And the winners are…

Raveler casey31652 wins the 2 skeins of Faery Wings.

Raveler modeste wins the (not yet released) Tiong Bahru pattern.

Update: modeste happens to be a standby test knitter for this pattern, so she’ll receive some other surprise gift.
A second runner-up who wins the pattern is Raveler woolydoodles.

Congratulations!

This was fun.
There will simply have to be another Prize Draw for knitters of Tiong Bahru, when that pattern is released (any day now…). I just have to pick a suitable yarn in my stash.

Prize Draw

On Wednesday May 16 at 11:59 PM RST a winner will be drawn from all owners of the Bakau shawl pattern.*

The prize?

2 skeins of  Fyberspates Faery Wings in the colourway Mango (above).

My first Bakau was knitted with this magical yarn — a luxurious mix of silk, mohair and nylon (100 g/399 yds/ 365 m)I believe there will be more.

Oh, and a runner-up will win my next pattern, Tiong Bahru (not yet released):

Now, back to knitting (another Tiong Bahru… in Dye For Yarn‘s Silk Lace).

* RST = Ravelry Standard Time, also known as The Local Time in Boston, MA, (GMT -4).

The winner and runner up will be drawn randomly using the random generator at random.org.

A brief moment in the sun

For some exciting hours Bakau was the top pattern in the Ravelry rankings. I know, I know… the rankings are a bit of a mystery and it probably helps to post a new pattern when nobody else is at that exact moment and when the fourth planet is in retrograde and there’s a hail storm in Georgia placing bored Ravelers in front of their screens, idly clicking away at any new pattern.

Still. It was my moment.

Bakau was fun to design. The idea was to make a simple somewhat elongated semi-circular shawl using one of the stitch patterns (Swag Lace) from another recent design (a very lacy wedding shawl).

So… Bakau is simple and non-fussy with a bit of lacy elegance and nicely neat, finished edges (selvedges) that are knit along as you go (visible in upper left corner in the photo above). I like those very much.

There is a fun quirk to casting on — Åsa’s Tab Cast On — which creates a seamless edge. Rather clever, if I may say so…

It’s not complicated, just a bit different.

Even so, in case you’re  having trouble with it, the link above goes to a mini photo tutorial so you can see for yourself just how simple it is.  (Knitters who have knitted my Semele or Galathea will recognise the idea.)

By the way, the pattern includes also a smaller 1-skein version. This one is knitted with Sanguine Gryphon Bugga:

the yarn, the yarn… oooh!

I’ve been knitting with Faery Wings again. It’s just a little bit magical — even if one does not have any particular faery or magical inclinations. Which one doesn’t.

So while I wait for the blocked shawl to dry and for more photogenic weather and lighting, a few tidbits…
 

 

Pattern: Bakau (to be published soonish — Aprilly)
Yarn: Fyberspates Faery Wings (silk/mohair/nylon, 100g/365m/399yds) — less than 2 skeins
Needles: 4mm
Shape: crescent-y
Size: 190cm x 65 cm (75in x 25in) — I’m working on a smaller 1-skein version as well
Construction: top down, all-in-one-knit-everything-as-you-go (no short rows)

I can report that Faery Wings frogs very well, despite its halo and fluffiness… tinking is worse, but frogging works j.u.s.t. f.i.n.e.

(sort-of) intarsia in the round

I like knitting in the round. I like colour blips. I like the two together.
But intarsia does not work in the round…

So this is how I do it.

(The instructions below are specifically for the coloured squares in my sweatrrr (see previous post) — pattern should be available soon(ish). If you are working with larger colour insertions, you’ll obviously need a longer piece of Contrast Colour and to be a little inventive.)

Round 1: Cut a 50cm (20in)-piece of Contrast Colour (CC) yarn. Join and knit 5 sts, but leave a 16cm (6in) end at the beginning. You will knit the 5 CC sts on the next round with this end.

5 CC sts knitted on Round 1. Not a bad start!

Now strand the Main Colour (MC) behind, not too loosely, not too tightly either, then twist MC around CC, and pull MC tight at beg. of the 5 CC sts — pull and stretch the fabric to see that the yarn is not pulled too tightly, check, fiddle a little.

Twisting the yarns -- in normal intarsia knitting, this would be the complete twist right here.

Completion of the twist -- you are ready to knit with the purple (MC) now.

Round 2: Knit 5 CC sts with the short yarn end from previous round.

View from the wrong side. The arrow points to the short end, which is picked up to knit the 5 CC sts of Round 2 (from the right side).

Now strand MC behind and twist it with the long end of  CC (from the previous round).

View from the wrong side after knitting Round 2 (from the right side). On Round 3, you'll be purling back with the long yarn end at bottom right.

Round 3: This is the odd-one-out round. Slip the 5 CC sts without knitting them from Left Needle to Right Needle. Turn work (= Wrong Side) and purl 5 CC sts with the long yarn end from the first round.

Slipping 5 CC sts from Left Needle to Right Needle -- so that they can be worked (purled) from the WS.

5 sts for Round 3 have here been purled back from the wrong side.

Turn work (= Right Side) and again slip the 5 CC sts from Left Needle to Right Needle.

Continue with MC as before, stranding, twisting.

Round 4:  Knit 5 CC sts (the yarn end is just where you want it), then continue with MC. Done.

The coloured square is complete -- and one more round has been knitted above it.

