I woke up to the most glorious sunrise. The living room was glowing orange as the light poured in the windows. When I went out onto the deck – the run was rising in front of me and there was a rainbow forming behind me. So awe inspiring.
The Mini Rose also produced a new bloom this morning that is absolutely perfect. The Hibiscus plant has several new buds, so many beautiful flowers. Just an amazing start to the day.
Knitting et al.
The GreenMan Shawl is progressing nicely. I am about 20% into the Oakleaf and Acorn insert and I am very pleased with the effect of the beads on the knitting.
I have started another shawl for myself. I didn’t really intend on this one. I am not even designing it. If you are old enough you will remember or will have knit a Clapotis shawl. I am more than old enough.
Clapotis can be considered one of the first viral patterns on Ravelry and has over 24000 projects listed. It was designed to be knit with some of the glorious hand dyed yarns that were appearing at that time. It has just been re-released on Ravelry as Clapotis 24. There is an accompanying KAL that features lots of yarny prizes.
I didn’t knit it the first time around, so I am giving it a go with some yarn from my stash. Not hand dyed, but striping and lively, and I was not having any luck designing a sweater for myself with it. I had already ripped back a couple of attempts. The yarn is Lang Cloud Tweed.
Clapotis is designed for a worsted/aran weight yarn (I keep seeing it in some Rios), but is very easy to adjust for almost any weight! The knitting is basic, stockinette on a diagonal, but the addition of the dropped line of stitches keeps it interesting.
Have you knit a Clapotis?
I am also working on another class project. Remember the loopy st? Meet the Jingle Gnome Chapeau. Still under construction, but already looking like a little bit of rustic “happy”! The class will feature the loop stitch, basic stranded knitting and how to make the perfect pompom! I am working with the Eco Shetland Worsted by Estelle. It is yarn that I really like to work with and gives me great results.
Boho CozyBoho MittsBoho Crown
I hope that you have a wonderful day. Mine is off to a great start!
I have finished two of the class samples. Still at least three more to go! I am happy with the results so far! They include a thrummed headband and a cabled pillbox style hat. I took the pictures in different lighting conditions, just to see how the colours would change.
I have no name for the headband pattern, but the pillbox is going to be called Candy Cables – just something about the colour. The white base with the glowing peach mohair looks like candy to me. Check out the mohair halo – so pretty!
I am singing the blues right now. My first attempt at the crown for my new project was a bust. I have gone back to the computer and designed a new crown. I hope it works better than the first!
sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes the blues get a hold of you…. Carol King, Sweet Seasons
Turn up the sound for the full story!
I hope you have a wonderful evening! I know I will! I will be knitting! LOL!
Have you ever made thrummed mittens? Or slippers? Well I am working on a Thrummed Headband. It has an easy shape and will be easy to learn the technique so that you could make mittens or slippers if you wished!
2) Cables
A simple cable hat?
Or maybe a not so simple cable hat?
How about a reversible cable scarf? As you can see this idea is still in the very early stages!
3) Maybe something more long term, with once a month meeting/classes.
I am planning a Knit-a-Long. KAL for short. The Green Man KAL. This will be a lace shawl for the more advanced knitter. It could be knit in a fingering or lace weight yarn, knitters choice and there will be how to video’s attached for those who don’t live in the area and in person classes for those who do. Techniques we will cover include circular cast-ons, adding beads (if desired), three dimensional embellishing, some interesting lace techniques and finishing with knitted on edging. Sample below is knit with Schoppell Zauber Lace 100. Right now I am working on the chart for the the Green Man and will share updates as that comes together.
4) Of course I will run the Fear of Finishing Workshop – an in depth look at some basic and not so basic finishing techniques. Including the best start to create the best finishes and things the pattern always forget to tell you.
5) I am thinking of a designing a new tea cozy this fall. Something with birds I think!
6) A class on mending is in the works as well! Darning socks, fixing holes with some creative mends and swiss darning the old fashioned way!
I am also looking for new ideas. What do you want to learn? Can I teach it in a class or does it need a workshop? I could teach something in Mosaic Stitch, or maybe Twinned Knitting? Some simple fair-isle mittens or cowl for gifts?
What style of project would you like to see? A simple shape to show up the new technique, a pillow perhaps, maybe bolster style with knitted on fringe for finishing. Or a new hat, a pillbox or cloche style, something a little different from your basic beanie.
I am off to dream up and then knit up some new samples. I hope that you have a dreamy week as well!
An i-cord bind-off creates a very defined edge with almost no give. It is perfect for adding stability any edge that needs a little extra something to keep everything together. It is also a very strong edge and was often used in traditional sweaters, such as Fishermen Ganseys, at shoulder joins to help those seams keep their shape.
