Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Category: Uncategorized

  • The Year Ahead

    The Year Ahead

    Last week we had one of the most colourful sunrises ever! My husband dragged me out and we raced down to Departure Bay Beach to capture the colours and light before the show ended! I hope that it is a promise of things to come!

    2023 is already shaping up to be an interesting year.

    I have signed up for the Sweet Paprika / SmallBird Workshop Yarn Box Club. This is a continuation of my own exploration into breed specific yarns as each box contains yarn, natural and dyed, from a specific sheep breed. Information about the yarn, breed, source, best uses etc. plus there will be zoom meetings about each box. I decided to join just as they ran out of the first run of boxes – of course! But this week they added some more subscriptions so I am in – I am very stoked about this.

    Every two months there will be a new box with the first one arriving mid-February! Six new yarns, and new ideas always come with new yarns. Today is the last day to sign up for the full shot!

    As well, Tom and I are going on a very small cruise – as in small boat, local waters exploration! The trip is around the end of May and we going to see and do things that we have never tried before.

    MotherShip Adventures specialize in Kayak Cruises (I am not a kayaker – a little too up close and personal), but they also do a couple of smaller cruises for history / photography buffs. We are going on one of these. The history and geography of Discovery Islands, Bute Inlet and Desolation Sound will be the focus of our tour. Hiking, zodiak trips and small island adventures await us. Hopefully lots of whale viewing and other wild life encounters! This will be a unique opportunity for us to discover more about our environment and enjoy a very up close and personal journey into the maritime history of B.C.

    The boat is the Columbia III and was originally a hospital ship that serviced the small communities that dotted the rugged coast of B.C. It was totally renovated and restored to become the tour boat that it is today!

    Of course there is always knitting and designing. That will never stop. More patterns, more yarns, ie – the yarn boxes offer intriguing opportunities. I am developing some designs for Gathering Yarns. This is an exciting new opportunity for me, new yarns, working with a Canadian Co. I am the first designer that they have worked with and I hope that we both have a great experience.

    Below are th new patterns that I will be releasing over the next few weeks! Multiple hats, a new Salish Sea Sweater Pattern – this one the Great Bear! and a new shawl, complete with a lovely wide beaded edging!

    We will also be starting classes up again at Mad About Ewe! I do love teaching people to see the amazing possibilities that can be created by yarn and needles. So, as always, knitting will be the focus and creative outlet of the year ahead!

    I hope that your Year ahead is happy and healthy and full of the things that make you happy!

    Lynette

  • It’s Starting to Feel …

    It’s Starting to Feel …

    … a lot like Christmas around here. There are only a few decorations up as yet, but other things are falling into place. And of course the knitting for Christmas is very important.

    Some presents are knit! And others are in the works. And the shopping is almost over too! As usual, my gifts for my husband have not been organized, except, don’t tell him – the fingerless mittens I am knitting for him – I have almost finished the first mitten! But I haven’t got much of anything else found for him yet!

    Tom takes care of most of the other Christmas things as he is retired, and he is an organized type of person – unlike me! So, he is always on top of gifts and cards and all of those kinds of things! And he does most of the decorating of the house – he does a really good job of it too! We do decorate the tree together though!

    I have started the Christmas baking – two batches of shortbread were baked last weekend and the Christmas cookies yesterday! And I have leftover homemade mincemeat from last year for some tarts.

    My Grandmothers’ Traditional Shortbread
    Canada Cornstarch Shortbread with the addition of walnuts.

    Every year I make Knitted Christmas Balls – usually the Arne and Carlos balls – they have so many options now for the patterns and I will create my own pattern on the balls as well – they provide a blank pattern grid that is perfect for putting your own images and patterning on!

    A couple of Christmas Balls from last year – the beaded one is mine and the other is a Carlos and Arne pattern.

    This year I am adding a new style of knitted pattern to my repertoire, and I am quite excited by it.

