The word of the day is “simplicity.” A very simple garter stitch swatch on size 9 needles. Knit every row and voila. A beautiful textured scarf that would look great with blue jeans and equally great dressed up. Add to your simplicity by kicking off your shoes and enjoying the great outdoors while you’re at it. Bamboo Bloom Handpaints has thick, soft wool sections interspersed with thin, shiny stretches of rayon from bamboo. It won’t weigh you down on a gorgeous summer day like today. There are beautifully coordinating solids in Bamboo Bloom, as well.
Our most popular free pattern for this yarn is Michael del Vecchio’s one ball Persephone Handpaints Cowl, pictured at right. It’s a simple knit on size 10 needles that really lets the texture of the yarn shine through.
We hope you are able to find some time today to appreciate the simple things in life – and to knit!
Above, the start of a basic multi-directional scarf on size 8 needles in the founding member of our Classic Shades family of yarns. Classic Shades is a wildly popular yarn, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s got a very affordable price for its generous 197 yards – three balls easily makes Yumiko Alexander’s stunning Arizona Sunset cowl, double-wrapped in the picture at right.
Classic Shades is an acrylic/wool blend in a silky soft single. Durable and machine washable, it’s a great choice for those wanting a self-shading yarn with knockout color.
Superwool is one of those yarns that you touch, then you pause and squeeze because you can’t quite believe what you’re feeling. Superwool is super stretchy! It’s an acrylic/nylon blend that’s specially spun to provide a lot of give. Frankly, as, shall we say, a “substantial” knitter I am delighted to find a yarn that’s going to be kind to my curves – especially a super bulky one that knits up quickly.
This swatch is a cable taken from the Lava Flow Cowl pictured at right, a one ball pattern that’s part of our free Quick Cowls e-book. It works up very quickly on size 17 needles. I knitted this swatch in a coffee shop and foolishly left my cable needle at home, so I wound up using a Sharpie magic marker to hold my stitches. I felt quite resourceful.
If I hadn’t had my tools, I still could have made a quick project – this yarn works great for arm-knitting. It’s simple to make this 50″ long “Supercowl” using just your hands and one skein. Superwool’s elasticity makes it a natural fit for arm-knitting. It’s very easy to move the yarn over your wrists.
I just might unravel this swatch and use it to teach my daughter how to arm-knit. What a fun project in a fun yarn!
Classic Shades Big Time is part of our popular Classic Shades family of yarns. As the name implies, it’s the same wool/acrylic blend as Classic Shades, but BIG. These were knit on a US size 11(8mm) needle, and you could easily go up to a US13.
Although this is a bulky yarn, the pattern is actually taken from the scrap sock yarn blanket at Luann’s Loose Threads. Cast on 31 and follow the instructions for a single mitered square.
I had planned to do just one, but it went so fast I wanted to keep going!
To hook two squares together as in the larger picture above, I finished one square and left my last stitch (upper right purple corner in the picture at right) on the needle, then did an e-loop cast on of an additional 15 stitches. I knitted back across the stitches I had cast on, then picked up and knitted 15 stitches along the edge of the square I had just finished. With 31 stitches on the needle I followed the directions for another square. It would have been just as easy to line up the direction that the rows went by binding off that final stitch, then picking up along a different edge and starting a new square.
There are a lot of applications for these mitered squares. Can’t you imagine a row of these for a scarf, or several strips or blocks for an afghan? The color changes would be striking! One 150g ball of Classic Shades Big Time will make five 6 1/2″ square blocks on a size 11 needle.
If you’re looking for something on even bigger needles, how about the free Skyscraper Shawl at right? Two balls of Classic Shades Big Time on a size 15 needle – instant gratification!
We hope your week is filled with big, beautiful things!
Today’s Sunday Swatch is in Polaris, color 71009 Libra.
Polaris is a champion of our Rozetti Yarns line. It’s a lightweight yarn with a lovely, soft halo. Sequins are spaced along its length, and I’m here to tell you that the sequins stay where they are. This is a sturdy yarn.
How do I know? Coming home from work a few days ago, I made it all the way into the house before I felt a tug coming from my purse. I walked back outside and saw what no needlecrafter wants to see.
Sunday Swatch was still in the car. I was not.
Fearing the worst, I opened the door.
Whew! It was a good day to go with circular needles instead of straights – the cable was fine, but if it had been a straight needle it surely would have snapped.
The yarn itself withstood being slammed in the car door and dragged across the driveway with absolutely no ill effects. If a cat has nine lives, how many does this swatch have?
This stitch pattern is taken from the Snowflower Scarf pictured at right, a free three-ball pattern in Polaris on our website. Pretty!
Polaris is a yarn that we love so much we’re adding new colors this Fall. I look forward to using this yarn to make more projects – all tucked safely away from car doors.
Infusion Handpaints is a 50/50 blend of acrylic and superwash merino wool, a good combination of softness and durability.
I picked some bright colors today to chase away the winter blahs. Wouldn’t these be great for a machine washable children’s garment? Of course, if you want something more grownup you could try the Painted Wings Shawlette shown at right, a nice single skein project.
This stitch pattern on the sock swatch uses the same yarn-crossing principle as the smocked stitch on our Jubilation Kettle Dye sample a couple of weeks ago, but it’s even easier. It goes like so, over a multiple of four:
Round 1: Knit.
Round 2: *K2, with yarn in front slip 2 purlwise* over round.
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4: *With yarn in front slip 2 purlwise, k2* over round.
It’s good “on the go” knitting since it’s so easy to memorize. This sample is 56 stitches on a US Size 2 needle, so the rest of the sock should go pretty quickly. The Infusion Handpaints page has a couple of socks patterns using size 3 needles and a 48 stitch leg for even more instant gratification.
