Tag Archives: leigh radford

Community knitting project

Posted on November 16, 2011 | 7 comments

Leigh Radford, designer and author of several books including One Skein and One More Skein, is spearheading a community knitting project, and you can be a part of it.This is the Albers Stash Blanket from One More Skein. Leigh says:

Please join me in knitting blankets to be donated to those in need this winter! Knit and send me one panel of the Albers Stash Blanket. I’ll be gathering a team to assemble and complete the blankets. Blankets completed here in Portland will be donated to P:ear, Cascade Aids Project, and Raphael House. If enough panels are completed…, I would love to expand this list of recipients and will include non-profit organizations outside the Portland-metro area.

If you’d like to coordinate your own effort and donate a blanket within your community, please send me photos of your work in progress and completed work as I’ll be posting photos of everyone’s efforts as this project progresses.

Due date: Panels need to arrive in Portland/OR by January 31, 2012.

You can find more information on Leigh’s Facebook page. Questions? Not on Facebook? You can email Leigh at OneMoreSkein@leighradford.com.

I ran into Leigh at Twisted last weekend, and she passed on this panel to me. Leigh mentioned that she has started several panels and passed them on to other knitters. Lantern Moon has generously donated some needles so that Leigh has multiple panels going.

The pattern is simple, and is available through Leigh’s Facebook page. I’m happily knitting away on it, and will go into my tiny stash of leftovers (I’m not a stasher, remember?) and see what the next color will be. It might be a challenge; I’ve worked mostly with jewel tones, and this is not!

Would you like to be part of this project? You don’t have to knit an entire blanket, or even an entire panel. You can organize your knitting friends to complete a blanket, one panel, or even just get a panel from Leigh and knit on it for a while and send it back. But the more you knit, the more stash you use, and that means that more blankets will be donated. I hope you’ll join us!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged albers stash blanket, community knitting project, leigh radford

Let them eat cake

Posted on April 20, 2011 | 11 comments

Well, perhaps not this cake, unless they want a lot more fiber in their diet!

These are from the pattern for knitted cupcakes from Leigh Radford’s One Skein book. Aren’t they cute? Although I’m not sure mine look as much like cupcakes as hers do, and I’m not sure why. But they’re cute, and make a great base for birthday gift earrings as garnish.

The left one is actually quite a bit bigger than the one on the right. I used a size 5 needle for the base on the left, and went down to a 4 for the base on the right. The bases are Tahki Cotton Classic, and the top is Sprout organic cotton from Classic Elite. I think I like the smaller one better; the structure feels a bit more stable. I really like the way the bottoms look, the spoked decrease pattern warms the cockles of my heart.

There’s lots of yarn left for more cupcakes!

In other news, the lists of teachers and classes at Sock Summit are now posted. I looked at the class descriptions, and have determined that I want to take more classes than there are hours in the Sock Summit schedule. Oops.

And finally, I just checked on Ravelry, and I’ve sold 78 copies of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April. I’m donating all proceeds from online sales through April 30 to the Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. That’s $468 so far; thanks so much for helping to make this possible. Can we make it to $500? There’s still time!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged knit cupcakes, leigh radford

ruffle tank bliss…

Posted on August 19, 2010 | 22 comments

…and how I got there, aka adventures in applied i-cord.

My Ruffle Tank is done.

I love it. It’s perfect. My favorite FO of the year. This is the picture I sent to my friend Diane. We had been discussing applied i-cord edgings via email and text. She wanted to see the FO, which I was wearing hot off the needles, and I didn’t have a picture yet. So I took one.

I started this project last year, after seeing Leigh Radford, its designer, wear hers to knit night. I knit on mine last year until Sock Summit, when I lost my annotated instructions at Deb Accuardi’s pre-summit luncheon/yarn tasting. My fault, not hers! I set the project aside in a fit of pique.

Fast forward to last month, when I finally felt that I could face puzzling out what I had done on the back, so the front would match.

What was I waiting for? I wish I had finished this last year; it’s so much fun to wear.

Ruffle Tank by Leigh Radford
Smallest size 37.5 (and modified smaller)
Louet MerLin Sport Weight, 3 skeins French Blue
Lantern Moon Ebony circulars, US size 3

Mods: I eliminated the keyhole neckline on the back; it was pretty but I wasn’t looking forward to i-cording around it, and I knew I’d never unbutton/button it. I also made the tank shorter overall (because I’m short), and narrower than the smallest size by 4 sts on the front and 4 sts on the back to try to get it to be closer to 36 inches.

After applying my i-cord edging to the neckline, I could no longer get the sweater over my head easily! This is what prompted me to chat up Diane, who had the same issue with the armholes of a tank top. She solved it by crocheting the edge instead. I wasn’t willing to give up yet, because I had already had a discussion with Leigh about i-cord and right and wrong sides, and I really wanted to do it her way. After googling around a bit, I came upon some suggestions to work the i-cord without always attaching it every row. Yarnpath and Mason-Dixon Knitting, were particulary helpful. Armed with this advice, I picked up sts from the wrong side and worked the applied i-cord edging, working an unattached row of i-cord after every 3 attached rows. It worked like a charm. The armholes were still a bit snug using this ratio, so I re-knit them working an unattached row of i-cord after every 2 attached rows. Perfect. And the unattached rows are undetectable to the naked eye. I finished using the Purlbee’s excellent kitchener stitch tutorial (yes, I started with a provisional cast on).

I worked my i-cord using an SSK to attach it to the edge of the tank; I liked this better than PSSO or k2tog. I picked up several sts at a time on the body, like Kelly Petkun did in this video. I also slipped the sts back to the left needle, rather than sliding the dpn through. You can do yours any way you like.

I haven’t washed the garment yet because I wanted to wear it yesterday to work and to knit nite. I don’t know how the fabric will react to the washer and dryer; it may get a lot more relaxed. (I know, I didn’t wash my gauge swatch, naughty me.) I did steam it a bit to relax the ribbing, and the fabric took on a lovely drape. I would happily make another of these. If I do it again, I’ll knit it in the round (it took me 6 tries to get a seam that I liked), and maybe eliminate the little open side seams at the bottom 2 inches of of the tank.

Thanks, Leigh, for a great pattern!

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Posted in Knit

Tagged leigh radford, Ruffle Tank

ask the designer

Posted on August 15, 2010 | 9 comments

I’m making steady progress on the ruffle tank. It’s seamed and just needs the i-cord edgings at the neckline and armholes. Here’s the back. I opted to omit the keyhole closing at the neckline.

This is my first experience with applied i-cord. The instructions in the pattern are for a 2 stitch i-cord, applied from the wrong side. I remembered seeing other general instructions in which i-cord was applied from the right side. I had the opportunity to ask Leigh Radford, the designer, why she chose to work from the wrong side, and her answer was simple: She liked the way it looked.

I decided to try it both ways.

The little bit on the left is applied from the right side. The top 3 stitches were picked up under the far edge. I didn’t like the way it left a ridge on the right side, so I switched to the closer part of the edge on the following stitches. I like the way it looks really tubular. But it looks a little heavy for the edge.

The bit on the right is applied from the wrong side. It doesn’t look as tubular or as finished, but I like it. It’s delicate and a little rustic looking. So I’ll carry on from the wrong side, knowing that Leigh likes it that way. Especially since I feel a little guilty for omitting her keyhole neckline!

In other news, my new iPhone4 is here, and I love it. It’s very intuitive. I took the ruffle tank pictures with its camera this morning because I was too lazy to go downstairs to get my other camera. Not bad, and the macro worked great. Here’s a screen shot of where the phone’s google maps app located me this evening.