Happy Sunday

Lesley Anne Robinson (Knit Graffiti) has a new shawl pattern called Reydiant that you can purchase on Ravelry.

May the Fourth Be With You!! Introducing my Women of Star Wars shawl for 2024!!!

Reydiant : The Force awakens with this semi-circle two-color brioche shawl, inspired by Rey Skywalker, her iconic hairdo and the dichotomy she faces in her trials. Will you choose the Light Side or the Dark Side? 

Yarn Notes:

Grab 4 skeins of fingering / sock yarn in 2 colors for this brioche shawl pattern! I highly recommend high contrast for the pattern to really pop, using the lightest color as your Main Color. Semi-solid or tonal yarns are perfect for this, maybe with a bit of speckles.

I was scared of Brioche before I tried it. Now that I’ve done it I love it. There are great videos online from Very Pink Knits, Stephen West and Andrea Mowry that show you how to Brioche.

Dad had a visitor yesterday afternoon. Boscoe stayed in the truck while Beth went upstairs to get dad. It was dad’s first venture outside and he enjoyed seeing the sun and Boscoe.

Stashbusting

This is the Sea Glass Cowl from Wool & Pine. You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

Unleash your yarn stash on Sea Glass Cowl, a playful exploration of color and fiber. This easy pattern is delightfully flexible, designed to accommodate 5 different gauges so you can mix and match yarns to your heart’s content. Whether you choose DK yarn as your main color with fingering yarn held double for contrast, or throw in all your fingering weight scraps for a truly eclectic look, each combination will blend uniquely, transforming your collection of yarn scraps into a striking, one-of-a-kind textile. Embrace the unexpected and let your creativity flow! 

Knit in the Round with a Seamless Finish

Start with a provisional cast-on and begin knitting the 1x1 colorwork that forms the body of Sea Glass Cowl. In this technique, you knit one stitch with one color, then switch to another color for the next stitch, continuing to alternate colors like this throughout the round. On the next round, change one or both colors. This creates a dynamic, multi-colored effect. Our method ensures that yarn ends are cleverly concealed within the fabric of the cowl, leaving a clean, invisible finish. When it’s time to close Sea Glass Cowl, the Kitchener stitch provides a seamless join that beautifully complements the pattern’s continuous flow. 

A Gauge for Every Stash

With stitch counts adjusted for five different gauges, Sea Glass Cowl is a perfect project for using up various yarns from your collection. We’ve included a range of techniques to manage yarn ends, ensuring they’re tucked away neatly before you seam everything together—no ends in sight! 

When knitting with different fiber scraps for Sea Glass Cowl, first swatch the yarns to check they knit well together and choose the stitch count that matches your gauge. Different fibers like wool, cotton, and silk behave differently, so swatching helps you adjust your needle size accordingly to achieve the desired fabric. Don’t skip wet blocking your cowl, this helps the fibers settle together, ensuring your cowl has a great texture and drape. 

Video Tutorials for Every Step

Included video tutorials guide you through each step, highlighting the joys of using up even the smallest scraps of yarn. With tips on selecting colors and combining different yarn weights, these tutorials help you navigate through your stash with confidence. Create a color palette that truly reflects your style and knit Sea Glass Cowl into a unique wearable piece of art that celebrates your creative vision.

What a great way to use up some of your ends that are hanging around. This would be a fun project if you have lots of mini skeins or an Advent kit. Choose a main colour for the background and then knit your minis for the contrast. I’m on the phone on hold while I’m writing and thought of another idea. You could use a solid colour for the main and a self-striping yarn for the contrast. You won’t have as many yarn changes but lots of colour change. Crazy Zauberball would be a great option. Or Freia Minikins.

We received new colours of Dyed in the Wool before LYS Day and I just got them on the website. I’d like to introduce Inkling (above) and Silver Lining (below). 

This is Strawflower Dream State.

Next week we will have a few more new colours of Dream State

Opia

Holy Toledo

Dark Side Dyed in the Wool. Yes I will be taking 3 skeins home for a Traveler Cowl. 

Beth is off to see dad and I’m dog sitting. Right now they are being nice and quiet for me. This will last about 1/2 hour and then Fred will become a terror. It happens every evening for a few hours and then he becomes an angel again.

Yarn Shopping

I’m not in Chicago purchasing yarn but that doesn’t mean I’m not buying yarn 😀

We have 3 brand new Opal collections arriving next week.

These are the Lazy Daisy Socks - Stephen West’s newest pattern that you can purchase on Ravelry.

These top-down socks feature a beautiful textured Daisy Stitch pattern. Choose a self-striping sock yarn like Schoppel Wolle Zauberball Crazy to accentuate this lovely stitch detail. Choose between five sizes as you begin with 2x2 ribbing followed by Daisy Stitches, a garter stitch heel flap and decreases to shape the gusset of the foot. You can easily customize the length of your socks by repeating the 4-row pattern repeat more times for a longer length or simply stop early for shorter socks. Once you experience this easy and fun-to-knit stitch, you can knit the Mingling Daisies Shawl or the Frolicking Field Shawl to create a coordinating Daisy Stitch sock + shawl combo!

Photos © Stephen West

There hasn’t been much knitting lately. Here is my Traveler Cowl in Dyed in the Wool Ranunculus. It is mindless knitting that I can pick up and put down. 

I visited with dad this morning and there is some progress. The biggest for him is that he can have solid food as of lunch time. He has been eating puréed food and that hasn’t made him happy. For lunch he had an egg salad sandwich and minestrone soup. He was very happy and he dug in. 

Someone got a hair cut

Just because I’m not in Chicago purchasing bags doesn’t mean I’m not buying bags. 😀

Atenti has great fabrics for spring/summer and we could see these by the end of the month.

I ordered a few bags that Atenti calls the Caddy.

This stand-alone, carry around organizer is perfect to store and keep handy all your tools and notions. It’s fully lined in cream denim and has four outside and four inside pockets with an ample center well and an ultra suede handle.

I am a bit obsessed with this fabric. This is the Bonnie. 

This is Cheryl Faust’s newest pattern called Missed Connections and you can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.

Missed Connections is a smallish elongated triangle knit from tip to edge. This design includes an integral loop and button closure, allowing you to style it as a shawlette or as a cowl … a showl! The striking arrow pattern is achieved using the mosaic technique whereas you’ll work just one strand of yarn per row. Missed Connections also features neat and tidy I-cord edges and two color I-cord bind off.

Due to the large scale of the arrow patterning, the mosaic colorwork is charted only. The pattern includes a video link to guide you with reading mosaic charts and a photo tutorial with step by step instructions to make the I-cord loop closure. Standard and Inverted color charts are included for the main patterning.

For those preferring a large shawl, the pattern also includes instructions to make a LRG full sized shawl version.

The shawl calls for Sportweight yarn. Malabrigo Arroyo, Madelinetosh Woolcycle Sport and Juniper Moon Patagonia are all good choices. If you want the contrast to be a multi-coloured self-striping yarn then I would suggest Spincycle Dyed in the Wool, Schoppel Wolle Starke 6 or Edition 3. Some test knitters used fingering weight. If you go that route please do a tension swatch. 

I quickly put together some combinations for the shawl today using Malabrigo Arroyo as the main colour and Starke 6 or Dyed in the Wool as the contrast. I picked colours with a big contrast.

Borrajas with 2516 or Bright Idea

Cactus Flower with 2404 or Pop-Click

Frank Ochre with Ghost Ranch

Someone had his first haircut today. He looks amazing. It took them a long time to get him cleaned up so from now on he is going once a month.