Tag: luxury yarns

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.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Koolaid, Colour to Dye For

Iris Rose

I am going to take a break from the monster shawl today and let you in on some fun that DD1 and I had the weekend before last.

I love hand dyed yarn. I love the look of the rich colours, the different colour placements and the allover yumminess of the finished hank. I tried my hand at dying yarn a couple of years ago and, although I was generally pleased with the result, it just did not meet my expectations. Attempt number two did all of that and more.

Here is the yarn soaking in the sink.  I let it sit for 30 minutes to make sure that it was all hydrated.

Last time I used Wilton food colouring and did not do any research beforehand. I did my reading this time and we used Koolaid, guaranteed to stain anything in its crystal form. The only sad thing about all of this is that, in the wisdom of corporate Kraft Foods, Koolaid in the unsweetened package of crystals that we all know and cherish the memories of from our childhood is no longer distributed in Canada. This meant that an Amazon delivery was in order but, unfortunately, with limited colour (flavour) choices.

I think that we still did pretty well all in all. We had a variety of yarns to try, five in all, from the Knit Picks Bare collection. All are natural animal fibres which made the colouring easy.

Adding the Koolaid!  Then adding more Koolaid!  Then adding even more Koolaid!

Heating the yarn in the pots took a little time and I was so impatient.

Letting them cool before rinsing.  It is interesting that the water went from saturated with colour to clear in a couple of minutes.


I followed the instructions, here, on the Love Knitting website and everything went just as planned except that it took way more Koolaid than we expected for saturated colours. If you are looking at a large batch, this is definitely not the most economical way to play with dying yarn, but it was one hundred percent right on for the fun factor.

Drying took over night but was so worth the sheepy smell in my bathroom, not.  Good thing I don’t use this tub.

And, here we have it, from plain to fabulous!  Now, what am going to make with these lovelies?


I will have the promised next section of my shawl up for you later this week or early next but in the meantime, have fun with whatever craft you are working at right now. Take care of each other.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Garter Tab Explained With YO at the Beginning of a Row

Iris Rose

I have been busy designing the new shawl for you this week. Most triangular shawls start with a garter tab. Say what, you say? Yes, the dreaded garter tab, it really does take some mental maneuvering to work out the process. I have compounded that “huh?” factor by adding the slipped stitch edge on the outside of the border.

So, because I read a lot of discussion about the garter tab, here is brief tutorial, with photos, on how I make the tab to start any triangular shawl. This is not the only way, I am sure, but it is the way I, personally, have had most success with. I like a four stitch garter edge as I like the look of the yarn over slipped stitch edge with a wider border.

Start with a long tail cast on of four stitches. The tail will be on the outside edge when you are finished and will be used to hide the join with a looping stitch later so leave about six inches or 10 centimetres.

Turn your work and, with the working yarn in front, slip the first stitch purlwise. Knit the next stitch by bringing the working yarn over the right needle and knit the second stitch that you cast on. It will look like you now have three stitches on your right needle.

 

Knit the next two stitches and turn. It appears that you have five stitches on your needle. Knit the first three stitches and then knit the slipped stitch and the yarn over (remember you brought the working yarn from the front and over the right needle) together. You will have four stitches on your needle again.

 

Continue to work these two rows three more times and the first row once more for a total of nine rows not counting your cast on. You will have a braided edge started on the outside edge and should be at the inside edge where you will pick up the stitches for the shawl body.

 

 

Pick up three stitches, one in each of three bars that you see across the garter edge. Don’t work into the knots or you will have bumps or a seam show on the inside of your shawl. You will have the slipped stitch with yarn over at the beginning, three stitches across the rest of the row and now three stitches along the side of the tab.

Pick up four stitches across the bottom of your cast on row. You should have eleven stitches on your needle if you count the slip, yarn over at the beginning as one. Four at the beginning, three on the side, and four at the end.

Turn your work and, with the yarn in front, slip the first stitch purlwise, knit three stitches, purl three stitches, knit three and knit the slipped stitch and yarn over together. You purled the centre three stitches as this is the wrong side of your work and we are assuming that the shawl will be knit in stocking stitch or lace.

Place your markers on the next row, right side. Yarn in front, slip the first stitch purlwise, knit three, place marker, yarn over, knit one, yarn over, place marker (centre spine), knit one, place marker, yarn over, knit one, yarn over, place marker, knit three, knit the slipped stitch and the yarn over together. You can see that picking up the bars on the side of the garter tab instead of the knots leave you with a nice bump free join on the wrong side of your work.  I always like to use a different colour for the first right side marker so that I always know which are the right and wrong sides.

 

 

And there you have it. The yarn overs between the markers will increase your triangle by four stitches every two rows. You can make the garter tab longer (two rows for every extra stitch in the centre) and work more stitches to start if you want a Faroese shaped shawl with a wide centre spine. Make sure that you have the number of stitches for the spine plus two for your two side wings.

Next week part one of the shawl. Have a great week and happiness for all of you.

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Pattern Buying

Iris Rose

What it is about patterns that turn us into collectors? Is it the beautiful photos of lovely yarn made into something that best shows off the reason why we couldn’t resist buying the yarn to begin with? Is it maybe that we just like to consider the possibilities of new projects or do we like to connect with other crafters by participating in their work?

I look at patterns almost daily and use them as a source to know what finished projects are trending in order to keep my own work relevant. A number of years ago I would download and print whatever caught my fancy until I had an enormous pile of patterns that I knew I would never make. Talk about a tree waster! I have wised up a little since and just download those that I know I will make and have the stash to use for the item. I still have a big digital library but am gradually going through and ruthlessly deleting.

Having said all that, I still lust after the new and beautiful and do treat myself to the maybe someday stuff once in a while.

One of my favourite places to find patterns is garnstudio.com. This is the Drops website and, although the patterns are translated from another language, there is a large selection of patterns for all types of knitting and crocheting. My only caution is that you read through the pattern completely and make sure that you understand it all before you start. This will save you some heartache later, experience talking here.

There is, of course, Ravelry too, a great place to buy and store all the lovelies. When I need some inspiration, browsing here almost always gets me started. Most of what I buy are toy patterns with the occasional, I can’t live without, shawl thrown in.

Have fun looking for that special, I have to make it, pattern and I hope that you have or can find the perfect yarn to go with it.
See you next week and I wish you a fun week filled with pleasant company.

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.