This scarf is called the Jasmine Scarf by Pearl Soho. I was intrigued with the pattern design. It looks like a herringbone design and is pretty. I’m hoping to have this done in the next week, I am making this for a friend who just had her last round of chemo and is cold and requested a scarf. I thought this design was pretty and wanted to use a nice warm yarn so I chose some of my prized Andean Yarns, Alpaquita Superfina. I was lucky enough a couple of years ago to buy a full pack of 8 skeins of this yarn because it is soooo soft and squishy. Unfortunately it is now discontinued, but I use it for special occasions :). My friend is special :).
Pattern
Are You Ready for Some Football? 2015 and Some Knitting :)
Are you ready for some football?
Yep it’s FOOTBALL season again!!! I am excited to see how “The Boys” will do this year. They were pretty decent last year, a controversial call did them in at the end of the year. They have lost their first pre-season game, but it’s just that pre-season :). GO COWBOYS!!!
sock yarn from SpinningStreak
This is some beautiful sock yarn from SpinningStreak ‘s Etsy shop (she’s in England). She has some gorgeous yarns. I saw this yarn and tho the shipping from overseas is not cheap, this yarn was talking to me. I have a friend who recently lost her sister and I wanted to so something special for her and I knew this yarn was it. The comfort shawl I have decided to make is called Ethereal Shawl . It’s very basic and simple but because it’s a light weight yarn on large needles it will look light and airy, and should knit up quickly. I’ll post a picture when I am done. She also sent it in a really lovely organza drawstring bag.
July and August knitting
I have been watching some family little ones this summer and have been very busy and haven’t had a lot of time to knit, but here are some things I did work on this summer. A comfort shawl for a friend who had to have a defibrillator put in in case she has a heart attack, she’s really young for this kinda of thing :(. I don’t add the fringe when I make them, but that is just my preference. I like having something easy to work on, keeps my hands busy and keeps me grounded when I feel overwhelmed or stressed out and the dishcloths are perfect for that. The one on the left is called In-Thirds-knit-cloth by Michelle Crimm . It’s a free pattern from Ravelry, easy and very pretty. I love using the Sugar’n Cream cotton Stripes for this cloth, sooooo pretty. I made another one that I already gave to a friend and so I put the left over skein so you could see the lovely colors she got :). The dish (or face) cloth on the left is the old standby Grandmother’s Favorite dishcloth .
I packaged up and sent off the Polypay fleece my friend gave me earlier this year. Because I still have roving from the last fleece she gave me and I wanted to get a couple of hats for her husband and son out relatively quickly before it gets cold , I opted this year to have them process it into sport weight yarn. Cost me almost double but when I get it back in 5 to 6 weeks it will be ready to dye and knit :). It should be about 3 lbs of yarn. I always err on the side of caution when I skirt the fleeces and skirt it more severely because the sheep are not covered and I left too much ugly stuff in the first time and the roving was still full of stuff and noils because I also did not remove the short lengths from the longer back fiber. I don’t want to ruin nice roving because I didn’t skirt it enough. Her husband and son each will have a hat made from the fiber of their own sheep. Should help to keep them warm on their farm ;).
Little Lace Daisy Scarf
This is from the Polypay fleece a friend gave me that I had processed into roving, then I spun, dyed and knit into a scarf to thank her for the fleece. It turned out a deep sapphire blue and she really was hoping for a little lighter blue so I bought a skein of off white lace weight super wash merino to knit with the blue to help lighten it up, but it was kind of a stark marled color so since I had over dyed the blue I washed it again in hot water when I was done knitting (being careful not to felt it), and the off white soaked up enough of the blue to be a pretty light blue actually lightening the color visually. I then soaked it in vinegar again to set the light blue color, this also finished releasing the rest of the over dye. I will give this to her tomorrow, I’m sure she will be pleased :).