    They are Christmas Baubles by @apassionforlace MoniqueB. Two are complete, Lace Bauble in blue Malabrigo Lace and Ocean in ivory Handmaiden Lace Silk. Boom is under construction. Each bauble is a different Shetland Lace pattern. They are so much fun, small, intricate and very satisfying. I had to go out and find some glass balls of the right size. The coloured ones I found locally but the clear ones I had to order on line. They are from BestPysansky, out of Chicago.

    How are your Christmas Preparations coming? Are you organized and ready? Or like me, is someone else doing the organizing for you? However you roll I hope that you are having fun and that your Christmas is starting to come together.

    Be well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • Season’s Greetings

    Season’s Greetings

    Never quite sure how to acknowledge this Season. For me it means Merry Christmas, not because of any religious meaning, but because it was a merry time of the year for our family. One that included presents, good food, and many friends and family and laughter, there was always laughter. It was my Mother’s favourite time of year and the whole house reflected her joy in the Season. Because of this – it is also my favourite time of the year!

    So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Blessings this Solstice or however you and yours celebrate this Season of Light – I wish you all much joy and love.

    Every December for the last 7 or so years I have published a pattern on Ravelry that I make free for the month of December though January 1. It is my way of thanking you and wishing you all a Wonderful Holiday Season.

    This year’s pattern is the Mendenhall Shawl. This Shawl took a couple of years to come to fruition. It was going to be a joint project between Selena Miskin of Wayfaring Yarns and myself. Selena’s yarns and my patterns. We were the Sweater Sisters.

    Beautiful Mendenhall Glacier – those colours!

    Selena used to dye the most beautiful yarns, but due to health problems she hasn’t been able to dye any beautiful things for a couple of years. I kept hoping that would change – but life doesn’t always work that way. So, I am releasing the as a gift from us both.

    Included in the Mendenhall Shawl pattern is the code to purchase the co-ordinating Mendenhall Hat pattern. If you have purchased the 7 Hats More ebook you will not need to the code as the hat pattern is already in your ebook – the shawl will automatically be added to your ebook in your Ravelry library. This will be the last pattern of the book.

    Good Health, Happy Holidays and a very Merry Season to us all!

    Lynette

  • Mitten, Mitten who’s got the Mitten!?

    Mitten, Mitten who’s got the Mitten!?

    My grandson’s favourite knitted items are mittens and hats. He has a large collection of hats as his head doesn’t grow anywhere near as fast as the rest of him! He has a large head size for a seven year old – bigger than his mothers!

    So, I have started to knit him mittens, a new pair or two every year. They are fun projects and can be quick as well! I seem to have problem with mittens though – I always start out smaller than they should. This year, just like last year, I have made the first mitten too small. I should have checked my own pattern for the average lengths of the spacing!

    These pattern in these mittens is from my Reindeer Vest pattern. I made him the vest and his bear a matching vest a few years ago. I have always like the colourful diamond motif! If I have enough time – I might make him some dragon mittens! You see I have this idea….

    The First mitten is of course too small – so on to the next one! Yarn is Patagonia Organic Merino.

    I have been designing mittens for a few years and have several patterns out there! My first mitten pattern was for Thrummed Mittens – East Coast Mittens. And from that start came heavy weights like Mitten Love Again or Standing Tall and Multitude of Mittens as well as North Sea Mittens, Eileens Mittens (these ones are lined for extra warmth), Makin’ Mittens, Birds Nest Brioche Cowl and Mittens and my latest mitten pattern – Boldly Tweed, plus countless other gloves and fingerless mittens – keeping hands warm is so much fun!

    Birds Nest Mittens
    East Coast Mittens
    Eileens Mittens
    Makin’ Mittens
    North Sea Mittens
    Mitten Love Again
    Multitude of Mittens
    Standing Tall Mittens
    Boldly Tweed Mittens

    My favourite mittens to design and make were the Patchwork Mittens. I loved the combo of the yarn and pattern! And the colour simply made me happy!

    Do you make Mittens? Do you work from patterns? If so, which are your favourites?

