two new cozy patterns and both will be released in the next couple of weeks.

    Dancer Cozy – a Gentleman’s style cozy in a very heavy wool Prairie Wool Fusion from Custom Woolen Mills.

    Like most of my patterns it has been designed to teach a technique, in this case, West Coast stranding, in the Cowichan style of knitting. The class starts this Tuesday, Nov 5th.

    And just because I can, and just because I think a cozy should be whimsical and more than a little over the top; I have designed a Christmas Themed Cozy. This one is also for a class, a class on knitting and attaching embellishments. There are still a couple of holly sprigs left to attach – ready for a class demonstration.

    Please note that the cozy is not bad looking without the embellishments. So if you are not a fan of embellishing the Cozy will still look great on its own! This cozy has been knit with Estelle Worsted from Estelle yarns. This class will start the Tuesday after the Dancer Cozy is done, Nov 19th.

    Cozy Bells – the latest cozy in the collection. Or it will be shortly! The bells really do take the cozy to a new level. They jingle so softly, all cozied up within the wool bell shapes. They add just the perfect festive touch.

    I have often been asked which cozy pattern is my favourite. I really cannot say as it is always the one I am working on or dreaming up. I honestly love them all. The one I am most proud of though, is the cozy I created for an Australian Cancer Fundraiser. It was the same year as the Tea Cozy Retreat, 2009 – I think!

    It took a lot of time and effort. I called it Waltzing Matilda’s – Wreaths of Hope.

    When I was a child I always saw sheep dancing whenever I heard this song.

    Happy Knitting

    I hope that your tea pot is always warm and ready for your second cup!

    Lynette

  • Turbulence

    Turbulence

    OK, life here has been a bit chaotic! How about where you are at? Here are a few Sunday ramblings to share.

    I have been productive though. Jingle Gnome Chapeau and Mittens is up on Ravelry. One of my students, Christine, brought in her finished Chapeau! I love her colour choices!

    And this morning I added the Turbulence Beanie to Ravelry. Use the code Turbulence to download the pattern for half price! The code is good until midnight October 31/24.

    It started as I was rummaging through my stash and stumbled upon this lone skein of Ancient Arts Superwash DK Merino, in the Water Lily Colourway! Apparently I needed to knit this skein, like right away! Because I could see the finished beanie, before I even started! I am really loving the results.

    I know that it is a bit early to start thinking about Christmas. But a great many knitters I know think about Christmas ALL year long! What we are going to knit and who we are going to knit for! So here I am knitting something for Christmas.

    Though it certainly doesn’t look much like Christmas right now. The skies are grey and the rain is pouring down. I have a beef soup stock simmering on the stove and I am thinking about making some shortbread cookies… So maybe it doesn’t need to look like Christmas to think Christmas thoughts!

    I working on a Christmas Tea Cozy for my last class before Christmas! I have just started the basic body. I think that it is going to be so cute! I can see it with a poinsettia and holly and berries, maybe some small ornaments on the top….

    Have you started thinking about Christmas?

    Are you a tea drinker? Maybe you need a new cozy? Maybe a Christmas Cozy? Or even a Dancer Cozy? That pattern will be coming soon! It is almost complete!

    Be Well, Knit Happy, Winter is on its way! With many knitting opportunities just starting to show on the horizon!

    Lynette

  • Jingle Gnome Chapeau Part Two

    Jingle Gnome Chapeau Part Two

    Now that the class has started there has been a request for a mitten pattern to co-ordinate with the hat! So…

    I am knitting a pair. The first mitten is complete and the second it started! There will be two sizes of mittens, small/medium (for me) and a medium/large. I am knitting the small/medium as the sample pair. UPDATE – the second mitten is finished! They practically knit themselves!

    I decided to knit the loopy cuff with two colours, grey and white. I knew that there wasn’t enough grey for a solid cuff on both mittens, and I am still not sure that even with mixing the colours that I will have enough grey to finish the mittens. I am loving the colour mix, sometimes need is the best teacher! We will see if I have saved enough of the grey to finish the mitten without purchasing more yarn.

    The pattern for both hat and mittens is basically complete – it just needs some pictures and a photo tutorial for the afterthought thumb – my favourite thumb for most colourwork mittens. This thumb is easy to knit and does not interfere with the colourwork pattern.

    The inserted sts. The guideline for the thumb placement
    Using two dpn’s pick-up 1 arm of each st above and below the inserted waste yarn.
    Starting at the center arefully cut and remove the waste yarn.
    Waste yarn is removed and the sts are ready to be knit.
    First round has been created.
    Mitten with completed thumb.

    The pattern is available on Ravelry as the Jingle Gnome Chapeau with Bonus Mittens.

