Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Category: knitting a dress

  • Latest Knitting Inspirations: From Puff Vests to Chintz Haps

    Latest Knitting Inspirations: From Puff Vests to Chintz Haps

    My last few posts have all focused around the the Make-A-Blanket project. Getting the first couple of squares up and available, using them to describe some of the possibilities for blanket construction, setting up the start of the design process for all the knitters involved.

    Hopefully getting everyone, including myself thinking forward to what they/I want to do with our squares. At the same time as all that it going on …The rest of life keeps on happening!

    Now I am focusing on the Winter/Spring Class session. Also my designing. I haven’t felt much like lace knitting lately but I think that is changing. I have a couple of big projects to finish! My Lace Dress and the GreenMan Shawl still need to be finished. Those are going to be done this year!

    Projects for the classes at Mad About Ewe are all under construction or ready for the class.

    Current projects for the classes, the Twinned Mittens and Socks on Circs are class ready, but not completed yet. That will happen during and after the classes.

    I did a swatch to display for the Puffy Vest, and I am currently knitting the first piece. I am really pleased with the way it is knitting up. Right now it looks like a cozy cowl! The thrums make it so bright and colourful!

    You can see the swatch for the puffy vest, the Twinned Knit Mitten sample and Socks on Circs at Mad About Ewe, hanging up behind the counter if you want to check things out! All of the classes are up on the website as well!

    And there are always future projects!

    Like the Chintz Hap I have started knitting.

    Last fall I went to the Chintz exhibit at the RBCM and it inspired me in so many ways! The history, the colours and the shapes of some of the motifs really made my sit up and take notice. I want to take those shapes and colours and knit them into one of my favourite shawl shapes – the Shetland Hap! I am working on the center square right now. I am loving the center so far and once the border and edging are complete… In my head it is gorgeous!

    I am working with B.C.Garn Loch Lomond Lace! The colours are perfect for this. I may need to add that warm creamy tone, but that is still under consideration.

    So life is busy at work, and in my designing and it looks like things are about to get busy around the house as well!

    We downsized last year and have been waiting to get the kitchen and few areas around our new home renovated. And it is all about to start! And with my yarn room! Can I say that I am somewhat excited!

    The yarn room won’t be big once finished, around 7.5 by 7.5 square feet! But it will be all mine! With shelves and storage and even room for my Grandson to come and visit.

    I have it all planned out! The Daybed is for my grandson to sleep on, with a light and small bookcase for his books it will be perfect for me to block my knitting on. It is also right by the window so I can check my yarn colours under the natural light!

    One of my resolutions for this year was to be more forward thinking about my classes. So I am already thinking ahead to the Summer Classes. Something light and fun and under the sun in the courtyard. Maybe some beaded fingerless mitts in a really hot colour! What do you think?

    Or maybe a light and airy lace scarf in something silky? Any suggestions?

    Do you plan your knitting for the year ahead or are you a knit by the moment and yarn you discover?

    In the meantime I certainly don’t lack for stuff to do! LOL!

    I bet that you have lots of knitting options to as well!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • What’s On Your Needles?

    What’s On Your Needles?

    Right now I am working on a few different ideas. A cabled hat, a dress and a shawl (both have been hibernation for too long), a headband, a couple of sweaters, and way too many others projects that need assessment!

    I think this one exceeds the sum of its parts! What do you think? More pictures below.

    Quickie Update

    Well it is obvious that Quickie needs a new name. For starters it really wasn’t that quick and really it doesn’t suit the beauty that this project turned into! It is blocking right now – and I am rushing it along with a few blasts of warm air from the blow dryer so that I can share some pictures.

    So lets have a little competition. I am looking for a name for this very pretty, textured, and quite happy shawl. It has beautiful stripes highlighted with waves of lace patterning and is finished with cheerful, bouncy bobbles! I think that it has quite the playful vibe. The winner can pick one of my patterns on Ravelry and I will gift it to you! (You would need to be on Ravelry for this as I would need a rav name to send it to!) So put your thinking caps on and come up with something that you think appropriate.

    I cannot say enough great things about the Poema Stripes yarn that I used for this. The colours move beautifully and the merino is very soft and bouncy. It made for a very satisfying knit. This yarn is not cheap, but at 150 grs and 450m, there was value for the cost. It is a non superwash which was important to me as well. Some other things on my knitting list (you know the one – it is never ending), were pushed to the side while I played with this yarn. The way this yarn has been spun is amazing. The average yardage in 300grs of worsted weight wool is approx 600m or 660yds. Poema has 900m, which makes for a very light, but cozy shawl.

