Work of Art

Svetlana Gordon has a beautiful new pattern. Her shawls are a work of art. This is Baktus Scarf Lupine Vibes. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

Photos © Svetlana Gordon

Attention! This project contains many work turns. 
This scarf is seamless and is knitted from two skeins of Laines du Nord Poema Yarn. In order for you to have enough of two skeins, it is important to observe Gauge (you can use knitting needles 2.75 or 2.5). If the gauge of your work is other, you may to need more yarn and I recommend taking two skeins of each color. In this case it is possible to use the yarn’s leftovers to make a hat. 
Besides indicated yarn that the sample was knit with, this motif can also be worked with any other yarn.

Svetlana used two different colours of a self-striping fingering weight yarn.

I’ve put marks on the picture so you can see how the colours work. The orange X is one colour and the purple O is the other colour.

I put together some colours combinations using Frabjous Fibers Blossoms.

Just a word about Blossoms - when we receive the yarn it comes with 2 balls wound in one direction and 2 balls wound in the other direction. You can start from the inside or outside - it just depends on what colour you want to start with.

Baptisia 

Hydrangea

Baptisia and Hydrangea

Lady Slipper and Chrysanthemum

Baptisia and Stonecrop

Chrysanthemum and Sage

The first balls are almost finished. I’m enjoying Brioche knitting more than I thought I would. When I first looked at an Andrea Mowry brioche pattern I set it aside thinking that it looked confusing. When you get knitting it isn’t. It becomes very intuitive. This is one reason that I suggest you don’t read ahead in a pattern. 

Boscoe loves to take his toys outside. The more toys the better.

The weather today was awesome. I would love it to be like this until September. It wasn’t too hot and there was no humidity. A nice gentle rain overnight for the garden and it would be the perfect day.

Monday Sale July 27

Blossoms are center-pull cakes of joy!  Hand-dyed in floral-inspired gradients they are one continuous color-changing knit!  The colors magically meld into each other for a seamless color transformation.  For larger projects you can alternate between two or more cakes, for longer color sections.  Stripe with two or more cakes of different colors for fun color-play. 

Blossoms are 80% superwash merino/20% nylon; great for socks, shawls, accessories, and lightweight garments. 

Blossom specs: 4-ply fingering, 4-oz, 425 yards, 80% superwash merino/20% nylon

What can you knit with Blossoms?

This is a shawl inspired by a yarn, a yarn that is inspired by flowers. "Blossoms" are dyed as knitted blanks. Dyes are washed over the blank, building layer upon layer, creating seamless shifts from one color to another. Colors blend and overlap and a complex, cohesive colorway is developed. Striping two different colorways together allows the colors to shift and interact as you knit. 

To start, Bidicot begins as a "V" shape—with my favorite decrease—a CDD (centered doubled decrease) creating a defined line from the cast-on that continues to the bind off. Once the width is reached, stitches will be "moved" from one side of the CDD to the other, turning the "V" into an elongated triangle. Tassels polish it off.

The pattern can be downloaded on Knitty.com.

The shawl is knit with 2 Blossoms - 1 each of Chrysanthemum and Lady Slipper.

We used 1 Blossom to make the Geology Shawl.

You can use 2 Blossoms to knit the Botanic Shawl.

(This is my Botanic Wrap knit in another yarn. If you use Blossoms, your striping sections will be longer)

Two Blossoms would make a great Butterfly.

Take a look at the projects on Ravelry that were knit using Blossoms.

Blossoms are on sale for $30 from now until Wednesday July 29, 2020 at 12pm EST. You can order on the website and have the yarn shipped or you can pick it up.

All sales final. No returns.

Pretty Flowers

I'm looking out the window at snow and started thinking about sunny weather and pretty flowers in the garden.

This is the Geology Shawl knit with one Blossom from Frabjous Fibers.

Geology is the fourth shawl in my Elements shawl collection. Layers of knitted strata in different stitch patterns, this shawl will keep you interested the whole way through. The bottom-most pattern photo is the schematic with measurements. 

