Melted

Melted, originally uploaded by spinayarnforewe.

I just released a new pattern on Ravelry. This is a hat using the other half of the skein from the Melting Pot mitts. It can be worn back, slightly slouchy or it can be pulled down over your ears.  It is a quick knit and a great way to make sure all of those great sock yarn skeins are used up.

Melting Pot

I am so excited that I can finally talk about my newest pattern. I have been working with Dani of Sunshine Yarns for a while now to come up with a pattern that uses one skein of yarn and that would be perfect for the hoilday season. It is called Melting Pot.


Melting Pot, originally uploaded by spinayarnforewe.

I came up with the name since a melting pot is about combining different elements and “melting them together” into a harmonious whole. These mitts use lace, ribbing and stockinette together to make a fun new look. There is even a little detail at the top of the thumb.

 

They are going to be offered in a kit with pattern and yarn at Sunshine Yarns starting tomorrow.  The yarn that is used in them is a very luscious merino/cashmere blend that is heaven to work with.

New Design

I have been wanting to knit something for fall that would be fun to wear. I searched through lots of fall fashion collections and noticed that capes are really going to be the hot new thing. I knew I could come up with something that would be simple and elegant and go with everything. Here it is...Spinel! (It is now available on Ravely!)

It is made with a drapey fingering weight yarn with tonal "stripes at the bottom for interest. I think it is a fun, easy to wear piece that everyone will want to add to their wardrobe. The pattern should be out soon!

Transformation

If you have seen my work before it is no surprise that I love lace. Once I worked my first lace piece I knew I would be hooked. My favorite part about it is the incredible transformation that takes place after it is done. Here is a before shot of my latest piece.



Close up.



It is knitting but really the design is totally lost in what looks like a pile of yarn.

After a good soaking and A LOT of pins, since each little scallop had to be pinned separately, you have a shot of it drying.



Totally different. Also if you take a close look you can see how much the piece grew in size from the blocking as it started out on only 2 mats but needed 5 for the final. You can now see the leaves and all the detail work that is lace knitting. The blocking on this piece took me a full hour but after knitting on and off on it for almost 6 weeks it was worth doing right.





Love it! The yarn is a magical blend of alpaca and silk and the finished piece weighs less then 3.5oz. It also has a fabulous sheen from the silk and halo from the alpaca. Truly magical! The yarn came from Germany and the color turned out to be perfect for the lace.

Finally a FO!

Thursday was the final "clue" for the Wendy Knits mystery shawlette. Since it was only 20 rows long with each row getting shorter it was easy to finish up. I quickly knit it and put it right into soak for the blocking. I used lace yarn even though the pattern called for fingering as I have a good size stash of lace. I did add extra repeats to make it larger as I find small shawls to be rather useless.



The plan is to give it away, I find this to be much more fun then selling anything. I know someone who is very appreciative of hand knit pieces so it should be well received.

Great or Crazy!?

Okay...I need some help. I have been thinking about this idea since I started on the other granny squares. I have a TON of handspun yarn that is sitting around. A lot of it goes together well as I tend to gravitate towards a certain color palette.



The plan is to take all of these yarns, crochet granny squares, in a different pattern then I am doing now and make a blanket. The handspun will stripe slightly on its own due to the way it is spun so each square will be done with just one color. This will also maximize my yarn as there will be less ends to weave in. I would do a plain yarn on the last round of each to bring it all together.

Am I crazy or does it sound like fun?! Any ideas, suggestions...throw them out there.

Grannys

So I have been busy with some stealth projects and with my hook. I am having a blast right now making granny square after granny square. I currently have 33 done and figure I need about 99 to get the blanket the size I want. Here they are.





I just love making them. I have been keeping careful notes on what color combos I have already done and hope to have them all different but I am not sure if that will be possible but I am going to try. I am already planning the next one maybe a hexagon granny with hand spun since I know I have a boat load of that stashed. Decisions...decisions....

New Design and some more crochet...

This week I released a new design, Trielle. It is knit in the very sumptuous Sunsilk by Sunshine Yarns. I used the color Ruby.



The yarn is a heavy lace/light fingering yarn so any of those would work. I have also included notes on how to up size the scarf to a shawl.

I have also been working on my crochet projects. Here is my Granny Stripe.


I also started a new Ripple blanket.

I am blending the colors by holding them together and then dropping one strand and adding in a new one. This makes for the very blended color changes which I love.

Now I just have to decide if my next project will be knit or crochet as I really love them both now.

Having fun!

So the crochet is really becoming something so fun! I am getting good at the pattern I am doing which is called Granny Stripe and I LOVE all the colors.



I think crochet and all the fun color combos are bringing out my inner hippie. I don't plan on making a granny square outfit anytime soon but for blankets and maybe even some pillows it is super fun. The hardest part might be deciding which color to use next. Here is what it looks like so far.



