Something New

After finishing the Trillian, The Babette and the Crazy Rainbow socks last week, I started a new pair of socks to learn the Fish Lips Kiss Heel, but I also wanted to start another wrap.  I decided to use a bag (10 skeins) of Noro Silk Garden Lite (Color 2043) that I got for a steal, back when Noro was going to discontinue it.  (They’ve since decided not to discontinue it, so it’s still available if you’re interested.)  I had planned to use it for a Lady Eleanor wrap, but when I got the yarn, the color changes were more dramatic than I wanted for Lady Eleanor.  I wasn’t sure what I’d use the yarn for and it’s been siting in my stash ever since.

I decided to use it to make a rectangular wrap, but knit it on the bias so the stripes in the yarn would be diagonal to the wrap.  I also decided to use seed stitch to make it because I thought the texture would help the colors to blend.  Once I began it, I realized that I should write up the pattern for this project in case anyone else wants to do something similar.  Since it will really be more of a recipe than a pattern, it can be used with any weight yarn to make any size square or rectangle thing you like.  It could be used to make a scarf, a shawl, a blanket, a placemat, really, just about anything.

So while I’ll be showing progress on the blog, I’ll be keeping notes as I go so I can put it together later!  I’ve got my width now and I’m ready to start working evenly for the length of the wrap now.

Mommy Can't Come to the Blog Today

She told me I could let you know that she designed a new pattern last Friday and has been knitting on it to test it out. She didn't knit anything that she can show you yet, but she said she'll have bloggable knitting for tomorrow (I'm not sure if that's really a word, I think she makes stuff up sometimes). She did say that I could tell you that the new design is another sideways knit shawl in fingering weight yarn, kind of like the Belladonna Took, but using a more complex allover lace pattern. I should also tell you that the yarn she's using is really interesting and I keep getting in trouble for snarfling it. Also it's really windy here and I have to keep my ears tucked in or Mommy will be flying me like a kite on my leash. That last part had nothing to do with Mommy's new design, but I thought I'd share anyway. I hope you had a nice weekend and got to play with lots of chew toys! I spent part of Saturday practicing my music under Mommy and Daddy's bed - I'm working on Waltz of the Squeaky Chicken.

Pattern 15 - again

I've finished the charted section of Pattern 15 and I'm ready to start the ruffle!  Want to know how many stitches I have?  439!  Of course now I have to increase those to get a ruffle, but I don't think I'm going to do any more stitch counts on this project.  I spread the center of the wrap out a bit to tease you with a little lace.  The part at the top of the picture (on the needles) is actually the lower edge of the wrap and the bottom part of the wrap in the picture is actually the part that will sit by the wearer's neck, so the curve is reversed in the picture to what it will be when the wrap is off the needles and blocked.

Even knowing that I'm fixing to do a LOT of increasing for the ruffle, I feel like I'm on the home stretch for this project now.

Have a great weekend!

Pattern 15

I didn't get as much knitting time as I had hoped to have over the weekend, so I didn't finish the charted section of Pattern 15.  Yesterday I sat down and I knit.  I knit and I knit and I knit.  Then I knit some more.  I kept knitting.  

I'm still 10 rows from finishing the charted section.  I have no earthly idea how long each row is, but they get longer every time I work a RS row.  I hope to finish those last 10 rows today, but I have more to do than just knit today, so I don't know if that will work out or not.  It's not that the design is difficult to knit (style wise, it's probably more similar to Scheherazade than anything else I've designed, but it's a completely different shape), it just takes some time to knit each row and RS rows involve charts, which must be marked with Post It tape* and kept up with as I go.

At some point I'll count stitches, but probably not until I get finished with the charted section, so I can include the information in the pattern.  Also, no point in scaring myself before I finish. 

Pattern 15 - Back on Track

Yesterday after I blogged and surfed the Internets a bit, I got to work on Pattern 15.  I got quite a bit done on it and I'm now 2/3 of the way through what's been charted so far.  I've also switched to 40 inch long cables on my needles and you can see, they're too short to spread out the stitches.  What I have right now will block to 8-9 inches wide when measured from the neck edge, so I'm figuring I'll have about 12-15 inches of width by the time I finish up the chart and start the ruffle.  Did I mention there will be a ruffle?  Oh yes, there will be a ruffle.  It will be a serious ruffle.  A capital R ruffle.  The kind of ruffle that doesn't mess around.  The kind of ruffle that eats entire skeins of yarn for breakfast.  But don't worry, it won't be a fussy, little girl kind of ruffle.  It will be beaded and dramatic - a ruffle with a Spanish accent - you'll love it!

My current goal is to finish up the charted section this weekend and then it's onward to the Ruffle!

