Northern Lights Shawl(ette)

In April, while my parents were visiting, we spent a weekend in the lovely city of Norwich. It is a charming place, full of history and beautiful buildings. A small and perfectly formed city.

One of my favourite parts is the covered market. It is row after confusing row of all sorts of stalls selling everything: butchers, greengrocers, cafes, cards, ribbons, toys, clothing, gifts, luggage and, of course, yarn. I had to get something while I was there, and what better souvenir for a knitter than a skein of yarn? I loved the colours of King Cole Riot, so while it is not an artisan yarn, nor a fibre composition of particular merit, I was taken with it and bought it in the colourway Rhapsody. I liked the blues and pinks, although it has come up with red as the dominant colour. The colour changes move evenly and then reverse through the skein so that each stripe is flanked by the same colour. Eg: violet, teal (start), violet, grey, red, pink, lavender (middle of change), pink red, grey, violet. And so on.

I was going to crochet a ripple scarf but there wasn't enough drape so I browsed Ravelry specifically for a scarf or a shawl in this yarn.  I loved the way this pattern really showed off the dramatic colour changes to their full effect. Most makers had used two skeins but I went ahead with one and knitted until I ran out of yarn. It is enough for a shawlette, which I find more wearable than a shawl anyway.

Tragically, I found this really boring to knit. There are no changes, just a yarn over at each segment and a psso once every 4 rows. I enjoy lace knitting and wanted more of it.  That said, the zig zag stripe effect is lovely and would have been more pronounced, had I had more yarn to carry on with. The acrylic content of the yarn means that the blocking has worn off and the points have lost their prominence and it curls when I wear it, but it is a nice flash of peacock brightness on a grey day.

As a souvenir from the epicentre of the worldwide wool trade, once upon a time, I'm extremely pleased. Ravelry link here.

Crochet Scarves

These two scarves have been crocheted out of sock yarn, hand dyed by a fibre artist in Vancouver, Yoriko, who works at a studio in Granville Island. We had fun browsing the yarns and choosing the skein.  The lovely blues of this one made it an easy choice. The 100% wool, sock yarn was not as easy to make up into something nice. There is no drape at all, and I had a few false starts to come up with something. I first knit a chevron shape, then crocheted a ripple stitch, but both were as stiff as anything and used huge amounts of yarn. So I reverted to my trusty double-crochet-with-chain-stitch to make up this open weave.

It's not the greatest yarn for scarf making, but she hasn't complained that it is too scratchy. Perhaps the lesson is that sock yarn is really meant for socks!

Knitted Infinity Cowl

I got this lovely skein of mohair from Granville Island in Vancouver. I wanted to wrap it around my neck just as it was and wear it like that. Instead, I did the closest possible thing that I could manage: an infinity cowl with a twist.

According to the label, the yarn is hand dyed by someone called Yoriko at the Granville Island Fibre Art Studio. Sadly, she wasn't there for me to buy from that day, but the studio is full of wonderful fibre arts, including some gorgeous felted wraps and scarves. It is mohair and wrapped up at about Fingering Weight. The colours range from navy, through dark blue, to turquoise and brown. It actually looks much more blue in real life than in the close up photos.

My strong preference for scarves and cowls that have no right or wrong side meant that if I didn't want to knit rib (no thanks!), it would have to be garter stitch or reverse stockinette. A quick Ravelry pattern browse led me to the pattern I've linked to from my notes. It has rows of stockinette and reverse stockinette which add texture and interest, especially important when working with a variegated yarn.

I didn't actually look at the pattern, I just referenced it for inspiration. I also didn't do any counting or calculations at all. I feel like such a rebel - a knitting rebel! I don't know how many stitches I cast on. I used the thumb method and just stopped when my needles felt full. I added a twist so that I could laugh in the face of all those times that I have joined in the round and discovered an accidental twist. Ha ha! I want a twist!

I did about 5-10 rows of garter stitch as a border, then 4/5 rows of plain / purl alternates. I do admit to a moment of second thoughts and pulled it off the needles to rip out. Then I saw that it was larger than I feared, so I picked up all the loose stitches and carried on. I am sorry that the stockinette doesn't really show at all, the yarn looks lovely in the smooth side, but I kind of knew that would happen.

To end, I didn't really know how much yarn I had left, so I missed the garter stitch border at the top and just cast off. It doesn't seem to curl, which is unusual. I did run out of yarn about 40 stitches from the end, so I had to pull out all the cast off stitches (a total pain with mohair) and cast off lower down.

I can just wrap it twice around my neck so it is the perfect length. And, lo and behold, there are two twists in the join!

Ashton Shawlette

I fear that lace knitting might become a serious addiction. I've even begun to re-think my ambivalence towards Kidsilk Haze. It is absorbing, and rewarding. Browsing the beautiful finished shawls on Ravelry is an extremely pleasant way to lose hours and hours of your life.

I present my first shaw effort: The Ashton Shawlette. My garment naming is seriously boring, I just go with the name of the pattern. Or, if I've made it before, add a sequel mark to it (eg Miette II). I'm not going to win any blogger awards, but I'm ok with that. 