    Basic Stats: 300 grs, or 900M worsted weight yarn, 5.5mm US#9 long circular needle. The bind-off round took almost 35 -40grs (approx 100 – 120 yds) of yarn. I had only 13 grs left after the bind-off. Bobbles do eat up yardage. The pattern will need to be updated, but that might take a while. It was approx 50 inches by 18 inches before blocking. After a relaxed blocking; it was wet blocked but not pinned or stretched, just smoothed out onto the towels. After a relaxed blocking it was 68 inches long and 22 inches wide. Each lace pattern measures 4inches across.

    The bobbles as a closures was a complete fluke! But it looks deliberate! Sometimes in design things just happen!
    I chose bobbles for the border simply because I think of them as happy and fun and a little playful. Which is how I think of this piece.

    Next Year at Mad About Ewe

    I have been working on the theme for next years classes at Mad About Ewe Fine Yarns and I think I have come up with a bit of theme. I am going to spend the year looking at socks. I haven’t designed any in a while and there seems to be a renewed interest in knitting the more interesting kinds. So are you interested in socks? Did you try them and go “never again”, or did you become hooked?

    When I started knitting socks I think I knit over a hundred pairs of heavy socks to give away, sell and wear. Once I move onto 4-ply socks the knitting slowed down, but I still have over 20 pairs in my sock drawer that are worn in rotation. This way very few of them wear out. I also have a few pairs umm, only half done or some just started – It is the way of socks.

    There are sooo many options for socks; different heels, classic, dutch, afterthought, short-rowed and toes, box, blossom, grafted; different ways of construction including top-down and toe-up, with double points, long circs, short circs etc. Tube Socks (perfect for kids), Spiral Socks, Work Socks, Dress Socks, Slip-Stitch Socks and even the lowly basic sock, which takes on a new life in all of the fabulous socks yarns we have today.

    I love the Fall, the changing of the leaves, the cooling of the temperatures and even the way the skies darken so much earlier. Even in the Fall the lingering flowers have great beauty. I have been watching the hydrangea in my new place slowly fade as the cold progresses and isn’t it beautiful?

    Last Wednesday I was out at Rathtrevor with a friend. It was glorious, the wind was howling, the waves had whitecaps and the clouds were racing across the sky. There were a couple of kite surfers on the water and we watched them for a while. The eagles and gulls were gliding on the winds and the small birds were darting around the tangled rose bushes. It was an amazingly exhilarating walk! It started to rain just as we left. What a day.

    Are you a soup person? I have noticed that some people don’t like soups. I love soup. I could easily have soup every day for lunch, even in the Summer. Soup with crackers, soup with bread, soup with croutons – just soup!

    I baked a ham earlier in the week so I am currently making a stock with the bone and vegetables and herbs. I will most likely make a pot of split pea soup this evening. Something for lunches this week at work. There should be enough broth for me to freeze so that I can make a pot of split pea soup another weekend. Ham, at the end of the day, is a very economical purchase and now-a-days that is important. It does dinner, breakfast and lunches and then offers up a couple of meals of soup!

    Happy Knitting! I am hoping for a few good names to show up!

    Lynette

  • Expanding My World

    Expanding My World

    I have been blogging off and on for about fifteen years or thereabouts. My first blog was simply called LeTissier Designs. It was great until I tried to monetize it and destroyed the work a friend had put into it for me. I sort of gave up on the idea for a while. The blog is still out there.

    Expanding my world is my retirement project. Yes I am still working, but 1 day less a week. Expanding my digital world was me making sure I was always involved and interested in the world of designing, knitting and yarn. And doing so in a meaningful modern way!

    Some of my initial shots of the Victorian Falls Wrap that were the basis of the LeTissier Designs blog site background and my winning pattern for Magic of Mohair in 2011. It was handpainted with dyes in a gorgeous blend of silk and mohair.

    So a few years ago I started this blog. It is a little more about me and less about the knitting, though really the two are so intertwined it is hard to pull one from the other.

    How do these fit together?

    Well about 7 months ago I heard of a new site being developed, something to make being a small independent designer a little easier. So I started to look into it. And was introduced to GoSadi, a centralized site designed to help whomever was registered organize and share their patterns across other selling channels. This site is in the testing stage and I am testing it out.

    So far I am very impressed. Just so you know, this is an unsolicited Rave about my new thing.

    Next year the site goes live and right now they are looking for makers to join and test out the features. It would be similar to Ravelry in that there would be pages for your faves and your projects but the groups would be smaller and people more connected – sort of like Ravelry in the early days. I am less familiar with this aspect of the site. But if they do it as well as they have for the Designers I am thinking that it may be the next big thing in knitting.