The pattern was the daisy from the Daisy Rectangular Shawl I designed (tho’ the daisy is an old Shetland lace pattern). There was a beautiful lace weight scarf on Ravelry someone had made from the shawl pattern using one daisy up each side, but since this was sport weight yarn and she wanted a skinny long scarf I chose to just do one in the middle. Following is the pattern, as before, you may make the scarf to give as a gift but you may not sell the pattern or give the pattern to anyone. If someone wants the pattern, please refer them to this site :). I hope there are no typo errors, I did check but you know how that goes sometimes. I’m not a great pattern writer so I hope that you can read my pattern :).
Little Lace Daisy Scarf
B = Border
K = Knit
P = Purl
K2tog = Knit 2 together
yo = yarn over Note: yo twice is a double yarn over and on the purl rows, knit the first yo and purl the 2nd yo
ssk = Slip stitch, slip stitch, knit the two stitches together (see http://knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases for video of how to make the stitch)
** repeat rows between the two *’s
I used hand spun sport weight with a strand of lace weight, and size 7 knitting needles
Cast on 20 stitches
Knit 3 rows in garter stitch for the bottom border. Keep 3 stitches at both ends of each row in garter stitch for the border throughout.
Knit the next row
B, p to last 3 stitches, B
Start pattern rows
*Row 1 – B, k5, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k5, B (on the even rows the border will still be knit but I put the B on the end so you can make sure you have the right amount of stitches before the B starts J)
Row 2 and all even rows – B, p to last 3 stitches, B
Row 3 – B, k3, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k2tog, yo twice, ssk, k3, B
Row 5 – Repeat row 1
Row 7 – Repeat row 3
Row 9 – Repeat row 1
Knit the next row
B, P to the last 3 stitches, B
Knit the next row
*B, P to the last 3 stitches, B
Knit these pattern rows until the scarf is the desired length and then end with only one knit row and one pearl row (keeping border) after the lace pattern row 9, and then 3 rows of garter stitch and bind off.
I know It’s Been a Month…
Kettle dyed superwash merino roving
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Yes, it has been almost a month since my last post. My job has been very stressful (mortgage industry and with the lower mortgage rates it has been VERY busy) and overtime has been involved, I caught a very bad cold almost 3 weeks ago that went into bronchitis, the severe coughing has subsided but there is still some coughing and still an occational coughing spasm, and still some congestion, but at least I don’t have to sit up all night to sleep anymore. I have a long awaited for and much needed vacation starting Monday this week, so much rest will be the order of the day everyday this week :).
I got the dye I ordered to dye the merino superwash roving that I had on hand. It is for a friend who will be knitting the Daisy Rectangular Shawl I designed. She will be entering it in the state fair where she lives this coming year. I will post a picture of the skeins when I finish spinning, and I will post a picture of her shawl when she is finished knitting it, as she does not have a blog. :). Now, tho it’s a beautiful teal color on my screen (and exactly what I was hoping for), this denotes my lack of expertise in the picture taking arena – the roving did not turn out as teal as I had hoped, it is more green than the picture shows, but hopefully the color will be loved by my friend. If I had more experience with dying I could probably correct the color to what I had hoped for, but alas I do not have that expertise at this time. Maybe she can correct the color after she knits it.
I will be doing some cleaning tomorrow morning as my kitchen sink has a leak in the pipes underneath (I found it when I went to get the kettle out to dye the roving on Friday) and my landlord will be coming tomorrow morning to fix the pipe (the trap) and most of the stuff that was under my sink is now on my counter, some stuff I had to toss. Sigh.
Daisy Rectangular Shawl by LDSVenus
I have reworked the design to take care of some mistakes I made in the pattern. Bare with me as I am not a pattern writer. I can read them, but writing them is a totally different subject :). I also increased the border to 5 stitches instead of 3.
I designed this shawl using an old Shetland lace daisy design.
Do remember I offer this pattern for you to make the shawl, but you may NOT give this pattern out to someone else or sell the pattern. Please direct them to this site or Ribblr to share the pattern. With that out of the way, please enjoy my design.
