Tag: luxury yarns

Knitting

Shawl Part 3, Easy Peasy

Iris Rose

Wow, August! Why does the summer go by so fast and the winter so slowly? I guess that there is so much more activity in our part of the world when the air is warm than there is when it is cold. There must be at least five festivals every weekend (or so it seems) and it is nice just to relax outside.  I baked this banana cream pie last night for DH’s birthday today.  You might want to have a slice before you listen to my complaining.

Banana Cream Pie

I still find time to craft amidst all of the activity and have been working on a few new patterns. I have kind of been taking a break from publishing. While I don’t mind constructive criticism and am always, always happy to help, sometimes the negative remarks sting, especially on the free stuff which is way more popular than the paid. I guess that is an unfortunate part of the internet culture, where it is okay to be rude and nasty and hide behind the anonymity.

Okay then, my rant is over and I hope that I didn’t offend anyone. I really do appreciate your support.

 

On to the subject of this blog post, Part 3 of my Shawl in Parts pattern. I am going to change the name when it is done but am waiting to see how pretty it is before I decide on the best name for this lovely shawl. Carry on and have fun!

Shawl Part 3:

You will be working the borders and the centre five stitch spine throughout this part in the same way that you did for Parts 1 and 2. You are going to notice that the stitch used in this part, double moss, tends to pull the work in from the relaxed lace stitch. Remember the miracle of blocking and don’t worry; your shawl will be lovely when finished and blocked.

Row 1: Work your border stitches as before, slip marker, YO, (K1, P1) across to last stitch, K1, YO, slip marker, K5, slip marker, YO, (K1, P1) to last stitch, K1, YO, slip marker and work the border as before.

Row 2: Work your border stitches as before, slip marker, P1, (P1, K1) across to last stitch, P2, slip marker, P5, slip marker, P1, (P1, K1) to last stitch, P2, slip marker and work the border as before.

Work Rows 1 and 2 until you have 115 stitches between the border markers and the centre markers on each side.

That was easy, wasn’t it? Next week we are back to a bit of lace and then we will be on to the final border which I am still conflicted about. I am sure that I will have my inner argument settled and the shawl ready by then.  Have a happy week!

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

New Shawl, Free Pattern in Parts

Iris Rose

This week has been a finish before you are allowed to start anything else week. I made a deal with myself to get the stack of WIP’s finished even though I was dying to start something new. You all know how that goes, I am sure.

I did break that pact with myself (what can I say, I am weak, just weak!) and started a new shawl. I will post the pattern is parts starting below with the first section and continuing over the next few weeks. I had a cake of gradient yarn that was crying very loudly to be used and here is the beginning of what I hope will be something lovely.

I did manage to get caught up on the WIP’s; all are done except one and that one is close to finished. Anyhow, here is the beginning part to the shawl, a triangular one with a wider than normal spine.


Materials: 380m or 435 yds of sock weight gradient yarn. If you don’t have a gradient, go ahead and use any sock weight yarn that appeals to you. I was panting to use up this cake that I had in front of me since I bought it.  Like this one only a different colour as you can see above.

Tools: 4mm or US 6 circular needle, 60cm or 24” or longer, 4 stitch markers.

Note: you will start every row, once the garter tab is done, with slip one with the yarn in front and carry the yarn over to knit the next stitch. There will be a 4 stitch garter border on each side. The slipped stitch is knitted together with the yarn over on the return row to make a pretty braid look edge. If you want, you can simply knit 4 at the beginning and end of each row.

Start the shawl with a garter tab, that is cast on 4 stitches and knit 1 row. You will make the slip, yarn over only on one side for this part.
Row 2: Slip 1, yarn over and knit 3.
Row 3: Knit 4 (slipped stitch and yarn over knit together make the last stitch).
Repeat these two rows 4 more times, work Row 1 once more.
Pick up and knit 5 stitches along the side of the rows without the slipped stitches. Pick up and knit 4 stitches along the beginning edge.  Your garter tab is done.

 

Start the main part of the shawl from here.
Row 1: Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, YO, K3, place marker, P5, place marker, K4, don’t forget to work the last stitch together with the yarn over.
Row 2: Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, YO, K3, slip marker, YO, place marker, K5, place marker, YO, slip marker, K4.
Row 3: Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, YO, K3, slip marker, P1, slip marker, P5, slip marker, P1, slip marker, K4.
Row 4: Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, YO, K3, slip marker, YO, K1, YO, slip marker, K5, slip marker, YO, K1, YO, slip marker, K4.
Row 5: Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in front, YO, K3, slip marker, P3, slip marker, P5, slip marker, P3, slip marker, K4.

Continue increasing by repeating Rows 4 and 5 with the number of stitches between the first and second markers growing by 2 on each side of the centre spine on each right side row.
Work in this pattern until you have 65 stitches between the first and second then third and fourth markers in each side on the five stitch spine.

If you have questions, you can contact me here or on Ravelry as Bluechicken.

Next week we will start on the first lace pattern section. Until then, have fun with this very easy shawl and have a happy week!

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Cardigan Yoke Do Over

Iris Rose

Well, this was some busy week, wasn’t it? I was sure it was Friday yesterday but no dice, I still had to slog through Thursday and am anxiously awaiting the real appearance of the last work day of the week.