In the Beach Bucket pattern I am using the I-cord bind-off in a contrasting colour to both highlight the edge and define its shape.
The video will give you an understanding of how to create the I-cord to start the bind-off and the basic steps of the bind-off.
I have cleaned and organized everything. OK – everything might be a bit over the top but I have accomplished a few very necessary jobs!
I have unearthed my computer desk and my yarn winding station. My stash has been realigned and in some cases reassigned to different locations. I have filed away multiple stacks of papers ie. trashed or recycled them. There is still one stack of papers left to organize into different files. That will wait until next weekend.
You can see that it is a bit of mess.
As I dug in, I got a little distracted along the way…. knit a thing…. wound some yarn.
The little cowl is a test knit of a new yarn that is coming to Mad About Ewe. And I love it! 70% Superfine Merino (non superwash) and 30% Yak, this DK weight yarn is supersoft, bouncy and easy to work with. I think I may need a new sweater. The Funnel Cowl and Mitts are complete. Click here to link to the pattern on Ravelry.
The yarn being wound is Chantal, a special hand dyed silk from Fleece Artist, Iceberg colourway. It was one of the yarns from their 25th Anniversary celebration in 2013. This huge hank weighs in at 350 grams, 700 yds and should knit to about 18 sts in 4 inches. I am close to half way now and it has no knots so far. Because it is silk and is stretchy it has to be hand-wound and it is a bit of a mess from being in the cupboard for so long. So it may take a couple of days.
I hung a few pictures that have been gracing the cupboard floors. That felt good. Everyday I have been trying to do one more thing that would get me closer to my goal.
There have been a few distractions through the week but after each one, I got back on track and kept on working. I started this project last Wednesday and it is still not quite done. It most likely will never be “done”. I really don’t work too well in a tidy space, but now the chaos is a little more tamed and much closer to “done” than it has been in a while.
My White Lavender it in full bloom.
I started this post over a month ago. So much has happened creatively in that month. Was it tied in to the cleaning? Maybe, so lets see….
I have submitted ideas for patterns to three companies – Laine, Birlinn Yarns and Ancient Arts. Laine and Birlinn were not interested in my ideas and I won’t hear from Ancient Arts for a couple of weeks. My “secret” project is complete and gone! As soon as I can I will share – I was very pleased with the results!
On the up side of submitting ideas to magazines and being rejected, I now have lots of ideas to pull from if and when I am looking for something to knit! I know we can’t like all the things and if my ideas don’t fit their vision they usually work well for mine!
Fall KAL – The Greenman KAL
I am working on a new shawl pattern. You may have noticed the two “swirl” centers I have started. They are the center of the Greenman Shawl. I hope to have the idea all pulled together in the next month, so please keep it in mind.
I am working one in Schoppel Zauber Lace Ball 100 (currently purple, but it is a striping yarn so that will change). It is a lace weight.
I am teaching a new technique at work right now. Dip Stitches, as in stitches that are created by dipping down into your knitting and pulling up loops of contrast colour to create almost an embroidery look! Meet Beach Bucket, soon to be released on Ravelry – most likely next weekend! The turquoise version is knit with Noro Kashirukuru and Silk Garden for the detail yarn. The grey version is knit with West Yorkshire Spinners The Croft Shetland Tweed in pink tweed with grey. It is not complete yet. I am using it for demonstrating techniques in the class.
I have started a couple of sweaters for myself – we will see how those go – they almost never get done as I get too distracted by other knits!
I am planning on picking up the dress again in September. Right now it is too hot to knit with double layer Lopi Einband on my lap! I have been thinking and planning how to proceed. I noticed that a few others look like they are interested! Looking forward to picking it up again.
I lived in Malaysia when I was much younger and I have many fond memories of the people and the country. One of my favourite memories is the hedges of Hibiscus flowers, such beautiful blooms. So every now and then I try to keep a plant alive with varying levels of success. This is this years attempt!
I hope that your Summer is going well. Mine is certainly going by very quickly! Lots of ideas and never enough time to knit them all!
Today is the first day of the Beach Bucket class. The focus of the class is the Dip Stitch. A very cool technique of adding extra depth of texture and colour. So yesterday Ray took a little video of how do work the stitch.
The original sample was knit with Noro yarns. Those bright colours remind me of a tropical beach bucket. This new sample is knit with West Yorkshire Spinners The Croft Shetland Tweed. More a north coast beach bucket! LOL!
There are a few other interesting techniques used in this pattern; provisional cast-on, knitted in fold, and I-cord bind-off.
