Parade of Finished Objects

Looks like I've got some catching up to do since I'm a Blogger Slack-off.

Haruni Shawl

I've been forever trying to decide what to do with two skeins of Malabrigo variegated laceweight, when I saw this pattern (Haruni by Emily Ross) go up on Ravelry it was destined to become a Haruni. Maybe not the best choice for showing off the pattern stitches but it turned out okay (remind me not buy this type of variegated color, not really my style, always looks better in the unwound skein than it does knitted up). The revised version of this pattern is easy to follow and fun to do, didn't take too long either.

Bayerische Socks
This pattern is by Eunny Jang, currently the editor of Interweave; the pattern is here.


I think this sock pattern is gorgeous and tried several times to begin these socks. The problem was that there are four charts and it was tedious and confusing to work from one chart to the next without losing your mind. Finally I took the time to chart it myself in excel and once I printed it out it was smooth sailing........one sock done and one to go. The yarn is Cascade Heritage which I really like for this type of pattern as it shows the stitches nicely.

Starry Night Baby Blanket

Two neighbors' daughters are having babies soon, this will go to one of them for a shower gift. It is really cute but a bit puckery, not sure how great it will look if it just gets tossed into the dryer, I'll put a note with it that it should be dried flat for best results. It was fun crochet project, took a little longer than I thought it would and got a little tedious/boring once I got past the cloud section but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Pattern here.

Carol's Clever Little Shawl

I thought this was a nice idea but it's written for worsted or DK weight and I wanted to use Dream In Color Baby that I recently purchased. I only had one skein and wasn't sure there would be enough yarn (I worry about that for every project!) but there was actually plenty. Had to make some adjustments to the pattern to accomodate the lighter weight yarn and also to mirror the edging in a left and right direction, notes on my Ravelry project page. The flower is from my Flower Scarf pattern and it still needs to be steamed.

Shetland Shawl Redux

I love my fingering weight brown Shetland Shawl but as I wrote in a previous post it was not large enough, I want to be able to wrap/snuggle into it. So I'm glad that I took the time to add some length to the edging, it's much better now. I'm working a better version of this pattern as I'm still trying to work out a nicer transition of the interlocking diamonds around the corners.

Inspiring Retail Designs

I can spend hours on the internet looking for inspiration and noting current knitwear trends on the websites of retailers (Dillards, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom's, Bloomingdales, Ralph Lauren, Spiegel, Victoria's Secret, etc. etc.)

I had so much fun creating (knitting a knock off) of this sweater:

Here is my version:

Recently I noticed this sweater on the Victoria's Secret website:

The last few days I have been working on knitting something similar for myself not necessarily as a pattern to publish.  I'm using a yarn that I am "re-purposing" (that's a new term I keep hearing on HGTV - it seems to have replaced their catch phrase from last year "makes it pop") from an unfinished sweater that I frogged last week. Not my favorite yarn (Reynolds Mandalay, 100% silk) - if it doesn't work out I'll send it back to the bottom of the frog pond permanently.

Then coincidentally, yesterday I came across this blog of someone else admiring this type of design: Olgajazzy.

On the Duplicate Designing Phenomenon

There is a phenomenon that has been discussed on other knitting blogs across the net, and even noted by Lily Chin at a last month's Greater St. Louis Knitters' Guild event: it is quite common for designers to come up with very similar designs at nearly the same time.

I talked about this on my July 13 post below relating to the stitch pattern used in the ever popular Monkey Socks.

This morning I woke to find this thread on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/patterns/323852#reply_form.

If you're not on Ravelry, Krystofer came up with a sock design that he also didn't realize was essentially the same as Monkey socks: http://queerknits.blogspot.com/.

So 'unventing' applies not only to technique, but also to design.

On Socks - Part Two

Man's First Socks:  -  A Short Story

Once upon a time (recently) a Knitter (me) asked her husband (mine) if he would wear hand-knit socks if she were to knit a pair especially for him.  The Husband (poster child for the typical blue, brown, gray male wardrobe) said, "Do they have to be in those funky colors [read: like those that you wear]?"

And so the Knitter carefully chose a conservative solid dark color in a soft light weight yarn.  She settled on a ribbed pattern with a simple stitch motif to keep herself occupied for the duration of the leg.  Hoping that the Husband would actually wear his first pair of hand-knit socks, she knew that scenario would be more likely if the socks were as similar as possible to commercially manufactured (read: Gold Toe Fuzzy) socks that the Husband preferred.  Therefore she chose to knit a short row heel instead of a more knitterly flap/heel/gusset combination.

Now the Husband proudly shows off his hand-knit socks and the Knitter will never tell the Husband that the pattern is named 'Man's First Socks' or that knitting patterns even have a name – Knitter's are entitled to a few secrets.

Perhaps he'll soon receive another pair.

On Socks - Part One

First Socks

Not long after I became a Knitter, my friend Barb said to me "you should try socks – they're fun".  Socks, I thought, who'd want to knit socks ?  They look hard and there are all those tiny stitches on itty bitty needles – no thanks.  But as I attended knit-ins and guild meetings all around me knitters were knitting socks! Well – there must be something to this, I thought, perhaps I should try it. That first pair was certainly confusing – it took several tries to find a pattern that made any sense - the instructions that worked for me were in Sally Melville's book, The Purl Stitch.

But Barb was right – it was fun!

