Tag Archives: shawl

Ballerina Shawl

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Ballerina!

I just finished another of Michelle Miller’s fine triangle shawls, this one called Ballerina. Michelle, of course, is the brains and beauty behind Fickle Knitter Designs. You can read more that I have written about Michelle and her work here.

Michelle designed this shawl earlier this year to debut at Stitches West. The night before, she showed it off – and offered the pattern for sale – at a trunk and talk show we held with her and Lorajean Kelly of Knitted Wit Yarns.

The shawl was designed with two skeins of Knitted Wit’s “Featherweight.” I made with with a single skein of Sincere Sheep‘s “Keen” in color way “Brocade.”

This was not a complicated pattern at all. You start at the top, at what will be the back of the neck, and spread outward and downward from there. Then you come back and add a knitted on border that is perpendicular to the main triangle. This is not a pick-up -and-knit border, ut one you knit and attach by knitting together the last stitch of the border with the last stitch of the row on the shawl. You go around the point in an easy-to-accomplash bit of short rows. And nice big needles – size 8!

Ballerina border

I loved this pattern – will make it again – and love this yarn. I am teaching this as a knit along at K2Tog later this summer. It’s a great project for those wanting to try triangles, try lace, or learn to read charts.

Ballerina body - detail

Aeolian Shawl Session Two – In the Thick of It Now!

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Hello, ladies. I hope you all had a great holiday. I sure did. I had my parents in town from Texas, plus our two grown sons. We had 11 people for Christmas dinner. I took my parents to the airport Tuesday morning and immediately came home and went to bed. I got up twice for about 15 minutes, then once at night for about 3 hours, and then back to bed! I was seriously tired. I had not touched my shawl since class and was able to return to it yesterday and this morning and am well on my way. I hope you are too.

Here are some pictures of your great work from our last class:

Lisa's Aeolian

 

Dale!!!!

So let’s recap some of things we discussed in the last class. Everyone seemed more than proficient at placing the beads on their knitting, so we can skip over that. (If you are not one of my students and are reading this blog as you knit Aeolian on your own – and I know I have some readers who are – refer to my previous Aeolian Shawl posts for explanations and links to helpful videos). You all also seemed fine with your nupps. Remember the three keys to making good nupps – 1) use very pointy needles; 2) make your nupp stitches and yarn overs VERY LOOSE; 3) when purling your nupps on the wrong side be absolutely sure you have picked up all 7 (or 5 or 9) strands of the nupp. Not doing so will give you an extra stitch on your next row.

Tita is using hers as a veil

We discussed that for the next class we’d like to have the agave and final agave done, and if you can, get started on the edge charts. Remember that you can do as many repeats of the agave chart as you like, but that the last repeat must be from the final agave chart. Remember that the bold slanted lines on the chart represent DOUBLE DECREASES (slip, slip, slip knit and k3tog) and not single decreases (slip, slip, knit and k2tog). This is a mistake I made in the reading the charts when I first knit this and I ended up with way too many stitches per row.

Emily's white on white Aeolian

A word about the relationship of the agave chart to the transition chart just below it on your knitting. If you are doing the agave chart correctly, the little triangle of beads should sit in the middle (tho of course, above) the V formed with yarn overs and beads in the transition chart. Here’s a picture of mine:

 

The white threads represent the beginning of a new chart. Notice where the little cluster of three beads is in relation to the V of yarn overs and beads below. Get it?

If you make it through the agave charts and on to the edge charts, remember the order of the edge charts goes like this on all right side rows:

right edge chart, edge set up chart, center edge chart, edge set up chart, left edge chart

Only after you complete all 28 rows of the edge set-up chart do you move on to the main edge chart for the side sections. You continue doing the right, center  and left edge charts. IS THAT COMPLICATED ENOUGH FOR YA?

We meet again one week from today and I am very anxious and excited to see your work and compare notes. I really treasure this class – you are all stars and a joy to spend time with.

I think this is Ruth's? Sara's?

