Such a beauty. The Bellissima Cardi is a classic lightweight cardi with classic construction.
Knit it from the bottom up in pieces, then seam.
Bella Cash superwash merino/nylon/cashmere blend creates a soft, lightweight material that moves with you and looks flattering. We love it on size 2 (2.75mm) needles for the Fair Isle yoke. Crisp and well-defined, with a beautiful, smooth texture.
Even though the stitches are delicate, the fabric is machine washable and durable, thanks to the nylon and superwash merino content in Bella Cash. Sized small through 4X, this is a great wardrobe staple. Hard to believe it’s a free pattern!
When I decided to write a blog post today I was planning to focus on my Seamless Leaves pullover, but as I was taking photos, an idea popped into my head – why not share what everyone around the office is working on? I moseyed around the office asking our team about what they’re working on and whether I could take a few quick photos of their projects. Sadly, Yonca and Amy are out today (they surely deserve it after a busy weekend at Stitches West), so their own projects aren’t included.
Cottonwood is one of my favorite yarns. It’s eco-friendly and has so many beautiful colors to choose from.
I love so many of the projects in the new collection, Arboretum, featuring projects by the one and only Amy Gunderson using Fibra Natura Cottonwood. Each pattern in the Arboretum ebook is extremely wearable and tempting to cast on, especially when the temperature has been lingering in the 60s and 70s in North Carolina. I decided that I needed to cast on a Seamless Leaves pullover for myself, and I wanted a basic, black version. Because of my inclination to knit things in deeply saturated colors (especially warm colors), I just don’t have enough neutral garments in my wardrobe. This project is my perfect solution.
I love the lightweight fabric created by Cottonwood. It’s wonderfully smooth and even with stitch definition that makes the raglan details on this pattern shine.
Even unblocked and worked in such a dark color, these details look great thanks to Cottonwood’s superb stitch definition.
Our sales team seems to be having an affair with two-at-a-time socks, toe-up socks.
Left: Krista’s socks in Pix, Right: Katie’s socks in Allegro
Here’s what Krista had to say about her project:
“I’m always working on a pair of socks. Always. For this project, I am using one of my favorite yarns, Pix, in the Paisley print. They’re a plain vanilla pair (nothing but stockinette) using a basic short row heel. I love how Pix works up in patterns as I’m knitting. This yarn makes a simple project very fun. Socks are perfect on-the-go knitting to keep in my bag.”
Here’s what Katie had to say about her beautiful WIP:
“I enjoy making socks, but I have Second Sock Syndrome and never learned how to do two-at-a-time socks. Krista helped me with the cast-on and now I am loving it! I was even able to just knit at my daughter’s choir concert last night and didn’t mess up. Woohoo; progress! I love the elasticity of Allegro. I am using the color Grape Sonata. I decided to do ribbing over the arch instead of just stockinette stitch because I love my store-bought socks with the ribbing on the foot. We’ll see how it turns out!”
I’m sure they’re going to be perfect! If you’re also a sock knitter, you might be interested in one of our free sock patterns like this one, this one, or this one.
Finally, our social-media extraordinaire (and quite frankly, everything-extraordinaire!), Heather, showed me a deliciously squishy hat knit up in Poems Silk in the Baffin Island colorway. She told me she enjoys a simple hat project when she’s knitting at the movie theater. I have to say, this is always something that impresses me. Whenever I bring knitting to the theater I have the tendency to drop the occasional stitch or insert an unwanted yarn-over. Serious props to those of you who are successful in your endeavors in low-light knitting! Heather’s hat is looking great and we can’t wait to see the finished version.
That’s it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed a little glimpse into some of our projects! We’d love to share more soon.
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.
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!
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.
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 Twilight837 Christmas Red828 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?
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!
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
W
