Summertime can be a tough time for a needlecrafter. It’s hot, and a big project can weigh heavy in your lap, but you don’t want to put down the yarn. Fortunately, there’s always cotton!
Sized Small to 3X, this raglan-sleeved pullover features waist shaping, and is knitted from the bottom up in pieces. It’s quite stylish with a contrasting tank underneath. This is a nice three season piece.
The lace pattern is both written and charted, and covers front and back. It calls for Cotton Supreme DK, the lighterweight version of our popular Cotton Supreme DK. It’s very pretty as shown in a natural 702 Ecru, but there are a lot of ways to go with this one. Maybe a pretty pastel?
Or go dark, with something light showing through beneath?
We hope you stay cool, and keep on crafting. Have a great day!
A couple of weeks ago, I very briefly mentioned our new e-book, Small Pleasures. It’s a set of designs using what is fast becoming a favorite, Bella Cash.
This collection is perfect for me, because I am all about the accessories. I like instant gratification, and I’m always paranoid that I’m going to get to the end of a sweater and I will have miscalculated somewhere and it won’t fit. Not that this has ever happened to me. Ahem.
But let us not dwell on the failures of the past, let us move on to newer and more beautiful things – namely, my new shawl obsession, Blue Oak.
I asked designer Rachel Brockman about this, and she kindly shared her original swatch and concept.
“It all started with my playing with slip stitches and stripes, but wanting it to have a little something special. I’m a sucker for triangular shawls, too. They are easy to wear and soothing to knit. It was never my plan to make this in pink and white, as shown in my swatch – but I think it gets my design through quite well and I was thrilled about the final results.”
Rachel’s concept for the edge lace was inspired by the Blue Oak tree. The triangular shape of the shawl itself mirrors that.
Soothing indeed.
It sits nicely on the shoulders worn loose to the front…
…and is long enough to wrap for other styling options as well.
The grain pattern in this top-down piece is just a 4-row 2-stitch repeat. I cast on for this yesterday and knitted a bit, and it only took about five rows after the garter tab before I didn’t have to think about it any more.
Colors: 122 Amethyst and 119 Apricot.
The pattern is broken up by a band of contrasting color in the middle and in the ending lace. Everything in the pattern is written and charted, except the grain pattern, which needs no chart.
Rachel offers some Bella Cash color suggestions:
“My choices for a personal project would have to be 126 Forest combined with 106 Oat or 116 Sage, as used in the sample. Of course, there is always 121 Cabernet and 124 Mustard (shown) if you’re feeling the Gryffindor love!”
Well, now I’m not sure whether to keep going with what I’ve got, or maybe go Ravenclaw blue. Decisions, decisions.
The Blue Oak Shawl is available on Ravelry as a single pattern, or as part of e-book Small Pleasures. This won’t be the last time we talk about this e-book. I’m a sock fiend, and there’s a pair in there I’m dying to cast on for.
Combine a top-down triangular shell stitch pattern with self-striping yarn, and what do you get?
Gradually widening color repeats in a beautiful shawl.
The border is added afterwards, for narrow bands of color in glittering superfine Alpaculence.
You can easily adjust the size of this shawl, taking care to ensure you’re starting from a multiple of 8 plus 2 chain stitches. The pattern is both written and charted, for your convenience.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend full of beauty.
This summer, I’ve been looking for just the right piece to wear over a tank or short sleeves, to go with a kicky spring-toned skirt that I bought on impulse. I didn’t have to look far – Rachel Brockman delivered the perfect design in the Flow Cardi.
The design is part of our new Vibrance in Lace e-book of patterns for new yarn Finn. For me, this works perfectly because it’s loose and airy, and if I’m going to wear a skirt (rare for me!) then I definitely want to be comfortable.
The six-row lace repeat isn’t hard to keep track of. Worked flat in pieces from the bottom up, you’ll be making the sleeves at the same time as the body, casting on and binding off to create the dolman sleeve shape.
The model here is wearing a Medium/Large, which gives her a generous 20″ of ease. The pattern is sized from XS to 4X.
Looks great open, or fastened with a pin or closure. I like the use of Finn for this pattern – its alpaca content provides a soft halo, which gives a touch of blur to the edges of the lace and softens the look even further.
This soft, squeezable square 38″ x 38″ blanket is perfect for tender-skinned babies.
I wish you could reach through the screen and feel how soft the Bella Chenille Multi is. The wrapped stitches give it just a little extra thickness and texture.
Pet me.
Tip: Because Bella Chenille is a bulky weight yarn, you may wish to securely sew down ends with matching sewing needle and thread. In our experience, the fabric is quite sturdy, so you should be fine just weaving in ends, but it’s another way to finish if you think your project might get a little tough love.
There are plenty of solid Bella Chenille options too, if you want to mix and match or give a different feel. Maybe “bold” is more your style. It’s up to you!
When we launch a new yarn, as we did this year with Finn, we also publish free patterns made in that yarn so that crafters can have instant inspiration. Halfway Home was one of several published this Spring that never got their day on the blog. Time to fix that!
It’s lovely worn, but I also had to take a picture of it here in the studio just to show its striking shape.
The corner that the model is holding is the starting point for this slightly oblong shawl. It begins with just 7 stitches. Five Herringbone Lace Columns grow out of the left side of the shawl and are continued up to the top edge.
Increases occur only at the left side of the piece, creating a right triangle shape. The lace pattern is an easy-to-memorize 4-row repeat.
We use Finn, a blend of acrylic, superwash merino, and enough alpaca to give it a bit of a halo. It’s a nice touch of luxury.
It’s easy to customize size in this shawl, as most of the body is maintained in garter stitch. Just be sure to reserve enough yarn for the final 10 rows of garter stitch and you’re good!
These are sweet little knitting confections. Made in organic Cottonwood, they’re small projects that are satisfying on-the-go knitting, or great quick gifts.
It’s warm here today, so it seems like a good day to highlight the most popular design from our summer collection Desert Dreams.
As the cover says, this is a collection of six knit and crochet projects in wool/linen/cotton/bamboo blend Unity and its self-shading sister Unity Beyond.