Aeolian Shawl Session One – Making Progress

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I spent a lot of Sunday sitting on the couch watching the Green Bay Packers humiliate I MEAN DEFEAT the Oakland Raiders. I am not a football fan, but my husband hails from Milwaukee and my son is a Raiders fan and we live about 20 miles north of their stadium. So it was on the tube.

And on my needles was my second Aeolian Shawl, which I am making this time from a silk lace from Lisa Souza, color way “Sedona.” And let me tell you, this is absolutely luscious, addictive, finger-tinglingly delicious to knit with. I could not put it down.

So for those of you knitting along with me in the Aeolian Shawl Knitalong we are having at K2Tog, here’s my shawl. I have completed the set-up chart and ten repeats of the Yucca Chart . . . .

Yucca Chart section

Remember, Yucca has to be repeated an even number of times. And if you look at mine, you will see on this go-round I have placed a bead only at the tips of the Yucca leaves.

And see my lifeline . . . .

Lifeline

That marks the end of Yucca and my move onto the Transition Chart. Then I’ll begin the Agave Chart.

Silk doesn’t look too spectacular until you block it, and i real think this is gonna be a beaut. It’s a real rusty, sunset red-orange. I love that Lisa Souza. Gonna spend some $$ with her at Stitches West in February.

 

The Revidere Shawl – Part 1

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I have never entered a knitting contest before – but I am competitive by nature. Perhaps too competitive! But I do love a good race or contest or whatever ya wanna go up against me for.

When I saw the “Shawl the Love” contest from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns, I knew I had to enter. First, I love Claudia Yarns! My first ever pair of socks was done with Claudia, and second, too! I have in my stash two skeins of Claudia’s lovely Silk Lace yarn, and lace is absolutely my favorite thing in the world to knit, so this contest was made for me.

But I am not a designer! I usually make other people’s patterns. But I have all of Barbara Walker‘s books, and I have the Vogue Stitchionarys, so maybe. MAYBE. Why not? if I can’t do it, I can always unravel it, right?

Vernazza square

But what kind of shawl? How do you get inspiration for a knitted garment? I thought about it while driving, while cooking, etc. And then it hit me – one of the most inspirational things I ever did in my life was go with my husband to Italy. If you can’t find inspiration in Italy, then you’re dead and buried.

Boat in Vernazza harbor

I had two colors of Claudia Silk Lace in my stash – Froggy Kisses and a pretty pink I am not sure of the name of. Pink did not say “Italy” to me – maybe it says “Bermuda”. I wished it was more of terracotta color. But Froggy Kisses was several shades of blue that really reminded me of the Italian sky (it rained only 1 day of the month we were there!) and also of the beautiful blue Ligurian Sea around the Cinque Terre, my most favorite stop of the trip. Froggy Kisses it would be, then.

Terry on the trail

Now, what patterns? I spent days scanning all my pattern books for any lace patterns from Italy. Very few. Then I kind of just free associated – what do the shapes created by this pattern remind me of? Anything I saw in Italy? This took quite a while to sort out. I decided instead of trying to design the whole shawl at once this way, I would take it section by section. First – the border. Could I find a border pattern that reminded me of anything about Italy?

Yes, I could – in the book The Haapsalu Shawl: A Knitted Lace Tradition from Estonia. This border reminded me of the waves of the blue Ligurian that lapped the shores of Cinque Terre. I would repeat it in five rows – one for each of the five towns. Here are some images from our time in the Cinque Terre that I kept in my mind as I knit it . . . .

The blue Ligurian

Look at the color of the sky as it meets the sea

And the result??? Here is a picture of the border of the shawl . . . .

The Cinque Terre Border

As I was knitting, I came up with the name for the Shawl – The Revidere Shawl. “Revidere” in Italian means “to see again” – something I definitely want to do – see Italy again.

The Summerflies Shawl

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We are in for another week or more of rainstorms and grey skies here in Northern California. It’s been a bit of a long winter of that kind of weather – or so it seems to me right now. I have been livening up the winter by knitting a lot of Summerflies shawls designed by Holly and Ella Knits in some gorgeous colors – deep purple, dusty rose, a creamy ivory and now, a slow-moving rainbow stripe in shades of pink and purple.

