Sneak Peek at Upcoming Pattern

Where has the time gone? Oh yeah... planning a wedding! I'm getting married in 10 days! Well, to keep my sanity I have been working on a few knitting projects. One of them is a feather and fan lace shawl for my Matron of Honor. This lovely shawl will soon be a pattern available for purchase. See the sneak peek below!

Knitscene Winter/Spring 2011 - Camellia Shrug

The preview is up for Knitscene Winter/Spring 2011. I am lucky enough to have contributed a pattern is this issue, the Camellia Shrug. It is a lace shrug worked from the center out in a lace square, then continued into the sleeves with a lace motif at the wrist. It is worked in the heavenly soft Lorna's Laces Honor, a DK weight alpaca/silk blend.

There are so many awesome patterns in this issue, I don't know where to start! I'm in love with the Bas Relief Socks and I don't even particularly enjoy knitting socks, but I think I will gather up enough courage to work on these. I also love the vintagey look of the Piccadill Pullover. Big round of applause to the designers and editors at Knitscene for putting together a fantastic issue!

Weaving on a Triangle Loom

My Christmas present to myself this year was a 72" triangle loom from Weaver's Cupboard. I bought it early in December and have been busy with it ever since. I find weaving on a triangle loom intriguing- you begin at the outer points of the triangle and weave towards the center. It looks like it will never come out right but it magically always does. I usually use 5-8 different yarns- these projects are great stash busters. The nature of the weaving automatically creates a plaid pattern and is great for showing off different yarn textures. I love using my handspun yarn, the thick and thin aspect of my still-novice handspun yarn is an advantage in this kind of project.

I have made three shawls so far. The first is a green, blue and purple mix of handspun and commercially spun yarn. One of the commerical yarns is a 1" wide ribbon type of yarn that has long since lost its yarn band. I searched through ravelry to find out what it is but I had no luck. I learned the hard way in this project that using a mohair yarn probably isn't a good the best idea in a weaving project. The yarn kept sticking to itself and shedding like crazy, thus weakening the yarn. I even had to bust out my shed stick and grumbled throughout the whole weaving process. But I am quite happy with the result and already gave the shawl away as a Christmas present.

The second shawl is a pink, purple and teal mix that I made for myself. I used up a pink and purple tweedy handspun yarn that I made long ago. I avoided using fuzzy yarns in this project and it went much smoother than the previous project. The weave was pretty loose, but I found out the first time I wore this shawl that it is still very warm.

The third shawl is mustard, navy, olive and taupe. I wanted to make a shawl for my mom, who can't wear wool, so I really had to dig through my stash for non-wool yarns. I started off with a cone of variegated chenille that I have been wanting to use. It has shades of navy, periwinkle, olive and mustard. I looked around and found solid coordinating yarns in various textures: brown and navy Lion Brand Homespun, shiny rayon boucle in olive, smooth taupe bamboo, and mustard cabled cotton. This shawl also has a very open weave but still is warm to wear. I added fringe on this shawl and I think the end result is very dramatic.

I still have one more shawl planned, it will be in neutral shades of brown, blue and grey. It will be for my friend who has offered her services as a photographer for my wedding in March. She is six feet tall, so this will probably end up being more like a scarf to her!

FO: Essential Cardigan

What started out as an easy summer vacation project is now finally finished. I took a long break from this project and finally picked it up again a couple weeks ago to finish it up. The pattern is Essential Cardigan from Interweave Knits Summer 2010. The yarn is Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in Periwinkle Blue. This yarn has been sitting in my stash for many years and I thought this project would be the perfect use for it. I found lovely metal buttons on Textile Garden. The only modification I made was to make 4 buttonholes instead of 8. I bought the buttons before thinking up a project to use them for and only purchased 4!

FO: Nana's Shawl

Nana's shawl is now blocked and dried and I had a chance to take some nicer photos in the sunlight. It is a feather and fan shawl worked in three sections in a bulky weight wool yarn. Nana loves her hand knitted shawls and this one will be her Christmas present. I'm going to work up another one in a lighter weight yarn for myself, I'm thinking of Knitting Fever Whispers. Hopefully it will eventually turn into a new pattern for me. Stay tuned!

Cloudy Morning and Finished Objects

A few mornings ago, I came out to the kitchen to make coffee and found the nearby mountains covered with thick clouds. They came down almost to the base of the foothills where my apartment is, so I had to take a couple of pictures.

Over the past week I have finished working on several projects that are now just waiting to be washed. I finished spinning my purple mix of crock pot dyed wool, finished knitting the prototype for a new pattern which will also be a Christmas present for Nana, and finished weaving a bronson lace scarf. I have been a busy bee! Sorry for the lousy photos, it is late and quite dark in my living room at the moment. When everything is washed and dried, I promise to take better photos.

Pattern Update and Promotion

Cabled Heart Gloves is one of my first designs. These gloves are an everyday accessory for me in the winter months. They keep my hands warm and my fingers free to type while I'm at work. After a couple years of abuse, my original pair has become dingy and full of pills. I decided to make a new pair and printed off my pattern. Upon reading it, I decided it was time for a makeover. My designing over the last few years has led me on a long journey in which I have learned many new skills and read a lot of knitting books. In the updated pattern, I am adding an additional size, nicer photos and (hopefully) clearer instructions.

On Ravelry, Casey has just created promotional codes for designers to use in their pattern store. In honor of the new coupons, I have created one for this pattern. Receive $1 off when you purchase both the Cabled Heart Fingerless Gloves and Valentine Cables Hat patterns. Both feature cables with hearts and would create a nice set for a loved one. The coupon code is cabledheart, or just enter the code here. Coupon will be in effect from September 19-October 31.