Thursday, January 22, 2015

Free Knitting Pattern: Slightly Shifting Knitted Cowl


Just posted my latest FREE knitting pattern for my Slightly Shifting Knitted Cowl.  This pattern is a simple, yet beautiful design that looks particularly lovely in a variegated yarn.  I knit my sample up in Cascade Yarn Pacific in color 508 (Hydrangeas).  This yarn is such a beautiful color, like the gentle hue changes in an Impressionist's painting.  Ans this slipped stitch pattern really shows off these pretty colors.

You can find this new pattern on my Hubpages!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Latest Knitting Project: Hand-Dyed Chevron Scarf

chevron scarf knitted with hand dyed yarn

Back last summer, I took a yarn dyeing class at my LYS.  You may remember, I contemplated a number of scarf patterns to make with my hand dyed yarn.

My hand dyed yarn
After a few false starts with other patterns, I settled on Cheri Borden's Pearl-barred Scallop Scarf.  All the other patterns I tried caused my VERY variegated yarn to pool and puddle.  So I went back to my old standard: a chevron pattern.  Variegated yarn always seems to look good in a chevron pattern.  And Cherie's knitted scarf pattern had a different purl detail that I think gives my scarf a pretty woven look to it.


Of course, as is my habit, I ended up making some small modifications to the pattern.  My yarn was slightly lighter than what the pattern called for, so I increased the number of stitches and changed the row count a bit.  Since Cheri's pattern is free, I'll share my changes.  Here's what I did:

Co 48 sts using a #5 needle, than began pattern:

Chevron Row 1 (RS):  K3, *yo, k3, cdd, k3, yo, k2,* repeat from * to * twice, then yo, k3, cdd, k3, yo, k3.  (cdd = see original Pearl-barred Scallop Scarf pattern on Ravelry for directions)
Chevron Row 2:  K3, purl to last 3 sts, k3.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 for a total of 7 times, then do purl detail below:

Purl Detail Row 1 (RS): K3, purl to last 3 sts, k3.
Purl Detail Row 2:  Knit all stitches.

Repeat Chevron Pattern and Purl Detail in order above until you reach desired length.  I knit this pattern until I was almost out of yarn, then bound off as directed.


My finished scarf is quite pretty.  I love the lightness of it.  I'm not sure any of the pictures really show the color changes in the pattern, but I'm very happy with it.  I'd love to try hand dyeing again some time!