Category Archives: ravelry

Brown is beautiful

Posted on May 25, 2008 | 2 comments

All of my yarn pictures are brown today! I’m sending this spiral rib cap to a friend, and I needed a picture of it to go with its pattern before I send it. The hat is the loveliest, softest cotton blend: Classic Elite Premier, 50% pima cotton, 50% tencel. I think it will make a great chemo cap because of its softness, or just a great knocking around cap.

It looks like it’s flared at the brim, but really it’s not. It’s a head-hugging cap. I hope she likes it.

My mailbox had a surprise in it yesterday: handspun yarn from Melissa at Days of Tea and Knitting. It’s beautiful! Thanks, Melissa. I’m waiting for the yarn to tell me what it wants to be, besides gorgeous out by the bamboo. The first picture is a little more true to the color.

I bound off Shetland Triangle 2 last night. I remembered to take measurements this time. Unblocked, it’s 39″ wide by 19″ tall. It’s on the blocking wires now, and it’s 70″ wide by 35″ tall. That’s a lot of stretch! Here are the details for this shawl:

Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits’ Wrap Style.

Size 7 26″ circular Lantern Moon Ebony needle
One and a third? skeins of Silver, Silk, and Superwash Merino Sock Yarn from Painted Skeins (skein is 100 grams, 420 yards). Twelve repeats of the body section, versus 8 in the pattern. I left off the last two rows of the edging to make the edge less pointy (thanks again, BrooklynTweed) and I cast off knit-wise on the wrong side to counteract stockinette’s tendency to roll. I used a size 9 needle as the working needle to cast off.

Summary: Like my first shetland triangle, but one more repeat of the body section, and needles one size bigger. The first shawl is 54″ wide and 26″ tall. The extra repeat and the bigger needles made a big difference. I may reblock the first one to see if I can make it a little bigger and lacier, but I’ll have to wait until the blocking board is free.

Just to keep with the brown theme, I should let you know that this colorway is Brick on Brown. And it’s gorgeous. Picture will have to wait until it’s off the multi-colored beach towel. Don’t want to mess with the brown theme!

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, ravelry

Tagged blocking, chemo cap, Knit, knitalong, lace, shawl, shetland triangle, yarn

Shetland Triangle Love

Posted on April 30, 2008 | 10 comments

The Shetland Triangle is done; it’s drying on blocking wires this very minute. I love how this turned out.

See the subtle sparkle in the yarn? Love that silver!

Blocking wires really help pull this into shape and show off the pattern of the lace. Here’s the shawl before blocking:

Cats don’t really help much with blocking; the wires are pretty tempting. But Mookie thinks she’s helping, and that’s what counts.

I’ll post a picture of the shawl in action after it gets off the wires.

Details:
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits’ Wrap Style.
Size 6 26″ Lantern Moon circular Ebony needle (love these!)
A bit more than one skein of Silver, Silk, and Superwash Merino Sock Yarn from Painted Skeins (skein is 100 grams, 420 yards). I added three extra repeats of the body section; if I had added only two (10 total), I could have done this with one skein of yarn.

I left off the last two rows of the edging to make the edge less pointy (thanks, BrooklynTweed) and I cast off knit-wise on the wrong side to counteract stockinette’s tendency to roll. I used a size 8 needle as the working needle to cast off.

I must really love it; I’m going to make another one starting tomorrow. This shawl is going to be a birthday present. I want one for me, too. There’s a Shetland Triangle KAL (knitalong) group on Ravelry, and the cast on date is May 1. I’m ready! I might use a size 7 needle and make it a little bit lacier.

And I’ve found a piano piece that’s pulling me back to the bench: It’s Beethoven’s Sonata in G Minor, Op. 49 No. 1. Just the first movement for now. Yummy.

Edited to add pix:

It’s really hard to take a picture of yourself!

10 Comments

Posted in Knit, piano, ravelry

Tagged blocking, Knit, lace, shawl, shetland triangle

Entrelac socks, redux

Posted on April 25, 2008 | 2 comments

I had tea with Anna on Monday. She’s cruising along on the entrelac socks. The first is done, and the second is halfway there. A completed first sock means that the pattern is readable and knittable, so the entrelac sock pattern is ready to be published. It’s now available on the sidebar.

Anna says that she only knits with dirt-colored yarn. I think it’s good looking dirt! Although we prefer to say, “earth tones.” We bought this yarn at Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach, Oregon during Crafty Moms Weekend in February. I bought some in variegated blues. It’s Hacho hand-dyed merino wool, DK weight, from Mirasol Yarn, spun in Peru. Yum. I’m trying to finish the Shetland Triangle shawl before I jump into another pair of these socks, but the siren song is strong.

2 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, ravelry

Tagged entrelac, Knit, socks

The first one is the most exciting

Posted on March 19, 2008 | 5 comments

I sold my first pattern on Ravelry today. It’s my first pattern sale ever! I was especially pleased because it was confirmation that I set it up correctly. The pattern is for this bag:

I love the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, and after making a ballband washcloth, I just had to take it to the next level. I needed a project to donate to the church youth fundraiser (for their mission trip), and came up with this.

Unfortunately, I fell in love with the colors in this bag, and I just couldn’t give it away. That meant that I had to make two more! I went to the stash and came up with two other color combinations, and they did go to the auction last Sunday. The blue one is still my favorite, though.

orange tote

vineyard tote

Felting is a funny thing; I increased the number of rows in the new bags because I wanted to make them a little taller than the blue bag, but they came out shorter! Different washing machines, different agitation. But they’re all cute.

See the link for the Felted Slip Stitch Tote on the sidebar for purchase information.

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design, ravelry

Tagged ballband, felting, Knit

Knitting + WordPress = ?

Posted on March 17, 2008 | Comments Off

Where am I? Why am I here?

I’m curious about the blog world. My page at comcast is hard to manage, so I thought I’d try WordPress.

I’m currently in love with knitting. I’ve been knitting for about 30 years, but most seriously in the last 10. I have some free patterns out on the web; I’ll post them here, too, when I figure out how. I’m in a creative whirlwind (mania?) this spring, designing and writing some new patterns, and I’ll be selling them through Ravelry.com. It’s a big step, and I’m learning all sorts of techie non-knitting things along the way.