I have often wondered if the opposite is true. I should pay more attention. Right now March is coming in like a Lamb. It is beautiful out there today in my neck of the woods. So clear, and a little warmer, it is really feeling like Spring.
The March square consists of bold cables that are offset each other to create a very textured surface. The garter stitch background helps highlight the texture. The cables are wide and round and all twist the same way. One cable is traditional the other cable has a lace faggoting center. It looks complicated but is very easy to knit.
The March Fancy is a tassel. Not an ordinary tassel but a dressed tassel. Tassels as embellishments have been around for a long time. They can be very simple, or not so simple. Why create a tassel that is covered like this? It keeps the tassels neater for the long hall. Wouldn’t it look great on our Blanket, or maybe a a cushion.
Are you Superstitious? I am, just a little. Most of my superstitions center around numbers. For example, my lucky number is 13. Many good things have happened for me when that number is involved. And a Friday the 13th is the best.
I am participating in the MarlyBird 24 Days of Quickies which is 24 days of free patterns, each day a new knit and a new crochet pattern! My pattern Lucky Sevens will be available for free on Dec 15 from early morning to early morning Dec 16. I really wanted Dec 13 but it was already taken. So I went for the 15th, seven days after my birthday. This is new for me and with all those lucky sevens I am hoping that it will be a lucky for me as well!
UPDATE: Well Lucky Sevens is no longer free but the link will take you to other free patterns from the Marly Bird site. I hope you “get lucky”!
The number “seven” is a lucky number in many cultures and religions, and is especially significant in most Western Cultures. For example: seven days of the week, seven wonders of the world and Lucky Number Seven. So here is another lucky seven, the Lucky Sevens Beanie or Toque.
This hat has the number seven in abundance. Each cable is 7sts, a very traditional way of making the cables, not much seen nowadays. There are seven twists on the beanie style hat and seven full cables on the toque style hat. The cables are short, making them rounder than tall cables. They are sometimes called “Coin” cables. Gold coins are a treasure in any culture and the colour red is a power colour. Symbolism abounds in these hats.
These lucky “Coin” cables are mirrored and move up the body of this beanie or toque styled hat. The cables are worked into the crown and then are evenly decreased as part of the crown, creating a flower finish.
This pattern is easy to memorize, as the cable pattern repeats both around and up the hat, making it a a quick and easy knit. The recommended sport weight yarns are not too heavy, but the cable pattern keeps it warm. Make your Lucky Seven a beanie (gold hat) as shown or add one more Cable Chart repeat (8 rounds) for a more toque (red hat) like finish.
The gold beanie was knit with Ulysse by de rerum natura in the colourway. The red toque was knit with Estelle yarns in their Eco Tweed DK. The sizes are small/medium adult or medium/large adult and either hat can be knit as a beanie (short) or as a toque (8 rounds longer),
Materials: 50 grs 185m sport weight yarn will make either sizes, 3.5mm US #4 40cm 16inches circ and dpn’s, cable needle, markers and the regular notions.
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!
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!
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!
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!
Flat Iron was knit with Ancient Arts Lascaux Fine Fingering. This heathered yarn adds a great depth to the cabled pattern. I like this yarn so much that you will see another hat in the collection knit with the same yarn.
Lascaux Fine / Lascaux Fine 50’s – 25% Manx Loaghtan/75% Punta Arenas Wool
Lascaux Fine 50’s – 175 meters / 192 yards per 50 gram / 1.75 oz skein
Lascaux Fine 100 – 350 meters / 385 yards per 100 gram / 3.5 oz skein
Gauge: 25 – 30 sts / 4 inches (10 cm) US 1.5 – 2.5 or 2.5 – 3.0 mm
Lascaux Fine is a delightful blend of heritage and modern sheep fibre spun into a 2-ply fingering weight yarn which is perfect for stranded colourwork projects.
The heritage breed sheep is Manx Loaghtan, found only on the Isle of Mann, and the modern breed is the Punta Arenas from South America. The natural colour of this yarn is a light brown, so it has a heathered undertone when it is dyed, and although it looks rustic, it actually knits up exceptionally soft! This is a great yarn that feels wonderful against the skin, making it suitable for garments like mitts, sweaters and even lace shawls!
Note: Lascaux has it’s own unique colour palette due to the natural colour of the yarn.
Ancient Arts
Flat Iron Hat – knit with Ancient Arts Lascaux FineI played around with the photo to really highlight the shading of the yarn witch did affect the colour somewhat!
The hat and mittens make a great set and take only one skein of yarn.
Why knit one hat when you can knit three?! I have really been loving knitting hats lately! And I can’t seem to stop – though I have this new idea for another shawl niggling in the the back of my mind!
I love the new wools I have been playing with, BC Garn Bio Shetland and now this new one from Ancient Arts Yarns, Lascaux Fine. I knit up a little cabled hat this week, I think that I am going to knit up some co-ordinating fingerless mittens as well!
Lascaux Fine is an intriguing blend of Manx Laoghtan wool and Punta Arenas Wool. Manx is an old breed – lots of horns and brown toned wool. Punta Arenas is a new breed and is a merino variant.
Together they create a wool that handdyes with a heathered brown undertone. Very rich and deep colours that blend beautifully!
Aren’t they wild?
Flatiron – cables and twisted mini cable flat ribs. Check out the brown heathering.
The colour is very hard to capture with a camera, it is really more green than blue. But I think that you can see the richness. Ancient Arts is having a sweet giveaway of this yarn right now on facebook and instagram. It is open until midnight tonight!
There was no baking this weekend. I did contemplate brownies, maybe next weekend. But the knitting, and the Superbowl (a great excuse for knitting) won out.
I am working on another hat in the bio shetland (this will be my third hat in the Bio Shetland) and I really want it done for next weekend – its called Valentino for obvious reasons – but why is it when you set yourself a deadline – everything conspires to make sure that it will be a challenge. My next move on the hat will be frogging the last 7 rounds. Such is life.
Valentino under construction – before ripping back!
It was a gorgeous day yesterday we went walking at Divers Lake. They have done a lot of work there recently. The Cedar walkways were so fresh and aromatic, they added a lovely scent to the air. Blackbirds were singing and darting from tree to brush and the ducks were just hanging around. There were squirrels overhead scolding us as we walked by and the air was crisp! I love the marsh right now, the dead growth is just as intriguing as new growth, sometimes more so!
I hope that you had a great weekend as well. What were you up too? Were you knitting, sewing, baking, or something comepletely different? Are you a walker? Or a more serious hiker when a glorious day shows up?
