Tag Archives: shawl

Inspiration: Princess!

There isn’t much reason for people (especially American people, like me) to care about the British royal family in the 21st century. I mean, honestly, what do they do? Not much.

Well, not much except have adorable babies that they dress up in the most amazing knitwear.

The Royal Family is at it again, with their brand-new (and so far unnamed) baby girl. Look at her! (And look at the Duchess… dang! Can you believe she gave birth about 24 hours before these pictures were taken? What a trooper. I bet all she wants to do is go home and sleep for about a year. And put on some PJ pants.)

And, let’s take a closer look at the new princess’s knitwear (click on the photo for a larger view):

That bonnet! That blanket! So gorgeous. (I probably wouldn’t wrap my newborn in a white, heirloom-quality shawl, but then again, I’m not a Duchess. So.)

I love the bonnet. It’s so simple and perfect. Squishy garter stitch and tiny cables… Could it be more classic and adorable?

Silverfox Bonnet by Lisa Chemery

Lilacs for Lila by knittedblissJC

And that blanket! Look closely, and you’ll see it’s knit from teeny-tiny lace-weight yarn. It must have taken forever to make something that beautiful! I love the stockinette body with the simple, geometric edging. Very classy. (Although, honestly, it’s something that should only be taken out for international press events. You don’t want to have to scrub spit-up out of such fine wool. That makes me sad just thinking about it.)

Amalthea by Anne Hanson

Christening Shawl L252 (My Weekly) by Gladys Amedro

All the best to the new baby princess! And, Kate- go home, put on your sweat pants, and eat some ice cream! You earned it!

Patterns: Dahlia Shawl and Puddle Jumper Socks AND a Giveaway!

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Holy crap, you guys! It’s finally here! Today’s the day I can FINALLY tell you about not one, but TWO patterns that I’ve been working on since May! AND, I get to hold my first ever On the Needles giveaway!

(I was going to try to play it cool, but I’m so excited, I can’t even pretend that I’m not freaking out.)

I have two patterns in the new KnitPicks Spring Collection. It’s a book. An actual, real-life book, and my patterns are printed in it.

For real. Here’s the cover (It’s not my pattern on the cover, but it’s still super cute!):

Want to see my patterns?

I’m totally in love with my Dahlia Shawl. I wear the prototype one all the time. It’s the perfect size to wear as a scarf, tucked into my coat, or as a shawl, wrapped around my shoulders. The modern lace edging is super easy to knit because it’s worked at the same time as the main body of the shawl. (And the yarn is merino and silk, and is totally gorgeous and drapes wonderfully.)

My second pattern in the collection are my super-cheerful Puddle Jumper Socks. They’re knit from the top down, with an afterthought heel, so they work up in no time. I love the stripe pattern, especially the way the third contrasting color really pops on the toe and heel.

So, I bet you’ve guessed what the giveaway is.

I’ve got two copies of the 2015 Spring Accessories Collection (one paper book and one ebook) to give away to two lucky readers. (It really is a great collection-there are lots of fabulous patters, not just mine. I particularly like the Pyra Mitts, the Modular Triangle Shawl and the Charm City Socks.)

If you want to try and win a copy, comment below and tell me what you’d knit first if you won the book! (Don’t post your address or anything-we’ll figure that all out later.) I’ll pick the winner at random in one week (on 2/25).

Good luck! (Now I need to go drink a nice, calming cup of tea.)

Pattern Spotlight: Baktus

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I might have been late to the Hitchhiker party, but I’ve been a member of the Baktus fan club for years.

This super simple long, skinny, triangular shawl/scarf is one of my favorite patters for several reasons:

1. Garter stitch. Love.

2. It’s crazy versatile. I’ve made Baktuses (Bakti?) from everything from bulky yarn down to fingering weight yarn.

3. It looks great worked in those pretty hand-spun skeins you have in your stash that you can’t figure out what to do with (You know, the ones you couldn’t leave at the yarn store, but you have no idea what to use them for.)4. The Baktus uses only as much yarn as you happen to have. If you have three skeins of bulky, it’ll use that much. If you have one skein of lace-weight, that’ll work, too. (No weird little leftovers to fuss with!) Actually, the pattern has you weigh your yarn at the beginning. You begin the pattern by increasing, then when you have exactly half your yarn left, you decrease, for perfect results every time!