Viewed from the Wrong Side.

I used a similar technique — but improvised and not very methodical — for a larger, red square on my marja-stina kiddie kimono:

sweatrrr-knitting is possible… after all

The Sleeve

I have been avoiding sweaters for all the obvious reasons.

They usually don’t fit. And this is obvious only after HOURS of knitting and sewing and blocking and fretting.

But this one fits.

And I love it.

Well, mostly I love the sleeve for it is so blisteringly brilliant. Or at any rate a rather nifty solution to the expected and confirmed yarn shortage.

The rest of the sweater is not too shabby either… including sort-of-intarsia squares.

Knitting was done in the round & top-down, using the brilliant but heavily modified yet still brilliant Tailored Sweater Method by Tuulia Salmela.

Now I shall get busy with writing a pattern and then recruit some speedy, brillliant test knitters.

That’s enough brilliance for one sitting. Back to knitting.

Some facts…

Yarn: Hannah by Posh Yarn (fingering/sock yarn: 80% Merino, 10% Nylon, 10% Cashmere, 366m/400yds/100g) + scraps of contrast yarn (Wollmeise and Posh Yarn Elinor)

Yardage: 1100m/1200 yds (3 skeins)

Needles: 3.5mm & 3mm (US 4 & 3)  circular needles

Construction: top-down, seamless

Knitted in about 10 days

in medias res

I have been knitting a few things. But not posted. As usual.

This is likely for the good not only of me but also everyone else.

(And yes, I dislike incomplete sentences. Too mannered. And yet.)

Now, about Isaura.

I am not quite sure about Isaura. It may grow on me, and it may not. The IDEA was to create a design that ONE shows off the FANTASTIC yarn (Fyberspates Faery Wings).

F. a. n. t . a. s . t. i. c. (Yes, I’ve ordered some more in teal-green-aqua-turquoise-something).

TWO. Is dead easy. Easy peasy.

THREE. Is knitted in one piece, all and everything at once together.

FOUR. Is knit sideways and is semi-circular and has solid patches and has lacy bits.

(I think we’re up to 8?)

That’s about it.

I’ve reknitted the first wedge three times.  As usual. But I won’t bore you with what worked and what didn’t and why or why not. I will, however, post some how-to photos for reading the EASY lace bits and how to coax the first half of the double YO into being knit through the back loop. Easy.

Coming soon to a Ravelry page near you.

20 July @ Posh Yarn!

The Ifigenia kit goes on sale on 20 July at 8pm at Posh Yarn.

I am quite excited to see what colours Dee’s Tony will have invented for the kit. OK, so I’m also verrry excited to even have been asked to design for the lovely Dee of Posh Yarn. I’m just trying to act normal and unbothered, as if it is something I do every day…

(For a beaded shawl, you will need to also get 372 size-8 beads for a 6-wedge shawl, and 434 beads for a 7-wedge shawl.)

I’m going to cast on my second Ifigenia tonight. With this:

Ifigenia — for release in July

Another sideways shawl, yes, but a very different construction (the experiment worked!)

Dee of Posh Yarn lamented a while back that she was bored with loooong, purled rest rows… wherefore Ifigenia has none. In fact, there are no really long rows at all for the shawl is knitted sideways in wedges that become shorter and shorter, and end with only 9 stitches. But neither is there any real rest along the way, just the relief of the rows getting shorter and shorter.

In July the pattern will be made available as a Posh Kit in the Posh Shop.

There will be a good number of kits, so it should not be the kind of frantic madhouse that ensues during the regular Sunday evening Shop updates. (The Posh Group on Ravelry usually shares some of their shopping tricks which can be quite involved (and just short of live sacrifices)).

I admit, Ifigenia was inspired, against all my instincts, by a rather clunky garter-stitch doily I’d seen. It too had the zigzag line that only really emerges after a few wedges have been knit. For Ifigenia I wanted something airy and delicate, so I worked in a mesh pattern below the zigzag and another lace motif toward the top, ending with a delicate, beaded picot border along the lower edge. All knit in one piece.

Truthfully, after the first wedge has been knit, things don’t really look all that promising, but gradually something delicate and decidedly shawl-like emerges. I promise.

To bead or not to bead

Beading. This is a shawl design that will (if all goes to plan) be released as a Limited Edition Kit in June/July (and then, some time next year, downloadable from Ravelry as usual).

Beading. It is … just a little trying for those of us with limited patience. But I do love the deep cobalt blue beads against what must be the perfect purple, a purple that shifts subtly from pale almost silvery lilac to something quite saturated and intense.

Back to beading. Without my pack of Oral-B’s SuperFloss and this technique (but using floss instead of wire) pedagogically and patiently explained and illustrated by the übertalented designer and knitter Rosemary (Romi) Hill, I would be at sea with my beads.

And I must sing the praises of my bead supplier, Pärltorget, a Swedish (online) shop with a rich selection and brilliant selection tools — you can narrow your choice down in all sorts of ways (size, quality, lining, colour, shape, finish). Very useful. Customer service is more than impressive and very friendly. And she is sending me a little, teeny crochet hook. I think beading will be more pleasant with a proper tool like that. And faster, which is good for impatient souls.

Time to do some serious knitting. It’s looking good!
I need to prove to sceptics that beaded shawls are nothing like those beaded (for special occasions) granny hair nets. Oh, but maybe it is a little hair-net-like, after all… Eek!