B = border = k5
k = knit
p = purl
k2 tog = knit 2 together
yo = yarn over – note yo twice is a double yo and on the purl rows you will knit the first yo and purl the 2nd yo.
ssk = slip, slip, knit (see the following site : http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/decreases )
* * = repeat between the *
The lace design will appear as a diagonal design rather than horizontal or vertical and by shifting the design on rows 13-19 you can probably accomplish a vertical design. This is worked from side to side so the cast on is the width. I used approximately a fingering weight yarn and size 7 needles.
This is not a hard pattern but you need to pay attention on the yarn overs to make sure you have two between the two decreases so it doesn’t mess up your stitch count (it can be easy to drop one when you do the ssk), and on the pearl row that you knit the first one and pearl the second one.) A life line might be nice :).
The k2tog is a right leaning decrease and the ssk is a left leaning decrease, I knit combined continental and the way I do my stitch decreases might not give you the lean you need, please feel free to do whatever decrease gives you the correct lean.
cast on 116 stitches.
Knit 5 rows for garter stitch border
Keep 5 stitches on each there after for garter stitch border through out.
Knit one row and purl one row keeping border in garter stitch before beginning the pattern.
The pattern ends with row 24
Rows 1, 5 and 9:
B, k6, *k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k14*, end k6 instead of 14, B
Rows 2 and all even rows: B, p to last 5 stitches, B (please note above in the stitch abreviations how to purl the double yo’s)
Rows 3, and 7:
B, k4, *k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k10*, end k4 instead of 10, B
Row 11:
B, knit to last 5stitches, B
Rows 13, 17, 21:
B, *k15, k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k14*, end k15, B
Rows 15, & 19:
B, k13, *k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k2 tog, yo twice, ssk, k10*, end k13 instead of 10, B
Row 23: B, knit to last 5 stitches, B
Row 24: B, p to last 5 stitches, B
Repeat these 24 rows until the shawl is the desired length.
End with 5 rows of garter stitches (the border should be already established with the garter stitch you are knitting) and bind off.
I did not notice any errors in my writing when I re-knit this, I used this printed page to knit from. If you have any problems following my pattern please drop me a line and let me know so that I can help you.
Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf – revisited
I’m having to repost this pattern because the link on Ravelry for this isn’t working and I have to put in a new link. Hope you will enjoy revisiting this scarf that was originally posted on July 5th 2008.
**ERROR CORRECTED IN PATTERN** If you have copied this pattern you might want to use this corrected copy.
Ok, here is the Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf I knit out of the red white and blue hand spun skein, shown on the right. I used Cat’s Paw, a Shetland lace pattern, and as you can see I staggered the design so that it was not straight across from each other but rather looks like a cat walked up the scarf :). It is free to use for your own use, please do not give this pattern out to others, if someone would like this pattern, please direct them to my blog. 🙂 It was a very quick and easy pattern to knit, and makes a great long skinny scarf. I suggest using a wool or wool blend or other yarn that blocks and holds the block well. Enjoy.
Little Lace Cat’s Paw Scarf
Cast on 29 stitches using size 10 needle, heavy fingering or sport weight yarn. You will still have 29 stitches after completing each row.
B= border stitches (always k5, or you may use a seed stitch border)
k2tog = knit 2 together
k2togtbl = knit 2 together through the back loop
k3tog = knit 3 together
Knit 5 rows, then keeping the borders k one row and p one row before beginning pattern.
Pattern rows:
Row 1 – B, k2, k2 tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B
(Row 2, and all even rows – B, p to last 5 sts, B)
Row 3 – B, k1, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B
Row 5 – B, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k to last 5 sts, B
Row 7 – B, k to last 5 sts, B
Row 9 – B, k12, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k2, B
Row 11 – B, k11, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, k2togtbl, k1, B
Row 13 – B, k12, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2togtbl, k2, B
Row 15 – B, k to last 5 sts, B
Row 16 – B, p to last 5 sts, B
Repeat these rows for pattern to length you desire, ending with knit 5 rows and bind off.
LDSVenus-knits 