Tag Archives: wrap

Pattern: Kells Wrap

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I ended 2019 with a pattern, and I’m starting 2020 with one, too!

This one’s a little bigger, though, and a little more complex.

It’s a giant, cozy, wrap, every inch covered with intricate cables!  Introducing: the Kells Wrap!52761220_02.jpg

This bad boy is what you will reach for when you really just want to wander around town, wrapped up in a blanket.  It’s thick, it’s cozy and it’s (if I say so myself) really beautiful.

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I’ll be honest, it’s not for the faint of heart, or the first-time cable knitter, but it’s not so complex that it’s impossible to make.  The design was inspired by the illustrations in the Book of Kells (an illuminated manuscript, and one of Ireland’s national treasures).  It’s complex, but it repeats  in an orderly way, so once you’ve worked a couple repeats, you should be able to more or less memorize the design.

If you’re looking for this and other cabled treats, head over and pick up Knit Picks’ new collection, Entwined!

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Or you can get just my pattern here!

Pattern: Herring Cove Wrap

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Hey! Guys!

Have you seen the new issue of Interweave Knits?It’s all about cables!  And you know how I feel about cables. (I’m pro-cable, if that was ever in question.)

Look at this wrap!  That’s an impressive amount of cables.Definitely something I’d make- I mean, come on!  It’s a massive wrap covered all over with intricate, squooshy cables.  Yes please.

Oh, wait just a second… look!That’s right! I’ve got a pattern in Interweave Knits!

I’d say it was a dream come true, except that I never really believed that I’d be able to do it.  I remember buying back-orders of Interweave in high school because I couldn’t afford to get an actual subscription.  It always seemed so fancy, so professional.  I always though “Man, those Interweave designers must really be experts.”

And now I’m one of them!  Hot dog!

Harper Point Photography and Interweave

I’m almost as excited about the pattern as I am about just getting it published-  The Herring Cove Wrap is a massive wrap- a gorgeous tangle of multi-strand cables.  It’s not for the faint of heart, but the results are totally worth it.  The example in the magazine is worked in delicious Shibui Knits Drift– an insane blend of cashmere and merino that shines like silk but feels like a cross between a kitten and a puffy white cloud.  (But if you don’t have hundreds of bucks laying around to blow on yarn, any soft, squishy worsted should work well.)

Harper Point Photography and Interweave

 

You can order a copy of the magazine (online or paper) here.  Or, take a trip to wherever magazines are sold!

Pattern: 15th Street Wrap

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What’s better than New Pattern Day?

Free Pattern Day!

Woo hoo!

I just had a gorgeous (if I say so my self), simple, cozy pattern published through Knit Picks, and available to all of you lovely folks for free!

Introducing:  The 15th Street Wrap!This wrap is essentially a massive scarf, worked in seed stitch with extra-bulky yarn. (It’s super easy and goes super fast!) I love the colorblocking- the big swathes of each color are modern and un-fussy.

I love the blues they used for the example, but this wrap would also be lovely in creamy browns, or dreamy grays.  Or, maybe you could do a neutral background (grays and whites), with a pop of bright yellow or magenta on one end!  I could spend all day putting color palettes together!This shawl would be a fantastic Chrsitmas present.  It’s massive and impressive-looking, but takes next to no time to work up.  Throw a couple movies on TV, and you’ll be making headway before you know it!

Want to work up the 15th Street Wrap?  The pattern is available here for free!

Seedy

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I’m working on a very simple project right now.  It’s a wrap/big scarf/narrow blanket.  (OK, really, it’s just a big rectangle, but sometimes I try to be fancy.)  It’s super warm and thick and lovely- knit up in bulky wool.  It should just be boring, but it’s so satisfying. I don’t know the last time I made something so simple.

It’s just a big ol’ rectangle of seed stitch.  (Seed stitch is alternating rows of k1p1 and p1k1.)  I’ve always loved seed stitch.  There’s something very satisfying about it.  It doesn’t roll, like stockinette.  It doesn’t shrink up, like ribbing.  It’s thick and poofy and squishy and warm.  And, I think, it’s just beautiful.  Of course, fancy cables and intricate lace are gorgeous, but there’s something perfect and pure about a big square of seed stitch.  It’s homey, yet refined, the same way a linen shirt is both totally casual and very up-scale.  It’s fancy without being fussy.

Of course it’s taking me a million and a half years to finish this project, but what’s new. It’s satisfying knitting and I’m enjoying myself immensely.  (And it makes great TV-knitting!)  It feels great to get back to my roots and make something so totally simple.

Do you have a favorite stitch?

What?! More Patterns?

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That’s right, knitters!  Surprise!  Another pattern- and it’s one I’m super proud of!

Introducing: The Laura Shawl!521622201It’s a gorgeous (if I say so myself) cabled wrap, almost six feet long and two feet wide.  It looks great wrapped around your shoulders, or cozied up under your chin.  And, frankly, it’s big enough to act as a lap blanket when you go out to eat, and they set you too close to a drafty window.