    Or have you made so many mittens that you just cast-on and go!

    Below is my pithy pattern for 4-ply mittens – though the measurements can be applied to any mitten – just not the stitch counts.

    Well, I need to get knitting and so do you! Christmas is coming!

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • On the Topic of Buttons

    On the Topic of Buttons

    Do you have a button box? Or better yet your Mother’s or Grandmother’s button box? Do you use them? Or simply admire them? I do both.

    My Mother’s box was lost to time and just one too many moves. It was a huge glass jar that I loved to look through. She didn’t do much sewing, but she would knit occasionally. Like me I think that she just loved buttons.

    But my boxes are pretty full. Collected over my time of sewing, knitting and well, collecting buttons! I love buttons! They are a fabulous item that can just add that perfect touch to your finished garment or they can be applied as embellishments. Adding buttons to button bands, or as design details is the one aspect of finishing my knitted pieces that I actually enjoy! I have also used shell buttons as embellishments in many of my knits – I love their sheen and the way they pick up the colours of the yarn.

    My button collection!

    This morning I was busy finishing off a childs vest – Reindeer Vest – that I had Jana knit up in Patagonia Organic Merino as a store sample. I also got her to knit the doll vest – Mini Reindeer Vest – as well. The original set was my Grandson’s Christmas Gift a couple of years ago. The Mini Reindeer Vest is a free pattern and will fit most medium dolls or bears! The Reindeer Vest is 50% off right now until Nov 30. Use the code Reindeer.

    It was a good thing I found a few button options for the vest as I was scrambling through my button box looking for some buttons! I started to sew on my original choice of button – I thought they were a nice bright red – I realized that the red buttons were really pink – bad early morning lighting! So, I went with another option!

    Not a bad thing to have a button box at hand as buttons seem to be a little scarce right now!

    It has been a good week, beautiful sunrises and sunsets at Departure Bay Beach. Roses still in bloom on the Promenade and always knitting.

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • Leavers Lace… A Vanishing Fabric

    Leavers Lace… A Vanishing Fabric

    A few months ago I watched a fascinating little video about Leavers Lace and why it was so expensive. Amazing!

    So why has this come to mind once again?

    Yesterday I went to my favourite fabric store in Victoria, Gala Fabrics. I only go about once a year and not at all in the last couple of years. Umm, I wonder why? LOL!

    I generally shop the Vintage woolens section, you know the section where all the wools and wool blends are discounted to $10.00 a meter! Such a good deal! And you know that wool fabrics can be over dyed – just like wool yarns! So many options.

    But I digress! Leavers Lace! This is todays topic.

    As I was perusing the woolens with the help of a a wonderful sales person (I am so sorry that I didn’t get her name). She got that I was into vintage stuff and loved fabrics and she happened to mention that a great deal of very expensive beaded lace fabric had just hit the discounted fabric section. Expensive as in it used to start at $149,00 and went up to $200.00 dollars a metre and here it was at $10.00 a metre.

    Not in perfect condition, despite their best efforts to protect the lace (some of it had to be over 40 years old). On some pieces the sequins were discoloured, but still iridescent and in spots the fabric had also discoloured. And it was a little dirty. Time fades us all. It doesn’t matter! Every bead and sequin had been placed by hand, the every piece lace was an intricate designs of holes that was beautiful! The work that goes into creating each piece of fabric was amazing!

    Look at the drape of the fabric!

    We are no longer a society that really dresses up, not with the lace, beads and sequins of the past. Perhaps for weddings or graduation parties and not so much as tastes change. Here on the west coast dress-up now is quite often a pretty dress and nylons (can the nylons – lets just say a pretty dress and sandals)!

    But Oh if we were still that society!

    So I bought a metre and a half of the most beautifully decorated fabric I have ever seen. Machine and handwork combined in a way we don’t see any more, except in theatrical productions and period movies. I am going to make myself a little jacket or little top to wear out and maybe bring back another era if only for a moment.