I am working on finishing up the significant heap of almost done projects. I always think that it is a good idea to knit or crochet production style. That is, make everything to the point of finishing (all of the pieces) and then finish them all at once. I don’t know why I keep falling for the same old trick that my brain plays on me, but I do. Maybe I just like to start new things and, like almost everyone else, get bored before I finish.

One of the projects I was working on finishing is a fairisle yoke cardigan. I had machine knit the basic pieces and joined them to hand knit a yoke. I should have done a little more swatching and actually followed a pattern but, as I like a challenge, I decided to wing it. It turned out to be a major fail in fit and looks. Let that be a lesson to me, figure out what you need to do before you actually do it.


In any case, I did like the basic idea and decided, after the cardigan spent a few weeks in the time out for bad projects pile, to try to rescue the work. I needed to do two things. I needed to upsize the needle that I used as the yoke gathered the bottom pieces in a little even though the colour work was not puckered. I also needed to make the yoke about twice as long. In my rush to be finished, I decreased too often and cast off too soon resulting in a yoke that pulled the sweater up painfully under my arms and strangled me at the neck edge.

    
I used a circular needle one size up from the original and picked up all of the stitches around the top of the plain pieces. I crossed my fingers and clipped the yarn of first row of the yoke at each end of the work and pulled. The yoke separated from the bottom and I was ready to start again. I actually did a little math this time and, even though I am still winging the pattern, I think that it will work out. I am really happy with the look and anxious to get this one finished. I will still need to add some ribbing at the bottom and sleeves.

  
In an attempt to decrease my ever increasing stash, I am using up an assortment of colours of the same yarn. I bought the yarn on ebay one ball at a time and didn’t end up with enough to make a whole cardi in the same colour, but I think that this will work to make a very pretty sweater. I am going to leave out the red and just go with black and light grey this time.  I am aiming for next week but don’t hold your breath.

Cooking will be up next week; I will share my awesome biscotti recipe. Even if you don’t like dry cookies, you are gonna love these. Have a great week and Happy Canada Day!

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

The Magic of Blocking

Iris Rose

So you are finished that beautiful piece of crochet or knitting, and, after all of your hard work, the piece looks like a crumpled bit of a yarny mess. It can be so disheartening after the hours and love that you have invested.

Blocking your piece will make a huge (and I mean massively amazing) difference in how the piece looks and also the size of what you have finished. You can see from the before and afters that blocking is time well spent.

     


Blocking can be done in a couple of ways. My favourite, for lace especially, is to soak the item and then pin it out to the size I want and let it dry overnight. This method works well with natural fibres. If I have used a synthetic fibre, I skip the soak, pin it out in the same way and steam it. I like to steam my shawls in particular so that the fibre softens and holds the stretched or pinned out shape. You do need to be careful not to overheat acrylic or you will end up with a melty, crunchy mess. Ask me how I know!

      

Both of these acrylic wraps were steamed to block.

      

If you only want to lightly block sweater pieces for example, I like to pin them out to match the length of seams and lightly steam them. This works with both natural and synthetics. You only want to release some of the curl and straighten out the stitches. Acrylics also respond well to a simple warm wash and a short spin in the dryer (not too hot) to look good.

      

These little sweaters were lightly steamed then washed.

My Vine Lace Wrap below was soaked and pinned.

      

      

After you have invested all of your time and lovely yarn to make a sweater, shawl or other beautiful item, spend a little extra time and block. You won’t be disappointed.

Have a wonderful crafty week and may all your yarn skeins pull smoothly from the centre!

Knitting

Down Under and Yarn Heaven

Iris Rose

Today, instead of crafting or cooking, I am writing about travel. DH and I normally take a trip this time of the year, both to escape some of the cold of the Canadian prairie winter but also it is a condition of my day job. I work for a company that is busy in the summer but very slow in the winter, an ideal time to take a break.

Visiting New Zealand has been a life long dream of mine. We decided that now was the time.  Our trip started in Auckland which is a very beautiful city and we are travelling south from there on a cruise. Auckland is very clean, very pretty and very friendly. We had only an overnight there but really enjoyed the harbour area where we stayed. On our next stop we took a tour to Te Puia to visit the Maori cultural centre. We were treated to a welcoming ceremony and a show that included the Haka. It was a fabulous experience.

We have moved on since and have seen how really beautiful this country is; clean, lovely scenery and very friendly people. So far it has been a perfect vacation.

Now we all know the real reason that I felt compelled to visit this part of the world, wool (or wool and possum which is gorgeous)! DH is a great enabler and has asked at each stop for a wool shop for me. Most downtown areas, like cities at home, don’t have such a thing and our tours have taken us out of the port to the countryside. I find that cities are much the same all over the world so the country tours seem to tell a better story of the local culture.

We have been holed up in Dunedin for two nights to wait out a storm that rolled in off of the Antarctic so had a little extra shopping time. Low and behold there is a yarn shop downtown here. Knit World is just that! They had a great selection of the merino, possum blend that I have been lusting for and the lady in the store was so friendly and welcoming. I was only going to buy a couple of souvenir hanks but, DH, the lovely man, insisted that I buy “enough to make something nice” and I ended up with more than I intended, lucky me!

This yarn is truly beautiful. The fibre is soft and has a lovely halo, perfect for warm clothing for the winter. I learned that possum is an extremely warm and light fibre with hollow core which allows it to be such a great insulator. I am in crafters heaven! Now which one do I work with first?