    This site does not replace Ravelry or Etsy or a personal website. It simply makes it easier for the designer, me to share my pattern across other websites. And you the knitter to find and keep track of the designers work your love.

    For example I now have an Etsy site – it is about 4 weeks old and I am thrilled. I joined Etsy 10 years ago with the intention of learning how to sell on it! Well that never happened. And here I am selling patterns! Well only a couple so far! But this is a new audience, many of whom have never seen me or my patterns before! And it was easy, so much earlier than I expected.

    So here I am, a technical luddite – but smart enough to take the help and expand my world. GoSadi isn’t free, but it isn’t expensive either and the help provided has been worth every penny. They have opened up new avenues of opportunity. I have an opportunity to send a couple of samples to a Vogue Knitting Event and another opportunity to participate in a Christmas Event with Marly Bird, all because of the new connections.

    Today I added a pattern to Ravelry and 5 minutes later it was up on Etsy! My new pattern is the Abbreviated Vest – a short and sassy vest. A quick and easy knit.

    AI version of my initial sketch of the Abbreviated Vest
    Abbreviated Vest on me!

    So my digital world is growing and I am finding uses for it I had never every conceived of. I hope that all of this keeps on being fun and keeps me young in mind and heart.

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • Quickie 2

    Quickie 2

    The Hydrangeas are from my new garden – they are aging spectacularly!

    Note – I made a couple of changes the original blog post – stitch count is 370 at the end of the last row. I also suggested a different style of needle to make the first rounds work a little more easily.

    Here are the next two rounds. The body pattern should be ready by Wednesday.

    Transition Rounds

    Round 1 – * K3, YO, K1, YO, K1, (YO, K2tog) 3 times, YO, K1, YO, K3, slm, K2tog (YO, Ktog) 84 times, slm, repeat from * once more – 380 st. stitch count moves like this 19, 169, 19, 169. The long sides each lost a stitch.

    From this point he stitch count will increase by 4 sts on each end, every other round, 8 sts total and the side stitch count will remain the same.

    Round 2 – purl.

    My pattern Metro was knit using the same techniques as we are working with the Quickie pattern.

    The yarn was a Freia Shawl Ball x 2

    Other knitting play this weekend includes exploring a new (to me) dipp style stitch.

    The yarn is my hand-dyed wool for the spring shawl – which may now be sprinkled with flowers!

    Happy Knitting!

    Lynette

  • Its been a while…

    Its been a while…

    Its been a while… But I am still knitting…

    I’ve been busy. Selling my home of 30 years, downsizing, and downsizing some more. There is still a storage locker so there will be more downsizing to come. But I am still knitting.

    Borealis Mitts for a November Class.

    It has been a tumultuous couple of years, both personally and in the world at large. Not sure where it is all going. How about you? How has your life been progressing? Life never stops. But I am still knitting.

    Did you know that I am officially retired. Not from working – though I do work less – I am retired by the definition that being retired means I get to do what I love! As I am doing what I love I am retired and still getting paid – how great is that. So I am still knitting, creating, teaching and hopefully bringing other knitters along with me.

    Ocean Legend – a fall class and a new sweater for me. I am still knitting. I hope that you are too!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • New Canadian Yarn

    New Canadian Yarn

    Last November saw the debut of a new Canadian Yarn. One that was sourced, scoured and milled close to home. Albeit home for this new yarn is Ontario, not here in British Columbia, but this is still important. A new Canadian yarn company that is working towards a more sustainable Canadian yarn market! Something that I want to support!

    Waxwing Yarn Company is the name of the new company and is situated in Ontario. The link will take you to their about page which will fill you in in all of the details. Their yarn, Cedre is available in 25 and 100 grs skeins. There are 20 colours and I loved them all. The colours are what I call clear, not greyed, and have been dyed in a palette of beautiful brights.

    I had a hard time choosing just a few colours.

    I ordered 2 full skeins and 3, 25 grs skeins. I basically created my own “try me” option. I am thinking of two separate projects, one a simple, single colour project in cables and lace. This is the collar I have been making. The colour I chose is called Brume – a light tone, just a shade darker than natural.

    The collar is now complete and I love it, Once blocked the wool really took on a lovely personality. The cable and lace pattern I created came out crisp and clear. The pattern is a wavy cable and eyelet rib that really pulled together and stayed bouncy until I blocked it out firmly. After washing and blocking the yarn had softened but still has that wonderful woolly feel. It is behaving beautifully, staying blocked and open.