    On my piece there are some loose beads and detail work that needs to be reattached. I can fix all of that. It is still so beautiful! This is the Leavers Lace.

    Happy Dreaming

    Lynette

  • Work it… Work it….

    Work it… Work it….

    How do you work? It quiet solitude? In the hub hub of a busy room? On a neat desk with everything laid out? In chaos?

    Everyone – creative or non creative has a favourite place and way of working. There are even magazines devoted to creative work spaces! A friend of mine collects them for ideas and dreams of what she would like her ideal creative space to be like. I would really like to know about your spaces. Is it a dedicated space? A shed or studio out back? A room with lots of shelves and space designed just for you and your creativity? A spot in your living room?

    I have that too – a spot in the living room, surrounded by yarn and chaos, where I sit and knit and be part of the family dynamic.

    I would like my formal workspace to be tidy – I really would! I seldom achieve that as I would rather be creating than tidying – and when I start to tidy ideas come out of the chaos and bite me in the proverbial a… and all thoughts of tidying go out the window as I dive into a new idea! I have often said that I work best in Chaos. And right now Chaos is my constant companion.

    Right now my workspace has achieved the honour of being the messiest and most chaotic it has ever been! Perhaps this is a good thing as I have needed to be more creative in my knitting designs than ever. Its this big new “thing” I am doing. It requires a lot of time and creativity – and as I still am working full time – my housekeeping – never a great deal – has completely fallen to the wayside.!

    This big “thing” is a designing job. A largish number of patterns in varying yarns for a largish yarn company – in a smallish piece of time! It has been so much fun and so challenging in a creative way! I will share more as I can! I have had help with sample and test knitting – we all need help sometimes. I am learning how to ask for it as needed.

    bees and butterflies

    There have small breaks where I have worked on my own patterns as I waited for yarns to arrive. Bees and Butterflies was created in one of those breaks. I should have been tidying – but you know how the story goes! LOL!

    My desktop – it can barely be seen right now! Much more chaotic than normal!

    UPDATE – Started this a few months ago – in the height of the crazy creative time. I am in a bit of a lull right now – working on things for myself and looking forward to the next spate of crazy times. Still can’t really talk about the earlier project but the patterns are due to drop any day! Then I will be talking like crazy!

    I am almost finished the Shetland Fusion Ebook. I “found” another pattern that I had started before Covid and it is perfect for Shetland Fusion! Summer Shells, a half Pi shawl that features Shetland Lace Shell Patterns! Umm and maybe a few beads.

    Summer Shells
    Fascinator
    Shetland Wheel
    Shetland Wheel
    Lizzie’s Hap
    Plumier 2
    Plumier

    So it has been a good day – so much accomplished – but no housework! LOL!

    Wrote a couple of blogs, did some knitting, made a pie – making dinner – how has your day gone?

    Be well and Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • The Great Canadian Wool-a-Long

    I am ready!

    Yarn chosen, swatch done, needles chosen and sketch complete – it is now time for the first Great Canadian Wool-a-Long!

    What is a Great Canadian Wool-a=Long? Well the Wool-a-Long is the brainchild of Catherine Knutsson of The Small Bird Workshop.

    I had been following Catherine for a while, but I first really met Catherine over a year ago when I purchased some Baby Doll/Mohair/Silk blend fingering from her last June. It was full on Covid and we spoke briefly on her porch where my little bag of yarn was waiting for me. I had been following her for a while – the concept of Canadian sourced wool yarns was very intriguing to me. I started a shawl with the yarn and then life got very busy. I was thinking of finishing the project as part of the Wool-a-long but the silk content was source outside of Canada. I might finish it as part of the project – if there is time.

    As local as it gets! Baby doll fibre from Vancouver Island, mohair from the interior, sourced silk, milled in Kamloops at @that_darn_yarn_shop

    The Wool-a-Long has been created to feature Canadian Wool, Canadian Designers and Canadian Makers in order to deepen understanding of our Canadian Fibre resources and to encourage and support its growth as a viable industry. Catherine has long been a proponent of supporting local sheep growers and has worked hard to keep perfectly usable wool fibre from being dumped into local landfills.

