I wanted to do another few patterns that would be good for handspun, to compliment Cleite (which I will eventually put in a compilation, but can’t yet due to contractual restrictions), and this was the first of the bunch. The repeat is 4 sts wide and 16 rows long, but has a natural break at 8 rows so it would be easy to adjust the size based on the grist of your yarn, and you could bind off once you only have a few yards left at any point in the repeat.
The yarn this is made from is lovely. It’s 10 strands of silk held together by root sizing. When you knit with it, it feels like a linen ribbon yarn or something akin to it. Flat, a bit stiff, and kind of crunchy. But after washing it a few times in warm water with soap, the sizing washes out and the yarn becomes round and supple. It’s quite captivating!
Pattern: My own, Transverse Scarf. To be released June 1st.
Yarn: Habu Textiles N-6B Konyaku Root Sizing Silk (100% silk) in colorway ‘copper’
Needles: 3.75 mm (US 5) Addi Turbos
So this one should be coming out on June 1st (look for some news about that date on Friday).
M
It was a really busy week! I spent the first few days getting Nefertiti ready for release and writing up a wider-version for Juno Regina so that the sample knitter could get going on it. Thanks for the great response to Nefertiti! I.LOVE.IT. So much. It is drapey and beautiful and just wonderful to wear.
On Wednesday I went to visit family. My sister L helped me baste my king sized quilt. It’s a disappearing 9-patch, in all shades of blue. The patchwork top is 116″ square. That is 9’8″ x 9’8″. That sucker is HUGE. But I’m excited about it. I might be crazy, but I am going to handquilt the whole thing. So don’t expect to see it for another 6 months at least 🙂
On Thursday my Dad, using his well honed carpentry skills, helped me make a warping board.
I told him I want his tools when he dies. That man has EVERYTHING imaginable tucked into a very small garage. The frame is made from 36″ poplar 2x2s, so it’s very sturdy, and it will do a 16-17 yard warp, I imagine. I’ll have to measure sometime. Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be weaving some kitchen towels.
I have finished a scarf based on the Konyaku Silk swatch that I did in March. It’s turned out lovely, but I need to take some pictures before I can post about it. The pattern should be super simple and PERFECT for handspun yarn since the repeat is 8 rows and 4 stitches.
M
Named for the famous Egyptian Queen, Nefertiti. It is rumored that she ruled the Upper and Lower Kingdoms on her own after her husband’s death before her son Tutankhamun took the throne. With her husband she changed the polytheistic religion of Egypt to the worship of one god. This wrap evokes the sheer pleated gowns and serpentine vines found in carvings and artwork of Nefertiti.
Available in the MimKnits Online Store and also on Ravelry.
Yarn Requirements: 800-900 yards (120-135 grams) of Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace (45% cashmere/55% silk). Sample is colorway ‘Hydrangea’. 24 wpi
Suggested Needles: 3.5mm (US 4) 24 or 30 inch (61-76 cm) circular or size needed to obtain gauge.
Notions: 2 stitch markers (more may be used to mark the pattern repeats in the lace, if desired, see notes), tapestry needle to weave in ends.
Gauge: 18 stitches and 33 rows over 4 inches (10 cm) in first motif pattern after blocking.
Finished Size: 70 inches (178 cm) long, and 20 inches (51 cm) wide.
Techniques Used: Techniques used include knit, purl, yarn over, k2tog, k3tog, ssk, sssk, centered double decrease.
Available in the MimKnits Online Store and also on Ravelry.
I spent 30 minutes trying to find my recipe box this morning so I could make some gingersnaps. I had also been looking for it earlier in the week to find a bread recipe, but didn’t try very hard, and when I opened it, I found that the bread recipe wasn’t there. I have no idea where it is. I’m sure if my house were perfectly tidy all the time, it would have been in the box, but since I’d rather bake bread than keep my house super tidy, I will make do.
But it got me thinking about recipes a bit. I had been looking at Recipe software to keep things organized, so I will always have the recipes when I need them, easy to copy and paste and mail them to other people…. but I cherish the recipes I have in my grandmother’s handwriting. And it would be a shame to set those aside and not use them for the purpose they were created, you know?
I’m still on the fence about exactly what I want to do. I’m the kind of person who needs to make a decision to do something one way and then stick to it. I don’t do very well with having some stuff in one place and some in another. It sort of makes me crazy, so I need to make a decision for either recipe cards or recipe software. I value your input, commenters, so what do you all think?
M
At last I can show you the piece I did for Make 1’s 2009 Year of Lace club.
I got to design a colorway specifically for the shawl in conjunction with Beth Casey of Lorna’s Laces. We talked over what I had in mind and then Beth worked up some samples so we could solidify the vision. She came up with some really lovely stuff!
I wanted to make a shawl with a forest scene, where the branches came together between the shoulder blades, and I experimented with quite a few ways to get branches to work. I swatched and worked and tried really hard, but I couldn’t manage to get traditional yo and decrease lace to make branches with enough swoop. They just ended up looking flat and pixelated. One morning while having tea, it just struck me that cables would be the way to go. I swatched up some cables with eyelets, and LOVED the way the branches stood out from the fabric! So I charted the whole thing and got started.