The Beach Bucket pattern will be available around the 20th.
Here are a few of my free patterns that I have loaded up onto the site just for you to download as you please. All gathered up onto a single page.
If the downloads do not work – please let me know. I have tested the links but things do happen.
If it is purple I designed the hats for the purple hat campaign. The orange poncho is called Tears for the Children. To commemorate the lost children of the Residential Schools.
The fair-isle hat, Filigree, was me playing with colours – as an exercise. I was so pleased with the results that I wrote it up as a pattern. The teddy bear vests were teaching opportunities. The Salmon Run hat was again playing with a new to me yarn – to see what it could do!
The Hurry Up Hat might be my most popular Ravelry pattern. For starters, it is free! And it is a very fast knit. Perfect for last minute gifts or for knitting hats for the homeless with your scraps. Practically Perfect is the same kind of hat but knit in a colourful worsted weight yarn and really designed for beginning hat knitters!
I am now at the point where the skirt is growing, at what seems like an agonizingly slow rate. I must focus on the fact that the skirt is growing and the pattern is repeating and that is what is supposed to happen.
I switched to a 3.75mm needle about 12 rounds ago to start the slow shaping of the skirt. I will most likely drop the needle size to 3.5mm in about 40 more rounds. So between the changing the size of the needles and shaping the panels I am hoping for a lovely, gradual shaping the skirt to the waist. At that point the needle size will be 3.25mm for the bodice of the dress.
Dry blocked the skirt is 10 inches deep from the top of the 4th pattern repeat to the curve of the hem. The points are not included as length. I think that three more repeats will get me to the start of shaping panels (approx 15 inches) which will reduce the stitch count of the skirt. The reducing section will take about 45 rounds.
I work at Mad About Ewe and I get to play with the yarn. We are now carrying Brooklyn TweedShelter and Tones Light. I have been playing.
Wait there’s more! More hats, cables and hearts; double knit fingerless mittens and just so much more to do and create!
Below is “Smitten” A cabled hat with the “hugs and kisses” cable and the tree of life pattern. Classic in Grey and no bobbles, knit Juniper Moon Santa Cruz in the Palladium colourway! And Wild in with everything – cables, bobbles and hearts, knit with Malabrigo Worsted in the natural and Very Berry colourways.
Straight forward and cozy these double knit wristers are super cozy and super easy! These Cozy Wristers can be knit in any dk or sport weight wool that you might have to hand.
Because they are double knit they are also totally reversible.
I hope that your knitting adventures have been moving along with lots of colour and texture to keep your mind occupied and your hands busy!
It has been a stressful few months these last few weeks and I have been knitting up a storm – or at least starting up a multitude of projects and even finishing a few.
I started the Three Skein Project last year and finished it up just last week. What to do with left over yarn when you want to knit just one three colour hat!
What could We make with just 3 skeins of yarn? As a designer and yarn shop employee I am always taking home yarn, a real hardship, right?! Well, sometimes it does leave me with a problem, what to do with the excess yarn. Because, you know, I couldn’t just make a plain hat in just one colour so you could handle the yarn, see how it knits and how good it looks. Oh no, I had to make a hat with striped ribbing and a tri-coloured pompom. So, what to do with the leftovers – I usually label the yarn and pop it in a bin, but I really liked the yarn. So, the Three Skein project was born. And is the Sports Edition because of all of the stipes. I think that it makes the knits look sporty!
The yarn is Haynes Creek Heather Aran by Gathering Yarn, an Aran weight 100% non-superwash wool. You could use any worsted to aran weight yarn in the pattern. These skeins added up to 600 yds in total. I ended up with 6 inches leftover of the marled yarn, and then 10 grs each of the red and white yarns leftover, approx. 20 yds each. There are 5 projects;
The Classic toque – a little slouchy, starting with a striped rib and topped with a great pompom.
The Court beanie – just covers the ears and shaped with classic cables and twisted sts, and I love the striped rib.
The Round mittens – again with the stripped ribbing and simple shaping with an afterthought thumb.
The Slalom cowl – look at those zig-zags and again with the stripes. An easy repetitive lace pattern in the round.
The Drive-in mitts – short, striped, mitts that cover the palm and back of the hand but leave the fingers and thumb free for driving, painting, typing, anything where touch is really useful.
What’s with the Stripes?! Stripes are a great way to monitor your yarn usage. It allows us to gauge what we have left and judge what we can use it for, and just how far we can push our results.
I am quite pleased with mine.
The first two patterns are now up on Ravelry. The rest will follow over the next few weeks.