I was so excited – I had actually made a pair of socks !

As much fun as the first pair had been, I was not satisfied with the common heel or the fit of the ankle or the pointy toe.  Barb explained that she uses several size needles to achieve the perfect fit – the smallest size for the ribbing/heel/toe, the largest size for the calf, and a middle size for the ankle and instep.  That would take care of the sizing issues but what about the weird heel (to me, a new knitter, the 'common heel' [flap, heel, gusset] seemed weird) and pointy toe.

Off to the library and to the internet I went in search of the perfect (for me) sock techniques.  I was amazed by the myriad of choices – cuff down/toe up, common heel/short row heel, wedge toe/modified wedge toe/rounded toe/anatomical toe, double points/two circ's/magic loop needles, not to mention the myriad of colors, fibers and stitch patterns.  This was so exciting – I could be my own designer!

On Shawls....

My daughter asked recently what I was working on....

When I replied, "a shawl" she said "How many do you need?"

Obviously she is not a Knitter or even a knitter.

Any Knitter knows that how many shawls (or any other knitted item) you have made is beside the point.

I like knitting shawls, I like to wear them too but mostly I like knitting and designing them.

My first experience with shawls was a class on faroese shawls taught by Joan Schrouder and sponsored by the Greater St. Louis Knitter's Guild in the spring of 2004. I was totally lost.

But I have learned much since then, thank goodness I have her invaluable handouts,
and have enjoyed and been inspired by these books:

  

I love these books for stitch patterns:

  

A Shetland Shawl

The first shawl I made was inspired by the instructions for a shetland shawl in "Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves".  The yarn is alpaca/silk from Elann.  I didn't do a great job of knitting or designing this shawl and one day plan to make it again with improvements, but I was quite proud that it turned out so nice and I've worn it a lot to the point where it is showing wear and tear, needs to be reblocked:

A Pi R Square Shawl

Next I made a "Pi R Square" shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book 'Knitting Around'.  The yarn is Silky Wool by Elizabeth Lavold.  I added a border/collar.  The 'square' portions of the shawl came out to be too long, so I knitted i-cord and laced it through the yarnovers to gather it up.  I like wearing this shawl although it is a bit cumbersome, it drapes beautifully:

A Flower Basket Shawl

I love all the beautiful shawls that Evelyn Clark designs.  Here is my Flower Basket Shawl knitted in gray laceweight merino with the yarn doubled.  It is knit exactly as given in the pattern from the Fall 2004 issue of Interweave Knits.

I also made the Swallowtail Shawl (Fall 2006, Interweave Knits) although I knit it as a square rather than a triangle.   I don't have any photos and it turned out too small so I gave it to my eight year old cousin Mira (she was thrilled and now wants to learn how to knit).

Flemish Block Cap Shawl

When Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today was released I was inspired to make a 'cap shawl', but not one to be satisfied with following directions I decided to base the increases on the principle of the cap shawl shaping in the book but inserted my own choice of stitch pattern and border.  This yarn is from http://handpaintedyarn.com/, but I purchased it on ebay.  Very interesting, soft, handspun, thick and thin, lots of yardage for the price.  I'm really pleased with the way this shawl turned out, it's a little odd to wear because of the swirl shaping it skews when folded in half, so it works better to just fold back a section as if it's a collar.

Woven Diamonds Faroese Shawl

Finally I made it back to faroese shawls once I could understand what was going on by studying the notes from Joan's class and the articles/patterns in Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves and A Gathering of Lace.  I designed a shawl that is similar to the yellow and blue faroese by Meg Swanson in Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves, but again elected to use my own choice of stitch patterns for the gusset and border. I prefer lace that has a stockinette background, I think it shows the stitches better, so my faroese shawl has stockinette background on the border and gusset but the edging and side panels above the border are knit in garter stitch.  The yarn is Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport 100% wool.  I've worn it a lot, the yarn is pilling some and I've just re-blocked it.

My friend Fran begged me for this pattern so she earned the title of Test Knitter.  Unfortunately my first attempts at writing the pattern had errors and Fran spent a lot of time starting over - I'm still amazed that she stuck it out.  There is a photo of it on her blog.  In any event - the pattern is correct and clear and I will soon make it available for sale and teach it as a class at Kirkwood Knittery.  I decided to 'test knit' it myself and needed to find an easier way to finish the neckline where the last stitches are joined - so I just completed a version in white cotton/rayon by Dalegarn that I purchased at Knit N Caboodle.   I like it a lot and look forward to wearing it soon.

The 2/3 Pi Shawl

In between the two faroese shawls I found some gorgeous hand dyed silk/wool laceweight yarn at The Loopy Ewe . Not only did I love the color, I loved the name that the hand dyer goes by, Chewy Spaghetti.  I decided to make a modified version of Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Pi Shawl' from Knitter's Almanac and Best of Knitter's Shawls and Scarves.
I thought it would be nice to have it open in the front so rather than make a full circle that is usually worn folded in half and draped over the shoulders, I used my pi r square shawl to determine that 2/3 pi would be enough to go around my body. I  cast on with a provisional cast on working increases according to the pi shawl formula. Then I added a very simple knitted on border from Barbara Abbey's book Knitting Lace. I folded back the border to create a 'collar' when I blocked it.  I think it has sort of an antique look to it.

Hmmm - how many shawls does one need?