colorwork – Daily Fiber

Autumn Blooms

Posted on October 17, 2024October 18, 2024 by Laura Kate

This past week I cast on a project that has been in my queue most of the summer. It is a pullover sweater for Mandy, using some Malabrigo Rios yarn as the main color.

I was thunderstruck to see that my palette is a near match for the colors I see outside right now. The gold color is 035 Frank Ochre and I purchased it online from Jimmie Beans. The two contrasting colors are from Knitpicks: Hawthorne dk in Foster Powell Multi and Swish dk in Moss.

My daughter chose the pattern from three or four options I gave her out of my Ravelry favorites. She liked Autumn Bloom by Olga Putano.

It is knit top down starting with a very beautiful and somewhat complex yoke.

In this photo I have worked to the point where the main color is joined. When that happens, the knitter is faced with working three yarns at the same time for about four rounds – slow and tricky work involving a lot of catching the long floats of unused strands under the working yarn.

Here is my progress with the yoke chart completed.

In the bright sunlight, the colors almost glow. That gold will definitely brighten up a dark winter day when sunshine is rare.

The project is almost to the point where a fitting is required. I have some doubts and fears about sizing and whether my stranded knitting will block out smoothly. Since I won’t have access to the recipient for another four weeks or so, I would be wise to cool my needles and put the project aside until the next time we are together.

colorwork, knitting

Travel Project Frogged

Posted on July 16, 2024July 15, 2024 by Laura Kate

In my last knitting post, I was starting a pair of socks worked with stash yarn.

https://dailyfiberfun.com/2024/06/25/casting-on-to-travel/

The yarn in question is Roslyn, by Cascade.

Well, the long and short of this story is that Roslyn is unsuited for socks. (Some of my readers tried to tell me that.) When I really paid attention to how the yarn behaved, it told me that it wanted to be a shawl. So, before we left for our trip, I ripped the sock off my needles and cast on a shawl.

I would really like to share the pattern I am using but alas, it eludes me. I remember printing it, using the printout to get started, memorizing the stitch pattern and then putting the paper pattern aside. It’s probably somewhere in Canada.

**Photo taken in my Calgary hotel room.**

The good news is that my stash yielded four coordinating yarns in fingering weight to give color variation to this simple pattern for a point-to-point shawl with picot border. Since I was knitting on the fly, I decided to improvise the color changes.

There is no pattern just some rules. The olive-colored Roslyn will be the background yarn, continued throughout the project. The four colors will rotate in and out at a fairly regular pace. Every so often, I will throw in a ridge of eyelet lace.

Oh, and the bright red yarn will appear only in single ridges, separated by the background yarn. It reminds me of pin striping.

This shawl could easily go on for weeks at this rate. It is a soothing knit.

I reserve the right to change a rule here or there, if it suits me.

colorwork, knitting

Cast-on Monday: By Request

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Laura Kate

Last week my yarn order from Knitpicks arrived, so I cast on the balaclava requested by my daughter. But before that, I sent her photos of several color options.

She chose:

Gold Rios by Malabrigo, natural Hawthorne and RainForest Heather Stroll by Knitpicks.

It’s a bold choice but not surprising selection.

Here you see the Dice check colorwork design that Gretchen Tracey used in her pattern. It’s a simple slip-stitch – one worked in three colors over six rows.

Interesting construction – the piece starts out with an odd-looking rectangle that forms the crown. Stitches are then picked up on the two long-edges, with the live stitches carrying on down the center back.

At this point, the piece reminds me of a horse-shoe crab. Strange to think of wearing a crab on one’s head. But I have faith that it will sort itself out and look more like a helmet when finished.

I’m modifying this Kid’s Balaclava pattern to fit an adult. There will be a bit of suspense as to whether my changes will be enough to give a good fit. On the plus side, it knits up so quickly I won’t be too distressed if I have to frog it back.

colorwork, knitting

C.O.M. * Stashbusting Mania

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Laura Kate

Okay my friends, I have been concentrating on knitting projects that use up stash yarn for just about seven months now. I have knit two-color cowls, socks and mittens; three color scarves; and four-color shawls. Yet, based on the looks of my yarn closet, I still am not making a big dent in the wool. Soooo much remains. Argh!

At this point, I am dropping my careful technique of pulling full skeins of compatible colors, weighting the volume of yarn then selecting a pattern that will make use of the mass. Now it’s just grab anything and cast on, then think about what it will become. Hence my current cast-on using these pitiful pieces of yarn.

There’s not much to work with and the weather is getting colder. The obvious answer is fingerless gloves. I happen to have a quick and easy pattern sourced from Klamath Basin Wool Works. It’s called Off-the-grid mitts.

Wool stories

As I recall, these are available as a free download from the site.

Here’s my start, using size 3 double point needles.

Off the grid is an appropriate name for this pattern. It is a playful reference to the grid-like texture which results from the mosaic stitch. (Slip one and knit one for two rows, then knit two rows of the main color.) In the end, you will have something to warm your hands if you live off the grid.

This knit should go fast, satisfying my manic need to keep knitting. Then, in a cooler frame of mind, I can return to a more methodic way of using up my left-overs.

* C. O. M. = cast on Monday.

colorwork, knitting

Cast-Off Monday

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Laura Kate

Shaking things up a little bit, with a Cast-Off Monday post. Since I have failed utterly to document my progress on this knit, I’ll start at the end of my work, and just mention the beginning.

This colorful wrap is a result of raiding my stash. Much earlier this year, I pulled full and partial balls that sorta went together. After matching the resulting yardage up with a pattern, yarn and copy of said pattern were shoved into a bag. Eventually I had five bags of future projects hanging in my yarn closet.

It was time to start this one. Sorrento Wrap is designed by Sian Price-White and calls for two colors of yarn – dark and light.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sorrento-wrap

https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/CloudForestStudio/674348453/webp/20200114_083517_small2.webp#jpg

I had selected five different yarns for this project, with the intention of working the extra colors into various sections of the shawl.

Almost immediately I discarded the rayon blend red (in the upper left of the bowl) when it proved to be too flimsy. All other yarns, with the exception of the warm pink yarn, are by KnitPicks. The two blues are Gloss in fingering weight. The multi is a Stroll hand-painted. I’ve forgotten where I got the warm pink fingering weight.

After I finished my cast-off today, I stepped outside for a quick photo shoot.

Diamond and chevron sections are visible here. That diamond stranded section gave me trouble while reading from the row-by-row instructions in the pattern.

I ended up charting it out.

Another modification made was to add a few matching beads to the chevron border.

The section with the light blue stripes features diamond mosaic stitch pattern. That was my favorite. I’ll want to work this mosaic pattern into a future project.

Fresh off the needle, the shawl looks pretty awkward. Once I’ve blocked it and woven in ends, I’ll get another photo, then decide if I like it or not.