The Laura Shawl is knit in gorgeous tweedy wool that works great with cables.  Four wide panels of complex cables are interspersed with some knit/purl texture, and the whole bad boy is finished with thick fringe on either end, just to make it feel extra-luxurious.

52162220_21The best part?  It’s part of another beautiful book from Knit Picks, the Woodsmoke Cable Collection.331101This book is absolutely breathtaking.  It’s chock full of 16 lushly cabled patterns- sweaters, blankets, scarves and hats.

I mean, look at these:331101111Really, I want to work up all of these for myself.  (Or maybe have someone else do it so I don’t have to wait?)331101151What’s that? You want a copy?  Buy yourself a copy here!

Or, comment below with a description of your most complicated cable project for a chance to win a free copy!  (The winner will be named next Friday, so stay tuned!)

Inspiration: Phew!

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The Olympics are over and my sweater has finished blocking (just in time for a few lovely, cool days).  I love my new sweater, and there’s no denying that speed knitting can be very satisfying, but now my mind is wandering to a new project.  Something that I can really sink my teeth into, something I can work on slowly and carefully.  Something stupidly elaborate and full of ridiculous details.

This scarf/wrap is just gorgeous.  I love the use of a semi-solid with the slowly-transitioning rainbow colorway.  And the little sticky-outy leaves are a fantastic detail.  (Though one I think would drive me a little bit crazy to work up.)

Snood Forest Witch by Svetlana Gordon1m_medium2[1]And every time I see this project go across my screen, my heart skips a beat.  I love looking at all the beautiful colors people choose.  And, honestly, I can’t even guess how it’s constructed (short rows, maybe?)!

Fox Paws by Xandy Peters

2016-06-21-21-46-26_medium2[1]And, I do love lace.  It’s been years since I really sunk my teeth into a full-on lace shawl.  And this one has beads.  (And little cables.)

Lily-of-the-Valley-Rosea by Alla Borisova4_medium2[1]What do you like to work on when you’re looking for a complicated, careful knit?

Zzzzz… Huh? What? I’m awake!

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Oh my god, you guys.  I just had a ridiculously fun long weekend.

My in-laws came to visit (Hi, in-laws!) and we spent three days on the Olympic Peninsula.  We hiked, we picnicked, we beach-combed, and we played in the snow.

We rented a little cabin, tucked between a lake and a beautiful waterfall, and spent two nights there, between day trips across the Peninsula.    We went beach combing on Rialto Beach (along the Pacific coast). Ollie really liked that- especially the piles of stinky driftwood!WP_20160402_004And, we went up to Hurricane Ridge, where there were still feet and feet of snow on the ground!  It was just gorgeous! Ollie had never seen snow before, and I think he enjoyed it.  He rolled around in it like an idiot (an adorable idiot, of course) and tried (unsuccessfully) to catch the snow balls we tossed for him.  And he also managed to pose like a model for Doggy Vogue. (So glamorous!)WP_20160403_025Needless to say- we are completely beat.  I’m still in my PJs, and my husband could barely get out of bed this morning to get to work.  And I don’t think the dog has been awake for more than 30 minutes at a time since we got home.

All I want to do is curl up in my warmest, comfiest knitwear and read a book.  (Any recommendations?)

I’d love to wear this adorable striped, cabled, and pocketed sweater.  How cute and cozy!

Cosy… by Marion CrivelliDSCN0278_medium2[1]

And this shawl somehow manages to be both modern and very classic.

Campside by Alicia PlummerIMG_5088_medium2_medium[1]

But, really, all I want to do is cuddle up under this blanket and go to sleep.

Neat Ripple by Lucy of Attic244441709480_00f95eea23_z[1]

I can skip work today… right? Right?

What do you like doing after a big, fun, but exhausting trip?

I’m a Baller, And You Can Be, Too!

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You’ve got your skein untied and ready to go.  What’s the next step?  Rolling your yarn into a ball.

Start by wrapping the yarn in a figure 8 around your thumb and forefinger.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFold the figure 8 in half.  (Does that make it a figure 4?  Probably not.)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThen, start wrapping around the little yarn nubbin you made from your figure 8.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWrap it snugly, not so tight that you have to put muscle into it, and not so loosely that it’ll just fall apart.  Keep going until your proto-ball gets nice and chubby.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThen, turn it 90 degrees, and hold it between your thumb and forefinger.  Wrap the yarn around the ball in the new direction, catching your fingertips as you go.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAKeep going, turning the ball  every 20 or so wraps.  Turning the ball and wrapping in different directions will give you a nice round, even ball.  Making sure that your fingers get caught every time you start wrapping in a different direction will ensure that you end up with a squishy ball of yarn.  This will stop you from wrapping the yarn too tightly, which can end up removing all the springiness from your yarn (imagine keeping a spring stored in the stretched-out position, it would eventually stick that way).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhen you finish, your ball of yarn should be firm enough to hold its shape, but loose enough  that you can squeeze it like one of those foam stress balls.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERATuck the end of your yarn around the last group of wraps, and your yarn is ready to go into storage.  Or, cast on and start knitting!