Le Tissier Designs

Of Larks and Linnets and Flying Fingers

Tag: wooladdict

  • Why Knitting a Blanket Matters: Personal and Symbolic Value

    Why Knitting a Blanket Matters: Personal and Symbolic Value

    Why did I choose to knit a blanket this year? The simplest answer is that I need one. I am finding my new home cooler than my old one and I am not going to add to my bills by putting up the heat! But for some reason buying more yarn makes more sense! Go Figure!

    It is also a way of adding more of “me” to my home! It is a way of saying welcome, stay a while and be cozy at the same time.

    There is a lot of symbolism in a blanket. It is welcoming – what is the first thing we think of making for a new baby. Something warm, a physical representation of a hug, why a blanket of course. It fits everyone and will last a lifetime! Not only is a blanket welcoming, it offers protection from life, a cozy place to curl up in, reading or knitting in hand, and ignore the world.

    For example: my daughter was given a beautiful handmade quilt when she was born. When she was a baby she slept under it every night. When I new she was expecting I gave it to her. When her son was born my daughter used that blanket for her son and when he outgrew it and the crib she hung it on the wall above his bed. I have an Afghan that my grandmother made me over 50 years ago, and I treasure it!

    The 50 year old blanket my Grandmother made for me. It has seen the wars but it is still here and still used. Sophie, our beagle made it her blanket when she was a puppy, you can see a little of her work in spots. This is a simple crocheted piece. So simple that I have copied it a few times to make baby blankets for friends and family. It is only chain and single crochet and as you can see it can use up lots of of colours!

    I have quilts from my Aunty Evie and a gorgeous crochet coverlet that my Grandmother made. I will share some pictures when It comes out of storage! As well, I have my fathers Hudson Bay blanket, a little shrunken but still going strong. Blankets mean warmth, caring and love. And in Canada blankets have history.

    I am not saying that blankets don’t have history everywhere, but I am in Canada and I grew up with the Hudson’s Bay and the Hudson’s Bay Blanket!

    There is meaning attached to a Hudson’s Bay Blanket. There is more than 350 years of history. They were a cornerstone of trade for hundreds of years. They have been made into Voyageurs coats have covered the beds of many Canadians! They became a worldwide symbol of Canada. They were that iconic, instantly recognizable and valued highly by everyone who received one as a gift.

    1936 Catalogue Ad. Don’t you just love the style! It’s still a classic.

    Is my blanket going to be that iconic? Is yours? Highly doubtful, but will it be prized by the recipient? It certainly will, because it comes with your love knit into every square! Okay that might be a little flowery, but it is true. When you knit you are often thinking of the recipient, how much you care and how much they will love what you have created!

    Why Squares?

    For me they are a very personal choice. Squares allow me to me more creative, to try out different techniques and to play with colour. The design options are multiple. I also get bored easily. Knitting an Afghan in rows would bore me to tears. I also am a bit of a magpie, I love colour and texture! making a multiple of styles of squares will also allow me to pick and choose my squares for my blanket. Some of the squares may not make the blanket, I may relegate some of the squares to pillow covers of some type. Or maybe a great big bolster!

    Public domain photo – lots of pillows – don’t they look like fun!

    I just googled for an image of a bolster! They were so boring! So maybe a big bright bolster just jumped higher on my list!

    Blankets and afghans have purpose, they are useful. They warm up a room by simply being on a piece of furniture and they warm up a body when used! They can be stunningly beautiful or even a little raggety around the edges and that simple note of heavy use is also has a beauty of its’ own. I have always loved the William Morris quote:

    “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

    I try to keep that in mind when I look at things for my home. Now, I want a beautiful (to me), and useful blanket that I have made with my own hands on my couch. Something that I can see and use every day. I already have lots of beautiful dust collectors, mine, my mothers, and my grandmothers in my home, and blankets galore, but nothing made by me. Nothing for me to use or my daughter to keep.

    Are you knitting for yourself or for someone special? Think about it as it may help you choose your colours!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • A Knitterly Start to the Year – part 2

    A Knitterly Start to the Year – part 2

    So the Three Skein Project is almost complete – just patterns to complete for it.

    So where to next? 

    Well, I have lots of samples that need patterns – it could be that my computer and I will become best buddies. That is very real. I completed one pattern and started two more this weekend!

    Well the classes are coming up;

    I am thinking and doing a Double Knitting Class – lovely little cozy cuffs or wristers. They are totally reversible and quite easy to knit. There is no shaping so the only technique to learn is basic double knitting.

    And the other class will be some kind of specialized colourwork – entrelac maybe or intarsia in the round.

    Do you want see a beading class? A finishing class? A cable class? Our options are so wide and varied – sometimes it is hard to choose.

    Now is the time to make a suggestion!

    I have started to plan a Spring KAL for the store and I am looking for ideas. It would start in the Spring – after Easter. A shawl, a vest, some kind of relaxed garment I think.

    I am starting another sweater style garment for myself – have I finished the last one – well no – but you know – this yarn is calling. I blame it all on Darlene. She just finished a lovely scarf in the same yarn! And another shawl. I really like the way the shape is building up. There is never an end to inspiration!