    I love the vintage filter on my computer photo editing program, it really suits the mood of the Jingle Gnome Chapeau!

    Happy Knitting!

    Lynette

  • My Grandmothers Pots

    I have a few of my Grandmothers pots. They are Guardian Service Ware. She had bought them from a travelling salesman in the early 40’s. They were very expensive then and very well made. They are very heavy cast aluminum with glass lids. Originally they had heavy metal lids as well but they switched to glass during the second world war.

    I think my Grandmother bought them over a period of a few years. She had the most amazing collection of these pots. From serving ware, trays and coffee pots to every cooking pot and skillet you could think, in every size.

    The Guardian Ware pots and pieces were/are very heavy, made from thick cast aluminum and with pieces that could multitask. For example the big Stock pot, a 12 quart, kettle oven, canner, stock pot. that will take a large turkey and turn it into stock, also came with stacking racks to cook up to two pies and and canning insert! It did it all! My father took it camping once and made biscuits in it on the fire.

    My father bought them off of my Grandmother in the early 1970’s. We grew up with food cooked in those pots. As my father got older and cooked less often he started to pass the pots along – quite a few to me. I have the big stock pot that I am using plus a few other pieces. My two roasters have the metal lids. One is a turkey roaster that will hold up to a 22 lb turkey! It is perfect. The heavy metal lid holds in the moisture and cooks the turkey faster! My brother has a few pieces as well. They are amazing.

    I mostly use the big stock pot for turkey stock. These pots are not recommended for anything tomato based. The acid in the tomatoes leaches aluminum from the pot. Not good for us. (My mum her spagetti sauce in those pots, before we knew about the aluminum! That might explain a few things) The only physical drawback the pots have is the lids. Those glass lids are heavy and can take a little beating but they are glass. They are hard to replace.

    My favourite pots in the set when I was younger were the triangularly shaped pots. They usually only came out when we had company. A big trivet, designed to be used with the pots, was set over the largest burner and then the three pots were set on the trivet and they cooked three vegetable at once! My father still had the set 25 years ago. He used it at Christmas. But we can’t find it now. My brother has looked through all of the boxes. I keep hoping that there still is a box that he hasn’t checked.

    The Guardian Ware pots are over 80 years old and are still used and collected today! Sometimes old is better, great pots can last and be heirloom items. Of all the things our family gave us, to my brothers and I, these pots hold the most memories and are the most coveted!

    You can find pieces on Ebay and Etsy and there is also a collectors site to look for pieces that you may be missing! I recently saw a gravy boat available for sale! it was tempting.

    Happy Cooking!

    Lynette

  • Another Possible Class Project

    Another Possible Class Project

    Would you like to learn how to knit a tea cozy like this?

    I love to knit tea cozies.

    This is a different yarn from the usual. Ray Gentleman, whom I work with, challenged, suggested, put an idea out there about creating a West Coast Cozy with the Prairie Sea Fusion from Custom Woolen Mills.

    The idea stuck in my head and I had to knit it out!

    So, if you take the class you will make this charmer of a cozy. You will also learn how to strand the yarn in the proper way for a West Coast knit. Oh and look at that fringe! Learn how to finish the cozy with the fringe on top…

    This is The Dancer Cozy. I am quite enamoured with it.

    A few years ago I started designing with the Cowichan style of wools. Nowadays that includes Briggs and Little Country Roving, Prairie Wool and Prairie Sea Fusion by Custom Woolen Mills. At the store we were always being asked for the Cowichan patterns, which were really the old White Buffalo and Mary Maxim patterns, not the true West Coast patterns. Those are the intellectual property of the original knitters.

    I try to create patterns respectful of the past and the present motifs of the West Coast. They reflect my lifetime of living, mostly on the Coast but also in northern Canada and Malaysia. The OOkpik childs set is based on a childhood memory, a small stuffed snowy owl that my father had given me, named OOkpik. I designed and knit that set for my Grandson. The Standing Tall Gauntlets are based on memories of the gauntlets I wore when living in Northern Manitoba. You needed that extra heavy layer over the basic mittens or gloves – it was cold up there!

    The Dancer Cozy reminds of both the Button Blanket dances of the West Coast and the Shadow Puppets of the Malaysian Peninsula. The shapes are both stylized and simplified, taken right down to suggestion and imagination.

    The Spirit Bear will be my next sweater pattern release in the Salish Sea Collection.

