Universal Yarn Creative Network
Inspiration By Design
This is part 12 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Day 12 – can you believe it? Today we reveal the final installment of the Universal Yarn 12 Days of Winter Kit Collections – Series 2! Say hello to the Solstice Shawl.
Can I be honest? I am really proud of this design – in my opinion, it’s one of my best designs and I sincerely hope you love it.
This isn’t a very complicated design, but what I feel proud of is the balance of simplicity and intricacy in the piece. This shawl combines cables, stripes, and intarsia. It is worked from tip to tip, starting and finishing with the same number of stitches (just two!). Finally, it’s finished with a very simple contrast color border.
Part of what makes this project special is the yarn used: Deluxe DK Tweed Superwash. I love this yarn. It’s rustic and the tweedy nubs add interest to every type of pattern – from simple garter to cables, lace, and stranded colorwork. (If you need convincing, just take a look at the recent collection in this yarn, Rustic & Refined).
I’m keeping this post short and sweet, but before I sign off, thank you’s are in order! Like last year we had a really wonderful time putting this collection together. It is a team effort, for sure. So thanks to everyone on our team for putting in so much hard work! And thank you so much for supporting our company, your local yarn shops, and for following our posts for this collection. We appreciate it so much!
Remember, you can find the 12 Days of Winter Kit patterns on Ravelry.
This is part 11 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Say hello to First Frost, an accessory set that is sure to warm you up this season!
Ah, knitting. I love everything about it. However, some techniques sing to me more than others. Cables are one of those techniques. I can never get enough. If I can squeeze them in, I do. They don’t have to be complicated – but they can be. Either way, I love them. I want to knit cables as often as I want to eat Kit Kats or Reeses’ Peanut Butter Cups – all the time!
I actually really like using cable needles, but I occasionally lose them. The crevices on my sofa are likely home to several. So what do you do when you don’t have a cable needle or spare DPN handy? Do you find another project? NO! Of course not! You simply cable without a cable needle. I’m going to show you how with a quick tutorial!
Going behind the first two stitches (red) on the left-hand needle, slip the third and fourth (green) stitches to the right-hand needle. The first two stitches will be in FRONT of the work. If you were working this as a right cross, the red stitches would be in the BACK of your work, and you would slip the green stitches purlwise from the front.
If the above photo scares you, just take a deep breath. It’s really not that scary! When you slip the green stitches, the red stitches will fall off your needle. That is okay – that’s what you want!
Carefully scoop the red stitches up with your left-hand needle. Breathe a sigh of relief – your stitches are safe again. Notice, we are simply re-arranging the stitches. * If you were working this as a RIGHT cross, the red stitches would be in the back of your work.
After the stitches are all back on the left-hand needle you may continue knitting as usual. You can already see the twist in your work.
That’s it! You’ve created a beautiful cable without a cable needle.
I realize that I’ve only included instructions for a 2×2 Left Cross here, but my hope is mainly to give you the courage to go forth without a cable needle. In fact, the pattern features left and right crosses; so if you choose to skip the cable needle you’ll have plenty of time to practice both.
You can do this on any number of stitches, but I wouldn’t recommend working cables without a needle on anything more than 3×3 crosses. Any bigger than that and things can start to look sloppy and feel fiddly. Cable needles are great and help to maintain an even tension, but the same results can occur without them. Some find that skipping the cable needle feels faster, too. In personal projects, I go both ways. It depends on my mood and whether I can find my cable needle!
Remember, you can find the 12 Days of Winter Kit patterns on Ravelry.
This is part 8 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Say hello to the Glisten Cowl (link here). Winter, more than most seasons, elicits a desire to adorn ourselves with something sparkly. It’s probably because of all the bright lights, the glow of snow, and – as my dear friend Yukon Cornelius puts it: “gold; and silver!” So if you’re in the mood for sparkly seasonal splendor, I invite you to treat yourself to the Glisten Cowl.
The yarn is what truly makes this design special. Amphora and Cotton Gold are held together to create a fabric with a soft halo and radiant sparkle. It’s perfect for every special holiday event you attend.
The front part of the cowl is an intriguing cable and lace pattern, while the back is simple garter stitch. The garter section allows your mind to rest before diving back into the patterned section. The difference between the two sections is also visually pleasing allowing the intricate cables to shine more brightly.
The popular winter carol – Winter Wonderland – inspired the name of this cowl, so it’s only fitting that a knitters’ version of the song exists. I struggled a bit and recruited Heather’s talent for words. Get ready because it’s pretty amazing. I’m only sorry that we don’t have a recorded version of her singing it – I learned today that she has a lovely singing voice!
