Category: design

hibiscus revisited

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve deactivated the Hibiscus shawl pattern from my Ravelry store. I’ve done this so I can reknit the pattern to investigate some problems that people have been having.

I’m knitting it up in some nice merino sock yarn from Maple Creek Farm, a Rhinebeck vendor that has great yarn but I don’t think sells anywhere else! I’ve been working away at it and I’m almost done. I’m also taking this opportunity to add stitch counts throughout the pattern.

The pattern should be back up for sale very shortly. I’m also going to continue donating a portion of the sales from this pattern to Haiti relief through February. I haven’t calculated the total for the January fundraiser yet, but I know it’ll be an amazingly generous amount!

Thanks to you all for purchasing patterns and helping to donate. If you’ve had your eye on any of my patterns, you’ve still got one day to contribute a portion of the purchase price to MSF and the Red Cross.

Hope you’re keeping warm this weekend.

January 30, 2010
third time’s a charm?

I finished knitting up the colourwork mittens I started last week – they were super fast since they’re knit in DK weight! Then came time to do the linings. I wanted to use Road to China Light, which is stupidly soft and gorgeous, but it was too thick. Guess I’ll just have to save that skein for a sweater project I’m dreaming up!

Then I tried a lighter fingering weight cashmere from my stash (pictured above) which was thinner than the Road to China. I knit up most of one lining only to find that…yeah, it was still too thick. So soft, though. I only have a hundred yards, I think, so now I’ve really got to come up with something else for that yarn. (See a trend developing here?)

So now I’m onto a really thin laceweight cashmere that I got at Rhinebeck last year – it’s very very soft and I think it’s finally doing the trick! Lesson learned, I need to go a lot thinner than I think for linings like this. The first couple of rounds, the yarn seems way too thin, but it all evens out after an inch or so. The slightly smaller lining should fit really nicely inside the outer mitten, and prevent my fingers from catching on the floats.

I hope there’s actually cold weather to wear these in once I’m done. It’s been so mild and springlike here, it hasn’t really felt like winter at all.

January 26, 2010
Beauchamp Cowl

The Beauchamp Cowl is up for sale! And of course, I’ll be donating 50% of the purchase price of this pattern (and all my patterns) to MSF and the Canadian Red Cross for Haiti relief, through the end of January.

This fast and fun cowl is snuggly, warm, and a great intro to stranded colourwork knitting to boot! Worked in either fingering weight or DK weight yarn, this is a great project to use up all those little bits of sock yarn or a special fibre.

FINISHED SIZE
19 inches / 48 cm around, 10 inches / 25.5 cm deep

FINGERING WEIGHT VERSION (Shown in Koigu KPPPM)
158 yards / 143 m of main colour (MC). This is the background colour.
84 yds / 76 m of contrast colour (CC) 4 yards / 3.6 m of yarn is used for each CC stripe.
US 2.5 / 3 mm 16 inch circular needle

Gauge: 32 sts and 40 rnds = 4in square

DK WEIGHT VERSION (shown in Handmaiden 4ply Cashmere)
130 yards / 118 m of main colour (MC). This is the background colour.
65 yards / 59 m of contrast colour (CC)
US 6 / 4 mm 16 inch circular needle

Gauge: 24 sts and 28 rnds = 4in square

3 page PDF file includes chart, photos, and instructions on working either a fingering weight or DK weight version of this cowl. This pattern would be great for a first stranded colourwork project!

Available through Ravelry, payment by Paypal (no account is required for either).

$5.00 CAD

Note: As of July 5, 2010, sales tax will be added to this price for all Canadian residents only. The rates are: British Columbia 12%; Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador 13%; Nova Scotia 15%; and everywhere else in Canada 5% GST. Tax will be added in the Paypal payment process.

January 18, 2010