Like all other patterns in the collection, this pattern includes both written and charted instructions, and the pattern can be purchased individually or as part of the four-shawl collection.

Here are a few more patterns from Frabjous Fibers that are knit with Blossoms.

Inspired by our “Infinite Stripes” pattern, we wondered what would two color-morphing cakes of “Blossoms” do if worked together from opposing ends. So, we took two cakes of the same colorway and knit stripes--two rows from one end of one cake, and two rows from the opposite end/color of the other cake. The result was lovely! With a dramatically morphing cake--such as shown in “Zinnia”--even the center-most colors (which are very close to the same) are discernible. With a gradient cake--such as shown in “Globe Thistle” the shifts are very subtle and the center-most colors met and merged in the middle. 

The pattern has the option for two sizes--a 10”/25cm wide version that will wrap three times around the neck, and a 12”/30cm wide version that wraps twice. 

Started from a provisional cast-on and finished with a three-needle bind off, watch the colors interact as you go.

The pattern is free for Infinite Blossoms.

Use one cake of color-changing “Blossom” fingering weight yarn to knit this shawl with alternating garter stitch and eyelet sections. Long and slinky, it can be wrapped and worn many ways.

The pattern for Meshmerism is free.

These center-pull, cakes of joy are hand-dyed in floral-inspired gradients for one continuous color-changing knit! Our Blossoms are 80% superwash merino/20% nylon; great for socks, shawls, accessories, and lightweight garments. 

Purchase Blossoms

Enter the code BLOSSOM2020 when checking out on the website and get 15% off. This code is good until 11:30 pm EST on Tuesday February 11, 2020.

FOOD DRIVE

Our basket for the food drive is getting bigger and bigger. Our suppliers are amazing!

There isn't one ball of Rowan Felted Tweed - there are 10!

Namaste sent a Maker's Wallet in grey.

Crafted from vegan leather and finished with our Signature 4-Lotus Lining, this slim zippered wallet was mindfully designed to hold enough needles for all the projects you'll bring along during that long weekend trip. 

MAKER'S WALLET DETAILS:

•   10 vinyl pages hold 10-20+ sets of circular needles
•   5 fabric slots for interchangeable tips, double pointed needles, or crochet hooks
•   1 wide fabric pocket for interchangeable cords
•   2 inner fabric sleeves to stash a pattern or interchangeable cords
•   1 outer zippered pocket for notions

MATERIALS:

Shell 100% Polyurethane; Lining 100% Terylene

Beth sent this picture from the office. Boscoe sat in every chair at work today.

The couch is very comfortable.

Hipster

I made it to the cast off. I think I am going to leave off the fringes and add tassels to the two ends. I think. I'm going to decide after someone blocks my shawl. (Hi Alex!)

I love this pattern. I need to finish The Throwback for the Knitters Frolic and then I will start another one.

Pattern: Hipster
Yarn: 3 skeins of Hedgehog Merino DK

The crossovers look hard but they aren't. Before trying them on your shawl I suggest casting on 20 stitches with scrap yarn. Try them and if you're having a hard time come in (with your shawl on that row) and we can show you how to do it.

We're starting to put away our winter garments and bring out bright and cheery. This is Chimera knit with a skein of Frabjous Fibers Cheshire Cat (coming tomorrow to the website) and a Cheshire Cat Mini Skein kit. 

This three-quarter square shawl is worked from the centre out, beginning with a garter tab. Two garter tab options are included in the pattern: Turkish cast-on (my favourite) and the standard. One skein of main colour is worked in one stitch pattern, followed by five gradient mini-skeins worked in a second stitch pattern. Hard blocking is recommended as it opens up the lace and makes this pattern shine.

Spring is coming. There are buds in the garden.

Enamel pins and stitch markers should be arriving this week.

We should see the first box from GarnStories tomorrow. The second box is still in Germany. I can't wait to see the colours that Anke dyed for us.

If I'm going to make it to the store tomorrow I need to say goodnight and get some sleep.