    So how is your knitting year starting? Are you happy with your choices or looking to scrap it all and start anew? Are finishing one before you start another? Darlene has to finish two items before she starts a new project! We both wonder how long that will last! LOL!

    Happy Knitting

    Lynette

  • It’s Sunday

    It’s Sunday

    So it must be a good day to release a new pattern. Meet Pinecones Cowl. A fast and easy knit for you or for a gift. Infinitely versatile and can be used to try out a new technique – pooling.

    The pooling cowl is for me! My favourite colours all in one easy to wear piece. A rare photo of me (I never like pictures of me). wearing the pooling cowl.

    Elise and I got together this morning for a quick photo shoot! In the rain! But it was fun and went well. I love to photograph my knits in different lights and at different times of the day. Morning light, on grey days is my favourite, there just seems to be a freshness about it – the colours seem to come out better.

    The simpler version of the Plumier stole knit with Handmaiden Flyss.

    We were getting pictures of the Pinecones Cowl and of the Plumier Stole, a new pattern that will be ready in two or three weeks. There will be two versions. One version, a little simpler, was knit with Handmaiden Flyss and my favourite version, which is a little bit more challenging but I love the effect. Knit in two colours of BC Garn Bio Shetland. The lace patterns used are all Shetland in origin, my favourite style of lace if I had to pick a favourite! Really I haven’t met a lace pattern that hasn’t called to me in some way! LOL!)

    Plumier Stole – knit with BC Garn Bio Shetland – the colours are little brighter than reality.

    Today we are going to pick some rhubarb from the garden and I am going to make rhubarb strawberry pie – a favourite around here. How do you like your pie? Do you prefer it plain or serve it with whipping cream or ice-cream? We go both ways in our household.

    Rhubarb from the garden and purchased Strawberries. It should be the perfect temperature come dessert time.

    Well the pattern is up on Ravelry and the kettle is on for tea. The pie is out of the oven and I am ready to sit down and knit for a couple of moments before I contemplate making dinner.

    What’s for dinner at your house? Today I am cooking a roast. Sunday I always try to cook something that will produce enough leftovers for at least one meal – keeps life easier after work.

    Be well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • Filigree and More Unexpected Knitting

    Filigree and More Unexpected Knitting

    Well it has been quite a week!

    I just found out that my hat pattern Roamin‘ was included in a podcast! Fleece and Harmony podcast 64

    I am so stoked!

    Also, I finished a hat, Started the first sleeve on my sweater and of course went to work. Work is kind of a hazardous place to be when you are something of a fanatic about yarns. All natural yarns at least! I use man made fibres for some projects of course, they can be very useful. But much less than natural fibres. Man made fibres generally make me itch, they just don’t breathe.

    Wools are my favourite, Blended wools, those that are spun with Bison, Silk, Yak, Cashmere or Alpaca are right up there too. But wools, non-superwash, hand painted or dyed solid, they slay me. I like a slightly textured yarn, one with a bit of bite. I don’t find these yarns itchy at all – they just knit up into a beautiful texture that suits me!

    This week, quite a few boxes arrived from our suppliers. In one was the new Super Bulky Hand Painted Colour Story by Estelle yarn – 150gr, 75m of wooly perfection. It is so new that it isn’t even on Ravelry. Check out the colours of the Colour Story Sock – the bulky is in the darker tones that are also available in the sock! So I dropped the sleeve (isn’t it wonderful how knitting will wait so patiently) and Thursday evening started to knit. This easy distraction is one of the hazards I was speaking about! Perhaps it is also part of my personality – never short of ideas!

    Well this morning I finished a new vest – a shorty version of a jacket vest with a properly notched collar and single button style closure – Classic Lapel Vest. I knit it in the Tapestry colourway. Pattern to follow in a couple of weeks.

    Last post I was starting a hat. I wanted to play with a few of the the colours of BC Garn’s Bio Shetland. I am working up to designing a fair-isle vest. The next step is a new fair-isle hat that will utilize the colours and patterning that I would like to see in my vest.

    Well, I started this first hat with 15 colours, took away 3 that just didn’t work and added another colour that did! So it takes 13 colours to knit as shown, but it could easily be simplified. It will be a great stash buster! the hat is now complete and I am so happy with it that I wrote up a pattern!

    It is called Filigree and I had so much fun knitting it. I hope that you will too! Click on the button below to download.

    FiligreeDownload

    Yesterday we went for a short walk at Bowen Park. I could hear the water roaring but we never went close. I did see an unusual flower – I think that it is a type of Rhododendron, at least it was on the edge of the Rhodo Grove. It is the photo at the top of the post. Does any one know what it is? We were expecting snow today but that hasn’t materialized – but maybe this evening.

    What is your winter like? Full on snow, wind and cold. Or mild like our west coast weather. I have lived in northern climates and in cold prairie climates, even tropical climates, but my favourite is winter here. Some grey mists, cool green foliage and all the rain you can handle – OK – the rain can get a little old, but the rest of it is just my style!

