CRESCENT SHAWL AND BUTTERFLIES

Crescent Hearts Shawl

Apologies for the hiatus, but some family matters required my attention.
Knitting projects, however, have not stopped. First up, I was flying to California for a conference and had thought I was more than prepared for knitting air time. I managed to complete the second of a pair of socks about midway and started on a lace shawl. I’d designed and knit one earlier and quickly given it to a departing colleague. I call it Crescent Hearts. The pattern is available on Ravelry.

Close up of lace pattern

To my dismay, I found that I’d not included stitch markers and had only 6 in my Knit Kit. Yikes!

While you can knit lace without stitch markers, I do not recommend it. It is far too easy to make errors and thus lose valuable time and energy, not to mention having to rip out lace. (Oh the horror!)

I remembered that a friend had made her own stitch markers from yarn. Seemed like a good idea to me, especially since I wanted to get this shawl moving. So, using the leftover sock yarn, I made 20 little slip knot stitch markers. (They work very well. You just need to make sure you don't knit them into your stitches.) The shawl was nearly finished by the time we returned home a few days later.

I like crescent shawls mainly because they are so-o-o much easier to design than triangle shawls and more interesting than rectangle shawls. Oh, and the yarn is made from soymilk: Pure Soysilk from South West Trading Company. It works up nicely and has a lovely luster.

By the way, the socks used a butterfly stitch. Since the yarn was already multicolored, I had looked for a stitch that would add just a touch of fun, and the butterfly was just that. The yarn was Berroco Sox. The pattern is available in my Ravelry store for free.

Until next time ... happy knitting!

Reah Janise

Butterfly Socks

Beads, Dots, and Pandas

Beaded Lace Shawl

Have been having lots of fun lately. First was working with beads. Hmmm. Not really sure I'd call it fun. More of an adventure actually. If you haven't worked with beads before and someone knits something for you with beads in it, be grateful, very grateful, very, very grateful.

Beaded lace closeup

The plan was to make a crescent shawl using Wandering Wool's Udaipur fingering, which is a lovely silvery blue color. I explained my plan to another knitter who suggested that it would work really well with beads. I had used beads with one other shawl, just a few that hung on the points of lace. For that pattern, I slipped the beads on the yarn before starting the shawl. Fortunately, the lace was the first to be knit and so the beads were soon off my yarn and onto the shawl. However, I really didn't want to do that with this shawl because there was going to be over a hundred beads and these were smaller than for the previous shawl.

So I used another technique for adding beads. I used what seemed like the smallest crochet hook ever to add the beads on while I knit. When I was ready to add the bead, I poked the crochet hook through the bead, hooked the stitch I wanted to add the bead to on the left-hand knitting needle, slid the bead down onto the stitch, and then slid the stitch back onto the left-hand needle and knit the stitch.Whew.

It took a while to get the hang of this technique, especially since the crochet hook was so teeny and I didn't always catch all of the yarn threads each time. The rows where I added beads took five times as long to complete than the rows without beads. But I like the end product. And now I'm thinking about what else I can knit with beads! Socks?

Oh, the shawl was a version of my favorite Annis shawl. But where the Annis shawl is finished off with stockinette, I used a simple 4-row lace pattern. Odd rows were purled. Row 2 was k2tog (right-slant decrease), yo. Row 4 was yo, ssk (left-slant decrease). 

Random Dots Socks

One adventure completed, I turned to another new experience. Polka dots.

I still consider myself a bit of a beginning when it comes to color work, but wanted to give it a try. So I set to work on knitting a pair of polka dotted socks. I used four stash yarns for the polka dots, all of which were multi-colored. I knit a sample dot and measured how much yarn it took, then pulled out 6 lengths per color and rolled them around a holder. 

I call the socks Random Dots because I didn't hold to a pattern for the dots.I mailed them to a friend who needed a little cheer.

Mochimochi Tiny Pandas

 
When I'm thinking of a larger project, I tend to start socks because I find them easy and relaxing to knit. So while I've been working on a pattern for a sweater for a niece, I started a pair of brown tweed cabled socks for a sweater for my niece. 

Meanwhile, I picked up the Mochimochi Tiny Panda kit that I'd purchased for $10 at VogueKnitting Live in New York in January. Just finished the third panda today. The first panda went to a friend who hasn't been feeling very well. These are absolutely adorable. Too tiny for a baby, but you can make them into pins or just have fun with them. And that's what these were. Fun. And easy. It takes only an hour to make one.

Purling off for now!

Reah Janise

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VOGUE KNITTING LIVE

Felted chess set @ Vogue KnittingLive

Knit garden @ Vogue KnittingLive

Ever been surrounded by hundreds of people who all harbor the same addiction? Well that's what I did over a week ago.

The addiction? Knitting. The place? New York City. The event? Vogue Knitting Live.

Classes, teachers, and a really great marketplace of yummy yarns, kits, and more. I'm terrible at taking pictures, so I just have a couple to share from some of the artists: an amazing chess set (love the dragon!) and a garden complete with fountain, flowers and birds.
I took three classes: one on steeking, which is something you absolutely need to know how to do if you want to do a Fair Isle cardigan or any kind of color work that you want to match up. The two part class on designing lace shawls and writing the pattern provided terrific information. I started a shawl that I plan to wear at a big event for my boss's 80th birthday gala. The last class was on designing drop and saddle shoulders. I learned when these are good to use and how to design them.

The Marketplace had many, many temptations, and I was reserved, but I still came away with some lovely cashmere, a few kits, and yarn for making a shawl and a couple of scarves.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting up a few things. I finished a sweater using Mountain Colors yarn, which I wore to the event. I wanted a simple sweater that I could just toss on. The color is so rich that it needed no embellishment, so I just did a cable up the front, back, and sleeves. At the conference, one of the teachers was wearing a cowl that matched her sweater. Aha! I had extra yarn, so as soon as I got home, I worked up a pattern and knit one. I used a triangle pattern using knit/purl. The cowl has been perfect since winter has been unusually cold this year.

