Tag: cozy

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

My New Gradient Cable Poncho Pattern, Half Price!

Iris Rose

Well, at long last I finished my gradient yarn poncho and, tada, I love it! You know that feeling that you get when you envision a project or fall in love with a pattern and yarn and just have to make it? And when it turns out exactly like your vision or the pattern, you just want to jump up and down and hug someone? That’s it; that is what I am actually feeling, woohoo!

Okay, okay, time to calm down already. I have published the pattern for my Gradient Cable Poncho, made in worsted weight yarn, on Ravelry and, for the next two months, I am offering it to my blog readers at fifty percent off. Use the coupon code 50OFF at checkout and enjoy! Half price for all my loyal readers and, if you pass it along, to your friends too. You do need to click through to Ravelry from my blog for this promotion. While you are on my blog site, have a look at all of the other free patterns that I have up there in cyberspace for you to use.

               

As a special bonus, because spring is coming and who doesn’t need another light and lovely shawl to keep those shoulders warm in the cool spring breeze, you can use the same coupon to purchase my Northern Rose Shawl pattern at half price. The pattern for this pretty shawl is written and charted and can be made in two sizes depending on the yarn that you choose. Have a look at the pattern details to see both a worsted weight and a sock weight version. Who doesn’t love to save money?

       

I have been busy with charity hats still and am about one third of the way through that box of yarn that I featured last week. Who knew that making hats is so addictive and great TV knitting? I am determined to switch up to crochet this weekend which will slow down the movie intake (I need to look at what I am doing when I crochet!) but, hopefully will sharpen up my skill set.

I have a couple of machine knit patterns in the works too, worked on a standard gauge machine, for anyone interested in that craft. I just have to decipher my notes, always a challenge! Keep watch here as they will be featured on my blog first.

Knitting

New Shawl But Not Yet So Here is Another One

Iris Rose

 

I have been working on a Shetland/Faroese shawl that I wanted to have finished by today.  Sadly, that is not going to happen.

I was working away at the final few rows and realized that I had made a mistake six or seven rows back on the longest part of the knitting.  Add to that, I am making the monster with a mohair blend yarn that is more than slightly fuzzy.  I also realized that writing a new pattern at the same time as knitting it and watching TV is a surefire recipe for disaster!

Once I recovered from my little temper tantrum and picked the shawl back up, I toyed with the idea of just ripping back the few stitches in question and reknitting them.  Simple, right?  I was wrong, oh so wrong to assume that this would be an easy fix.  I have done this before with cables and simple stitch patterns with great success but lace is a little more tricky than that.  All I have done is created a huge mess that I will have to rip all of the work back to and now I don’t love this shawl anymore.

Long story short, there will no new lace shawl pattern this week.  I do have photos of the work in progress so that you can see what to expect next week and also so that you can see my harebrained idea on how I should repair this oops the lazy way.

Just so that you don’t feel that I have let you down completely (although you didn’t know that the pattern was coming so I have not only not produced what I wanted to but now I have spoiled the surprise as well!) here is an alternative., my Textured Wrap pattern.

This wrap is knitted long ways and is a great way to use up those really lovely but single skeins of yarn that you (or at least I) buy just because they are too pretty to leave in the store but what the heck do you do with them now.  It has enough changes in pattern, simple pattern stitches, really, to keep the work interesting but you can still multitask a bit.  Pick out a palette of coordinating yarns and enjoy knitting this cozy wrap!

Textured Wrap

Size: 16 in x 76 in or 40 cm x 195cm

Gauge: 16 stitches x 24 rows = 4″ or 10cm, note: gauge is not critical for this piece but should be close to achieve the correct size.

Materials:10 50gr balls of worsted or dk weight yarn (90 to 140 yds or 80 to 125 m per ball,  I used 2 black, 2 dark brown, 2 blue tweed, 1 variegated, 1 heather, 1 light rust tweed, 1 multicoloured mini pompom).

