I am such a lucky girl! Last weekend I was surround by fiber artists at the Surface Design Association Conference and had a great time learning, looking, and networking!
Pat Hickman was the keynote speaker – showing lots of beautiful images of her work and inspiration to keep experimenting and allowing our creativity as artists to flow in whichever direction we are inclined to go.
Here is a video of one of her works which chronicles the creation of the commissioned entrance gates to the Maui Arts! Fiber to metal in a large scale!
Here are two pictures of a fiber to metal project I did with my sisters a few years ago. Knit rope that I cast and then poured. Thank you Felicia and Veronica for all the beautiful art you give to the world and the work you do in creating community around art!
I love this technique of working two rows in the same direction!
Here are some pics of my latest Falling Leaves Shawlette. Yes it is red and green – a bit cliche – but it works for me!
This yarn is wonderful to work with and though it is difficult to tell from these pics, the slight variegation in the color is quite lovely.
I bought this yarn at Shepherd’s Harvest – the booth was directly across from mine and Angela’s yarn was so sweet that I could have spent all my money there!
The name of this blend is “Opulence” and that is what it felt like to knit – 80% superwash Merino wool, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. All for the Love of yarn! can be found and purchased on line and I can’t wait to buy some more.
I’ve got the van loaded up and ready to drive the the Washington County Fairgrounds to set up my booth for Shepherd’s Harvest.
I’ll be vending my hand knitting patterns: Here is a photo of Hannah wearing the “Wrapped in Camel” shawl.
This pattern is hot of the press and ready for you to pick up! In case you can’t make it to Shepherd’s Harvest it is also for sale on <a href=”buy now“>Ravelry.
I knit a rectangular shaped shawl that screamed for tassels – I made 4 tassels and attached them to the corners of the shawl.
This shawl is knit in 1 strand of 100% camel yarn and 1 strand of variegated sock yarn
I uploaded a video of how to make these tassels on YouTube. It’s a bit long (7:37 minutes) but does show a very good way to make tassels.
I love this new way of knitting that I’ve discovered! It’s really quite simple. . . knit a row, purl a row. The catch is to use a circular needle and knit with one color. Then instead of turning the work around to purl back, you slide the stitches to the other end of the circular needle and purl across with a 2nd color.
Then you turn the work around as usual and repeat the knit and purl rows as described above.
I’ll be selling this new pattern at Shepherd’s Harvest this year. Come and see me! I’m sharing a booth with Gale Woods Farm.
Here are a few more photos of the shawl to tempt you.
I really don’t know what to call this yet. . . is it a pattern? Probably. This fun scarf was my first attempt at my new way to knit stockinette. Really! Knit a row, purl a row. The trick is to knit on circular needles because you will be slipping the stitches back and forth. It’s much easier to do than to write about. . .try it, you’ll like it!
Both sides of the fabric are the same and no rolling edges!
Scarf knit in Corntastic yarn from collage
Maybe I should call this my corn row technique because I first tried it on this scarf knit in Corntastic from Kollage – 100% corn fiber! It is really soft and has a beautiful drape! It knits a bit like linen in that it doesn’t have much stretch and it did tend to split if I wasn’t careful.
Here is the free pattern for this scarf: You can knit this in any 2 colors of yarn and get a great result. I’m finding that high contrast colors show off the pattern best.
Corntastic from Kollage 105 yards/50 grams
1 skein each of Amethyist and Citrine
Size 5 circular needle – (can be any length)
Scarf size:40″ long x 5″ wide
Cast on 30 stitches.
For the braided look on the edge I did this (but you don’t have to of course) (An even number of stitches is requried.)Â Row 1 *Knit 1 A, knit 1 B*Â repeat from *
Row 2 Knit 1 with B, *pick up A under B and knit 1 with A, pick up B under A and knit 1 with A* repeat from *
Row 3 *Pick up B over A and knit 1 B, pick up A over B and knit one A* repeat across.
The yarn will be twisting around itself but I think untangling it is well worth the beautiful edge it creates. I first learned this technique from Anna Zilboorg in her book Magnificent Mittens.
Now for the main part of the pattern:
Pick up A and bring it over B (always do this when starting with A)
Row 1 Knit across with A. Slide stitches to the other end of the needle. (do not turn work around as usual)
Row 2 Purl across with B. (now you can turn to the other side)
Repeat these two rows. That’s it. Really. Work these two rows to desired length, then work rows 1 to 3 of the braid and bind off.
