The Panetone color of 2017 is spring green. It has been popping up everywhere, and by some strange coincidence, I chose to knit my shawl Lintilla, in almost that color. I think mine has more of a blue undertone?
If you are intrigued by this color, Miss Agnes' blog just featured a wonderful article about the new Panetone color and its knitting possibilities here.
Lintilla is a wonderful shawl designed by Martina Behm. The ruffles at the edges are feminine without being overly frilly, and the shawl is so thin it can almost be worn as a scarf. I chose this beautiful green because in the ruffles it made me think of spring leaves unfurling.
I doubled two strands of laceweight yarn to make this shawl: Handmaiden’s Sea Lace and Anzula Breeze, which is a linen/silk blend. The large percentage of silk in this shawl gives it a wonderful drape, but the garter stitch pattern also gives it structure.
In June, I will be visiting Paris with my family, and I am looking forward to wearing my Lintilla there. One feels almost naked without a scarf in Paris, and this lightweight piece will be great for warmer weather. In the meantime, it will provide a pop of green to perk up any casual outfit!
Stacy Charles, owner of Stacy Charles yarns and me
My local yarn store, Uncommon Threads, carries some wonderful, luxury yarns and it was a thrill when Stacy Charles hosted a trunk show there! Stacy hosted the show himself, and it was great to see him again. He is such a warm, interesting person and I enjoyed my conversation with him about fashion, art and yarn!
Above is Stacy posing with a talented knitter, Vicky. She is trying on a fabulous cardigan from the trunk show. I have mentioned my obsession with Stacy’s new line, String yarns, which features Italian cashmere and pure silk. I knitted a hat out of the String Dolcetto and Oslo yarns recently which was totally scrumptious, and Vicky didn't want to take off the cardigan she is wearing. Another highlight of the trunk show for me was the new, pure silk yarn from String in this exquisite lace top:
This pattern is so new, it has not been photographed or named yet, but the second it is released, I vow I will get my hands on it! The silk yarn is named Angel, and unfortunately this photo does not capture its delicate, beautiful pink hue. This lace and silk yarn and I are meant to be together--pure magic!
Stephanie, the owner of Uncommon Threads yarn store, looks gorgeous in this #7 Charles Cardigan, which is knitted in Audra and Flora. The design is featured in the new pattern book, One Christopher, which I will write about more as soon as I get my hands on my own copy. I do know that Stephanie will be selling the patterns and yarns through her brick and mortar and online store.
The book One Christopher also features this fabulous cape, which I tried on:
There was also a stunning shawl in an art-deco like motif that totally bowled me over. And look at the cardigan underneath! As you can see, I couldn’t help myself and tried everything on that I could.
This beautiful jacket is another favorite and I think it would be perfect for summer.
As I get my hands on these patterns, I will post information about them here. I was just so excited I had to share these photos with you right away! My understanding is these pattern books are just being released:
And the patterns for the new String cashmere and silk yarns are about to be photographed. Happy knitting everyone!
I was recently invited to join in a knit-a-long of Andrea, by Sarah Hatton, a textured top designed in Rowan kidsilk haze or felted tweed.
The pattern is very versatile, including a long and short-sleeved version, as well as a choice between a lace or textured knit/purl stitch pattern for the fronts. Two of the French speakers in my knitting group had invited me to join their KAL, so it was a great opportunity for me to practice my French vocabulary of knitting, as well as to knit a great pattern with friends. Here is another photo of the pattern knitted in felted tweed, which shows off the design lines of the pattern with long sleeves:
This silhouette is really flattering for a tall, slender, flat-chested woman. This meant I needed to make a number of modifications for my middle-aged figure. Rather than let the lace pattern cut across my bust, I lowered the lace panels so that they started right after my waist:
Once I made this change, I realized that the seed-stitch pattern at the waist line could create a beautiful frame for my upper body, and I was inspired to adorn it with beads! I did this by threading 4mm Swarovski crystal Rowan beads onto my kidsilk haze yarn right after I knitted the waist, which completed the stockinette section of my cardigan.
Watch Jennie Atkinson, beading expert’s youtube tutorial on how to thread beads onto your yarn here:
For my edging, I created this seed stitch beading pattern:
This “slip 1 w/ bead” stitch is usually described in patterns using the terminology “bead 1.” Jennie Atkinson and Martin Storey use this technique a lot in their beaded patterns, and you can watch Atkinson’s video tutorial on how to do it here:
My seed stitch/bead pattern created a line of beading every 3 stitches, separated by 4 rows. The beads line up with each other to create a lovely sparkle which separates the stockinette fabric from the lace fabric of my cardigan:
This beaded edging pattern was very easy to execute, as long as I pulled the slipped stitches that held the beads tightly across each knit stitch. As you can see, the beads really picked up the color of my yarn so they seem to match perfectly. The effect was so beautiful that I decided to also add beading to the neckline and edgings of my cardigan, which were executed in 7 rows of seed stitch. I used the following pattern for the beaded seed stitch of the neck and fronts:
Pick up stitches on right side.