I absolutely love this FREE pattern which you can get from Ravelry. I love it so much, I taught it as a knitalong at K2Tog this past month and a half. I had eight wonderful students, each one adventurous in her yarn choice and dedicated to her craft, and they came up with some beautiful versions of this versatile pattern. I am going to share some with you.

First off, I added beads to this lovely pattern, and so did the majority of the women in the class. If you are going to add

In madelinetosh "Pashmina," color "Mulled Wine"

beads, you need about 2 tubes of size 6 seed beads and tiny crochet hook – about a size 10 or 12. You place the beads on the stitch you want to adorn with the hook and then work it as described in the pattern. (If you want to make the same beaded pattern I did, I am afraid you will have to take the class, which we’ll offer again this summer).

One of the things I love most about this pattern is the shape – a gentle crescent moon that drapes well across my shoulders. I also like that the shawl has definite sections – the ridged eyelet section, the butterflies section, the knotted openwork section, etc. I wondered if I could provide my students with some alternative stitch patterns they could substitute for these sections without having to change the stitch count, thereby giving them more options for future shawls. They could mix and match! Use the original pattern’s butterflies section here and my suggested alternative there. Here are a few things I came up with . . . . with a huge thank you to Barbara Walker’s “Treasury.”

QUATREFOIL EYELET (substitute for First Butterfly section)

Swatch of Quatrefoil Eyelet

Continue as pattern describes through Row 22; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 23: K3, yo, K6, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K7, yo, K3 (47 sts)

Row 25: K3, yo, K5, *K2tog, yo, K1, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K7, yo, K3 (49 sts)

Row 27: K3, yo, K8, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 3 more times, end last repeat K9, yo, K3 (51 sts)

Continue rest of section as described in original pattern

QUATREFOIL EYELET for Second Butterfly Section

Continue as pattern describes through Row 46; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 47: K3, yo, K9, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (117 sts)

Row 49: K3, yo, K8, *K2tog, yo, K1, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K10 instead of K3, yo, K3 (119 sts)

Row 51:  K3, yo, K11, *yo, ssk, K6;* repeat between * and * 11 more times, end last repeat K12, yo, K3 (121 sts)

Continue rest of section as described

in Snicklefritz sock yarn, color "Diesel Gnome"

ROSEBUD PATTERN (substitute for First Butterfly Section)

Work as pattern describes through Row 20; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 21: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5* repeat between * and* twice more, end last repeat K6, yo, k3 (45 sts)

Row 23: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, K3, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * end last repeat K6, yo, K3 (47 sts)

Row 25: K3, yo, K8 *yo, ssk, yo, K3tog, yo, K5;* repeat between * and *, end last repeat K8, yo, K3 (49 sts)

Row 27: K3, yo, K10, *yo, slip 1, K2tog, psso, yo, K7;* repeat between * and * twice more, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (51 sts)

Continue rest of section as described in original pattern

Detail, Snicklefritz

ROSEBUD PATTERN (substitute for Second Butterfly Section)

Work as original pattern describes through Row 44; complete all even rows as described in original pattern

Row 45: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5* repeat between * and* 9 more times, end last repeat K6, yo, k3 (115 sts)

Row 47: K3, yo, K6, *k2tog, yo, K3, yo, ssk, K3;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K6, yo, K3 (117 sts)

Row 49: K3, yo, K8 *yo, ssk, yo, K3tog, yo, K5;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K8, yo, K3 (119 sts)

Row 51: K3, yo, K10, *yo, slip 1, K2tog, psso, yo, K7;* repeat between * and * 9 more times, end last repeat K10, yo, K3 (121 sts)

In silk, with green raku finished beads

ROMAN STRIPE (substitute for Knotted Openwork Section)

In Tosh "Pashmina," purple

Row 67: K3, yo, K1, *yo, K1;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 68: K3, purl across to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 69: K3, yo, K1, *K2tog;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 70: K3, P1, *yo, K2tog;* K1, p1, K3

Row 71: K3, yo, K1, *yo, K2tog;* repeat between * and *, end K1, yo, K3

Row 72: K3, purl across to last 3 stitches, K3.

