It’s Pi Day!

Though we like to celebrate Pi Day with a slice of cherry here at the office, that’s not actually what this math holiday is all about. But I will take any excuse to eat pie. Not that I need an excuse.

But seriously, Pi day is the annual recognizing of the awesome constant number we know as Pi, and that is recognized by this Greek symbol: π. Pi is approximately 3.14, and is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the length around the entire outer edge of a circle) and the diameter (the width of a circle).

I am a pretty big math geek. Math is logical, useful in so many facets of life, and it never lets you down. Pi is especially cool because it helps to solve the mystery of the unknown. For example, by knowing the formula for pi, and, say, the diameter of a circle, you can calculate the circumference of said circle.

As a knitting designer, I have relied upon Pi on many occasions. Here are a few examples:

The semicircle shawl in Deluxe Worsted begins with a sideways, short-row lower edge, and is then worked upward from there. In order to make a half circle shape considering all of the other aspects of this piece, I applied my love of Pi and magic was made.

Semicircle Shawl

A few other similar examples:

Around the World

Navigate
Sunrays Shawl

Perhaps the most common and well know way of shaping a circular shawl is called the Pi method. Developed by knitting genius Elizabeth Zimmermann, this shape is worked from the center outward and involves only a handful of increase rounds. The basic principle involves doubling the stitch count as the diameter of the circle increases. Typically, a pi constructed piece of knitting begins with 9 stitches, doubles to 18 on round 3, doubles to 36 on round 7, up to 72 stitches on round 13, and so on.

The Burst blanket is purely pi knitting. There are just 6 increase rounds in the entire thing, allowing you to focus solely on the repeating stitch patterns.

Burst

The Energize shawl uses this concept in the center, but in later rounds the increases are incorporated into a lace pattern.

Energize

Have a fantastic Pi day. Eat all the pie!

Free Pattern Friday – Wraparound Blankie

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Wraparound Blankie in Uptown DK Magix (pattern link).

You know those pretty balls of yarn that you look at and love, but you also think, “this looks neat, but what would I do with it?”

Voila.  The Wraparound Blankie answers this question by pairing self-patterning Uptown DK Magix with solid Uptown DK to create mitered angles and panels bordered by coordinating bands of vibrant color.

The nice thing about self-patterning yarn is that you really don’t have to do much work to make a complex design.  Pick two colors of the solid, two colors of the self-patterning, and go!  This pattern is worked in pieces and seamed together, making it a good travel project.  Sometimes it’s nice to be able to work on a blanket without actually having a full blanket on your lap.

We hope you enjoy this project, and have a great weekend.

Happy crafting!

Free Pattern Friday – Hecka Good Scarf

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Hecka Good Scarf in Uptown Worsted and Uptown Worsted Mist (pattern link here).

This scarf is a good example of how in a simple design, the placement of color can make a dramatic impact.

The lighter parts are Uptown Worsted Mist, with subtle shading. It’s accented by solid Uptown Worsted, with elements like the end stripe placed to tie the whole thing together. That said, it’s actually an easy knit – all knits and purls.  Give it a try!

We hope you have a great weekend.

Happy crafting!

U-S-A!

I have caught the Olympics fever big time this year. This past weekend, I did little more than drink coffee, binge-watch Olympic events, and of course, knit non-stop.

It’s important to have good knitting and tv companions. Charli is a big fan of the snowboarding half-pipe.

Ralph Lauren designed the closing ceremony knitwear and outfits for US Olympic team members, including this spectacular stranded hat. I’ve already seen some incarnations of this over on Ravelry.

Image result for us olympic ski hat
credit: Ralph Lauren

It’s a great hat. I love the balance of color and the jaunty double tassel thing that’s going on at the top. But stranded knitting can be intimidating and also time consuming. If colorwork is your cup of tea (confession: it’s mine!), then I would recommend these colors in Deluxe DK Superwash for your take on this hat:

838 Twilight
837 Christmas Red
828 Pulp

But if you’re in the mood for a simpler project with just as much patriotic bang for your buck, how about the USA Hat & Cowl in Uptown Bulky Amplify:

U-S-A U-S-A

With just one skein of self-striping Amplify you can make this  patriotic hat and cowl set. And on size 11 needles, this set goes so quickly you could make this project several times over before the closing ceremonies next weekend.

