May
10
Just the right weight for springtime - I made a version of my Stefanie Moebius pattern from Knit Picks’ Wool of the Andes Sport. I used Woodland Heather and Sapphire Heather. I adore sport-weight yarn, which added to this project’s fun factor. I previously made one from Lorna’s Laces, and high on my to-do list is to make one from Tosh Sport too. All these companies have such great colors to choose from!
If you’d like to make one of these yourself, the pattern is from my book Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues. There are directions for the tricky-but-fun Moebius cast-on that Cat Bordhi teaches. One of the elements I like about this design is the contrasting edging; it emphasizes the intriguing Moebius shape.
Resources:
Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues
Cat Bordhi’s Moebius Cast-On video
Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Sport
Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport
Madelinetosh Tosh Sport
October
17
I love being in Ohio for the fall colors.
Gates Mills Bridge
St Christopher’s church
”Hey, what’s this human doing in my woods?”
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To celebrate fall, I’m using Rowan Felted Tweed to make the Bold Stripes pattern from my book, swapping the book’s bright spring palette for muted fall colors
June
11
You may remember my post showing a bit of the design process for a pattern in my upcoming book, Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues. When you get my book, you’ll see that one of the chapters offers designs using double-knitting. Each pattern uses the slip-stitch technique, so knitters don’t have to learn any new skills – they can just jump right in and start knitting. My friends of course saw the bits of test knitting I worked on as I developed the patterns. They were always amazed at how simple the slip-stitch method is.
Here is one of my favorites from the book. May I present “Sprouts” in it’s final form, made pretty by the fantastic photographer, Caro Sheridan!
May
21
As I worked on my upcoming book, Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues, I tried desperately to stay organized. I have papers pinned all over my bulletin board (sort of like the reality version of Pinterest). “Sprouts” was a really fun pattern to develop. An early bit of test swatching takes a place of honor in the mayhem:
The wonderful sample of “Sprouts” for the book was created by Susan Claudino, of NoKnitSherlock fame on Ravelry. (You’ll see it in a Sneak Peek posting soon.) Since she knit it, she’ll get to post it to her Projects page. I’ve been itching to knit one myself, partly because it’s a fun knit, and also so I can post my own in my AudKnits Projects.
Early in the morning, I happily got started:
Berroco’s Ultra Alpaca is a dream to knit with!
April
17
People have been asking me about the scarf I used in my new Binding Off in Pattern YouTube video. “Mixer” is one of the many patterns from my upcoming book Reversible Scarves: Curing the Wrong Side Blues.
Don’t you hate it when you lovingly knit a scarf, only to have it worn with the wrong side showing? My book will be a resource for reversible scarves, using a variety of techniques. “Mixer” comes from the chapter showcasing simple knit/purl patterns. I love the jaunty scalloped ends (if I do say so myself) and the great Cascade 220 Citron color.
My book is available for pre-order (see the sidebar at right). If you order the printed book, you’ll also receive the digital version. The digital version alone is also available.
Photo by Caro Sheridan
October
24
Hmm… What on earth is this pile of knitting?
And why is Shannon Okey smiling?
I’m excited to tell you that the Really Big Project I’ve been alluding to over the past bunch of months is my book on reversible scarves. It will be published by Cooperative Press. I’m very grateful to Shannon Okey, of Knitgrrl fame, for giving me the opportunity to be published!
A few weeks ago I hauled all the scarf samples down to Shannon’s studio in Cleveland. I learned a lot, watching her sort the scarves into groups in preparation for photography. She then showed me the programs she uses to edit the Cooperative Press books. A fascinating process!
If you’re like me, and are tired of sorting through scores of scarf patterns to find the ones that look good from both sides, your wait will soon be over. My book uses a variety of techniques, and plenty of suggestions for customization – enough to keep you knitting gifts and accessories for years to come.
The book is in its infancy, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted as it makes its way toward actual book-dom!
March
9
For the beautiful yarn that Adrienne spun, I turned to one of my all-time favorite patterns from Candi Jensen’s book Knit Scarves. The Woven Knit pattern uses slipped stitches to form a fabric that looks, well, woven.
I like both sides of this scarf. And need I say more about the colors? Adrienne tells me the roving is called “Alpine”, by Mountain Colors.
Many thanks to my amazing nephew Neil for taking these photos. If like photography, you can check out Neil’s Flickr photostream. You’re in for a treat!
Adrienne can be found on Ravelry as Truffle. I feel lucky to have such a talented, kind and interesting friend as a co-conspirator in all things knitterly!
December
6
Kari’s scarf is done. Hooray! I enjoyed everything about this project. The Cables & Lace Rib pattern is from knit1 Magazine‘s Winter 2007 issue. I love that the pattern is reversible, with both sides being pretty.
Just as the name suggests, one side features cables with lace ribs on the other.
Call me fashion backward, but it took me a while to get used to brown being such a popular color. Now I love it! I used Mission Falls 136 Merino Superwash. I always admired Mission Falls’ 1824 Wool, and am so glad they came out with this great DK weight in the same fiber. It’s soft, holds the stitch definition well and drapes nicely. It comes in so many beautiful colors, I’m tempted to start right in on another project. Another scarf? A nice top? (Daydreaming away….) Ok, back to the scarf… I used US#5 needles for the project, and it ended up being 6″x71″.
Merry Christmas and lots of love to Kari!
November
29
I’m making this scarf for my wonderful niece Kari. She pored over my scarf patterns and selected one from Knit1 Magazine’s Winter 2007 issue. It was part of a nifty article by Charlotte Quiggle about reversible patterns. Kari chose the “Cables and Lace Rib”.
I duly cast on to play with the pattern. Which brings me right away to the head-banging issue of finding errors the hard way. I always think its me. I hope that it wouldn’t take you as long as it took me to figure out that 4 does not equal 5. The pattern says the pattern is a multiple of 9 st + 4. But the ending stitches clearly have to be 5. I just couldn’t make it work! I went online to see if they published a correction. When I couldn’t find one, I still had doubts about whether 4 = 5. After an embarrassingly long time, I altered the pattern and voila! it has been a joy to knit ever since.
Here’s the cable side:
Here’s the lace side:
And here it is in its reversible glory:
A footnote is that I let knit1 Magazine know about the error I found. The publications and/or designers are ususally grateful to find out their boo-boos so they can post corrections.