    So starting Aug 1 and going until Oct 31 – we talk the talk and walk the walk – working with Canadian Wool (or fibre)(mandatory) and Canadian Designers (encouraged) (yes, this is self serving as I am a Canadian Designer!) and Canadian Makers (also encouraged).

    Welcome to the 1st annual Great Canadian Wool-A-Long! This event will run from August 1 to October 31, 2022, and is designed to celebrate Canadian wool and fibre in all of its forms. Crafters of all varieties are invited to participate, and the only requirement is that you use wool that has been grown by sheep (or fibre animal or plant) that live in Canada and post a photo of your finished item!

    SmallBird Workshop

    There will be prizes and lots of opportunity to talk to other like minded crafters through the various social media sites (links below) and Catherine is organizing an almost weekly zoom meeting.

    So I am in! I am going to work with a Tunis Lambswool that was sourced by Catherine from Ontario and I am going to design a cropped vest with a shirttail hem and textural details as my project. Come on along and watch my progress, all feedback welcome, and I will watch and encourage your progress as well!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

    I have 16 patterns that were designed with Canadian Wools.

    Bullseye Brioche , Wolf Song , Patchwork Butterfly Cap , Wet Coast Winter , Spiral Tam , North Sea Hap , OOkpik , Standing Tall Gauntlet Mittens , Sitka Poncho , T’woot Cute , Plaid Spirit Headband , Spirit Toques , West Coast Wrap Vest , “Cowichan” Styled Toques , Afternoon Tea Scarf , Bento Box Vest

    Links below for more information.

    Great Canadian Wool-a-Long

    The SmallBird Workshop

    Ravelry Group

    Ravelry Thread

    Instagram

    Facebook

  • There’s a Little Spring in My Step

    There’s a Little Spring in My Step

    It is official – Spring is happening here. The Indian Plum bushes are starting to green out and the birds are singing a bright and happy song. This is the time of renewal and rebirth; of flowers and leaves emerging from the dark earth; of ideas bursting forth from our heads and fingers in much the same way!

    My brain is buzzing with idea’s tried and new ones waiting! I have yarn to knit and patterns to write – but the knitting is calling out more loudly. Old projects are begging to be finished and the new projects are waiting impatiently for their turn. While I contemplate how to bring order to my ideas I watch the world outside my windows change with the the advent of Spring.

    Squash Blossom Dreams in Buffalo Wool Co. Sexy, hand-dyed by Lorna’s Laces is on the short list to be finished this year.

    The Robin’s next door are busy building their nest in the evergreen ivy on the tree out side the window and I love watching them flit back and forth as they bring bits of string, grass and tiny twigs that all disappear into the green leaves of the Ivy. These Robins have been coming back for many years – I imagine that they are the same birds – and build their nest in the same spot every year.

    We walked around Buttertubs Marsh this morning. It was humming with life, birds, robins, starlings, chickadees, Canada geese, mallard and white headed ducks mostly, but I watched a fat brown squirrel as he leisurely crossed the path in front of us. He did a good job feeding himself over the winter! The people were out too! “Good morning’s” and “Hi’s” making the air happy, and the smiles on most faces, those smiles, making the heart happy!

    I have just about finished work on a big project and I am starting to look forward to and plan the next project. I can’t say much about the big project – except that it involves a big yarn company, pretty yarns and quite a few patterns!

    Butterflies and Bees Hat under construction.
    Butterflies and Bees Cowl

    The next yarn project will involve finishing up a couple of shawls. One I haven’t looked at for over 2 years and the other I started last year! In between I will be working on patterns for the hats I started last fall! Oh Yeah, and the Japanese Lace cowl and hat that I sort of snuck in there! No rest for the wicked! And I do so love doing what I do!

    I have been receiving a great deal of support for my creative journey lately – and from some new and unexpected sources! Life is good!

    I hope that you are all well and moving forward in your individual creative journeys.

