Inspiration By Design
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, Amy Gunderson brings us Swingy in Bamboo Pop.
After releasing our E-Book Bamboo Pop Kids we had quite a few requests for an adult pattern in Bamboo Pop (292yds/100g), our popular cotton/bamboo blend. This lightweight swingy cardi fits the bill.
Worked with raglan shaping from the top down, there is no seaming involved. This is the kind of loose, drapey jacket you reach for when you want comfort as well as style.
Happy knitting!
Today’s Sunday Swatch is in Cotton Supreme DK.
Ah, Spring. Time to plant the garden, spruce up the house, and experiment with cooler fabrics. Hence the paint job on the fence – and today’s Sunday Swatch.
Cotton Supreme DK is a lighter weight version of our favorite worsted weight Cotton Supreme. It knits up nicely on a US Size 5 or 6 needle.
The Cotton Supreme family isn’t tiring on the hands as some cottons can be – I knitted the Sea Breeze top shown at right for my daughter out of Cotton Supreme and would happily do it again.
This design is part of Yumiko Alexander’s Warm Earth Book 3, which until recently was only available in print. We’re delighted to release the book and its patterns for sale as digital downloads from Ravelry and Craftsy. Yumiko’s patterns are always a pleasure to make, and we look forward to sharing more of them with you electronically.
If you’re looking for something free, there’s always the popular Fleurette Lace Pullover designed for Cotton Supreme DK. Long sleeved but lacy on both front and back, it’s perfect for this time of year.
Happy knitting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
I know, I know. I’m squealing too.
This is the Leaf by Leaf Triangular Shawl in Soft Payette. Formerly available only as part of a printed pattern collection, today we release it “into the wild” as a free pattern.
Sequined Soft Payette (224yds/100g) adds the perfect amount of sparkle to this gorgeous lace shawl, which knits up quickly on US Size 9 (5.5mm)needles. I like the model shown in 158-02 Pearl, but am leaning toward 158-16 Lapis for my own. Those blue sequins on blue yarn are just my style.
Have fun making this shawl your own. Happy knitting!
How’d your intarsia go? Ready for something new? How do you feel about lace?
Block 3 is called “Step Up Your Game” (link here). It’s both written and charted so you can do whatever you prefer – but if you haven’t tried reading a chart before, we hope you’ll give it a go. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a handy skill to have.
Amy shares a video with us in which she talks about charts and walks us through the basic increases and decreases. Try out her modified ssk (slip, slip, knit) – it lays flatter than the traditional version for a neater look.
Continuing our theme of building blocks (no pun intended), our next square will be more lace, with one additional type of decrease.
We hope you learn something new – and have fun!
Sunday Swatch is in Uptown Worsted.
Sunday Swatch will look very familiar to those of you who are joining us for the Afghan Knitalong. I thought I’d try Square Two, the “Do The Wave” block in different colors than my original color choice, just for kicks.
Why different colors? Well, we now have not one, not two, but THREE different people at Universal Yarn working on the Rocky Shore colorway selection.
Once again, all their blocks are different. But still – sometimes you want to mix things up a bit.
There’s something else different about the colorful block. It contains a noticeable mistake. The pattern itself is just fine, it’s just that I wasn’t paying close attention as I worked. So the choice before me was whether to unravel or to keep going.
These blocks are meant to be a learning experience, so that’s how I approached the decision. When I look at the finished afghan, do I need it to be perfect? Or will I enjoy looking at it and thinking about about the experience of making it?
In the end, I decided to let it go. It will be one block among many, so it probably won’t stand out. I’ll let this block be a lesson in accepting imperfection.
We’ll be back next week with block number three in our Afghan Knitalong. See you then!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, we present the Amphoras Tank in Cotton Gold. If ever there were a perfect marriage of pattern and yarn, this is it.
Cotton Gold is a thread of cotton with some extra sparkle. A strand of metallic glitter is wound around the cotton, and the whole affair is generously strung with glittering sequins. You don’t have to imagine what this does for a lace pattern, you can see. It dazzles. This is another yarn that we love so much that we are expanding the color palette. You can see sneak peeks of the silver, purple, and blue on our website.
The Amphoras Tank is a very stretchy top designed to fit with up to 4″ of negative ease. The yarn is held doubled throughout. The Amphoras Lace repeat is written and charted – follow whichever is most comfortable for you.
We hope you enjoy this bit of glitter in your day!
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.
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, it’s the Building Blocks Blanket in Cirrus Cotton.
Cirrus Cotton is a fuzzy, light, and lofty cotton blend, a great choice as we move into Spring. It knits up quickly on size 9-11 needles, making it perfect for quick baby shower gifts like this 32″ square blanket.
It’s a simple pattern with no fancy stitches, just knits and purls. As with so many things in life, it builds on the basics to create complexity.
Happy knitting!
It’s time for the next block!
“Do The Wave” is a slightly more complex design, but you can do it! It’s just a matter of shifting your color over by one or two stitches at a time.
Looking at the back of the block, you can see that the principle is the same as the first block’s little squares. You’re still twisting your stitches around each other to lock them in place as you pick up your new color and knit.
And speaking of the back side, Amy added a bonus to this square’s video – in addition to demonstrating diagonal intarsia, she also gives tips on weaving in ends.
If you’re not following us on Facebook, you may want to – we’ve had some great color combinations shared there. We also have a Ravelry afghan group going.
We’ll do a check in next week and see how we’re doing. After that, we’re moving on… to basic lace!
Today’s Sunday Swatch is in Infusion Handpaints.
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!