5. The Baktus scarf is really and truly unisex, and super cool. 6. People have used the idea of the Baktus and came up with their own (gorgeous) versions. Want lace? Add cool geometric edging? Or leaf edging? Maybe you prefer crochet?

Baktus might be the perfect project.

Have you ever made a Baktus scarf?

Pattern Spotlight: Hitchhiker

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I’ve finally jumped on the bandwagon. And, I kind of love it.

I’m probably the last knitter to make a Hitchhiker shawl. (There are 17,685 projects up on Ravelry, and I’m pretty sure it’s been in the top 50 or so patterns for the last couple years.)

The Hitchhiker is a triangular (ish) shawl/scarf knit in garter stitch, which is my absolute favorite. Garter is great for scarves, since it lays nice and flat. Plus, it’s super warm and squishy. (And it’s great for knitting while you read or watch TV, since you don’t have to worry about following complicated stitch patterns.)

The shawl is a long, skinny triangle, with a sawtooth border along one side, which is worked as you knit. You begin at one point of the triangle, and just keep going until you run out of yarn, or get bored. And the simple 8-row repeat is super easy to memorize, so it’s almost mindless (but still just interesting enough to be fun).This project is super versatile. You can use whatever yarn you have on hand, and whichever needles you like best. The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but this would make an epic deep-winter scarf in worsted or bulky, and if you were to use teeny tiny needles and lace-weight yarn, you could make something lovely and delicate.

I made mine with a skein of Knit Picks’ Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn in Thunderhead. (I bought it to get the $50 free shipping, because free. Don’t judge me. You know you’ve done it, too.) It turned out lovely. The sock yarn is wonderful and soft, and the hand-painted, monochromatic colors of the yarn looks great in a garter stitch. (Sorry for the terrible picture. The shawl was adopted out before I had time to find my real camera for a decent photo.)

I love how this shawl looks with semi-solids and self-striping yarn. It’s so easy, and the results are spectacular.

Have you made a Hitchhiker?

Tutorial: Shawl Pins

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I’ve got shawls on the brain. When I wear a shawl, especially if it’s a particularly oddly-shaped one, I like to break out a shawl pin. You can find super fancy ones, but basically a shawl pin is a stick of some kind that you use to hold knitwear in place (I’ve been known to use pencils, chopsticks and knitting needles in a pinch). There are as many kinds of shawl pins as there are shawls, all gorgeous, most expensive.

So, in the name of DIY Cheapskate-y-ness, let’s make some functional, fashionable, and simple shawl pins. An accessory for your accessory… what’s not to love?

Here’s what you’ll need:

A ¼-inch dowel
Small hacksaw (or other dowel-cutting implement)
Pencil sharpener
Sandpaper (I used 120-grit)
Acrylic paint
Paintbrush

Start by cutting your dowel into pieces. I made my pins about 5 inches long, but you could go longer or shorter, depending on what you like.

Then, sharpen one end of each pin with the pencil sharpener.

Grab a piece of sand paper and sand your shawl pin until it’s nice and smooth (get rid of anything that could catch on your shawl and make a hole. No bueno). Sand the point down a little bit so that it isn’t dangerously pointy, and don’t forget to smooth out any corners on the other end, too.

Brush off any sawdust, and break out the acrylic paints. I like how they look when they’re mostly wood with just a pop of color on the end, but feel free to experiment. How about stripes? Polka dots? Let the paint dry, and you’re ready to go.

Grab a shawl (or scarf, or cardigan) and pin away.

Wall Shawl

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On Monday, I told you how I love making lace shawls. You’ll notice that I didn’t say I love wearing lace shawls. This is because I am a pretty big tomboy. I love how lace shawls look, and I love making them, but I always feel like a monkey in a top-hat when I wear them.

So, I had a whole stack of gorgeous shawls that did nothing but sit in my closet, waiting for moths to show up and start munching. Something had to be done. How could I display them? I tried hanging them over my closet door, but then I couldn’t open and shut the door without them falling all over the place. I tried putting one over a table lamp, but that looked like something from a palm-reader’s office (and I was paranoid about setting the whole place on fire). And, so my lace shawls went back into the bottom of the closet again.

Until I realized something. These lace shawls were basically great big art pieces. And my house was full of empty walls, begging for art to be put up.