Pink Tiger Socks

I also knit up a pair of socks. As I've mentioned before, socks are the best thing to take on a trip because they take up so little space. I finished one sock on the train home and started the second one, finishing it the next day. I call these my pink tiger socks. I used a lace pattern even though with a multi-colored yarn they are not easily seen. But I like how it moves the color lines. The yarn is Pinnacle Fingering from Wild Hare Fiber Studio. It has the greatest colors, even neon, for socks.

After Christmas I knit a pair of fingerless mitts for myself, but gave them to a friend. I had yarn left over from the cardigan I knit for my friend, so I knit another pair for myself--and am wearing them as I type this. Ahh, warm and cozy hands.

But I'm not finished. I bought a kit to make a felted cloche hat. I was so excited about it that I knit it up really quickly and set about felting it, but something went wrong. I somehow didn't felt it right and the hat didn't shrink. Undaunted, I made some adjustments and made it into a rolled band hat. Hat, cowl, and sweater are featured in this photo.

Hat, cowl and new sweater.

And now I've made a swatch for a scarf idea with one of the new yarns.

And the knit goes on,

Reah Janise 

MULTI FUN SOCKS

So here's the deal. After knitting socks for the last, hmm, dozen years, I have lots of small balls of leftover sock yarn. Some are enough to make one sock, but definitely not another two.

So when I finished the last shawl and while I was working out the pattern for the next thing--a baby sweater--I picked up three leftovers, two multi-color and one simply red. and started a pair of socks. To let the color be the pattern, I stayed with a simple rib stitch.

And here they are!

Having fun,

Reah Janise

NORO SOCK HUGS

OK, so two of my knitting friends LOVE Noro yarns. I've watched them knitting scarves and bags and just having a delightful time with this kicky yarn.

Well, recently a friend was diagnosed with a difficult illness. I wanted to do something to let her know that I cared--something more than flowers or a card. Since she lives across the country, I wanted it to be something lasting that would remind her she was loved.
So when I was picking up an order from Knit + Stitch = Bliss in Bethesda, I bought a skein of Noro Taiyo sock yarn. This friend loves fun socks and few yarns are as fun as Noro. One reason is that each sock comes out different because that's just how the yarn colors come through.

I used an overall cable pattern, interlacing the cables--like little hugs. Will post the pattern shortly.

XO,
Reah Janise

No Noodling or Nodding, Just ‘Nittin’

String Theory Loopy Socks

Close up, Loopy Socks

From the looks of it, you might just think I’ve been nodding off at the needles since it's been so long since my last post. But that would be incorrect.


First off, a pair of socks knit (Loopy Socks) with String Theory (great yarn!) came off the needles. I’d started these while traveling for Easter because socks are easier to knit on planes and don’t take up as much room in your bag as does a sweater.

Next, I finished my “Wee Bit ‘O Scotland” cable cardigan, made with one of the Great Scottish Yarn Expedition yarns.  The yarn comes from Shilasdair Shop on the Isle of Skye, Waternish peninsula, and is handspun with natural dyes. I had a lot of fun designing the pattern and really like the finished product. Buttons are always a bit of a challenge, but found some that were varigated like the yarn. Thanks to the clerk at G Street Fabrics with the great eye!


Loopsy Artsy Socks

Have begun writing up the pattern and will post it when completed. For this one, I will also attempt to include sizes. (Fingers crossed!)
Meanwhile, on a visit to my mother, who is now in long term care in Pennsylvania, I started another pair of Loopy Socks only with yarn my artist friend, Relene, had Kool-Aid dyed. I'm calling them Loopsy Artsy Socks because of their lively color! Am close to finishing these, but meanwhile, also started a crescent shawlette.

Creamed Crescent Shawl




Wee Bit 'O Scotland Cardigan

Thursday night saw the completion of the shawl. I'd purchased the yarn on a visit to my mother about ten years ago when she lived in North Carolina. (It’s called yarn stashing, not hoarding.) I improvised the Annis Shawl pattern, adding a few extra lace rows because I wanted a somewhat deeper crescent shawl. Unlike the first time I knit this shawl, I worked the nupps, but left out one row because they … take … so … long.  

 In the midst of all of this, last weekend began the Metro Yarn Crawl, a nine-day journey threading through the yarn stores of the DC metro area. Two friends participated in this journey with me on separate days. What a delight to visit new shops and get a feel for the creative knitting community. Each shop has its unique personality and selection of yummy yarns.

Now, needles ready ... NEXT!

Reah Janise
 

Close up of pattern

PATTERN TIME!

Now that the holiday season is over, I've been able to put more time into completing promised patterns.


Sparkly Shawl pattern

The first is Sparkly Shawl. As I mentioned in my earlier post, this is my first triangle shawl design. It's fairly simple, so as long as you are familiar with lace work, you should have no problem following the pattern.


Cable Socks 2012 pattern

The next pattern is for the socks I began on our trip to Scotland. I've actually upgraded this pattern, filling out the corners and edges, so to speak. This sock is my husband's favorite. He says it hugs his legs and is comfortable all around. Here's the original blog post for this sock. I posted two blogs on this sock. The first is when I'd finished the first sock and the second was when I posted the pattern. And now, here is the upgraded and hopefully improved pattern.

I've just finished two sweaters for my nephews in Ohio. They are 12 and 10. I hope to include pictures of them in the sweaters with the patterns.
Until then, Happy 2013!

Reah Janise