    Spirit Bear
    Bento Box
    Wolf Song
    Wet Coast
    North Sea Hap
    OOKpik
    Standing Tall
    Sitka Poncho
    Spirit Toques
    Cowichan Inspired Toques

    So much inspiration, never enough time! I love where I live!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    Lynette

  • GreenMan Update

    GreenMan Update

    Some Information on Beading

    We will mostly be using a small crochet hook to add beads to our knits but there is some optional knit in beads in the OakLeaf and Acorn Insert. This downloadable document will give you some basic information on working with beads.

    Beading Techniques for KnittingDownload
    The Oakleaf and Acorn insert employs both beads placed with a crochet hook and beads that prestrung and then knit into place. This section is still a month away but I thought that earlier is better than later.

    Happy Reading

    Lynette

  • Cranberry Sauce anyone?

    Cranberry Sauce anyone?

    This upcoming weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving and we celebrate it in our home with family and friends and of course, Turkey and all the trimmings. I am getting a bit of a head start today by making the Cranberry Sauce.

    I make a big batch because I always need to send some home with a couple of the guests. The recipe is very easy to half if you only need a small batch. This one makes about 8 cups of sauce.

    • 8 cups of cranberries – the local Yellowpoint Cranberries are fabulous
    • zest of 2 oranges
    • 1 and 1/2 cups of water
    • juice of 2 oranges
    • 2 cups of sugar

    Throw it all into a large pot and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 – 12 minutes. I like lumpy sauce – lots of cranberry chunks so if you like it a little smoother, cook a little longer.

    Once the pot is off the stove, add 3 tablespoons of Grand Marnier or Triple Sec. Stir into the sauce and then pour into bottles. You can seal them if you like. I usually just pop them into the back of the fridge once they are cooled.

    The house smells so good as the sauce cooks.

    Such a lovely colour.

    One of the things I love about this recipe is the colour of the berries mixed with the colour of the peel as it is cooking! It reminds me of one of my favourite Handmaiden colourways – Sangria. The header above is a photo of yarn from Handmaiden dyed with Sangria. Even when I cook I am thinking about yarn! LOL!

    Happy Day!

    Lynette

  • Long Weekend Musings – on Procrastination

    Long Weekend Musings – on Procrastination

    Ok, even writing this is procrastination. I know it, but sometimes it helps to procrastinate, I am mulling over stuff in the back of my brain as I do other things. Things that are not necessarily the things I am supposed to do!

    But I did accomplish quite a few objectives as I procrastinated.

    • I wove in the ends of my Sunrise Sweater and then steam blocked it! I love my new steamer. It is hand held and is made by Rowenta and works like a hot damn. Much better than wet blocking for sweaters and small swatches.
    • I did all of the finishing work on the Jingle Gnome Chapeau. And blogged about it.
    • I replaced a cuff on one of my oldest sweaters. And blogged about it.
    • I am about the half way point of my Clapotis shawl. I work on it in the evenings when I am too tired for anything that requires concentration.
    • I am crap at leather work – there is a lot I need to learn before I can actually sew the leather wrist bindings to my sweater.

    What am I procrastinating. My GreenMan Shawl, another sweater for myself, more class projects and samples and dealing with life in general. So maybe it is not so much procrastination as it is keeping myself too busy to concentrate on everything I have set for myself, or everything that I am trying to deal with emotionally. As I list them I am realizing that most of these things are self imposed, not really have to do – just expectation that I will do. Why? Because I always have. It is how I cope. I cope by being busy.

    I once told my boss that I knit my emotions into my projects. It has been a hard year, lots of emotions, and apparently lots of projects. Hence many opportunities for procrastination.

    I have always been a procrastinator. I work best with that little bit of pressure of time and deadlines. While at University I would do lots of research for projects, notes, cards, organizational lines of inquiry and lots of reading. Then I would stop, put away the work until about a week before the due date and then start writing. And it would always work, the ideas had coalesced while I “procrastinated” and worked on other projects.

    It does not always work so well on tangible things, that can have tangible issues that require lots of time to fix. Though as a designer for Vogue Knitting, with their tight deadlines and sometimes challenging ideas… it worked. I loved working under that kind of pressure and producing things that I wasn’t quite sure (at first) that I could do. No time there for procrastination. I put what learned working for Vogue into practice when I designed for other companies, Buffalo Wool co. and Juniper Moon Farm for example.

    Buffalo Wool Co.
    Vogue Knitting
    Vogue Knitting
    Vogue Knitting Anniversary Edition
    vogue Knitting
    VK Winter 2011 photographed by Rose Callahan at Alina’s loft, Brooklyn, on Oct 18-19, 2011
    Roamin’ for Kate Davies Designs
    Vogue Knitting Magic of Mohair Competition, Rose Callahan Photographer
    Buffalo Wool Co

    So sometimes I feel the need to create that kind of pressure for myself, to push that time barrier into working as a creative pressure. So procrastination in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, though it can be if practiced improperly.