Repeat these 6 rows one more time, then . . . .

Row 79: K3, yo, knit across to last 3 stitches, yo, K3

Continue rest of pattern as described.

Rocky would like you all to know that Summerflies makes a great pug bed . . . .

Rocky the K2Pug

I look forward to making more of these wonderful shoulder shawls, mixing and matching to make each one unique. If you make any, please share them with me here.

Wednesday Nights at Artfibers

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Wed night at ArtFibers

Wed night at ArtFibers

I have started attending a Wed-night knit-along at Artfibers here in Pinole, CA. Artfibers used to be located in San Francisco, but earlier this year, owner Roxanne moved the operation to the ground floor of her Old Town Pinole home. There, in three rooms on the ground floor and a studio in the back garden she sells some of the most beautiful yarns I have seen in a long time.

I started attending the Wed. night group there maybe a month ago. I finally took along my camera to document some of the swell things people are making. Last Wed., the group consisted of me, Jan, Stephanie, Jane, Chris and Roxanne. A merry bunch – of course, the Two-Buck Chuck and chocolate chip cookies were a big help. And while we didn’t solve the problems of the world, we did, for the first time as a group, start sharing some meaty background about ourselves. But I’ll never tell . .

So here we go . . .

Chris's "Upstairs Shawl"

Chris's "Upstairs Shawl"

Chris gets the prize for bringing the most projects! She had some finished socks, some half-finished toe-up socks and a new shawl.  The shawl – a luscious little purple number – is made from Artfibers’ Sylph and the pattern is called “The Upstairs Shawl.” Chris also showed off some socks she made with Colinette’s Jitterbug yarn using a pattern in Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. She also had some Ribbed Ribbon socks made with some Malabrigo sock yarn.

Jitterbug Toe-Up socks

Jitterbug Toe-Up socks

Overachiever.

Detail - Sylph shawl

Detail - Sylph shawl

Jan's baby blanket

Jan's baby blanket

Jan recently completed this fantastic baby blanket with Berroco Pure Merino. The pattern is from a book called Knitting Basics. We all oohed and aahed over this because it appears to have been made in blocks you would then have to sew together – but it wasn’t. Also, the stitch detail of the Pure Merino was fantastic. I think she’s giving it to an expectant niece. She better be one swell niece.

Detail - Jan's baby blanket

Detail - Jan's baby blanket

Stephanie's scarf

Stephanie's scarf

Stephanie is the scarf-mistress! She has been knitting for 5 years and says she is beginner and only makes scarves. I ask you, does this look like the work of a beginner? She couldn’t tell me the pattern, but described it as something a friend helped her with. That’s some friend! The yarn is Artfibers’ Zoftig, a soft ribbon of merino wool and nylon.

Roxanne's tank top

Roxanne's tank top

And Roxanne is making a sweater she calls the “tattoo sweater.” I don’t know why. Roxanne – can you chime in here? It has this cool cable in the center. She adapted the pattern from one of her own designed she created a long time ago, she said. The yarn is her own Casanova, a cloud of tussah silk, mulberry silk and mohair. It has this lovely haze and the colors remind me of an autumn path. I love this yarn!

Jane's star stitch shawl

Jane's star stitch shawl

Jane is working on this shawl which she is making from Artfibers’ Carezza, a yummy blend of silk, baby alpaca and extrafine merino. The pattern is a star stitch. She’s just started, but we were all very impressed with the results and her vision for this shawl.

And what about me? I was working on the fifth of a series of fingerless gloves I am trying to design for our store, K2Tog. But that will have to wait for another blog post.

So if you’re in the East Bay, come join us on Wed. nights. I think Roxanne is starting a new Sunday afternoon groups, too – from 4-7.