I have decided to change it up slightly since the pattern has stripes of just 2 rows each and I am going with a random pattern of different widths. I am hoping now that I have enough yarn as where I bought the yarn has no more left but they do plan to restock. The only problem there is that the dye lots would be different but I think with the stripe pattern it would not be too noticeable. Guess we will see and it might be a "go until you run out of yarn" size.

Learning something new!

I have decided that I want to learn to crochet. Armed with a book, a hook and lots of YouTube videos I have done just that.



I have been wanting to make a blanket for a while. I even bought yarn to do it but after a while of knitting on it I decided that knitting really wasn't the right way to go. So after finding this great blog with tons of inspiration and directions on how to do it I started to crochet. It is easier to pick up since I already knit and I knit continental so tensioning the yarn in my left hand comes naturally. I have already started the foundation of the blanket and can't wait to get moving along. I also decided that chaining and then single crocheting into all those loops sounded tedious so I jumped right in and learned how to do a foundation single crochet so no long chain to deal with. This is some fun stuff!

New Design - Swoosh

I have another new design to share. This one is a super fun and easy shawl done with 2 colors of sock yarn. It is an asymmetrical shape that is very fun to wear.





The sample was knit with Skein Yarns Merino/Cashmere Fingering and is super soft and cozy. You can find it here on Ravelry if you are feeling inspired to knit one yourself!

Released: Callisto

Callisto



My newest design is finally done and on sale at Ravelry. I had a hard time naming this one but with some help from a friend I came up with a name I love. See the clean lines and the arches reminded me of Greece and Roman so the name had to come from there I figured. I looked at lots of Greek Goddesses and found Callisto a nymph whose name means "most beautiful." Perfect! This shawl/stole is knit from a provisonal cast on to one end then the stitches are picked up and you knit to the other end. No grafting, which I know makes most people happy. It has beads on the ends that are placed with a crochet hook as you go and a beaded bind off which I really like. Some lace, some beads = lots of fun!

Done!

Now I just have to wait for it to dry so I can get some good photos of it. It turned out a lot bigger then I thought it would but the superwash yarns always seem to grow more the others. It should be about 17" wide and 78" long but I will measure after since it will probably spring back a little.



It does have beads in it which are not totally visible in this shot but show up great in person. I really need better photos of this one.

Swatch

I know to most knitters that "swatch" is a four letter word. It seems like no one wants to do them but really if you don't you might end up with a sweater that fits a linebacker or a lace pattern that looks great on paper and doesn't work in yarn.

I swatch a lot. I like to try out new ideas so making swatches or mini versions of the finished product is something I do.



Here is one of the recent ones. I used 2 different beads to see which looked best and I also tried out and idea for starting the yarn overs on different rows. It really helped to decide and saved me tons of knitting time. The yarn I am using is so great I can not wait to buy more. It is Hazel Knits Filigree. It has all of the great features of her sock yarn but in laceweight. Win, win in my book. The full size version of this one is moving right along.

Rainwater

Here is my latest design. I am going to call it Rainwater. (Ravelry link)





It is a scarf but could easily be made wider as a shawl. It is knit from one end to the other in one piece and could be knit in almost any weight yarn as long as you use the right size needles to show off the lace. I used a yarn from Australia called, Skein, in her silk/cashmere lace the color is Sea Salt. I should have it available soon!

Koigu Fun

I have to say sometimes there is nothing better then playing with color. This yarn is so much fun and changing colors is addicting. You want to just knit a little more just so you can do it.

I started with these yarns and I plan to knit them into a gradient scarf.



This is not the exact order that I plan to knit them but it is close.

Here is what I have so far and I love it.



Very fun!

It's Here!

I finally got the larger sized Ficus shawl done so it is now for sale over on Ravelry. The larger size is a full size shawl and the small one is more of a scarf or shawlette.







I also knit them in 2 totally different types of yarn one is a traditional sock yarn and the other is a single ply yarn. Both have lots of nice drape and make for a easily wearable piece. I think it would also be stunning in a handspun yarn.

Larger

I decided the other day after writing up the Ficus pattern that maybe I should offer it in a larger size. Figuring out the numbers was the easy part but now it must be knitted since that is the only way to see how much larger it would be. So off to the stash to find a sock yarn that I had 2 skeins of. Dream in Color Smooshy in Cloud Jungle fit the bill and off to knitting. I am on to chart 2 already and hope to have it all done in about 1 week.


This does allow me to check one last time for any errors and I am happy to say so far there have been none just some wording I think I will change to make things more clear. Then the pattern will be out for everyone to enjoy. I have to say that this color is quite fun to knit as it looks so different in different lights. It reminds me of abalone, very nice.