Archives for April 2012

Here is the view from my hotel balcony in Chincoteague this past weekend.

Lovely, no?

SoXperience 2012 was great fun and a great success (well, as far as I am concerned — you’d have to ask the students as well). But I was very happy to get home Sunday, and Miss Lucy was very happy to have her momma back where she belongs.

I finished my green shawlette on Saturday. Here it is, laid out flat on the floor:

This was knit from one skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in the “Jade” colorway using a U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle. It was knit sideways, starting with very few stitches and increasing until the depth was what I wanted. Then for the center section I worked short rows to give the piece a nice curve in the middle. It features a simple lace edging that is knit as you work the body, so there is no picking up of stitches later.

Because of this shaping, it sits nicely on the shoulders and does not slip off. The shawlette measures 50″ unstretched across the top and stretches well beyond 60 inches. I did not block the body of the piece because I wanted to keep the garter stitch as-is. It drapes so nicely and molds itself to the wearer. I just steamed out the edging a bit with a steam iron.

The pattern will be available soon.

But not immediately.

I had started another sideways shawlette to take with me to Cincoteague because I knew I’d be finishing the green one while I was away. But after finishing, I decided I wanted to knit the same pattern again with a different weight yarn, so I ripped out the new shawl, and started the same pattern over again:

For this one I’m using Madelinetosh Pashmina, in the “Bark” colorway, and a U.S. size 5 needle. Pashmina is sportweight (and a heavy sportweight, I think). A skein of Tosh Sock is about 400 yards and a skein of Pashmina is 360 yards. I think the Pashmina shawlette will end up to be about the same size as the Tosh Sock version (lower yardage but heavier yarn). I’ll find out soon.

Both of these versions will be on the pattern once I write it up. I am knitting these wraps by weight of the yarn and will describe how to do that in the pattern so the knitter can use up every bit of the skein, but there will also be instructions to knit by number of rows and repeats.

Now I need to come up with a name for the design. Lucy is giving this problem some serious thought.

Behold my new work in progress:

Here’s a shot without Lucy:

While it is a sideways knit garter stitch piece, it is not ruffled and it is not Kauni.

This is MadelineTosh Tosh Sock in the Jade colorway. Yes, in a surprise move, I am knitting with green yarn.

Honestly compels me to confess that I chose this particular yarn from the stash because it was already wound into a ball. I’m happy that I did — it’s very pretty and is working up nicely.

So this is a little shawlette, knit sideways, with a lace edging and some shaping in the body of the piece achieved with short rows. (I had to get my short rows in there somewhere.)

I will likely have it completed the next time I blog. There will be no blog post on Sunday. I’m going down to Chincoteague Island for the weekend for Carodan Farm’s SoXperience. So I’ll be back on the blog on Tuesday.

Lucy is getting some extra lap time before I go:

I have finished my giant rainbow-colored lasagne noodle.

Please note that moments before I snapped this photo, Miss Lucy was stretched out on the scarf. She got bored and wandered off so I took the opportunity to get a cat-free shot. Or two.

I knit this from one 130-gram skein of Kauni Effektgarn in the EQ colorway, using a U.S. size 3 (3.25mm) needle. This is how much yarn I had left over:

I love being able to use almost every last bit of a skein of yarn.

The pattern for this scarf, “Double FunScarf,”  is now available for sale in my Ravelry store, and for the remainder of the month of April, you can purchase it for the low low price of $2.00. On May 1 I will hike the pattern price to $3.50.

This scarf is quite easy to knit in garter stitch with short-row ruffles on both sides. While mine was knit with fingering weight wool, you could use any weight up to a light DK weight. (Anything heavier will give you very stiff ruffles!)

Knit as written and lightly steam blocked, this garter stitch scarf measures 8” across and 70” long, but you can make it any width and length you like. The pattern explains how to modify the size. And you can knit the scarf to use up your entire skein of yarn — just knit until you run out.

Fold it in half lengthwise before wrapping around your neck.

Or not.

You can roll it up in a ball and just look at it.

My new work in progress is not knit from Kauni yarn and is not ruffled. Are you shocked?

Lucy is too busy trying to order catnip online to give it a thought.

“They say that is a mouse, but I don’t know . . . “

I am very close to completing my rainbow lasagne noodle:

I started with 130 grams of yarn. Here’s how much is left:

So I must go knit!

Lucy, on the other hand, is on the alert in case a bunny shows up with a basket of candy . . .

I have finally finished the pattern for my Ruffles and Ridges Wrap and it is now available for sale in my Ravelry store.

We did the photo-shoot yesterday. Doesn’t my model, Jennifer, look gorgeous? (I’d hate her, but she is too nice for me to be able to do so.)

There was a slight breeze so we got a couple of photos that nicely show off the ruffles:

These were taken on the roof of the building where I work. I like the background!

The pattern includes:

• Modifications for knitting this design by weight of your skein so you can use the entire skein of yarn.
• Modifications for making this design a triangular shawlette that comes to a point at the center rather than a long wrap with a gently curved bottom edge.
• Information for making this pattern in different yarn weights.
• Blocking Tips for information on blocking your garter stitch wrap.
• Short Row Ruffle Photo Tutorial for information on how to execute the wrap and turn technique to create the ruffles.

The whole pattern is 10 pages long, but if you want to print only the pattern, you only need to print 3 pages — 2 if you don’t need the page with materials, abbreviations, etc.

Current Work in Progress

I’m still working along on my current ruffled scarf:

I’ve still got a way to go on this — not a whole lot of knitting time this week.

No, I will not call the pattern Lasagne Noodle Scarf. Nor will I call it Sea Slug Scarf.

And here, for no particular reason, is Lucy in a tray.