Monthly Archives: March 2013

Not Quite Banksy

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I am a goody-two-shoes.  I kind of hate that about me, but I also am terrified of getting in trouble… always have been.  I’m sure a lot of you guys are, too.  After all, you’re reading a knitting blog, not out committing felonies and doing drugs.

But, sometimes I get fed up playing by the rules, and I want to do something a little bit rebellious.  Not enough rebellious that I go to jail, or hurt anyone,  or cause any permanent damage, or really bother anyone much, or anything.  Just enough to give me a little excitement.  So, as someone weirdly obsessed with knitting, what am I to do?  Knitted graffiti.

If you’ve spent any time online looking at knitting-type things, you might have heard about this.  Knitted graffiti or yarn bombing basically means making knitted decorations for something in a public space that you may or may not be supposed to be messing with.

Yarn bombing can be something as small as knitting a little heart and leaving it on the bus for someone to find, to entirely covering a tree with a knitted tree-cozy.  We had a great big statue at my college when I was in undergrad.  I crocheted it a striped hat and matching scarf when I was a junior.  I thought she looked pretty snazzy.  (I was going to put a picture of it here, but I can’t for the life of me find it.  This makes me a little sad.  Here’s a monster parking meter that I found instead.)

Want to give it a go?  Do it!  It’s pretty much the best way to get an adrenaline rush while knitting.  True, knitting isn’t exactly a high-octane pastime, but still.

Inspiration: Top Chef

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Say what you will about reality TV, but sometimes even on dumb TV shows you get good knitting inspiration.  A couple weeks ago (I think… I’m woefully behind on my TV watching), on Top Chef, the contestants went on a cruise, and during the QuickFire Challenge judge Curtis Stone wore this sweater:

Good, right?  Even my husband pointed it out.  Either my obsessive eagle-like searching for knitting has rubbed off on him, or this is a pretty cool sweater.

It’s a fairly simple cardigan with set-in sleeves and a shawl collar. The twist comes with the texture of the knitting.  The collar is not just knit plain, but in fact consists of great big cables.  The body is (I think) worked in seed stitch.  If you wanted to make something similar, try modifying these patterns:

Brownstone by Jared Flood

Charcoal Ribbed Cardigan by Kate Kuckro

Gramps Cardigan by Kate Oates

Lace-Edged Shawl

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Well, now you have this pile of beautiful stitch markers, what to do with them?  How about making a really cool lacey shawl?  I realize the “shawl” word is kind of old-lady-y, but whatever.  They’re basically just triangular scarves, so what’s not to like?

I’m using Blue Moon Marine Silk Worsted yarn , but you can use whatever you want.  I think this shawl looks best in a heavy, drapey yarn, but feel free to use whatever you want.  I am always prepared to be wrong. My shawl is quite small, just big enough to go around my neck and tuck into the collar of my coat.  If you want a bigger shawl, repeat rows 2 and 3 of the shawl body until you have 200, 224, or 248 stitches, and increase the number of times you work the lace pattern.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Materials:

1 skein Blue Moon Marine Silk Worsted (243 yards) or whatever the heck you feel like using.

Size 8 needles (or so.  It’s not like a sweater or something, so there is plenty of leeway regarding gauge)

4 stitch markers

Scissors, tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

k3tog-knit three together

pm-place marker

yo-yarn over

Instructions:

Make the body of the shawl:

CO. 8

  1. k2, pm, k1, place marker, k2, pm, k1, place marker, k2
  2. k2, *pm, yo, k to next marker, yo, pm, k2, repeat from *
  3. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2, repeat from *

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have 176 stitches on your needles, finishing with row 3

Begin lace pattern:

  1. k2, *pm, yo, (k1, yo, k4, k3tog, k4, yo) 7 times, k1, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  2. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  3. k2, *pm, yo, k1 (k2, yo, k3, k3tog, k3, yo, k1) 7 times, k2, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  4. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  5. k2, *pm, yo, k2 (k3, yo, k2, k3tog, k2, yo, k2) 7 times, k3, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  6. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  7. k2, *pm, yo, k3 (k4, yo, k1, k3tog, k1, yo, k3) 7 times, k4, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  8. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  9. k2, *pm, yo, k4 (k5, yo, k3tog, yo, k4) 7 times, k5, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  10. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  11. k2, *pm, yo, k4 (k3tog, k4, yo, k1, yo, k4) 7 times, k3tog, k4, yo, pm, k2.  Repeat from *
  12. k2, *pm, purl to next marker, pm, k2.  Repeat from *OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Repeat rows 11 and 12 until you’re bored, you run out of yarn, or both.  I repeated them 6 times for my shawl.

When you’re finished, bind off loosely, removing the stitch markers as you go.  If you feel so inclined, block your shawl by soaking it in warm water, and pinning it out flat to dry.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Get the PDF here: Lace Edged Shawl-Updated

Edit:  Originally, I had included LLD and RLD in the Abbreviations list.  This was a mistake-there was never any LLD or RLD’s in the pattern. I have removed them from the abbreviations list.  Happy knitting!