Knitting Projects: Close to You Shawl and a Lesson Learned

So here I am, showing off my latest knitting project - the Close to You Shawl by Justyna Lorkowska.  This is a free pattern available on Ravelry.  And I love it.  The pattern is rather repetitious, but I love the interesting, yet casual design it creates.  I'm really happy with this project.

This shawl uses fingering weight yarn and as a Christmas present to myself, I splurged on this beautiful purple variegated yarn from Gnarled Paw on Etsy.  This yarn wasn't super expensive, I think it was $18, but more money than I might normally spend.  How much money you spend on yarn is a personal choice, but I'm glad I decided to spend more for this yarn.  The stunning color changes in this skein made it well worth it, IMHO.

I now see the value in investing more money for yarn, occasionally, to create a stand out item that you will enjoy wearing.  Lesson learned.

Favorites: Blossoms By the Brook Shawl Knitting Pattern

My hubby/photographer is away, so sorry for the crappy photos!

I just had to show off this wonderful shawl pattern I knit from the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Knitty.  I have kind of a love/hate relationship with shawls.  There are so many AMAZINGLY beautiful shawl patterns out there, but I just don't know how to use them and wear them in my real life.  So I knit very few of them.

But I had a skein of Caron Simply Soft in this beautiful Orchid color that I wanted to make a light and lacy scarf with, so I went on the hunt for a narrow crescent-shaped shawl pattern that I could wear around my neck like a scarf.  I was thrilled to find this Blossoms By the Brook pattern by Ilga Leja on the Knitty site.  What I loved about it was:

1.  It only took about 150 yards of yarn

2.  The pattern was free (let's be honest)

3.  It was easily adjustable

4.  And I just loved, loved, loved the pretty scalloped edge and the wavy ends that this pattern creates.

This pattern is so cleverly designed to grow from the center bottom point, and can easily be knit to be longer and wider.    I wanted a shawl/scarf that was narrow but long, and I made very few modifications.  I found that it helped to put stitch markers between each repeat as my shawl grew in length.  I followed the pattern as written, but only worked Chart B to row 6.  Then I did two rows of purl stitches to create the upper garter border, and bound off with a larger needle.

I did only a light block on this, pinning my shawl down while it was dry and not pulling it too much.  Then I wet it after it was pinned in place.

 

So happy with the finished shawl!  I love when things come together like this!

Shawl project: Scraptastic Ombrellone

So happy with my latest knitting project!  This is the wonderful Ombrellone by Melinda Vermeer.

I started this out with just the light purple and darker purple color striping, but I thought it looked too much like 7-year-olds girl's bedroom.  So, I changed the pattern a bit using some of my stash:  I frogged what I had and began again with some KnitPicks Swish DK in my new favorite color, Sugar Plum.  Then changing the pattern, I started my stripes on Row 24 with some Naturally Caron Country in gray.  I continued with these stripes to Row 37.  On Row 38, I switched from the light purple to dark purple stripes (Ella Rae Classics Heather) and continued with the gray.  Then on Row 56, I switched the gray to KnitPicks Swish DK in Lost Lake Heather (green) with the purple.  LOVE this green!

Sadly, I didn't have enough of the Lost Lake to do the full border, so I had to end with Row 83.  I think the border is still wide enough and it looks fine.  I did lose a little length though by not making the border as wide as the pattern stated.

To bind off, I used a semi-stretchy stitch on the next RS row.  To do this:

Knit the 1st stitch. Then,

1.  Slip next st to the right side needle knitwise.

2.  With these two stitches on the right needle, knit them together tbl.

3. Knit the next st.

4.  Bind off next st as normail.

Continue working through steps 1-4 until you have 1 st left.  Then cut your yarn and pull it through the last st.  Ta-da!

  Don't forget to enter my free giveaway, ending on August 8!!

{Hand} Dye-ing for Something to Knit

I recently had the opportunity to take a yarn hand-dyeing workshop at a LYS, Yarn and Y'all.

The workshop was a lot of fun and I wish I had taken photos of the yarn dyeing process, but I was too busy enjoying myself to remember to take pictures.

We started out with about 440 yards of undyed merino wool in sock weight.  I told myself that I was going to use browns and blues for my yarn, and stay away from my favorites, purples and greens.  I wanted to create something different than what I usually buy.

photos taken from different sides on different days

But as you can see, I ended up still gravitating toward my usual pinks, purples, and greens.

And the yarn looks total different when balled

Despite falling back into my comfort zone, I'm still very happy with my resulting yarn.  Now, to pick something to knit with it!  I decided I wanted to make scarf or narrow shawl from my hand-dyed yarn.  I was thinking of something light and loose with lots of eyelets or a loose weave.  Here are my favorite choices:

Frisson:  I love the simple geometry of this shawlette.  This pattern is really what I had in mind when I thought about using my hand-colored yarn.

Hallayo:  This scarf pattern has been in my queue for a while.  I love this design, but really wanted to make more of a shawl than a scarf.

Sea Line Shawl:  This is your basic feather-and-fan design, but I think it would be pretty with the colors in my yarn.