The cable branches naturally pull the fabric inward more than the trunk area, which is just stockinette, with some eyelets and crossed stitches, so the most logical and organic thing seemed to be to block the piece with the edges wider than the center. I love the way it hangs off the shoulders because of this shaping, and wish I would have got a modeled shot before I sent it off.
This pattern will be exclusive to the Year of Lace Club for one year from publication date, so around April 2010, it will be released. It’s been getting some really mixed opinions on the ravelry forum, but I really like it. It’s very different than traditional lace, and I was concerned about it maybe not being well liked for people expecting the standard kit offering…. *shrug* I like it though 🙂
M
I’ve got a couple of new yarns I’m going to be working with, and I thought I’d share them with you. Both come from large and rather unlikely animals.
The first is Buffalo Gold.
Ron and company have been selling natural American Bison fiber for a while, but they’ve recently added some really amazing colored blends to their line, including “Lux”, this luscious blend of bison, cashmere, silk and tencel (45/20/20/15 respectively). Their “Buffboo” is also amazing stuff with excellent drape. The colors they offer are all lovely muted soft tones, but the silk and tencel in this blend give a wonderful sheen that is hard to capture in photos.
The second one is from Bijou Basin Ranch in Elbert, CO.
Carl and Eileen, who own Bijou Basin are so passionate about their fibers! They even comb the different colored patches of their yaks to keep the colors separate. I’ve got my hands on 2 different weights of 100% pure yak down yarn. The laceweight skein (200 yards per 1 ounce) is light as air and so soft! The other yarn is a fingering weight (100 yards per 1 ounce), and I’ve got a skein each natural white and natural brown. The natural color and the way they look together makes me really want to work them into some colorwork. But even separately they would be wonderful for lace! The fiber is bouncy and smooth and will block beautifully.
Bijou also has an absolutely scrumptious yak/cormo blend (50/50) that you’ll want to stuff in your pocket and abscond with!
I’m really excited to work with both these fibers, but first I have to finish the pattern for Nefertiti, and then I’m working on Swatch #3, which wants to be a nice spring scarf.
M
Holy Crap! How did I get so far along with stuff and forget to tell you, oh blog! I realized looking back that I hadn’t even shown you Desdemona let alone the new wrap I’ve finished today.
So without further ado…
Desdemona! Click the photo to see the whole album of photos of the shawl.
Pattern: Desdemona Shawl (ravelry link) was done up as a kit for the first installment of Wooly Wonka’s Shakespeare in Lace Subscription Club, but will be available for download and wholesale purchase on June 1.
Yarn: A really lovely Merino Tencel blend with a bit of Alpaca to boot. It won’t be available outside of the club as far as I know.
Needles: 3.25 mm (US 3) circular
Verdict: The shawl was a great knit, and I’m particularly pleased with the border. I tried a bunch of different things before finally coming up with this one. I just love it! I’ve got some plotting going on as June 1 is also my birthday. A giveaway will be in order, I think.
I also finished the Ancient Woodland Shawl for Make 1’s Year of Lace 2009, but since not everyone has received their kits, I can’t show you pictures yet. But I should be able to in about a week. If you are dying of curiosity, you can see people’s projects on ravelry, which give a pretty good idea of what it looks like. I’ll talk about it more when I can show you a few pictures.
I also finished a pair of socks for C, a pair of socks for me, and started another pair of socks for me which have ended up belonging to my sister. I’ll send them off to her when they’re done.
I also finished the wrap out of Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace.
Pattern: Nefertiti Wrap, soon to be released. I’ve got to finish writing it up today or tomorrow and send it on to Kristi for tech editing.
Yarn: Sweet Georgia Cashsilk Lace (45% cashmere and 55% silk) 2 skeins, although I used pretty close to all of those 2 skeins, so it might end up being more than that.
Needles: 3.5mm (US 4) circular needle
Size: 20″ wide, 70″ long
Verdict: I love this wrap! It’s drapey and beautiful. The yarn is really great and it turned out SO wonderfully! I’ll get some better pictures of it for the pattern release.
Hopefully I’ll be back to blogging pretty regularly.
M
I totally spaced one of the most important things about the revisions when I was posting! All patterns are now formatted to print on letter sized paper (which should print just fine on A4 as well) instead of having some pages on letter and some on legal. Thought you all should know.
It’s all download refreshing all the time around here!
The revised patterns are up, all of them in fact. The sample for new photography of Icarus isn’t forthcoming, so I just used the old photos. Plus the Woven Cable Scarf & Wrap has been redone with the same format.
I’ve also put the patterns up in my Ravelry store, so if you’d prefer to buy them through there, they are available.
I’ll be sending out an e-mail to everyone in the store database with the info and how to get downloads refreshed.
YAY!
M
