knit for love – Daily Fiber

Friday Finish – Chevron Scarf

Posted on April 9, 2022 by Laura Kate

A day late and a dollar short, here is my finish for yesterday. I made this for a friend’s birthday which, sadly, came and went before I had finished knitting.

The chevron stitch pattern is one I had been wanting to try for a while. This version is created using a slipped-stitch, not a stranded technique – which contributed to the lateness of my completion. Because slip-stitch, also known as mosaic technique, tends to pull the rows up tight against each other, it took 48 rows to create 4 inches of scarf.

The yarn came from Hobby-Lobby, from its new line of hand-dyed fingering weight yarns. Fiber is 100% superwash merino wool.

Bill has kindly consented to serving as my model today.

If you would like to give this stitch a try, I have attached a pdf of the twelve-row pattern that I used.

Chevron stitch pattern Download

It was fairly easy to memorize, with only three right-side rows that varied. In this technique all back-side rows are the same: purl the knits and slip the slips. The pattern also features an I-cord edging.

I’m pleased with the result, but mostly relieved that I finished.

knitting

Cast-On Monday: Spring Sweater

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Laura Kate

The weather is so glorious this morning that I moved outside for this photo shoot.

Today I am starting a coat/sweater for my granddaughter. You see my swatch, which turned out with the correct gauge on my first attempt. (I was lucky.) I wanted to make a big sweater, with cables, pockets and a hood – all the design features that a northern girl needs to keep warm while playing outside in early spring. I was fortunate to find the perfect pattern by Elena Nodel on Ravelry

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lavanda

For the yarn, I chose Wool of the Andes Superwash by KnitPicks. Just last year I used it in the Weaver’s Square vest knitted for my daughter. It has become a favorite of mine for hard-wearing garments.

https://wordpress.com/post/dailyfiberfun.wordpress.com/1559

The color here is a bold one.

The sweater is worked from the top down. It features ribbed and cabled sections, with a knitted in seed stitch button band. All of these features are set up in the first 12 rows. When you take into consideration knitting raglan increases on either side of the sleeves, it makes for a somewhat complex start to the knit.

Oh, I forgot to mention the provisional cast-on. I used the crochet chain method. This allows for the hood to be added by knitting up from the neckline.

Whew! Now that I have established each section, the next couple dozen rows should follow without incident. I’m so happy to be working on a big, size 7 cable needles, after what seems like months of working with sock needles.

knitting

Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year) — Diary of a Yarnophile

Posted on December 24, 2021 by Laura Kate

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! This year has been a fiber adventure for myself to say the least. I spun 20+ new breeds of wool this year, bought over 300 pounds of raw fleece from various farms all over the United States, & knitted, spun, and wove more […]
Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year) — Diary of a Yarnophile

This image was too cute. I had to re-blog it! Thanks for sharing, Emily!

Laura

knitting

Some Christmas Knitting Revealed

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Laura Kate

I’ve been busy knitting up some Christmas gifts for my family and friends. Since some of the intended recipients follow this blog, I’ve kept my progress reports to myself.

Now I can begin to reveal these projects, starting with a necklace I made for good friend and knitting buddy Kathy.

Earlier this year, I made a Ruth Bader Ginsberg-style collar necklace using a very soft Shibui yarn. The pattern came from this book.

This book is no longer in print. I was fortunate to find it at an on-line used bookstore. The pattern I used is called Beads and Baubles Necklace.

This photograph is in the book and shows the “bobbles” in the light gray section, spaced out evenly between the beads. Since I truly dislike knitting bobbles, I simply worked a yarn-over every time the pattern called for a bobble.

My collar looks like this:

Since Kathy is allergic to wool, I chose two colors of synthetic yarn for her gift.

It’s hard to tell from the photograph, but the teal color yarn has tiny reflective bits that glitter in the light – sort of silvery.

The necklace came together quickly, with very little effort. Attaching the jewelry findings took a while and gave me some frustrating moments.

No doubt I was lacking in correct tools and techniques. (sigh.)

More Christmas knits will be revealed later in the week.

knitting

F.O. Friday: Socks!

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Laura Kate

This project was begun about 2-3 weeks ago. In my initial post I brought up two main points:

An unconventional sock yarn.

This Berroco yarn is a dk weight, not a sock weight. It contains 52% acrylic, 40% wool and 8% nylon. The knitted fabric is soft, stretchy and strong, all of which are highly desirable in a good pair of knitted socks.

The other point is the method of sequential knitting:

I used two skeins, two sets of sock needles and worked the socks in sequence: leg, heel flap, gusset, foot and toe. Frankly, I loved this work method. It provided for variety in the knitting and resulted in finishing both socks at the same time without the use of a long cable needle. Given my fairly extensive collection of doublepoints, I would choose to use this method again.