    When procrastination is used as a tool to improve an outcome by first, recognizing the weakness, and then utilizing the weakness, making it work for you, not against you. Is that a form of justification? Probably. But we all have justifications for our actions, especially when they can be self destructive if practiced improperly!

    Thoughts? Opinions? Are you procrastination by reading this? If so, I won’t tell! I am procrastinating myself! LOL!

    Happy Procrastinating

    Lynette

  • Jingle Gnome Chapeau

    Jingle Gnome Chapeau

    Sometimes when you spend a lot of time designing “serious” knits, you know, practical but attractive, maybe someone will think that they could knit and wear it items, sometimes you just need to break out of the mold and play!

    I love Christmas – I love Gnomes – so here is a little nod to both!

    Meet the Jingle Gnome Chapeau, designed for warmth, but with a little “fun” added! This is a sample for a class happening at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns. It starts next week, Tues Oct 8 and runs over the next couple of weeks. Three classes in total.

    Class # 1 – How to knit loops – link to video – did you know that the loops can be cut and brushed to make a really soft “fur”?

    Class # 2 – Basic Stranding – simpler than fair-isle, much more repetitive, but great practice.

    Class #3 – How to make the perfect pompom, and some basic finishing – how to deal with ends.

    Jingle is knit with Eco Shetland Worsted, which is a light worsted, almost a dk, but I have knit it a few time at the worsted gauge and been very happy with the results. It has great yardage, 1 skein of each colour is all that is necessary. Plus a few jingle bells and the regular notions!

    How about that pompom, surrounded by bells? Isn’t just a dream of a finish?

    I know you want one!

    Happy Gnome “ing”

    Lynette

    PS. The pattern will be available in about 3 weeks and will include a mitten pattern to go with the Chapeau!

  • Mending 101 – Part 2

    Mending 101 – Part 2

    Mending a Ribbed Cuff – replacing the rib

    Yesterday I mended the blue sweater cuff. It took about two and a half hours, including the knitting time. Why did I wait so long? I’ve had the yarn for close to three years! Other things kept getting in the way. And I would rather knit than mend! Wouldn’t you?

    I am working on changing that attitude within myself.

    This sweater was knit in the round. Bottom up for the body, but top down for the sleeves.

    At the time, I knew my yardage was limited and I wanted to make sure that each sleeve was the same and that the yardage went as far as possible. Top-down knitting is the best way to make that happen. It worked well for this project. I finished the sweater with only a little of the main shade of blue to spare.

    The original yarn was a dk, so I decided to work the cuff with a set of 3.5mm US #4 dpn’s.

    Top-down knitting also makes it easier to mend/replace the bits that wear out, like the sleeve cuffs. Had I knit the sleeves from the cuff up I would have had to cut the knitting at the join of the cuff and very carefully retrieve my live stitches above the cuff. That will be a demonstration for another day and a different sweater!

    When working with an older sweater, the stitches will not usually run down the knitting in the same way as a garment that you are working. After a certain amount of time the yarn itself has been almost pressed into shape with folds and bends. You can see in the unraveled yarn and stitches at the end of the cuff (4th picture in the sequence) that the shape is set and unwilling to move. A bonus, one that makes the work you are trying to achieve a little easier.

    The wrist is frayed right at the beginning/end of the round. Which makes it slightly more complicated to pull back as the end has been woven in down towards the cuff.
    Scissors will be needed to cut the yarn every time it hits the woven in tail, Once the end of the knitting is found the knitting will pull back easily, except where the tail yarn has been woven into the fabric. Scissors were used to cut the knotted area and the wrist kept on unravelling.
    The end is gone and the unravelling speeds along.
    Once the knitting is pulled back to the sleeve, pull the next round out carefully, As you pull catch each stitch revealed with a dpn. Continue to pull back the last round, switching dpn’s as they are filled. Use 3 or 4 dpn’s to hold the stitches depending upon your comfort level with dpn use.
    Once all of the stitches have been picked up, cut off the old yarn leaving an 8 inch tail. Weave in the tail as you knit the first round of the new ribbed cuff.
    I had 68 sts on the needles but the cuff had been 48 sts. The sleeve had been reduced by 20 sts in the cuff. So I worked an extra round, reducing as I knit, to match the 48 sts, before starting the ribbing.

    I am very happy with the results. The new blue cuff is not perfect, but perfect enough for a sweater that was knit in 1990, 34 years ago. The neck may be the next piece that needs replacing, I noticed some wear along the back, but that is a problem for another day!

    Happy Mending

    Lynette