shawl – Daily Fiber

Friday Finish – no, really

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Laura Kate

Yes, I know it’s Saturday. I photographed the image above yesterday. It is Little Whiskey, a sweet cape pattern for a little girl designed by Erica Jackofsky.

This morning, I sewed on Laura Lu’s prized button and took the garment out to the garden for a photo session.

The pattern was easy to follow. Because I didn’t quite get gauge, I cast on extra stitches and followed the instructions for the next larger size. Ultimately, the process of washing and blocking widened out the knitting, but didn’t add any length, which is a good thing. I got the length I was aiming for.

Wrong side view, close up of lace pattern

The lace pattern was not difficult, except for the popcorn stitch, which the designer called Nupps. They are kind of hard to see in the photos. They add some texture to what is mostly stockinette knitting. They also echo the picot edge stitches nicely.

This capelet will go with us on our next trip to Wisconsin. At that time, I’ll get a photo of the recipient wearing it, and know for sure if the fit works.

knitting

Cast-on Monday: A Shawl for Laura

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Laura Kate

It’s a lovely day for casting on a new project. Today I started knitting a capelet for my granddaughter. Last May she asked me to make her a shawl. I chose this pattern

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/little-whiskey

instead of a shawl, in the theory that the button will help keep on her shoulders while she rushes about her business. She specified that it be white – a bit of a surprise, but then, maybe her favorite princesses and fairies wear white capes. She also handed me a button, obviously found and scrupulously saved for just this moment.

The yarn was purchased at my number one favorite yarn store, North Wind Book and Fiber Store in Spooner, WI.

It is a light dk. Incredibly soft, it is made from 80% Merino Superwash wool and 20% bamboo. I was keen to see how well it performs.

There are four sections of lace in the body of the cape, so I don’t think this project will work for travel knitting. For our up-coming trip, I will continue working on the improvised shawl project that I carried while cruising through Canada in early July.

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.

knitting

Friday Finish: Cheers Shawl

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Laura Kate

One of the resolutions I made to myself for 2023 was to clear up my backlog of UFOs. Today I celebrate another finish from the knitting category. This shawl, designed by Laura Nelkins….

http://www.nelkindesigns.com/index.cfm/gallery.page/265888.htm

….has been hanging around in its unfinished state for at least three years. I was working the beaded version and got into trouble by choosing beads that were too heavy. Anybody out in blogland work with beads on knitted garments? Let me know if you had any success. For me, the beads were so weighty that the shawl was pulled considerably downward. Sorry, Ms. Nelkin.

Anyway, I still loved the colors and the lace edging. It blocked out to 72 inches.

The beads weren’t totally wasted. I learned how to work them into knitted jewelry, eventually teaching a class on the technique, using up a few beads in the process.

This beadless shawl pairs nicely with my blush-colored boiled wool jacket.

Last time I looked in my craft room closet, there were still three knitting UFOs to finish. I hope to get them marked off the list before summer arrives.

knitting

Wednesday WIP

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Laura Kate

This project got its start as an example for a shawl design class I taught in August. It is also a response to the situation I’ve been griping about called Left-over Sock Yarn.

Some of you may remember this photo.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Once I truly looked at the yarn that was in the bowl, I realized that I had the makings of a multi-color garter ridge shawl. After discarding the red and green yarns, I took a cue from my own advice about color value and separated the leftovers into two piles – darks and lights.

The medium blue ball in the center is the connector between the lights and darks. I also tossed in the very pale blue full skein with a thought that it could make a good border.

The light yarns went into one bag, the darks into another. Starting with the medium blue yarn I cast on about 30 stitches and worked three ridges of garter. Initially I chose yarns by randomly drawing balls from each bags, alternating light and dark and knitting as many rows as I felt like before changing colors. But very quickly, a desirable pattern emerged – four ridges of light alternating with three ridges of dark. The extra ridge of light separated the color changes.

After working the black yarn, I started over with the darks – blue, brown, royal blue, teal, black.

I call this my Sea and Sand shawl.

Once I get up to around 300 stitches, I’ll choose a color to make the border. My creative juices are flowing as I consider pattern options. Since it’s a shawl border, the pattern must be very stretchy. First I thumbed through Barbara Walker’s fabulous “Treasury of Knitting Patterns”(published in 1968) where I spotted a few possibilities. Here’s three that meet my criteria: