Knit progress: Lace Cowl

After the holidays I slowed down on knitting projects and circled back to a little item I have wanted to make for a while: a thick cowl for winter. I was gifted two beautiful skeins of Knitting Fever KFI Luxury Roving in blues and thought this would be a perfect project for them. I also received the book Harmony Guides: Lace & Eyelets for Christmas. I am planning to use it as inspiration for a shawl. As I flipped through, I found a bunch of beautiful patterns and settled on the Pillar Openwork Lace stitch.

 

Notes on the Cowl:

Knit like a regular scarf  and bind off and then sew ends together after blocking

Needle size: US9
Pattern repeats: 16
Skeins: 2

I used both skeins a left a bit at the end to sew together the edges after blocking. This pattern is very easy and creates a nice thick fabric that has a bulky feel. It made cowl that can be worn as a single or double loop.

Updated knit pattern: Gingerbread Icing Scarf

One of the things I did over the New Year’s long weekend was revise the Gingerbread Icing Scarf pattern. The biggest addition to this pattern is the full repeat chart. It also includes sizing information and pictures of the new sample I knit to finalize this pattern.  You can download this pattern here or from the patterns page. I’ve also updated the link in the original post. Enjoy!

K&P_Gingerbread_Icing_Scarf

Knit Progress: grab bag of stuff

I’ve been working on a number of projects the past few weeks, most of them being custom order items or Christmas presents on my own holiday list! Here is a grouping of a bunch of those projects. A friend of mine asked me to make these simple I-cord necklaces as a gift and I liked them so much, I made some for myself to use as minimal scarves this winter. I had some small balls of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino left over from other projects and they were perfect for this type of project where you need just a bit of yarn. Here’s a quick video to show you how to do it. I used US8 dpns and worked over 4 stitches. I also have quick instructions in this craftsy project.

I’ll be starting on a hat and another set of gloves or two for some Christmas presents of my own. I’ve been working with Malabrigo Silky Merino again and remembered why I love it – so soft with a beautiful sheen!

Happy Thanksgiving this week!

Progress report: Shawl finished!

With diligence and time, I finally finished the beautiful Wellen shawl this weekend. I love the color I chose (Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Saffron), but it really came to life when I blocked the piece to reveal the gorgeous play of the pattern. Its amazing what a complete transformation happens in that final step! So I can mark off another christmas present complete. After I finished using the finest yarn I’ve knit with to date, I knit up a quick short scarf with some chunky yarn that had been hanging out at the bottom of one of my stash bins. It was really interesting to go from one extreme to the other.

July Knit Lab I: recycled yarn scarf

I’ve been thinking about doing a recycled yarn project for a while now, but hadn’t seen anything that caught my eye until my last trip to the goodwill to peruse the book shelves. I decided to look at the sweater rack as well and a short sleeved lightweight sweater caught my eye. I liked the unusual color combination and  it looked like I could pull it apart fairly easily.

After a day of ripping out seams and unraveling the sweater, I had a solid ball of cobweb weight yarn to work with. I thought I’d do a thin lace scarf and decided on this simple Leaf Shadow pattern since the yarn was so fine and easy to drop stitches. I left the yarn in the stripe order of the sweater and really like how it looks as a scarf.

I had never worked with yarn so fine, so I had to watch my knitting the whole time, but it was a fun project!

Let me know if you’ve done a similar project and how it turned out!

Progress Report May 2012: Two Hats and an Infinity Scarf

Projects have slowed down a bit after the flurry of knitting and pattern making that went into the ZigZag swirl hat. I took some time to try another lacey scarf pattern and created this great pattern from two existing patterns in my Vogue Stitch-a-day calendar you can see it here (if you scroll down, you’ll see the pattern chart).

I also went back to my stash and found I had a bunch of little balls of yarn left from previous projects using Lion Brand Amazing in Ruby and Arcadia. I decided to put these to use with the simple Interweave Hat pattern and made two nice organic striped hats.

Now I am starting on a new fingerless glove pattern to accompany the ZigZag Swirl hat. Look for another update soon.

Free Knit Pattern: Gingerbread Icing Scarf

I created a complimentary pattern to go with the hat that has similar elements but is a bit different so that it has its own personality. The cables vary in length to break up the monotony of the repeat. Enjoy!

K&P_Gingerbread_Icing_Scarf

Cabled Hats & Scarf

This is the most recent batch of items I have created. I had a request for a hat and scarf in this beautiful Eggplant color. I decided to create play with texture so I started with creating the hat. To continue with texture, I designed the scarf to combine the cable with a chevron pattern to keep it from becoming too bulky. I made sure the pattern would look beautiful from both sides, with the added bonus of creating a three-dimensional edge. I can’t wait to make one of these for myself! The hat went over well, so I made one more in Heather Gray.

Pattern: Eggplant Cabled Hat
Source: original design
Yarn: Lionbrand Woolease in Eggplant
Completed: 02.13.11

Pattern: Eggplant Scarf
Source: original design
Yarn: Lionbrand Woolease in Eggplant
Completed: 02.24.11

Pattern: heather Gray Cabled Hat
Source: original design
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool in gray
Completed: 02.2611