Category: Knitting

A new post on knitting

Knitting

Pattern Promotion, Gradient Cable Poncho

Iris Rose

I know that summer is still technically with us but, where I live anyway, the leaves are starting to turn yellow which means that fall is here. We can have warm days, but the evenings are cool as are the mornings.

I made this poncho last winter to stay cozy on those chilly early and late times of day. I spotted this really pretty gradient yarn in our LYS and just had to have it with, of course, no firm idea of what I was going to make with it. I had been fooling around with a poncho; the yarn and poncho idea were a match made in heaven.

This pattern can be made with any worsted weight yarn and is a fairly easy knit. Use 6mm (10.5US) to make this beauty in a warm and fuzzy or smooth and silky yarn to change up the look. The cables on the front and back are a simple front twist so no chart is needed. The instructions are written only.

The pattern is now on sale in my Ravelry store here with the coupon code 50OFF.

I will be featuring a coupon code for a pattern every couple of weeks over the fall and I hope that you will take advantage of my offer to you.

I have been busy with DD1 Hand dying yarn and will soon have that featured in my Etsy store as well.

Have a great week and remember to walk a mile in another’s shoes before judging. We are all wonderfully and uniquely different and deserve each other’s respect and kindness.

Knitting

New Shawl Part Two of Part Two

Iris Rose

Well, that was painful. I am still reconstructing my pattern so that’s my excuse for the slow action on publication. Please keep in mind that this is a pattern that is not tested by anyone other than me so, although I try to be careful, mistakes can and do happen. If you are making this knit, please let me know if you find errors so that I can correct them right away to benefit future knitters.
Without further ado, here is Part Two of Part Two.

**Right Side Row: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, knit to next marker, yarn over, slip marker, knit centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit to the next marker, yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Wrong Side Row: Work border, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, purl centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to the next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Repeat these two rows once more for a total of four rows of stocking stitch.

Pattern Right Side Row 1: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, ((knit 2, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch)) repeat to the next marker. (You will have three stitches left at the end and that’s okay, go ahead and knit them.) Yarn over, slip marker, knit the centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit 3, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch, ((knit 2, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch)) to the last two stitches, knit 2, yarn over, slip marker, work border.

Pattern Wrong Side Row 2: Work border, slip marker, purl yarn over, (purl 2, knit3tog) to last bobble, purl the three remaining stitches and the yarn over, slip marker, purl the centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over and the next three stitches, knit3tog, (purl 2, k3tog) to the last two stitches, purl 2, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Right Side Row: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, knit to next marker, yarn over, slip marker, knit centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit to the next marker, yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Wrong Side Row: Work border, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, purl centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to the next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Repeat these two rows once more for a total of four rows of stocking stitch.

Pattern Right Side Row 1: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, ((knit 4, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch)) repeat to the next marker. (You will have six stitches left at the end and that’s okay, go ahead and knit them.) Yarn over, slip marker, knit the centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit 6, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch, ((knit 4, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch)) to the last four stitches, knit 4, yarn over, slip marker, work border.

Pattern Wrong Side Row 2: Work border, slip marker, purl yarn over, (purl four, knit3tog) to last bobble, purl the six, remaining stitches and the yarn over, slip marker, purl the centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over and the next six stitches, knit3tog, (purl 4, k3tog) to the last four stitches, purl 4, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Pattern Right Side Row 3: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, knit 4, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1), knit 1, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch, knit 2)) repeat to the next marker. (You will have five stitches left at the end and that’s okay, go ahead and knit them.) Yarn over, slip marker, knit the centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit 5, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1) in the next stitch, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1)in the next stitch), knit 1, (purl 1, yarn over, purl1)in the next stitch, knit 2)) to the last four stitches, knit 4, yarn over, slip marker, work border.

Pattern Wrong Side Row 4: Work border, slip marker, purl yarn over, purl four, (knit3tog, purl 1, knit3tog, purl 2) to last bobble, purl the 5 remaining stitches and the yarn over, slip marker, purl the centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over and the next 5 stitches, (knit3tog, purl 1, k3tog, purl 2) to the last four stitches, purl 4, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Pattern Right Side Row 5: Repeat row 1 starting with 6 stitches and ending the section with 8 stitches.

Pattern Wrong Side Row 4: Repeat row 2 working the extra stitches at the beginning and end with purls.**

Repeat from ** to ** one more time.

Right Side Row: Work border, slip marker, yarn over, knit to next marker, yarn over, slip marker, knit centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit to the next marker, yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Wrong Side Row: Work border, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, purl centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over, purl to the next marker, purl the yarn over, slip marker, work the border.

Repeat these two rows twice more for a total of six rows of stocking stitch.

You should have a three rows of bobble blossoms divided by two rows of bobbles with four rows of stocking stitch in between the pattern rows. The section starts and ends with six tows of stocking stitch.

Are you ready to move on? If you are going to change colours here, go ahead and repeat the stranded one by one knitting that you worked at the first colour change.

Later this week I will share an adventure in yarn dying that DD1 and I had on the weekend. It was super fun and won’t be the last time that we do this for sure.
Here is a sneak peek.

Have a lovely week filled with all of your favourite crafts. Be kind to one another.

Knitting

New Textured Triangle Shawl

Iris Rose

I haven’t had a lot of extra time this week, but I have made a little head way on my new shawl. I plan to start installments of the pattern as I did with my Northern Rose Shawl and the Gradient Shawl here on my blog. This one should need five installments so stay tuned.

I really love the buttery colour of the yellow that I started with; the photos don’t do it justice. This is stash yarn by the way, and the closest I can compare it to is a sock weight mercerized cotton. It is so soft that I think that this will be a favourite.