    Torrent Collar, is all about the rain around here lately, water streaming down the windows and rollicking down the river, I love living on the west coast. The inspiration that surrounds me is an every day happening from the morning sunrises to the evening sunsets.

    Sunrise – no filter

    Torrent Collar is being test knit right now and should be available as a pattern in a few weeks!

    A good start…
    Beauty shot
    I-cord loop bind-off
    Looking good on a form
    Not bad on me as well. This is the small/medium size, I really should have made the medium/large, it would sit better, but it is cozy.

    I am thinking maybe and hat and some fingerless mitts will be created from the remaining yarn, something in fairisle! Or maybe entrelac? It has been a while since I designed something in entrelac. Oh so many options.

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • Dec 1, 2024

    Dec 1, 2024

    This the beginning of the Christmas Season for many of us. Especially those of us in retail. As I work at my LYS I need to get my Christmas Mojo in place and be ready to help those who need my help, either with gifting ideas or help in sorting out problems with finishing those special things.

    I love this time of the year. It doesn’t matter what you celebrate or how you celebrate, most cultures celebrate the Winter Solstice in some way. Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, Soltice or Saturnalia, they are celebrations of joy and sharing! And an acknowledgement that the longest night of the year has come and gone. So every year I like to share a pattern through Ravelry or here on the blog (now that I know how! LOL!) So here is my gift to you free for the month of December and running through early January!

    I was thinking about this and realizing that for the Southern hemisphere this will the shortest night of the year! Still any excuse to celebrate is a good one!

    I thing that Cyclone is a good basic hat pattern. Not too fussy, will look effective in alsomost any colour and it notes the kind of year that many of us have had! Chaotic and cyclonic. So I made it my Christmas pattern. It will be free for the month of December and going into early January.

    The stitch pattern is a fairly straight forward mosaic stitch. I love mosaic stitching because you are never working more than one colour at a time! No carries! Because of the size of the mosaic pattern there is really only one size, but notes are included to adjust the size a little up or down to accommodate larger or smaller adult/teen size heads.

    CycloneDownload

    Just to be different there will be a couple of free patterns this year. I turn sixty-five this month as well. So I am going to celebrate that too! And no, retirement is not part of my plans. After all, I am already working at what I love. So, I would like offer up another pattern for free for the month!

    Cozy Bells is a tea-cozy designed to celebrate Christmas every day of the Year. The bells will jingle softly as the tea is poured and your tea will remain warm for quite a white! I recommend printing this pattern in colour as there are many how to pictures to go along with the embellishing.

    Cozy BellsDownload

    Life has been rough for the bulk of the year so I am seizing this moment to share some joy! I hope that you like the patterns and will take this opportunity to try them out.

    On a sad note, Sophie, our beautiful beagle passed away last week. She was thirteen and had lived a good life. She was always happy, tail wagging at every greeting and never, ever, passed up a treat that came her way. She was loved by all who knew her and never met anyone she didn’t like. She is missed every day.

    At work we are starting to organize our ideas for next years classes. And I am going to offer up a “Year of Hats”. A series of workshops, each one about a hat, or headgear of some type. There will be different weights, different techniques and yarns to work with. Quite a few are already done. There will be a blog post, maybe next weekend, all about this project.

    I am really excited about the turquoise item below – the technique is colourwork slip stitching! You a never working with more than one colour! I am working with several colours of Patagonia Organic Merino. Wouldn’t it look great with the drops done in a hand-dyed yarn? What do you think?

    I am also going to resurrect a few of my older projects. Things that I really want to finish – either patterns or projects. A mixture of both! You can see that I am setting up my New Years’ resolutions as I work my way through this!

    Squared Away Blanket – I umm started it before Logan was born, 9 years ago. Maybe next year….
    And I really want to get back to my Dress.https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knit-a-dress-with-me
    And these gloves – there are so many patterns I need to finish!
    A Sweater for me…
    A new use for reinforcing yarn…

    I am playing with a new yarn – Cedre, by Waxwing Yarn Co.. This is an all Canadian endeavor. The yarns are sourced and scoured in Ontario. Then they are spun in Quebec.

    Cedre is a woolen spun single, I would call it a solid 4-ply in weight. It has a lovely roundness to it and is very springy. I am putting it through its paces while working this mini poncho. I started with a 2.75mm and have settled on a 3.75mm for the body. The stitch definition is crisp, even at this needle size and I can hardly wait to finish this project. I want to see how it reacts to blocking.

    So, Happy December!

    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

  • 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

  • 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