My shawl(ette) is not made from laceweight mohair/silk, but sport weight (5ply) bamboo. And it is not a shawl, according to the pattern, it is officially a "shawlette". But I'm ok with that. The smaller size makes it more wearable, similar to a bolero, or a cropped cardigan, showing off an outfit, rather than dressing as a lady wearing a shawl. Plus, I can have it double as a scarf in the winter.

The yarn has been lurking in my stash for years. I love the colour and the sheen. It is a bit splitty, but I don't mind that, I like sharp needles anyway. The bamboo has the properties I like from cotton: it is rigid with great stitch definition, and drapes nicely, but with additional softness and the bonus sheen.

In a sport weight, the pattern begins by knitting up very fast. By the time I got to the more complicated parts, with larger rows, I was completely hooked.

The pattern instructions are very detailed. Almost too detailed for my simple mind. I can follow written or charted instructions as long as they are chronological. I found this one jumped around a lot. But once I had taken the time to sit down and get to grips with the instructions, they were helpful and I did learn new things about lace knitting and reading lace charts. The early stages of the shawl, in the bud pattern, are also really easy to memorise, so you are not spending the whole time reading the chart as you knit.

I sat up late finishing this for a special occasion. The binding off took me about an hour and a half! I wore it unblocked and, since I have blocked it, it does look really beautiful. I think a lace skirt or dress might be my next lace project. Shawls are incredibly beautiful, but where, oh where does one wear one?

Finally finished: the Florence Scarf

This has been a work in progress for a long time, 9 months, according to my Ravelry notes.

I had one ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze left over from a bolero I made to go with a bridesmaids dress. I matched the yarn and the pattern to the bride’s bolero and matched the colour to my own dress. I didn't really enjoy knitting the bolero, and am not wild about the finished product. But I had one ball left over and this seemed like the perfect pattern to use it up.

On the whole, I am not wild about this yarn. I can see why it is popular: it is lovely and soft, has a great aura and comes in a wide colour range. Because it is lighter than a feather, the ball is an extremely generous size, making it easy to justify the price tag. But it sheds like crazy! I end up covered in fluff whenever I wear one of these two, not so elegant. I also decided that I don’t love knitting with lace weight yarn, the result is beautiful but knitting with tiny needles and a thread like yarn is just too hard on my hands, my shoulders and possibly my eyes. But lace knitting is addictive...

The Florence scarf has a really simple repeating pattern and it is really easy to memorise. It works up into chevrons, making it very current! I made a few mistakes along the way, but the fluffy yarn is forgiving enough that they are not too noticeable. When this happened, the pattern was really easy to modify to get back on track, without having to rip back.

My hesitation with knitted scarves is the right and wrong side issue. Unless they are in a rib or seed stitch (not my favourite stitches), they are going to have two different sides. When I’m wearing it, I don’t want to fiddle with tying it perfectly, I just want to throw it on and wear it out. I’ve left this unblocked on purpose, to allow the sides to curl in, showing off the right side on both sides. It is a more rolled scarf than is ideal, but I like not having the wrong side on show and I think it ends up a nice width.

I wore it out and about during Me Made May, and realised OMG, it is my first knitted scarf for me! After 4 1/2 years of knitting, it is only right that I now have a scarf.

Crochet Cotton Scarf - Happy Mother's Day, Mum!

I found this lovely variegated cotton yarn in a dollar store in Australia. Dollar stores have some great craft ingredients. Mum offered to buy it for me and I have loved being able to make it up into a scarf for her!

From the first, I wanted to make a crochet scarf from it, and I really wanted to do it as a zig zag crochet project. The colours came out beautifully, but the fabric was very dense, way too firm for a scarf. It made me think of a placemat!

So I needed something looser, a pattern that would make a fabric with drape.  One of my favourite qualities of cotton yarn is its drape, and it would be a shame not to show that off.

Crocheting into the foundation chain is tedious work! I made it harder still by making the scarf too wide. I really like the way that the variegated yarn pools in the wider section, but I had to switch to adding to the side of the scarf so that I would not run out of yarn, and to make it a better width for a summer scarf. You can see the change in direction in the picture below. It looks a bit like I meant it when it is worn. Two different patterns for the two tails of the scarf.

I think crochet is the perfect technique for a scarf. Being uniform produces fabric with no wrong or right side, so it does not matter which side shows when the scarf is worn.

Happy Mother's Day, Mum! I love you! X

Doll hat and scarf

The leaves are blowing across the lawn, the nights are getting shorter, and colder. Our thoughts turn to Winter, getting cosy and knitting.

Naturally, I thought of the dolls first...

I had this 4ply yarn in navy and thought it was a good weight and colour for them.  I made up the patterns as I went along.

First, the scarf is 9 stitches, knit in garter stitch, with seed stitch for a few rows to edge.

The hat is 74 stitches, ribbed edge, then stocking stitch for about 1.5 inches. I knit 2 together 6 times around the crown to decrease. I did the decreases every second row until the last 2-3 rows when I made them every row. Finally, I pulled the last 8 stitches through the remaining yarn and weaved in to finish.