WS Row 1: knit, purl, knit purl (seed stitch pattern) * repeat to end
WS Row 3: knit, purl, knit purl (seed stitch pattern) * repeat to end
RS Row 4: knit, purl, knit purl (seed stitch pattern) * repeat to end
WS Row 5: knit, purl, knit purl (seed stitch pattern) * repeat to end RS Row 6(knit, slip 1 w/bead, knit, purl) * repeat to end, knit
WS Row 7 knit, purl, knit purl (seed stitch pattern) * repeat to end
RS Row cast off
I did add one button and buttonhole in the center front, and I created a button by stringing several larger Swarovski crystal beads of the same color onto some thread so that the crystals of the button and trim would all match:
Note that if you are going to bead at the waist and neck and at the fronts of a cardigan, you have to plan your bead placement so that the beads of the edges match the beads at the waist and neck area. Here again is a close-up of the beading so you can see how these areas have to match:
The beads do draw in the edging and neckline a bit because of the slip-stitch pattern, but I liked that effect. I really feel that these little crystals added that je ne sais quoi this cardigan needed, and I just love it! I feel it is very versatile as well, and can be worn with jeans and a tank as well as the floral print skirt and top I put together for these photos. I think it is the dark teal color of the Peacock kidsilk haze yarn that prevents the cardigan from looking too fussy in spite of the beading and lace. I may make a short-sleeved version some day in charcoal-colored yarn as well.
Although the original design, with its empire waist, low neck, and button-up front is very charming, I feel that for those of us with more hour-glass figures, a V-neck shape is more flattering. To achieve a more hour-glass shape to the cardigan, I lowered all of the lace panels by several inches to sit just above my natural waist, raised the neckline by 1 ½ inches, and used just one large button at the waist to bring the cardigan in at my body’s narrowest point. Below the button, the cardigan flares out over the hips, as it is designed with an A-line shape. The V at the bust line above the waist also draws the eye up and down, de-emphasizing any bulk, and lengthening the torso.
This beading experiment has taught me a valuable lesson, which is that a beaded edging in seed stitch is both easy to execute and adds a fun touch of pizzazz! A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and I foresee beads popping up in many more knits in future.
1. Don’t allow perfectionism to bar you from taking risks and expanding your knitting horizons.
I learned this important lesson in 2016. I have almost no experience knitting hats, and up until now have avoided it because I felt I could not control the outcome. But then this fabulous cashmere yarn (String Dolcetto) entered my life, and I couldn’t get the idea of knitting my father-in-law a cashmere hat out of my head! I was so compelled to get my hands on that yarn that I chose a hat pattern at random and in spite of numerous gauge problems which required unraveling, I persevered. Here is the result:
I have never knitted anything for my father-in-law, as his wife is a master knitter, so even the idea of this gift was a risk. But it turns out that Heinz loves the hat and sent me several photographs of himself wearing it! Once my fear of hat knitting had been hurdled, I immediately knitted another one! Chouette seemed like a perfect baby hat for my 11-month-old niece:
Just think, if I had stubbornly held on to my perfectionism, I would have missed that adorable moment! It seems that, all this time, I have been itching to knit hats, so one for myself quickly followed.
Now my queue is filled with hat patterns and I am also planning to venture into some advanced fair isle knitting!
2. Plan how you will finish your garment BEFORE you cast on.
Remember the miserable experience I had seaming “Interval” by Shibui Knits?
To be honest, I am still unsatisfied with that sweater and will be fiddling with it for a while. But if I had only read through the pattern and planned the seaming and finishing stages before I cast on, much anguish would have been avoided! I have spent the past month reading technical manuals, such as Finishing Schoolby Deborah Newton and The Knowledgeable Knitterby Margaret Radcliffe.
Both authors strongly recommend planning the assembly of your garments before you cast them on. They also have tips on creating good-looking cast-ons and cast-offs, button bands, edges and collars, as well as instructions on how to seam a variety of different knitted fabrics. If I had only read one of these books BEFORE I cast on, and planned the project out, I would have added straight stitch edges on my front, back and sleeve pieces, to make it possible for me to seam them together without the reverse straight stitch seam looking like a dog’s breakfast.
Another really clever idea of Deborah Newton’s is to practice the collar or edge shaping on your gauge swatch in miniature before you cast on your garment if you are uncertain of how it will turn out. I will definitely try that in future!
3. Clothing has an Environmental Impact
It seems I completed 19 knitted projects last year. During #slowfashionoctober, I discovered the amazing landfill problems that ready-to-wear and “fast fashion” are creating as we throw away more and more of our clothes. You can read more about that here.
This new awareness led me to re-evaluate the garments I have discarded as failures over my knitting career. I am resolved to find a way to fix as many as I can so they can be worn or gifted. This goal also strengthens my resolve to be more thoughtful in planning out my garments before I start to ensure they will function as desired.
4. Thoughtful Pacing Makes Knitting More Enjoyable.
Nine out of the eighteen projects I knitted last year were gifts. A few of them were full garments, but many of them were fun toys, hats and baby jackets. This meant that for every serious garment I created, I was able to achieve almost instant gratification with a baby sweater, hat, or Miss Kitty pillow! Although this means that the number of advanced projects I made was decreased, I was exposed to many new techniques through the smaller projects, which also provided me with a welcome rest. After each little piece that I made, I felt renewed energy and interest in tackling the really challenging knits I had planned. Well, those are my reflections on 2016. Please share, readers, any insights or lessons that you learned about your knitting last year, so we can all benefit from your insights!