If you want to change which one is “in the valley” as I think of it, or “on top of the row” switch colors. You can see the difference in the closeup below: The scarf on top has Citrine as A (it seems more on top) and Amethyst is B. For the part of the scarf that is shown underneath, I switched A and B – so now A is the amethyst and Citrine is B (or in the valley). The stitches will be closer together (and on top) for color A. The B color stitches are lower, or in the valley. I hope you have as much fun knitting in this way as I do. And be sure to catch my fingerless gloves class at Shepherd’s Harvest, May 8th.
I don’t really know what to call this: is it a stitch, a pattern, a stitch pattern? I’m really only knitting in stockinette – knit a row, purl a row – but adding a hitch.
Haleigh loves her new fingerless mitts
On a circular needle cast on the required number of stitches (yes it is a secret to be revealed later) Knit one row with color A (in this case the blue). Slide all the stitches to the other end of the needle and purl with color B ( in this case the red).
I knit these yesterday for my 7 year old niece. These mitts are the size we will make in the class I’m teaching at Shepherd’s Harvest in May.
Fingerless mitts make it easy to throw a big softball!
I have been having fun with a new knitting pattern I’m developing. I’m not going to say that I’m the only one who has thought of it, but I haven’t seen it before. The concept is very simple:
using two different colors of yarn, knit one row on a circular needle. Then slide the stitches back to the other side/end of the needle, and purl with the other color. Repeat these two rows. The result is a very fun ribbon like fabric.
One of the projects I knit with this technique is a pair of fingerless mitts:
fingerless mitts
And the good news is!!! I will be teaching a class at Shepherd’s Harvest and we will be knitting these mitts.
I love Shepherd’s Harvest! It is such a good way to start the summer. . . lots of vendors selling yarn, roving, and finished items are available too. Lots of animals to pet and food to eat. I’ sharing a booth with Gale Woods and will be selling my original patterns. I’ll have lots of samples there too. I’m hoping to have a shawl pattern in this style of knitting too. My mom is test knitting the pattern for me. Hope to see you there! Look for me in the middle of Barn C.
This picture is a bit old. . . it was taken Thanksgiving 2010. We cooked greens for our family get together and needed a way to keep them warm on the car ride to my brother’s house. Aha! Grab that old cap I knit about 10 years ago. It worked perfectly!
I have a great collection of mitten and sock pattern books that I love to page through and look at the designs. Sometimes I crave a small knitting project in color work but I don’t want to spend the time it takes to knit a pair of mittens or socks. . . so I came up with a great idea.
Fulled coasters in Fair Isle knitting!!
Knit and Fulled Coaster #7
Thinking that the fulling would prevent the dreaded stockinette roll I was sadly mistaken. Taking a different approach, I knit the second one starting with 3 stitches, increasing each side to approx 30 stitches wide, then decreasing each side down to three stitches. I ended up with a square coaster that didn’t roll. For some reason working the color pattern on the diagonal resulted in flat coasters! COOL!
I had odd amounts of 100% wool yarn from Gale Woods Farm that worked out great; the worsted weight worked up really fast, the wool fulled easily and I could use up my odd amounts. I knit these on size 9 needles and fulled them in the washing machine.
It was a little tricky changing the orientation of the designs. If the design was set in a diamond already it was easy to knit the Fair Isle and work the increases and decreases without worry. But a few of these I had to rechart to keep my place while knitting and shaping.
It was also a fun way to see how the pattern looks when different colors became the foreground or background.
These coasters are the same design but the colors are reversed.
I’m going to remember this. Next time I knit a big project using color work, I will first knit a few coasters while experimenting with the color.
After much consideration and reading lots of replies. . . I’ve decided it to call it. . .
Hannah’s Lace Shawl
It has already been a week since Yarnover, and Hop, Stitch, and Jump! I planned on blogging right away about the fabulous time I had and the new friends I made but I find that an entire week has lapsed.
I spend last Friday taking class with Cookie A. and Lucy Neatby. 3 Kittens Needle Arts and Steven Be’s collaborated on 2 days of great workshops and lots of fun evening events! I can’t thank them enough for a fun filled weekend.
But today’s message is really about needing a name for a new pattern I’ve written.
It is a lovely lace shawl, 10 stitch pattern repeats around. (read, easy to remember). And the bottom is scalloped with a 24 stitch repeat pattern. (also not too hard to get finger memory going on)
Here are photos of my niece, Hannah, modelling the three that I knit. I used 3 different fibers, the White one knit from a cone of weaver’s linen. . .the natural white one is knit in 3 ply super merino from Wool2dye4. . . and the blue one is Bamboo from South West Trading Company..
Send me a name suggestion and I’ll send you a free pdf of the pattern as soon as it is completed!
I’m really really going to blog more this week and show all my samples from the 18 (yes 18) hours of knitting classes I took last weekend.