I decided to use the standard triangular, top down shape and knit the garter tab with four stitches for eight rows. I like to use a yarn over and slip the first stitch at the outside edge. I think that is such a pretty edge and very easy to knit once you grasp it. I have illustrated how this is done in garter stitch on an earlier blog if you are interested in looking.

The first section of the shawl is pretty basic, and I plan to keep going with that theme. I knit several rows of stocking stitch and then alternated four rows of seed stitch with six rows of stocking stitch. Easy, peasy TV knitting for you if you are confident enough to start before I write up the first section.

I am almost at the end of the first skein and have caked the next colour. Now I need to figure out how to softly integrate the new with the old. I will show you the result next time!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you will join me in creating a lovely new shawl. In the meantime, have a great week filled with happy thoughts and kindness.

Knitting

Reversible Baby Jacket

Iris Rose

I apologize for my lack of action lately. Life, you know? Anyway, I am back at the crafting game and have a couple of things to show you today.

I have finished my black sweater but haven’t taken a photo as black is terrible to take pictures of. You will just have to trust me that it fits, looks good and I am very happy with it. If I have an opportunity to have DH take a photo of me wearing outdoors, I will post it. Not this weekend however as it is supposed to rain and maybe snow. Yes, snow, got to love the Canadian prairies.

I did make a reversible baby jacket, knit sideways, though and am really pleased with the results. The buttons on both sides took a little thought but I am altogether satisfied with the finished jacket. It is knit with fine four ply and finished with crocheted edging to join it.

I seem to use the same crocheted edging on almost all of my kid’s wear. I think that it looks nice and leaves no bumps or holes to catch on. It is easy to do, here’s how. You need to work in multiples of six. Work an edge in single crochet with that multiple of six, ie: six, twelve, eighteen, etc. single crochet stitches. Turn at the end and double crochet into the third single from your hook. Chain one and double crochet four more times into the same single to make a shell or fan shape. Skip two single crochets and single into the next. That is all there is to it. Easy and very pretty too.

I have much more going on in the craft section of my life this week including dying yarn. Results for you next time. Have a happy week filled with crafty goodness.

Knitting, Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

To Err Is Human

Iris Rose

I didn’t get my ordered yarn in time to finish my Twister cardigan. I should be able to pick it up tomorrow and, hopefully, get to work on it this weekend.

I am working a craft sale tomorrow with the Springbank Creative Arts Club at Amica Aspen, 10 Aspenshire Drive SW, Calgary. If you are in the neighbourhood, please drop in a say hi. There is no admission fee and parking is free!

Maybe I need to reassess my completion date for the cardigan. I just may need an extra day or two.

Do you ever make mistakes in your crafting? Dumb question, I know, we all do. I am talking about those real doozies that make you want to cry but are so obvious that you have to laugh first.

I machine knit a basic black cardigan this week, an item that my wardrobe is lacking. I finished all of the pieces, carefully blocked them and laid them out to sew together. I thread my needle and, what, what is wrong with this picture? I forgot to reset the stitch size on the second front piece after knitting the ribbing! Good thing is I have a bunch of the yarn left. Bad thing is that the yarn is acrylic and, after a light steam blocking, this piece can’t be frogged.

I sat down yesterday and knit the correct size.

I published a blog on my old website about fixing a mistake in a lace sweater that I hand knitted. I made the back longer than the front with one too many repeats of the lace. I managed to save it after carefully picking up the stitches and unraveling the extra repeats then grafting it back together to finish it to the right size.

I think that there is some good information in this post and I hope that you will scroll back through time and have another look at it.

I knit myself a really lovely cardigan in a beautiful yarn. I joined the shoulders with a three needle bind off, knit the band around the front and neck and sewed in the sleeves. I pinned the sides together for seaming and, much to my great distress and using every curse word that I know, I found that I had repeated the first lace pattern at the beginning (bottom) of the back piece twice and only once on the fronts. I got ready to toss it into the garbage or at least a corner to gather dust but I just liked it too much to not try to repair it.

I have removed the bottom of a sweater before and reknit it down to increase the length but only in stocking stitch and never with this pretty a yarn.

I gathered my courage and here’s what I did. I left the sweater sewn as far as I had gone because who wants to undo hand sewn sweater seams. That almost never works out for me.
I used a contrast colour in a pale yellow so that I could still see it but not have any bright or dark fibres left when I removed it and, picking up one side of every stitch, threaded a life line through my knit stitches two rows above the last lace repeat that I wanted to keep. I then place two life lines one row apart on the two rows below the first row of garter stitch that bordered the lace pattern.


Next, I took a very deep breath and cut between the life lines. Yes, I cut the bottom of the back off. Working on the bottom piece, I picked out all of the little bits from cutting and, carefully ripped back to a couple of rows above my life line. I picked up the stitches with a circular needle, made sure that my count was correct and unknit back to the last knit row that ended the one lace repeat that I should have stopped at the first time around. I used a contrast waste yarn and worked two rows in stocking stitch then cast off to hold all of the stitches securely.


Putting that piece aside, I then used my circular needle and picked up one side of the bottom loop of each stitch between the two life lines on the top piece of the back. I used two life lines here as I wasn’t sure how the loops would hold when I picked up the bottom of each stitch. I then ripped back to the needle, used waste yarn and worked the same two rows of stocking stitch and cast off.


Now, to put the two pieces back together, I worked from the wrong side with a really long length of yarn (because I didn’t want to have to try to join in the middle) and grafted the loops from the bottom to the loops from the top piece. I checked to make sure that all of the stitches were included and ripped out the waste yarn from both pieces.
Success! My lovely sweater knit with the lovely yarn was now repaired and the fronts matched the back.

 

Thank you for reading and I hope that you have a great week filled with yarny goodness. Drop in to the sale if you can.