It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, Verbena in Angora Lace (free pattern link).
This pattern puts the Lace in Angora Lace.
This asymmetrical shawl is worked flat from the bottom up, beginning at the widest edge.
First, the lace section is worked even, then stitches are gradually decreased to the point.
The angora in Angora Lace gives this a delightful soft halo, supported by a bit of nylon for extra strength. When you make something this beautiful, you want it to last.
All together, it creates a lovely lightweight, versatile shawl.
Angora Lace 203 MerlotAngora Lace 206 Rose
As written, the pattern calls for 2 balls of 207 Ballerina, a lovely light pink. I’m wondering, though, how it would look with a dark color for the lace and a lighter one for the body. Maybe something Valentine-y like red and a darker pink? Hmm…
Mmm… dreamy.
We hope you have a fantastic weekend.
Happy crafting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, the Dragonfly Pullover in Angora Lace (pattern link here).
I was delighted when Pantone made Basic Blue their color of the year for 2020. I’m all about blue in all its shades. So this lace-hemmed pullover in Angora Lace color 212 Denim is a dream come true.
Lovely details like drop shoulders and 3/4 length sleeves give this a simple and calm, but engaging, feel.
And that body! A surprising and fun hemline, leading to islands of interlocking lace, rising to a sea of fine stockinette. It’s a great way to show off your knitting while still letting the piece do what every sweater should do – show YOU off to your best advantage.
Angora Lace 211 PeacoatAngora Lace 210 Cerulean
If you really want to lean into the blue, Angora Lace has several tones, including these two solids which echo 2020’s Basic Blue beautifully.
Angora Lace 111 Calm
Or go with a multi for all or part of it. There are so many options.
We hope you have a fantastic, stress-free weekend, and find time to embrace some peace and joy for yourself. Happy crafting!
This is part 8 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 3 Edition.
Although Day 8 of Winter’s pattern is a Rachel Brockman design, I asked her if I could write the blog post for this kit. I just love it!
The tubular cast-on for the edge is a nice touch. Rachel demonstrates it in this blog post.
The Peppermint Bark Hat is the perfect (snow)storm of my favorite things: Fair Isle, knitting in the round, and snow.
The kit comes with yarn and color copy of the pattern. You provide needles and notions.
Actually, there’s one more of my favorite things in this kit: Angora Lace. It’s made of superwash fine merino, with nylon for durability and angora for extra softness. This kit features three balls in colors that match the classic holiday treat, peppermint bark!
Perfect pom-pom.
The colors were well-chosen – look at the rich depth in that Merlot! (For tips on achieving the perfect pom-pom, Amy Gunderson has you covered in this blog post from last year’s 12 Days of Christmas).
I mentioned Fair Isle colorwork. Checking the pattern and the inside of the hat, I see that Rachel has designed this so that no more than two colors are used in a row. And flashing back to last year, Rachel has some incredibly useful tips on Fair Isle in the round in this blog post from Series 2 of the 12 Days kits.
She also shares tips on managing your floats in this blog post – very handy at the very tips of those snowflakes. (See why I wanted to write this? I get to gush about the kit, and Rachel’s done all the hard work for me!)
US Size 1 (2.25 mm) needles are used for the ribbing, with US Size 3 (3.25 mm) for the body.
We generally sell out of all the kits every year. Of course, if we happen to wind up with a Peppermint Bark Hat kit when the season is over, and it mysteriously disappears… well, who could blame me?
Remember, you can find the 12 Days of Winter Kits at your local yarn shop. Happy crafting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, Garden Wall Socks in Angora Lace (pattern link).
This one’s a bit of a rare find!
The Garden Wall Socks were previously only available in a long out-of-print publication. What a delight to be able to share them now for free!
Designed by Carol J. Sulcoski, these are knit cuff down, with a heel flap and gusset. We love the trellis effect of the purl stitches in the leg.
Oh, that heel!
Angora Lace is a beautiful choice for this design. Honestly, it was after feeling how soft these socks were that I decided to design the Contented Socks (pattern link) for myself. There are so many beautiful colors, and they’re all cloud-soft. And you deserve something warm and wonderful, don’t you?
Yes. Yes you do.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Happy crafting!
It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, Contented Socks in Angora Lace (pattern link here).
Recently we shared an article called “The Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies into Hustles.” It struck home with a lot of people. The pressure to turn our joy into dollar signs is real, and people were glad to have the reassurance that it’s not just them, and that your craft can be just for you to enjoy, with no pressure to make it “useful” in the monetary sense.
Angora Lace color 105 Paradise
I’ve had this experience many times, and I’ll bet you’ve had a similar one: I was making socks while waiting for my deli order to be ready, and the person behind the counter said, “hey, could you make me a pair, too?”
My stock answer now is, “No, but I can teach you how!” So far, there have been no takers.
Enter: the Contented Socks.
I do love a good heel flap.
I tend to make socks for other people – my spouse, my child, my parents… but it’s been a while since I made a pair just for myself. When I felt a ball of Angora Lace and realized how soft it was, I knew it was meant for me. I am every bit as knitworthy as the people dearest to me.
With that in mind, I decided on my favorite construction – toe-up, heel flap, but with a slip-stitch heel instead of my usual eye-of-partridge. I like the way the columns look with the stripes in the yarn.
For the leg, a simple four-row lace repeat. I will say – this lace pattern is stretchy, so in coming back around from the foot to the leg, if you have small ankles you might want to drop down by a multiple of 4 stitches. Either way, in knitting these, I had about 1/3 of a ball left over – probably enough to get a pair of ankle socks out of.
There are plenty of multi colors to choose from, as well as solids. And I really do recommend this yarn – it’s like holding a cloud.
I hope you find time to take joy in the things you do, not because someone else gives you permission to do so, but because you know your worth.
May you find both the small joys and big happiness.
Pinnacle is a lightweight slouchy topper with beautiful colorwork. Here’s a little peek at the inside.
Although it’s a three-color design, you’re never working with more than two colors at the same time.
This hat has a lovely haze, courtesy of the angora content in Angora Lace. It softens the design without letting any detail be lost. Beautiful.
Each color repeat points upward, eventually coming together at the crown and creating a star motif.
The color repeats are easy to memorize and addictive to knit – it may be worked at a fine gauge, but we’re sure you’ll knit it up in no time at all!
The team is in Cleveland at the National Needlearts Summer Show, setting up booth 1032! We’ve got a lot of brand new things to share with our LYS friends, so we thought we’d tease folks a little with a glimpse of what we’re bringing.
Of course, we don’t want to give too much away. If you’re at the show, swing by booth 1032. We’d love to see you. Everybody else… stay tuned – there’s lots of good stuff on the way!