    Happy Creating

    Lynette

  • Lizzies’ Hap and Other Fine Things

    Lizzies’ Hap and Other Fine Things

    Happy New Year! It is so hard to believe that it is February already!

    Life has been busy, chaotic, and generally a little off kilter of late. So what is new you might ask? That is sort of how life has been generally for most of us right now. That is the feedback I get from many!

    So I have been creating, working on patterns and waiting for the last bits of the kitchen to be finished. One cupboard is holding us up!

    The kitchen redo is done – except for the one cupboard and the tiling. Tiling won’t be done until the cupboard is in. The missing cupboard is my fault – I decided I needed it after the other other cupboards went in. So the one cupboard went into the queue and we wait. I will share before and after pictures when the kitchen is complete.

    I finally finished writing the pattern for Lizzies’ Hap or the Roamin’ Hap. It is now up on Ravelry. And I hope that you love it!

    This shawl was a long time coming.

    Lizzies’ Hap was an idea that I had been toying with ever since I knit the Roamin’ Hat for Kate Davies in 2018. It came into being in 2019/2020 as a result of Kate Davies’ design competition on “Place” and what it means to you. And then Covid hit and it languished as I struggled with the changes that Covid imposed and the emotions brought about by the concept of place and what it meant to me.

    Place for me meant family. My Grandmother Elizabeth, Lizzie to her friends, was part of my place.

    When I first started knitting, I would ask Granny what she would like me to knit for her. She asked me for a shawl, a shawl like the ones from home, Scotland. She loosely described it as a big square with a striped edge that was knitted. At this point I had no idea of where to begin. Instead, I knit her a sweater with thistles in pink and grey, her favorite flower and in her favourite colours.

    I wasn’t a skilled enough knitter at that time and didn’t know quite what she meant. She passed away before I had learned. Since then, I have learned both about the type of shawl she had wanted and how to make one.

    This is my second shawl for her, the first one was a very basic hap that I knit in 2010. Only the center square with the simple lace pattern was kept from that hap. This shawl has a “thistles and heather” fair-isle insert, a striped border and a fancy edging – just for her – because she was just that important.

    This shawl features a totally reversible fair-isle insert that acts as almost a collar detail when wearing the shawl.

    In most ways this is simply a traditional hap shawl, in the stitches chosen and the construction techniques used. How this is not a traditional hap shawl is in the insertion of an additional border between the center square and the lace border. This fair-isle border is what sets this shawl apart from a more traditional shawl. The fair-isle border basically gets knit twice to keep the backside neat and the shawl reversible.

    Lizzies’ Hap is the second pattern in the ebook Shetland Fusion. The third pattern, Shetland Fascinator should be out by the end of the month. Lots of knitting has been finished and coming together in the last couple of months.

    Shetland Fascinator, knit with Juniper Moon Farms Findley Lace

    And I am working on new things – like this cool stitch pattern that I found in a Japanese Stitch library! I am knitting a cowl first – an easy way to learn and practice a new stitch and then I will make a hat to co-ordinate with it! It is a variation on the bee or butterfly pattern, which I have used in a couple of other pieces – I really love the look. But I have never seen it quite like this, as part of an all over pattern.

    Below is a video how-to bridge the gap that is created while knitting. The rows before are a set-up for this row.

    Of bees and butterflies 🦋

    And I just had to buy this new set of interchangeable needles from Lykke – the Cypra copper needles. They are beautiful! I love copper things. I have several of my grandmother’s pieces. And when these needles became available I, ahem, felt the need to own them. I was not disappointed.

    Copper and Verdigris
    Swans island organic merino in the verdigris colourway
    Covid be Damned – beaded randomly placed butterflies
    Shimmering Spring – butterflies in a column
    Bees and Butterflies!

    So life keeps on giving gifts, always new ideas and new opportunities, I am so lucky to be able to work with what I love and be able to create with my hands!

    I hope that you have a wonderful day! Be well and knit happy!

    Lynette