What’s on your needles this week as you cheer on your country?

Free Pattern Friday – Lounge Pullover

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Lounge Pullover in Bella Chenille (pattern link).

First off, a big shout-out to our model Darian.

When we have a model that’s this great to work with (and she really was great), we’re always happy that we can have something comfy and fun for them to wear.

The Lounge Pullover is knitted in Bella Chenille, a soft and fuzzy bulky-weight yarn that’s popular for baby and home decor projects.  However, we recently added some more grown-up colors (like the 119 Misty used here), and we wanted to show what else this yarn can do!

This roomy sweater is knit in pieces from the bottom-up.  Shoulders are joined using the 3-needle bind-off, then the sleeves are picked up and knit from the top-down.   The cables are written and charted.

Such a wonderful piece to slip into – like a big fuzzy hug!

We hope you have a cozy and rewarding weekend.

Happy crafting!

Be Mine: Free Pattern and Tutorial

Whether you love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day will be here in about a week. What better way to prepare than by knitting yourself (or someone else who is sweet) a shawl? We’ve got you covered – to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we’re offering the Be Mine Shawl for free!

You could ask anyone in the office and they would probably tell you that I have an unrelenting sweet tooth. It is just so difficult for me to turn down sugary sweet snacks. What does this have to do with our Valentine’s freebie? Well, the inspiration for the Be Mine Shawl came from conversation heart candies. (In case you were wondering, I prefer the white, wintergreen flavored hearts.)

Be Mine is a triangular shawl comprised mostly of garter stitch. It is knit in Fibra Natura Papyrus, a yarn with a luxurious blend of cotton and silk. This yarn is velvety soft and creates a beautifully drapey fabric.

After working the body of the shawl, three bold stripes featuring a lace heart motif are worked to create a lovely border. Small, brightly colored stripes break up the lace sections. Finally, the shawl is finished with a delicate crochet-picot edging. (By the way, back in December Amy posted a tutorial on a Crochet Picot Edging here, but please note that instead of entirely skipping a stitch between picots as directed in the tutorial, you will instead work a slip stitch in the stitch between picots.)

You can find this gorgeous shawl pin by Jul Designs here.


Because Be Mine uses garter stitch, it’s nice to have a beautiful, elastic bind off. As a bit of a tight knitter, I like to use the Suspended Bind-off whenever I want a neat, elastic edge. I highly recommend this technique for this shawl design, and I call for it in the pattern. The method is nearly as simple as your standard bind off. It really just involves holding onto a stitch just a moment longer. If that sounds confusing, don’t worry, because I’ll show you exactly what I mean.

Begin as you would when using a standard bind off by knitting the first two stitches.

Step 1: Slip the first stitch you knit onto the left-hand handle.
Step 2: Do not drop this stitch. Instead, pass this stitch over the second stitch on the right-hand needle as you normally would when binding off, except keep that first stitch “suspended” on your left-hand needle.
Step 3: Next, knit the second stitch on the left-hand needle (note: leave the stitch from the previous step suspended). 
Step 4: Now you will slide the stitch you’ve just knit into and the suspended stitch (outlined above) off of the left-hand needle.
Repeat Steps 1-4 until you have two stitches remaining on your right-hand needles. Finish by binding off these stitches as usual.
Ta-da! You now have a neat, elastic bound-off edge.

Free Pattern Friday – Heartsbloom Hat and Mittens

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Heartsbloom Hat and Mittens in Bella Cash (pattern link).

Happy Groundhog Day!

Punxatawney Phil has spoken – he’s seen his shadow, which legend says means six more weeks of winter.

Whatever, Phil.  We’re right on the cusp of Spring, with a few flowers poking out, but also snow in the forecast.  What to do?

How about a cute little toddler topper (say that five times fast)?  It definitely won’t take six weeks to knit, but it does have plenty to keep you interested, in the form of cables and seed stitch.

We like that the cables on each mitten each twist in a different direction.  It’s the little things.

Bella Cash is a great choice for this – its cashmere content keeps it very soft, but the nylon makes it hard-wearing and machine washable.  Great for knits like this, sized toddler through children’s large.  Plenty of pastels and brighter tones to choose from, too.

Whether the weather turns to Spring or not, we hope you have a great weekend.

Happy crafting!

Tutorial – Knitting Pleats

Today we launched the first of our spring pattern collections, Papyrus: In the Conservatory.

