It doesn’t always have to be green

Tags

gift, laceweight, merino, Ozifarmer's market, scarf, shawls, silk, yarn

I recently finished a scarf for Older Soknitsome Daughter. We’d spent a cosy hour together last year browsing my yarn stash on Ravelry. I have a few skeins of green yarn, partly chosen with my daughter in mind. It is her favourite colour and featured along with gold at her wedding earlier this year. You can imagine my surprise then when she picked out this lovely silvery grey and pink yarn  from Ozifarmer’s Market. Her accompanying words were “It doesn’t always have to be green”.

The pattern is Dangling Conversation by Mindy Ross which can be knitted in various weights. The pattern suggests placing the eyelet rows at the colour changes of gradient yarn but the changes in this yarn were so subtle that I just did the eyelet rows where I thought looked about right.

I really enjoyed knitting this. Yes, it is 800m of fine stocking stitch but the yarn is made up of 80% merino and 20% silk and it’s light and soft and was a real pleasure to knit with.

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A little bit of magic

Tags

AIWCC, American International Women's Club of Cologne, charts, Kieran Foley, knitting, lace, lace patterns, laceweight, Manos del Uruguay, shawls, stole, wrap, yarn

This is MagicWaves by Kieran Foley. He describes it as “A large innovative lace pattern inspired by the rippling surface of the sea”.

I used Manos del Uruguay Lace yarn. This is a luxurious blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere and it was lovely to knit with. There’s a neat connection between this yarn and its production and the purpose of this project. Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit organisation that brings economic and social opportunities to rural women and this shawl is destined to help more women when it is raffled by the American International Women’s Club of Cologne (AIWCC) to raise funds for local women’s projects.

Depending on the light, you see the waves in the pattern

or focus more on the blue tones.

    

Of course, an accessory like this should be worn, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fingers crossed this shawl will live up to its name and work a little magic!

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Knit – tink – frog … but lace is still lovely

Tags

charts, frogging, knitting, lace, lace patterns, laceweight, Pattern, shawls, yarn

Cast on
Knit knit count
Knit knit count count
Tink* count
Tink tink count count
Frog**

Cast on
Knit knit count
Knit knit count
Knit knit count
Tink count
Knit knit knit knit
Count
Knit knit knit knit
Knit …

I like charts when I’m knitting lace patterns. Once you’ve done a few rows, it’s easy to spot any mistakes since your knitting doesn’t match the image. Usually. For some reason this time, I really struggled to get going with this straightforward pattern. Unpicking lace stitch-by-stitch is a challenge. The yarnover loops often mess with your stitch counts. I think that’s what happened to me here. The best thing to do? Begin again. I’ve now done five repeats of the pattern and it’s looking quite splendid.

This is Magic Waves by Kieran Foley knitted in Manos del Uruguay Lace yarn.

*Tink means to undo your knitting stitch-by-stitch (it is literally the word knit backwards).

**Frog is a word adopted by knitters to define ripping out row after row of knitting (‘rip-it, rip it’).

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