Tag: wrap

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

New (Old) Shawl

Iris Rose

I have been lying low this last month but have still been busy at my craft.  I spent some time going through my stash and unfinished stuff.

When I started sorting through every bag and box, I found twenty one, yes you read it, twenty one unfinished projects.  I was ready to cast on a new one but thought it was time to buckle down and get at least a couple of these finished first.

I am down to five remaining, no six, I just remembered a shawl that I started in January and am reknitting for the third time.  That one may become a frog project since the level of frustration is growing with the pattern that I am working on.

I found a shawl that I started in December or November of 2018.  Did you see how I put December first so you would think that it is not as old as November but really I think it was October or maybe September.  You know how that goes.

 

Anyway, I found a shawl worked with Caron Cotton Cakes and finished it!  I knit the top piece and, at the time, dithered with changing to crochet to finish the bottom.  I started the crochet last weekend and here is the result.  I am pretty happy with it and look at the miracle of blocking!

 

I will show you all of the toys that I finally finished off next week.  In the meantime, have a happy and crafty week.  Be kind and wear your mask please to help keep your vulnerable fellow humans safe.

Knitting

Need To Make A Last Minute Gift?

Iris Rose

Are you panicked yet? No? Good for you, that means that you are organized and well self managed. Yes? Welcome to the real world of crafting!

If you desperately need a hand knit gift and only have an evening to pull it off, here are a couple of my free patterns that can be made in that time.

 

First off is my Simple Shawl. Knit on big needles with bulky yarn, you can whip this one up in four hours or less. It only uses 150m of a fancy yarn to create a shawl that highlights the yarn and is soft and squishy. It is an ideal way to use up a special, I only have two skeins, of something pretty.  Block it aggressively when you are done.

 

My next suggestion, if you have even less time, is my Quick and Easy Garter Stitch Cowl. Again, relying on big needles and big or fancy yarn, this is an easy two hour project. I have doubled or tripled contrasting colours and textures to create my own bulky yarn for this one many times making a special, one of a kind, piece to keep your neck warm.

 

 

Okay, I have given you a couple of ideas, now dig through that stash and get busy, time is a wasting!

I wish you all the best for the holiday season no matter who and how you celebrate. Kindness is the greatest gift of all so please give freely

Knitting

Another Save

Iris Rose

I wrote last week about a cardigan that I started in the spring and finally finished in September. It was one of those projects that just couldn’t keep a fire going under me for some reason. I am guessing it was the miles of stocking stitch that I was fine with until I got to the part where you divide the sleeves and body (top down construction) and then it was just too very tedious.

Long story short, I finished it, blocked it, washed it and tried it on. It fit great, nice and big and baggy as I was aiming for except, wait for it, the cursed neckline was too wide. Because the yarn is heavy, I was constantly readjusting the neck back up over my shoulders. GAH!!! What a big disappointment my new favourite cardigan turned out to be.

 

Time for a time out for you naughty, badly fitting cardigan of my dreams. After I calmed down, although this took several weeks, I had a second look at the problem and came up with a fairly easy fix.

The cardigan is knitted in two colours, grey and black and, of course, I was almost out of grey. I picked up the stitches from the cable cast on (top down remember) and knit a garter neck band up from that. I decreased every eight stitches every four rows to bring the neckline in and added a buttonhole at the appropriate spot. I should let you know that I am well known for forgetting about the buttonholes until a project is done so I am very, very proud of myself for remembering this one and thankfully avoided more tantrums on my part.

 

On another note, our craft sale at the beginning of the month was a success; here are some photos of our setup before the sale began. Most of the toys and a number of pieces of clothing are gone. That pretty shawl was tried on by every almost teen girl that walked by. It was fun to see the delight when they saw the colours and the softness of the yarn.

 

 

Have a great week ahead and share a little kindness every day.

Knitting

Another Pattern Sale

Iris Rose

DH had a major surgery last Thursday so my mind was not on my blog.  As a treat for being patient with me, I am offering a 50% off coupon on my Northern Rose Shawl pattern for the next month.

This is an easy knit (all garter) combining a Faroese shape with Shetland lace patterns.  You can knit this up in sock or worsted depending on your preference.  The sock version is light and airy; the worsted is soft and cozy.  Both are knit on larger needles so working these won’t wear out your fingertips!

 

This shawl makes a lovely gift and you have plenty of time for Christmas knitting if you start now.  Knit it in three colours as I did to bust your stash or use all one colour for a truly reversible shawl.

I hope that you enjoy my patterns and remember you still have time to buy the poncho pattern featured in my last post at 50 off too until October the 9th!

Thanks for reading and be kind to one another.  Happy week ahead and don’t forget to enjoy the beauty around you!

Yarn, Knitting and Crochet

Grand Finale, Textured Shawl Style

Iris Rose

Sometimes life just gets in the way of all of the fun things that you want to do. I finally, and I mean finally, have worked my way through the shawl again and am ready to present to you the third and final (except for the little border of course) part of this shawl. Did I say this is final?  All kidding aside, I did enjoy this work.  I hope that you like it.

This project has been a different one for me. I normally equate shawl knitting with lace and really wanted to branch out to something different. I love textured stitches and used some in my Another Cake Shawl, which has surpassed ten thousand unique downloads, yikes!

Here then without any further whining is Part 3:

If you haven’t gone ahead with the colour change then this is how to make the transition. If you are using one colour for the whole thing or have already done this just zoom past these instructions.

Colour change:
Next Right Side Row: With the first colour, work the border in the usual way, slip marker, yarn over and knit 1, pick up your second colour, leaving a tail to weave in later, and knit the next stitch. Work across the row with (knit 1 with colour one, knit 1 with colour two) to one stitch before the next marker. Hold both yarns together knit the last stitch, yarn over, slip marker, knit the centre stitch, slip marker, yarn over, knit the first stitch on the next side. Using a single yarn again, (knit 1 with colour two, knit 1 with colour one to the next marker), drop colour two and yarn over, slip marker and work the border with colour one.

Next Wrong Side Row: Work the border with colour one, slip marker, purl the yarn over with colour one, (purl 1 with colour two, purl 1 with colour one) to the last stitch before the next marker, hold the two colours together and purl the last stitch, purl the yarn over, slip marker, purl the centre stitch, slip marker, purl the yarn over and the first stitch on the second section. Then (purl 1 with colour on, purl 1 with colour two) to the last stitch before the marker. Drop colour one and continue with colour two, purl the last stitch, purl the yarn over slip marker, and work the border. Cut colour one leaving a long enough piece to weave in.

This section is an eight row pattern that will be repeated six times with the first six rows repeated once more.

Row 1, Right Side: Work border as usual, slip marker, yarn over, knit to next marker, yarn over, slip marker, K1, slip marker, yarn over, knit to next marker, yarn over, slip marker, work border.

Row 2, Wrong Side: Work border, slip marker, purl the yarn over, (K3, P2) to last stitch before the yarn over, purl the stitch and the yarn over, slip marker, P1, slip marker, purl the yarn over and the first stitch, (K3, P) across, K3, purl the yarn over, slip marker and work border.

Rows 3 to 6: repeat rows 1 and 2 working the extra stitches in pattern at the beginning and end of each side.

Row 7: repeat Row 1.

Row 8: Work border, slip marker, purl to last marker, slip marker and work border.

Final Border:
Change to the first colour and work four rows of garter stitch. Omit all the increase yarn overs and slip the first stitch of each row as in the border to keep the edge looking the same.

Change to colour two and repeat the these four rows.

Change to colour three and work two rows of garter stitch. Cast off using a stretchy cast off method. My favourite is to knit two stitches then knit those two together through the back loop on the right needle. Knit one from the left needle and knit the two stitches on your right needle through the back loop and so on to the end.

Weave in your ends, block your shawl according to your preferred method and enjoy!  The spine of the shawl looks crooked because I didn’t notice that it wasn’t laid out on the background properly.  It is straight I promise.

Thank you all so much for reading my blog and, as always, if you have any problem with the pattern please write to me and I will try to help you out.  I can be reached on Ravelry as well by the name  bluechicken.

Have a wonderful week filled with happy and kind thoughts to everyone.