Winter Wonderland – Knitters Edition
Needles click, are you listening
You can see this cowl glistening
A beautiful sight
We’re happy tonight
Knitting in a winter wonderland
We make sure, to do swatching
So our gauge, we’re not botching
Our tension’s not wrong
As we finally cast on
Knitting in a winter wonderland
In the meadow, we can knit a snowfolk
Then pretend she runs our LYS.
She’ll say, “did you mean to drop that stitch, dear?
Don’t you fret a bit,
I’ll fix your mess!”
Later on, we’ll admire
As we knit by the fire
The cowl that we’ve made
In just the right shade
Knitting in a winter wonderland.
Three cheers for Heather – she’s an invaluable part of our team!
Remember, you can find the Series 2 12 Days of Winter Kit Patterns on Ravelry.
For the last installment of our blog series on our 12 Days of Winter Kit Collection, we’re unveiling the Twining Vines Cowl. Twining Vines features Amphora. It is a perfect yarn for colorwork because its gorgeous halo blends the fibers together seamlessly. The effect is almost like an impressionist painting.
In addition to carrying two colors throughout this pattern, you’ll also need to trap your floats. It’s simpler than you might think. This tutorial is useful for any stranded project. If you’d like a closer look at the images, simply click on them.
Just like that, we’ve released all 12 of the patterns featured in our 12 Days of Winter Collection. We sincerely hope you’ve been enjoying our blog series highlighting each pattern. You can find the Twining Vines kit on our website here.
Now that you’ve seen them all, I’d also like to emphasize that tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. What better way to show your support for your local yarn shop than by stopping by to pick up one of our kits on Small Business Saturday?
What are some things that come to mind when you think of winter? Seeing your breath in the cool air? Staying warm at home as snow falls softly to the ground? Building snowmen and coming inside to a cup of warm cocoa? Whatever you envision on a cold winter’s day, Tundra is sure to keep you warm.
Tundra is cabled hat that captures the look of icy winter days, yet keeps you snug and warm. It features all-over cables that begin at the cuff and are carried into the crown shaping.
If ever there was a yarn meant to be coupled with cables, Dona would be that yarn. It has impeccable stitch definition, which is perfect for the interlocking twists and turns of cabled fabric. The Tundra hat combines simple, but beautiful cables with the plump and incredibly soft Dona.
Like each kit in the 12 Days of Winter Collection, the Tundra Kit comes in a giftable package. Perhaps you’re the knitter doing the gifting (isn’t the act of knitting a gift to yourself anyway?)–great news–this pattern is sized baby through adult, so it’s perfect for anyone special in your life.
By the way, I’d be remiss not to mention that today is also Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you. I hope your day is full of delicious food, laughter among loved ones, and some comfort knitting while you recover from all of that feasting!
You can find the kit for Tundra on our website here.
On Day 10 of Winter, we bring to you the Templetop Revisited Hat and Cowl set.
Oh, how I adore stranded knitting in our Deluxe DK Tweed! Crisp, defined colorwork has its place. But when the yarn has more character like our tweed, it softens the lines of the patterning and gives more interest.
This title of this design has the caveat of “revisited” because the original Templetop Cowl indeed exists. The first incarnation of this design was knit in Amphora, another yarn with one of my favorite characteristics: halo.
With smooth, plied yarns, knitting is crisp, even, and predictable. But when a yarn has a special characteristic such as tweedy bits or loft, stitches are less cut and dry and more organic. They have a mind of their own, so to speak. And they become more like real life, too, where we can’t always control things down to every last detail. There is a level of relief that comes with that acceptance, where we just let things be how they’re going to be, and this is ultimately why I love yarns with character. They mirror our own lives in ways that we might not realize at first.
Golly, you never knew yarn and knitting could get so philosophical, right? You can find the Templetop Revisited kit on our website here.
It’s hardly winter without stockings, amiright? Three balls of yarn make three stockings in the Stripe Stockings kit. Knit in Deluxe Bulky Superwash, these will virtually fly off your needles.
The knitting in these is relatively simple – mostly stockinette with a bit of garter and an i-cord bind-off. There are enough details to keep a seasoned knitter entertained, but are simple enough that they would also make a good first sock project.
One feature that I’d like to explain more in detail is the afterthought heel. Unlike the common short-row heel which is knit as the rest of your sock is knit, an afterthought heel is added later after the rest of the sock is complete. There are various reasons for choosing this type of heel. My reasoning for doing so in this project was both to keep my stripe sequence uninterrupted and also to make the most of my yarn.
Grab your needles and yarn and let’s get to learning!
Continue to knit the rest of the sock/swatch. Knit across the waste yarn stitches and on around.
I also like this technique for set-in pockets on a top-down sweater. It’s not as hard as you thought it was going to be, right?