I grabbed my Panache shawl and a dowel I had laying around (because I am a pack rat and have dowels lying around, just in case. You never know.) I carefully sewed the flat edge of the shawl to the dowel using a little bit of matching scrap yarn, and tied a big loop from one end of the dowel to the other. I pulled out a sticky hook, and I had filled my wall with lacy, yarn-y goodness in no time. (And yes, I know this is a terrible photo. Apparently I have forgotten how to take a decent picture that isn’t a close-up…)

My Panache is a medium sized shawl (about a 40 inch wingspan), but my Aeolian shawl, is a monster. It’s at least 60 inches from point to point, so sewing it to a yard-long dowel wouldn’t fly. I thought about it for a long time, and then the perfect solution came to me while I was doing yard work.

I cut some long (6+ feet) switches from one of the trees in my yard, and lashed them together with twine. I added a loop of twine and hung them from a nail in my knitting studio. Then, I looped the Aeolian shawl over the ends. I really like how it turned out. It’s pretty, and rustic, and if I ever want to display another shawl (or scarf, or sweater, or blanket) I can switch them out easily.

Inspiration: Shawls

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Every year when the sun starts shining and the flowers are all in bloom, I get an itch to knit up something light and lacy. It’s a particularly odd compulsion, since, as a rule, I am neither light nor lacy. I’m usually dead practical and more a fan of cables and garter stitch than openwork. But, there it is. Who am I to judge the whims of the knitting gods?

Let’s feed the lace-knitting monster, and take a look around Ravelry for some pretty lacy shawls.

Indian Feathers by Alina Appasov features beads along the edge for extra drapiness and sparkle.

IMG_2224-1-1_medium2[1] Annis by Susanna IC is an interestingly shaped shawl, that’s actually closer to a scarf. It’s a good mix between pretty lace-weight elegance, and the practicality of a scarf.

Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark is one of my favorite shawls. I’ve actually knit it up a couple times. The all-over pattern in the body of the shawl is to die for, and the lily-of-the-valley motif on the edge is just gorgeous (and it includes nupps, which are my absolute favorite specialty stitch).

Know Your Neck Warmers

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It may seem odd, but did you know that spring is the perfect time of year for scarves, shawls and neck-warming devices of all kinds? They add just enough warmth to a light spring jacket that you can stand to wait at the chilly bus stop in the morning. And, when it warms up in the afternoon, you can just shove your scarf into your bag for the commute home.

But the question remains, what kind of neck-warming device is right for you?

Perhaps a scarf is best for you? Scarves are… scarves. I don’t think I really have to define them. Long, skinny, warm. They are usually worked in thicker yarn and a denser stitch pattern than stoles or shawls

Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood

Of course, scarves are traditionally rectangular, but sometimes scarves can get a little crazy, like this one:

Wingspan by maylin Tri’Coterie Designs

Shawls, on the other hand, tend to be lacy or light in some way. They are knit into interesting shapes, most traditional shawls are triangles or half-circles (although you can find shawls in almost any shape).

Haruni by Emily Ross

Haruni-0001-ps_medium[1] Citron by Hilary Smith Callis

4185481652_ce7acd1bc1_z[1] Hitchhiker by Martina Behm

When a shawl and a scarf get mixed together, you can end up with a stole. Stoles aren’t as common as the other two, but they are still totally gorgeous and practical. They are essentially just a super-wide scarf (upwards of 12 inches across), but they’re usually very delicate and fancy, often knit with lace and beads. A stole is the perfect choice to be worn with a fancy ball gown or to a wedding.

Seascape Stole by Kieran Foley

As fancy as a stole is, a cowl is completely functional. It’s a tube of fabric that you slip over your head. Imagine it as a scarf without ends to tuck into your collar, or a turtleneck without the sweater. Super comfy cozy, and perfect for those times you don’t want to mess with getting the ends of your scarf tangled.

Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

What kind of neck warmer is your favorite?

Inspiration: Stardust Shawl

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I was poking around, looking for a movie to watch this weekend, and I stumbled upon Stardust (free on Amazon Prime). It was one of my favorite movies for a while, but I hadn’t seen it in a few years. I watched it again, and was happy to find out that it’s still amazing. it’s got everything: true love, not-so-true love, a cross-dressing pirate, image-obsessed witches, a unicorn, and a guy who gets turned into a goat. It’s pretty perfect.

A few minutes in, I noticed something else it had. One of the background characters in an early scene was wearing this shawl:

Totally gorgeous, right? I love the gradient stripes made with the natural wool colors and the delicate lace pattern.