Pattern 15

I am moving right along on Pattern 15. Since I started at the neck edge of this wrap and I'm making it curve (theoretically - I won't know for sure if it worked until it's time to block it), it gets bigger and bigger the more I knit on it. It seems to easily double in size when I give it a stretch, so it should be an appropriate wrap width when it's done. The big mystery here is whether or not it's going to curve the way it does in my head. I'm not leaving everything to chance, I did tape the sections of chart together and they seem to make the shape I'm going for. Of course, as anyone who knits knows, what knitting is supposed to do and what knitting really does are not always related. Don't believe me? Try knitting a gauge swatch in a lace stitch pattern and see if it has any relationship to a large wrap.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Pattern 15

Fabulous working name for the new wrap, huh? Over the weekend I got a LOT done! I realize it doesn't look like much, but believe me, there was major work done on Pattern 15. I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I'm wanting this design to have a curve to it - it's still generally stole shaped (or will look that way when worn), but I felt like a slight curve would make it easier to wear. I'm going for something like a crescent moon kind of shape and I figured out three ways to do it. (There are probably more ways to do it, but these three seemed pretty obvious to me.) One way was to start from the neckline of the stole and work increases in a set pattern to make "wedge" shaped pieces and curve it that way. Another way is to start from the neckline and use EZ's Pi shawl directions, modified for a partial circle shape. The third way is to work from end to end (the way I usually write stoles) and work short rows to curve the piece. I chose the first way because I felt like it would be easier to use the lace motifs I wanted to design to use in this wrap.

Once the shaping technique was decided on, I sat down and started charting the lace. When I design lace motifs, I start with the YO's, then go back and add the decreases in the directions that will show off the shapes in the best way. I usually add the decreases on the computer when I put the chart in. I spent all day Saturday doing the computer charting, adding decreases, and finally adding beads. Then I printed all the charts out so I can work from them. By working from the actual charts I'll later put into the pattern, I can "proof read" them as I go. I work with a pen and a highlighter, so if I find a place where there's a mistake (I've already found one YO that had two decreases), I can correct it on the paper chart and highlight it. Then I go back and correct the computer files using the highlighted areas to find my mistakes.

What you see above is the first 12 rows from the charts plus the edging, worked from what will be the neckline, down towards the bottom edge of the wrap. I'm working on a 24 inch circular needle right now, but I can tell I'll be moving up in size very soon. Oh, and just in case you were concerned that the neckline of this wrap might be only 24 inches, it easily doubles that without really trying and will probably get a little bit bigger in the actual blocking at the end. Also, remember that it will increase substantially as I work it towards the bottom edge. This design is going to have a little bit of adjustability for extra length if it's needed and I'll be sure to give lots of measurements once I get it finished to help knitters decide if they need to make size adjustments.

Start your engines...

OK, maybe it's not time to start them just yet, but at least make sure you've got a full tank of gas and feed the pit crew. I'm ready to start designing a new wrap pattern and this is the yarn I'm going to use. This is Fleece Artist Suri Blue in Wine.* Suri Blue is 50/50 Suri Alpaca and Blue Faced Leicester and it's almost between a laceweight and fingering weight yarn. I have two hanks of 600 meters each, but I'm 99% sure I'll use more than one hank for the wrap, despite the slightly heavier weight yarn. There are size 6 seed beads on their way to me and I'll show those when they get here.

So, what can I tell you about this new design? It's not going to be a rectangular stole shape, but it will be a tweak of that shape (more of a tweak than Swan Lake, or maybe just as much of a tweak but in a different direction - still with me?) I'm not ready to reveal the main theme just yet (and it doesn't have a name right now), but I can tell you that I want to play with a ruffle again. I liked the ruffle ending on Hanami and I want to have a wrap with a more prominent ruffle. Something with a Spanish feel (and the sangria colored yarn works with that too). I have been trying to figure out how to shape the stole and, like most things in knitting, there are several ways do that - I'm just trying to pick the best one for this situation. I'll only show this design when I have something to really show, so it might be a couple of weeks before I blog about it again since at the moment, all I have is the yarn. Nothing's charted, nothing's finalized in terms of how I'm going to shape it, and I don't have any beads yet to start the knitting if I did have the rest of it nailed down. Hang in there with me and I'll reveal more soon.

*When I blogged the designing and test knitting for Hanami, several people went ahead and bought yarn for it before the pattern was even written and released. Just in case this happens again, I'd recommend a light fingering weight yarn such as Suri Blue because I'm not sure this design will be adjustable in length and width** (since I don't know for sure how I'll shape it). I'd also recommend a solid, or handdyed solid yarn. I don't know how many beads the design will have when it's all charted and finished, but I picked up two containers of beads from the Bead Wrangler (link above) and each container of size 6 seed beads has about 480 beads in it. This gives me plenty of wiggle room design wise. I'll give final numbers when I have them, but here are basics for anyone who wants to plan ahead.

**I am shooting for a length of 72-80 inches and a width of 18-24 inches for this wrap. If you will need these sizes larger or smaller, I'd recommend waiting to purchase your supplies. If I can figure out how to make the wrap adjustable, I will. Otherwise, the only adjustments will be through yarn and needle size. I'll explain more of this later if it becomes an issue.