Tools: One US 9 or 5.5 mm circular needle.  Shawl is knit back and forth but you will need a circular needle to hold all of the stitches and to allow you join yarn at opposite end of the work from the last colour worked.

Bobbles: Large bobbles are made in one stitch as follows:

In the same stitch k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, turn, p5, turn, k5, turn, p2tog, p1, p2tog, turn, k3tog.

Small bobbles are made as follows:

In the same stitch, k1, yo, k1, turn, p3, turn, k3tog.

With black yarn cast on 280 stitches and work 4 rows of garter stitch.

Change to mini pompom yarn and work 5 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to dark brown yarn on the wrong side and work 7 rows of stocking stitch.

Next row (right side): k11, make large bobble in 12th st, k11 repeat * to * to end.

Purl 1 row.

Change to blue tweed yarn and k5, make a large bobble, k11, repeat * to * to 6 st remaining, make a large bobble, k5.

Work 8 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to black yarn on the wrong side and k 1 row.

Change to variegated yarn and work 5 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to heather yarn on the wrong side and k 1 row.

Change to blue yarn on the wrong side and knit 1 row.

Change to heather yarn on the wrong side and k 1 row.

Change to blue yarn on the wrong side and knit 1 row.

Change to heather yarn on the wrong side and k 1 row

Work 2 rows of stocking stitch.

Work 6 rows of basket weave stitch in a 2 x 2 pattern:

Row 1: k2, p2

Row 2: p2, k2

Row 3: p2, k2

Row 4: k2, p2

Row 5: k2, p2

Row 6: p2, k2

Work 3 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to black on the wrong side and work 3 rows of reverse stocking stitch, (knit 1 row on wrong side, purl 1 row on right side and knit 1 row on wrong side).

Change to light brown tweed yarn on the wrong side and purl 1 row.

Next right side row, k4, make a small bobble, k9 repeat * to * to 5 stitches remaining, make a small bobble and k4.

Purl 1 row.

Change to black on the wrong side and work 3 rows of reverse stocking stitch as above.

Change to variegated yarn on the right side and work 3 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to dark brown yarn on the right side and work 4 rows of stocking stitch.

Next right side row, k8, slip crochet hook into last stitch on right hand needle and pull off, ch6, slip st into the back loop of the 2nd ch from hook, slip st into back loop of remaining 4 ch, slip loop on hook back onto right hand needle, k8, repeat * to * until 8 st remain, k8.

Work 3 row of stocking stitch.

Next right side row, k4, repeat * to * as above until 5 stitches remain, work crochet and k4.

Work 3 rows stocking stitch,

Change to mini pompom yarn and work 4 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to black yarn and work 2 rows of reverse stocking stitch.

Change to blue tweed yarn and work 4 rows of stocking stitch.

Next right side row, k9, make a large bobble, k19 repeat to * to * until 11 stitches remain, make a large bobble and k10.

Purl 1 row on wrong side.

Next right side row, k19, make a large bobble, k19 repeat * to * to end.

Work 4 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to heather yarn on the right side and work 2 rows of stocking stitch.

Change to black yarn and work 4 rows of garter stitch.

Cast off loosely.

Finish Ends: finish the short sides to match the border on the long sides.  With blue tweed yarn on the right side and starting at the edge of the first colour after the black border, pick up and knit 52 stitches along the edge ending before the last black border. Knit 1 row back on wrong side.

With black yarn, pick up and knit 3 stitches on the edge of the black border, k52 blue stitches and pick up and knit 3 stitches on the black border.

Work 3 rows of garter stitch and cast off loosely.

Repeat this work at the opposite short side to finish the wrap.

Weave in all those pesky ends and block lightly.  I pressed mine rather than stretching it to maintain the texture and weight.

Abbreviations:

Knitting:                      k = knit

p = purl

yo = yarn over

k2tog = knit 2 st together

p2tog = purl 2 st together

k3tog = knit 3 st together

Crochet:                      ch = chain

slip st = slip stitch