Margosha Shawlette:  I'm leaning toward this pattern.  It has the eyelets and open weave that I was looking for.  I like the crescent shape of the design.  And I like how the short-row edging creates a little ruffle.

Which one do you think I should make?

Knitting Year in Review 2013

This is the time of year in the blogosphere where all bloggers do a post that looks back over the last year and makes some type of claim about the upcoming year.  And since I don't want to feel left out (or have you feel left out), here's my look back on my three favorite knitting projects from 2013:

1.  The Theresa Shawl by Nikki Wagner from the Fall 2013 Knitscene magazine:  I really love this shawl/scarf.  I've always been a little frightened of shawls, but there's an ease to this design that makes it so comfortable to just wrap around my neck and go.  I used stash yarn for this - I bought the green/yellow variegated yarn at Stitches South a few years ago.  I added the darker blue because I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough of the green color to finish this pattern.  The blue yarn is some Malabrigo Arroyo that I had leftover from my own shawl design, the Crossroads Textured Shawl.

2.  Norah Gaughan cardigan from my Summer Sweater Knit-a-Long:  I've talked at great length about how much I love this sweater.  The design is gorgeous, the color is wonderful, and I'm so happy with the modifications I made to the pattern.  It has become a staple of my wardrobe.  The yarn is Ella Rae Classic Wool.  Although this fiber is not particularly soft, it's only a little bit itchy at the neck and does wear well.  And I wear this sweater A LOT!

3.  Color Field Baby Blanket/Afghan by ME:  sorry, I just had to throw in one of my own designs :)  I do really love how this blanket came together.  I designed it for some friends who were expecting their first child.  I think the colors and design are both cheerful, yet modern.  And the new parents seem to love it!

So, there it is - my look back on 2013 in knitting.  And for 2014?  I have a few things up my sleeve:

1.  I have a couple of new designs that I will be posting on my Hubpages in the coming months.

2.  I want to make a fall jacket for myself.  I'm considering a pattern from Filati Handknitting, Issue 53 (lefthand side of page 12 - love it!).

3.  And I hope to have a few more surprises coming up!

Stay tuned!  Best wishes to all for a happy and bright 2014!!!

Recession Knitting: Update 1

So I finished my first proposed "recession knitting" project:  the Theresa Shawl from the Fall 2013 Knitscene.  I LOVE IT!!

At about the halfway point on this shawl, I realized I was not going to have enough of my green variegated bamboo dk to finish this shawl (sad face).  So I added in some leftover Malabrigo Arroyo in a blue denim color and alternated every two rows between the different colorways.  I really like how the blue stands out against the green yarn.  I couldn't be happier with how this shawl worked out.  It's a really beautiful pattern and a very clever design.

Having said that, I did make some modifications.  I started out following the pattern as written, just letting the variegation in the green bamboo dk make the chevron pattern.  But the leaf pattern was kind of getting lost in the changing colors and the yarn was curling under at the edges.  I didn't think a good blocking was really going to help with the curling in this bamboo.  So I tore out all my knitting and started again just using a 5 stitch garter border on all the edges (including top and bottom).  It's not as elegant as the leaf edge in the pattern, but it solved my problem.  If I were to do it again, I'd taper the edge at the start and end, beginning with only 2 sts on the border and increase to 5 to give it a sleeker look.

I really like how this variegated bamboo looks.  I think I found the perfect pattern (minus a few hiccups) for this yarn!

Photographing Your Knits

As part of her Summer Sweater Knit-A-Long, Shannon at luvinthemommyhood has been featuring a number of really interesting guest posts on a variety of knitting topics.  One of my favorite posts was about photographing your knitwear by Michelle at My So-Called Handmade Life.  

Taking good photographs of my knitting is something I struggle with.  Most of my photos usually look boring and stiff.  I never seem to capture the feel and atmosphere that I'm looking for. 

So after reading Michelle's post, I found the perfect opportunity to put her advice to use.  It had been raining most of the day, but around dinnertime the sun came out.  Our neighbors have recently moved and so hubby and I had complete privacy in our backyard to play around without an audience.  We went to work and captured some great images (I think).

watching the hummingbirds fly by

Here's what I learned:

1.  Our work backyard fence makes an interesting backdrop for these photos.  I like the textural element it adds to these pics.

2.  My most recent haircut is distinctly lopsided.

3.  My husband is a great photographer, but not a great fashion stylist.  I need to train him to tell me when my bra strap is showing and when to suck in my gut.

We'll keep working on the photos, but I think there is great potential in our backyard to take some interesting shots.  BTW - this shawl is my latest free pattern:  The Crossroads Textured Shawl.

New FREE Knitting Pattern: Crossroads Textured Shawl

As promised, here is my latest free knitting pattern:  the Crossroads Textured Shawl.  I really love how this came together.  I intentionally designed a shawl that was simple enough to wear with just a top and jeans, yet can be dressed up to wear to a special occasion or a more dressy outfit.

It might be difficult to see in these small photos, but this

 shawl features a striped design (though it can be knit in a solid color) and a beautiful textured edging. (The shawl pin I made myself.  More info and a link to the tutorial can be found here.)

I hope you like this shawl pattern!  Now back to knitting my sweater for my KAL  :)