We’re fans of this yarn here in the office, and we have good things in the works for it – stay tuned for more details!
I say “swatch” but it seems to have turned into a scarf. I cast on at my local knit night and with all the good conversation and company, my little swatch ran away from me. I found myself at the end of the ball, wondering where the time had gone. And no wonder – on 10mm(US15) needles, this yarn knits up quickly.
This 12-stitch swatch used one ball of Poems Forte (colorway 1003 English Garden) and turned out to be 5 inches wide and 50 inches long – the 90 yards of super bulky wool went a long way.
This is a yarn I’ve been wanting to work with for a while. Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton uses Poems Forte in her popular design Camilla from Wisdom Book 4: Poems Windfall. I love the way she uses a system of yarn overs to create a fabric that is both thick and airy. What a lovely texture.
While poking around on Ravelry, I also stumbled across this gorgeous cowl knitted by raveler Miller1218. She modified the Swirling Cowl, a super-superbulky design to work on size 13 needles with less than a ball of Poems Forte in color 1007 Bursa, and the result is fabulous. This would be great to knock out at the next knit night. Based on experience, I know it’ll go quickly.
Nettle Lana Solids is a luxurious blend of 70% organic wool and 30% nettle with a braided construction. This is the first nettle yarn I’ve worked with, and I like it! Some plant fiber yarns can be tiring to knit with, but I didn’t have that problem with Nettle Lana, perhaps due to the wool content.
This yarn has a particularly rich color saturation. The plant and animal fibers take the dye at different rates leading to an almost heathered look. Decadent.
I picked the shadow cable for this swatch because I liked how it looked in the Starcrossed Cardigan (above) from e-book Nettle Lana: Behind the Curtain. Doing cables over the knit side of a stockinette background instead of the purl side gives a subtlety to the texture. They fade into the background more than they would in a traditional Celtic cable. The shadow cable is a simple 8-row repeat of two over two crosses that’s easy to memorize. Like last week’s smock stitch swatch, it’s the same thing on rows 4 and 8, just staggered. Very easy to keep track of, and an excellent beginner’s cable. On US Size 7 needles, I got about 5 stitches per inch in pattern, but of course your gauge may vary.
Nettle Lana Solids would look great in a larger garment. Nettle Lana Expressions, the multi version of this yarn, would be well-suited for a smaller project. I’m eyeing the Woven Stitch Cowl at right, a free two ball pattern on our website. A four row repeat with great texture? Looks like another great stitch to try for Sunday Swatch!
Today’s swatch is in Jubilation Kettle Dye Worsted. This is a buttery-soft single ply spun from extra fine merino. It comes 208 yards per 100g, enough to make a nice accessory from just one skein.
I decided to try a smock stitch today, just to see how the long wrap would look going across the variegated stitches. I like it!
The swatch uses the smock stitch over 2×2 rib. For our purposes, we treat each section of eight p2,k2 stitches like one unit. We purl 2, then do the smock stitch: with yarn in back, insert right hand needle between the sixth and seventh stitch on left hand needle (this should be between a knit and purl stitch), wrap working yarn around right hand needle and pull it through. Then put the yarn on the left hand needle, and knit the wrapped stitch with the next stitch on the left hand needle.
This is one of those things that’s easier to demonstrate than explain, so we made a video.
Make better sense?
Here’s how this swatch was made.
Rows 1-3: k1 [p2, k2] to final stitch, k1.
Row 4: k1, [p2, smock stitch, pull smock stitch wrap across and knit together with next stitch, k1, p2, k2] across row to last stitch, k1.
Rows 5-7: k1, [p2, k2] to final stitch, k1.
Row 8: k1, p2, k2, [p2, smock stitch, pull smock stitch wrap across and knit together with next stitch, k1, p2, k2] across row to last five stitches, p2, k2, k1.
Really, you’re doing the same thing on rows 4 and 8, you’re just alternating which sections of the ribbing you wrap to stagger the appearance of the smocking.
This swatch is 8” long unblocked and only took a quarter of a ball of Jubilation Kettle Dye. I can definitely see using this pattern to make a one ball scarflette or cowl. In fact, we’ve got an inexpensive e-book of accessories that take one or two skeins of Jubilation that you can find on Ravelry or Craftsy.
Although I made this swatch on size 7 (4.5mm) needles, I think next time I might use size 8 (5mm) and maybe try eight fewer stitches to narrow it just a little. Extending this swatch would be an easy way to keep warm!
Friday’s rain brought, predictably, mud, and a lot of shoes and boots left outside the door. Thankfully the sun’s back out here, so soon the never-ending battle for clean floors will turn in our favor.
But we take time out from cleaning to do what we love – namely, knitting! I pulled out my DPNs and started a pair of socks in Saki Silk, the superwash wool/nylon/silk blend that’s part of our Wisdom Yarns line. The nylon provides extra durability, and silk gives it a luxurious sheen.
I decided to go with the earth tones of our 303 Peach Cobbler colorway, but looking around on Ravelry, I noticed these gorgeous socks by SuzyZim that had me drooling.
Suzy chose colorway 302 Mystery Mars. They look fantastic! She’s following Susan B. Anderson’s top-down formula, which calls for a 64 stitch count for the leg and foot – the same as I’m using. The moral, of course, is always check your gauge. SuzyZim’s look just perfect on size 1 needles, while I’m getting gauge on size 0’s.
I love how my socks are turning out, but next time, I think I’ll take inspiration from Suzy’s socks and go for that extra burst of color. Colorful feet look great coming out of muddy boots.
Our most popular free pattern for this yarn is Michael del Vecchio’s one ball Persephone Handpaints Cowl, pictured at right. It’s a simple knit on size 10 needles that really lets the texture of the yarn shine through.
