Tag: featured

I posted on facebook with photos of this loosely knit shawl and promised you the pattern.  I have made a few of these.  They are great to have on the back of your chair if your shoulders get cold and look like a pretty home décor item at the same time.  The small size, knit on 12mm needles, is 157cm x 53cm or 62” x 21” and the large, on 15mm needles, is 178cm x 74cm or 70” x 29” blocked.

You can knit one of these in about four hours or less.  I knit very fast on small needles but very, very slowly on the large single point needles that I use to make this shawl and still managed to make mine in four hours.

 

You will need bulky weight yarn, although I have made one of these with worsted weight.  As long as it has some texture or fuzziness or some other interesting feature (think boucle) the yarn will work beautifully for this pattern.  You can also hold two ends of the same or contrasting colours of worsted together to make up a bulky weight.  Use your imagination and whatever you have in your stash.  I tend to collect single skeins of unique yarn just because they are so pretty and this is a great project to use those up.

Materials:  135m or 150 yards of bulky yarn or the same amount of each if you are going to use two yarns held together for the 12mm or US 17 version and 150m or 170 yards for the 15mm or US 19 version.  If you are not sure of the length that you have, you can weigh your yarn and start to decrease when you have used up half.  I have done this a couple of times and this method works great.

 

Tools: one pair of 12mm, US 17 or 15mm, US 19 single point needles or a circular needle of the same size, one stitch marker big enough to fit over your large needle.  Use a tied loop of yarn if your markers are too small.

Abbreviations:          K = knit                        K2Tog = knit 2 stitches together

M1 = lift the bar between stitches, place it on the left needle and knit through the back.

Shawl: Note:  All rows are knit.

Cast on three stitches and knit two rows.

Row 1: K1, place marker, M1, K to end.

Row 2: K all stitches to marker, slip marker, K1.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until you have at least 40 stitches on your needle, ending with row 2.  If you haven’t yet used up half of your yarn and you want a bigger shawl, continue working Rows 1 and 2 until the shawl is the depth that you want it.  Don’t forget it will grow when you block it so allow for that.

Row 3: K1, slip marker, K2Tog through the back loop, K to end.

Row 4: K to marker, slip marker, K1.

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until there are three stitches left on your needle.  Knit 2 rows and cast off.

Weave in your ends and block your shawl lightly if you want to retain the texture or aggressively if you want to smooth out the knitting.  The white and black shawls were both knit on 15mm, US 19 needles and lightly blocked to retain the rough look of the yarn.  The colourful shawl was knit with one skein of Lion Brand Landscape yarn on 12mm, US 17 needles and stretched out to block to show the pretty colour changes.

Winter isn’t over yet!  Our weather hasn’t been too bad this year but who knows what the next two months will bring.  I like winter, not for the cold but for the lovely, squishy and warm knits that it lets us work up.

I have made many cowls or short infinity scarfs using this very easy garter stitch pattern that came about by casting on and starting to knit.  Knit on big needles and using the popular chunky yarns, it is an inexpensive and quick knit that lets you be cozy and warm when the weather is cold.  This is a great quick gift for those knitworthy friends and family members.

Cowl or Infinity Scarf:

Tools: 12 to 15mm single point pair of needles or a circular needle of the same diameter.  The needle size is not crucial but will affect the depth of the garter stitch.  Use what you have; if the largest that you have is 6mm, work the cowl in dropped garter stitch with one yarn over wrap to make the stitch size close to what a larger needle produces.  There are great videos online that show how to make this easy stitch.

Materials: 90m chunky yarn or use two ends of worsted weight in the same or contrasting colours to make your own chunky weight.  I have mixed a textured and smooth yarn in the same colour or close to make a fabulous look.  Use up those this is too beautiful to resist sequin, loopy or what have you yarns that are hiding in your stash. Consult your great imagination and have fun!

Cast on 22 stitches with 12mm needles or 18 stitches with 15mm needles.

Knitting all rows, work 36 ridges (72 rows) with the 12mm needles and 30 ridges (60 rows) with the 15mm needles.

Join with cast off by picking up a loop at each live stitch (as you work the last row) from your cast on and three needle bind off with your live stitches.  If you don’t want to do this, cast off and neatly sew the two ends together to form a tube.  Lightly Block with steam to stretch your new lovely cowl out slightly and to soften the yarn a little.

If you want a longer cowl and, don’t forget you will need more yarn, keep knitting until you get to the length that you like when wrapped around your neck then finish there.

Easy, right?  Now you can go out and face winter in fashion and stay warm at the same time.