Note the giant spring the model is holding. It’s a “spring” collection. :/

As the cover promises, this collection contains patterns all containing peplums, pleats, and ruffles, all knit in new yarn Papyrus. There is actually just one project that utilizes pleats, and that is the Kaizen cardigan.

The pleats are added just to the sleeve cuffs here for a touch of feminine playfulness to an otherwise classically shaped cardigan.

Though I did my best to give accurate written instructions of how to make the pleats, this is one of those techniques where pictures really do speak a thousand words. There are a few photos of how to join pleats included in the pattern file, but the following is a much more detailed instruction.

This small swatch shows the cuff prior to the pleat joining. Stitches are reduced by almost two thirds after the pleating process.
First, the edge stitches are worked.
Next, the following 3 stitches (the eyelet column) will be slipped to a double pointed needle.
Eyelet column is now on a spare needle.
Next, the following 3 reverse stockinette (purl) stitches are slipped to a second spare needle.
Now the first 2 stitches of the row on the right needle. We’re going to be ignoring those stitches. After that, we have dpn 1 with the Eyelet Column sts, dpn 2 with the purl sts, and then the working left needle with all remaining stitches.
Rotate dpn 2 counter-clockwise, so that the wrong side of these sts is against the wrong side of the 3 sts after it (the 3 sts on the working left needle)
Wrong sides are now together. Slide the sts from this dpn toward the tip.
Place dpn 1 behind dpn 2 without rotating. Align the tips of all 3 needles in preparation for joining.
Now we’re going to be working k3tog – 1 st from each needle. Insert the tip of the right needle into the first st on the front needle.
Continue by inserting the tip of the right needle into the first stitch on the middle needle, and then the back needle.
Yarn over and pull through all 3 stitches.
Slip the stitches from the needles – k3tog complete. You will be working k3tog 2 more times to finish this pleat.
All com-pleated. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

If you thought this looked complicated at the beginning, I hope I’ve changed your mind. It’s just a matter of arranging some stitches and working some k3togs.

Happy knitting!

 

Free Pattern Friday – Sailing Stone Shawl

It’s Free Pattern Friday!

Today, the Sailing Stone Shawl in Deluxe Chunky Naturals (pattern link).

Are you familiar with the phenomenon of sailing stones?

In the early 1900s, a prospector noticed large stones leaving meandering tracks across a section of Death Valley, as if they had decided to go travelling.  The paths baffled scientists until 2014, when the mystery was finally solved with the use of GPS and time-lapse cameras.

At times, the area would flood and freeze, and as the ice broke up, it would be blown across the  shallow floodwater pond, with embedded rocks dragging paths along the desert.  The ice melts, the pond evaporates, and all that’s left is tracks in dry sand behind rocks that aren’t where they used to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u_hy3BR9UM

The natural  colors and meandering paths involved in this phenomenon reminded us of twisting cables in our Deluxe Chunky Naturals.  These tones are undyed – the color you see is the color of the sheep.

Which brings us to the Sailing Stones Shawl.

One nice thing about this shawl – the cables are reversible.  Take a look at the “wrong” side.  Still quite lovely.

Five skeins in the main color, 50003 Musket, makes a generously sized 52″ x 38″ accessory.

Contrasting color applied i-cord and tassels set this design apart.

This would be lovely to wrap up in on a chilly day or night.

We hope you keep a little mystery in your life, and that you make time for yourself this weekend.

Happy crafting!

Free Pattern Friday – Porthole Cowl

My friends, winter is showing no signs of letting up, even here in North Carolina. We were blasted with 5-6″ of snow the other day. If you’re from a northern state as I am, that may not seem like much. But in the south it is a significant amount and is cause for much celebration and hot cocoa. And as we all know, any reason to pile on more knitwear is quite welcome.

Our free pattern this week is the Porthole Cowl, knit in a soft wintery shade of self-shading Major.

Pattern link here.

This cowl is knit in the round, showing off the shading of Major as it works it’s way upward in a bounty of texture and “porthole” lace. The color is quite subtle in color 118 Silver Blush. If you like more in-your-face-color, there are many options to choose from. Some of my favorites are:

112 Firecracker
131 Egg Hunt (a brand new colorway!)
102 Underwater

Happy crafting – stay warm out there!