SANTA AND PEEPING HEARTS SHAWL

Santa and the Easter bunny

I love it when I have a pattern to share. My problem is that I love knitting so much that I move quickly onto new projects before I take the time to write a pattern in sizes for others to knit. Shawl patterns are a bit simpler that way. ... You want it bigger, just knit more rows -- and pray you have enough yarn!

But before we get to the shawl, we need to give appropriate homage to Santa. I knit a Mochimochi dwarf, adding a red ball on his cap, and mailed it to a friend. (She'd had a dream of me where I was Santa, so how could I resist?) Remember those "Where's Waldo" books and the traveling dwarf in the movie Amelie? Well, she's been doing that with Santa in her house (photos below).
The moral is to never doubt the value of a small knitted item. 

Peeping Hearts Shawl

And now the shawl. I call it Peeping Hearts and am delighted to share the pattern with you. It is a free download on Ravelry.

I'm forever looking for new yarn to try and new projects (as any craft addict will agree). Last year I purchased a skein of Pagewood Farm Chugiak in forest. It is 450 yards, 100 percent Merino superwash sock yarn. Of course, a sock yarn does not necessarily have to become a sock. 


Triangle shawls are tricky to design because of the middle stitch and the increases in the middle and on each side. Not every lace pattern works well and sometimes you just have to accept a bit more "white" space than you might want. 

Peeping Hearts close up

To give the shawl a bit more flair, I added a picot bind off. If you are impatient when you get to the end of a project, of which I am sometimes guilty, you won't like this edging because for every one bind off, you add a couple of stitches. (What is that saying? Two steps forward and one step backward?) But I encourage you to keep with it as it produces a marvelous finish to the shawl.

And, oh by the way, I have several more projects that I've finished while putting this pattern together: a cardigan from the North Donaldsey yarn and a shawlette, and I have two pair of socks on needles plus a sweater for a friend. 

Creatively yours,

Reah Janise

Peeping Hearts Shawl

Santa Rocks!

Ze artiste!

Lookin' for chocolate!

SHAWL TIME

Last year I started knitting triangular shawlettes and absolutely adored working them. Then I came across a crescent shawl, where you start on the longest outside edge row and work your way smaller. I keep doing modifications to the original design (Annis shawl), and just this week completed another shawl that simply thrilled me.

Because of the way lace works up, you almost have to go on faith as to how the finished piece will look. I'd used a white sock yarn with  size 5 needles. I've seen some patterns using beads. Since I've never used beads before, it seemed like a good time to try, so I worked a sample to see how it would work. I got 36 crystal beads and used 30 of them.

By the way, when working with beads you have to string them on your skein before beginning a piece. This can make it a bit awkward because you are always having to shift them down the yarn until you are ready to place them.

I'd decided on replacing the stockinette portion of the Annis shawl with a trellis lace pattern (6 stitch pattern over 4 rows). I thought it would be open enough and also allow for relatively easy decreasing. The decreases were sometimes a bit tricky, and because of it I am not putting up the pattern.

Rather than nupps, which are worked over two rows, I experimented with bobbles.

The other change I made was to use a picot bind off. Cast on two stitches onto the left hand needle. Bind off four stitches. Place the remaining stitch onto the left needle. Repeat. This bind off takes time, but is well worth the lovely edging.

cheers,

Reah Janise

STRING THEORY SHAWL

The last time I checked in, I'd just spent a lovely day dyeing yarn using Kool-Aid. At the time, I'd also just completed another crescent shawl (becoming a favorite shape of mine). The shawl was a another variation of the Annis shawl. I added three rows of additional lace to make it a deeper shawl.

String Theory Crescent Shawl

Two skeins of String Theory DK Viola were used. Because this is hand-dyed yarn, the skeins--from the same dye lot--have enough variation that you should not just go from one hank to another. So every other row, I switched from one ball to another. This made for a blended pattern.

 



Crescent Shawl

And now I have begun a summer lace cotton sweater. Last year I'd made my first triangle shawl from Wolle's Color Changing Cotton yarn. Her four-stranded cotton seemed like it would make an ideal summer lace sweater, one to toss on over a tank top. I bought skeins last year in the color granite and have finally gotten up the courage to start the project.

 

Here's a sample of the lace pattern, called mountains. What I like is that it combines purl stitches on the front, kind of in between "mountains." The sweater will have a boat-neck, so construction is relatively simple.

 

Cheers,

Reah Janise

 

Sparkly Shawl

 This will be a short post -- Christmas is approaching and there are so many gifts to complete!!! -- but I wanted to share, finally, my own shawl design.

The great thing about shawls is that they don't require too much yarn. I had made a rectangle shawl for a friend a few years ago. (I didn't know how to do triangle shawls at the time.) It turned out quite lovely, and I had four skeins remaining, which I thought would be a perfect amount for making my first triangle shawl design. And it was!

The yarn is Australian Merinos Lamé. The color is rosina, kind of a maroon. Each ball is 50 grams, 175 yards. As the lamé might tell you, this yarn has a silver metallic thread running through, so it makes for a dressy shawl.

I have started writing up the pattern, but will have to share it at another time.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these photos.

Cheers,

Reah Janise