    I love the look of the devolving petals, they start to look so lace like.

    Today I am making what my mother always called Matrimonial Cake. It is really just date squares, but I think that Matrimonial Cake sounds so much more elegant. I don’t use baking soda and I do add lemon juice and a little fresh lemon peel to the dates. I also make it in a 9×9 pan. Yummm, that way the pieces are deeper and moister for more flavour!

    It is almost time to take the Cake out of the oven.

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

  • It’s a New Year

    It’s a New Year

    And its a new plan. There is no Retreat this year. It is kind of odd to have that space vacant. I have no planning to do, no sample knitting, my time is free.

    Not that I won’t knit, or plan or even have that much free time. I am bound by my creative nature to keep on creating – a new yarn, a new colour, an idea that blooms as I experience a walk, or a book or a conversation – I never lack for ideas! But I won’t have that event to shape any of those ideas around. Some what freeing from my regular focus at this time of the year!

    So what shall I knit in the next months? I do have a couple of projects that I need to finish.

    Serenity Wave – the pattern is complete except for the cover picture – I need to finish the edging. It will be done before the end of the month.

    7 Hats More – there are a couple of small projects left to finish for that book. They also will be done before the end of the month.

    I need to complete the patterns for two shawls – Roamin… or Lizzie’s Hap and the Georgia West Hap. I am also aiming to have those done by the end of the month.

    Hmmm…. Busy month! Maybe I should add a few extra days to the timeline – anyone know how?

    I did muck my initial plans up a little by adding another shawl. A Shetland styled lace stole in BC Garn Bio Shetland. Scrumptious wooly wool with a great crisp hand that creates well defined stitches. I gave myself this last week to work on it and I am almost halfway. It will be hard to put down as I work on the planned completions!

    I am not sure what happened to the last couple of months of the last year – not really sure what happened to the last year. I have been struggling to cope – keeping busy does help me deal with the stress I feel. Writing usually helps – but I was too busy knitting – I am working on a balance. Funny – when I read my last post I was working on balance then too! Maybe this year I will be more successful.

    My Schiehallion yarn has become Failte – a cozy beanie!

    What are you working on? How do you balance life and stress right now? I would really like to know.

    I haven’t walked every weekend – but more than I was before. I am watching what I eat! Way more than I should this last month! But it is my favourite time of year! And I did do some Christmas baking – I have a little dark cake and shortbread left. Just a little lingering sweetness to extend the Christmas Season. The tree and decorations came down yesterday and the lights today.

    So today I start my planning for the New Year – you are part of my plan! Talk again soon!

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette

    PS – I baked a blackberry pie today – my husband picked the berries this last Summer. So we are smelling the sweet smell of summer blackberries as the pie cools on the counter. I hope that you can smell the sweetness of the pie and of life too.

  • …7 Hats More

    …7 Hats More

    One hat, two hat, three hat, four. Five hat, six hat, seven hat more.

    So about a month ago I designed this hat. And then I designed another hat and all of a sudden I had designed 7 hats and had more in my brain that were begging for release…. So why not create an e-book to hold all of these ideas and here we are! Above are the first 9 completed hats – two more are already under construction and the third is still to be started.

    It is not just going to be a hat pattern book. There are going to be some coordinating accessories. Some of the hats will be stand alone projects, single size and no accessories. Some hats will be sized to fit the whole family. Some hats will come with a slew of accessories and some will come with only one accessory! There will be 12 hats in 7 Hats More and currently an unknown number (eight and counting) of accessories.

    There are hats in almost all yarn weight catagories:

    • 2 hats in fingering weight
    • 1 hat in heavy fingering weight
    • 1 hat in sport weight
    • 1 hat in double knitting weight
    • 2 hats in worsted weight
    • 1 hat in aran weight
    • 2 hats hat in chunky (bulky) weight
    • 2 hats in super bulky weight

    There are all all kinds of techniques to choose from, slip stitches, mosaic stitches, lace stitches, cable stitches, stockinette stitches, fair-isle stitches and one hat with beads. Two of the hats are lined, one hat is knit with fingering weight yarn plus a laceweight mohair – there will be something for every interest!

    The accessories planned include a cowl, a small shoulder shawl in worsted weight, fingerless mittens, full mittens, and a few other, yet to be decided options!

    I am so excited! 7 Hats More initial release date on Ravelry is only 5 days away, Oct 1. I am going for a gradual release of the hats over a nine week period, a hat or accessory every 4 days or so.

    These patterns will be available on their own or in the book. So why a book if I am going to sell the patterns separately? Because a book gives you the opportunity to have the all the patterns for a much lower price than the separate cost of each pattern. I know how frustrating it can be to want only one pattern from a book so I am planning on alleviating that particular stress.

    The patterns themselves will range from $4.00 to $6.00 US and the book will be $24.00 US. For the first two weeks of the 9 weeks of releases the e-book will be available at $18.00, a 25% discount 😀

    Be Well and Knit Happy!

    Lynette