Test Knit: Friendship Shawl

Pattern: Friendship by Laura Patterson
Source: Fiber Dreams or Ravelry
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Aegean; 2 skeins
Needles: 3.75 mm / US 5 Knit Picks Harmony Options
Finished Size: 76″ x 32″

Raveled Here

I’ve heard from many people that they don’t knit triangle shawls because they don’t want the point of the shawl landing on or pointing to their gluteus maximus. I agree.  This is why when I wear a triangular shawl, I twist it so that the top center of the shawl rests on my shoulder and the center line runs down my arm until the triangle point rests on my wrist.

I will admit I prefer the rectangle shawl shape as more practical for me to wear, but one of the things I truly love about triangle shawls is the interesting design construction that can’t always be accomplished with a rectangle shawl.  This particular shawl design has several different motifs so that just when you get one motif memorized and are starting thinking you may get bored, it switches to a new motif.  I just love a design that is simple but interesting.  In my book, it’s the perfect combination.

I especially love the addition of the seed beads on the lower half of the shawl.  I must advise that you don’t do as I did and use a crochet hook that is one to two sizes too large. It makes beading a pain in the gluteus maximus.  I’ve never added so many beads to one project before, but I love the effect they give.  I think this shawl will be the perfect compliment to my little (medium) black dress.  Thank you so much Laura for allowing me to test knit this shawl.  It’s a definite favorite.

This is the first time I used the Knit Picks Gloss Lace yarn and overall I liked it.  Notice I said “liked”.  For the value, it’s wonderful, but it’s a bit thicker than true laceweight yarn and so it didn’t give the overall delicate feel I was looking for.  It does look beautiful, but when I saw it side by side with Laura’s shawl that was knit with the Jaeger Zephyr Wool-Silk, I realized that although mine was pretty, I wanted to sneak hers out of her bag and slip it into mine.  I obviously didn’t do that, but it was sure tempting.

I loved every moment of knitting this shawl, but as with all triangle shawls, I despise blocking them.  You’d think I wouldn’t mind since I’ve got blocking wires and t-pins and a great foam pad and such, but still I find pinning it out and getting everything even on both sides a huge pain. Maybe there’s a shortcut or a trick I don’t know about. Am I the only one spending an hour or more pinning out a triangle shawl?  Please give me your tips.  I have 2 other triangle shawls completed and waiting to be blocked.

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Algernon, how I love thee

Laura has has released her latest and greatest sock pattern and get ready to add this one to your queue. It’s named Algernon after Oscar Wilder’s character in The Importance of Being Earnest, and I must confess, I’m in love with Algernon.

Pattern: Algernon by Laura Patterson
Source: Fiber Dreams and Ravelry
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Cranberry (2 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Circular 2.5 mm / US 1.5
Raveled Here

When I originally saw the chart for this sock, I kept rechecking to make sure this was a Laura Patterson design and not a Cookie A design. Anyone who has knit a Cookie pattern knows that some of her charts can make your eyes pop out of your head. However, I say that with the greatest of respect for her designs. Then, I started knitting it and realized that although the chart looked daunting, it wasn’t. It’s absolutely brilliant and I think one of the most beautiful cable motifs I’ve knit in a long time. Can’t you just picture this on a beautiful sweater or pair of mitts?

The main cable motif runs down just the front of the leg and top of the foot.

The other cable motif is repeated in three sections around the sides and back of the leg. There’s also a little tiny 1×1 twisted cable that separates each cable motif section. It’s so cute and oh so easy to do without a cable needle.

I personally was able to work all the cables without a cable needle which is a wonderful thing and I really only had to pay semi close attention to the main cable on the top of the leg and foot. The other cable was easily memorized and the socks were a complete joy to knit. I’m going to give Laura a big Bravo on this pattern.

Although the Posh Yarn Laura used on the original is heavenly to the touch, I really liked The Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn because I thought it showed the stitch detail beautifully. In fact, it worked out so well, that I went to The Loopy Ewe and used my birthday gift card from Laura to purchase more, along with some Noro Silk Garden Sock.

I also may have added some fiber to my order. After all, I needed to spend enough to get the free shipping.

From Left to Right:

• The Sanguine Gryphon Handpainted Merino Silk; 4 ounces; Madame Riviere
• Gale’s Art Black BFL; 4 ounces; Stormy Sea
• Scarlett O’Hara Merino Bamboo; 4 ounces; Sweet Sheri

I have so much other FO knitting and spinning to share with you, but this post is already too long, so you’ll just have to wait. 🙂

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Come to the Flower Faire

Well, she’s gone and done it again. Laura has designed a stole and scarf version of the Garden Party shawl, and has named it Flower Faire. I was lucky enough to also be asked to test-knit this shawl and since there are 3 sizes to choose from in the pattern, I requested the wide scarf size.

Pattern: Flower Faire by Laura Patterson
Pattern Source: Fiber Dreams / Ravelry
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Ruby (500 yards)
Needles: US size 5 / 3.75 mm Knit Picks Options (Harmony)
Finished Size: 12.5 x 62 in. (32 x 157 cm)

My Ravelry page

After looking through my laceweight yarn stash, I realized that not only do I have a very small laceweight stash, but that the JaggerSpun Zephyr that I used on my Garden Party shawl was the perfect choice. Since I was using leftovers from a previous project though, my only concern was that I wouldn’t have enough.

All sizes are knit in the same manner from the center towards one edge from a provisional cast on. After completing the first side, you pick up the stitches from the cast on chain and knit the second side exactly as the first. Easy peasy.

If you prefer to use a heavier lace weight or fingering weight yarn, then the narrow scarf version will work perfectly for that. If you want your stole or scarf to be longer or shorter, it would be quite easy to modify the pattern to either omit or add extra repeats of the different motifs.

I can usually tell when I’m going to run out of yarn when knitting socks, probably because I’ve knit so many of them, but laceweight yarn seems a bit trickier for me. As I neared the border on the second side I repeatedly asked DH if he thought I had enough yarn left, or if I should omit a repeat. He said “you’re fine”. “How would you know”, I inquired, “you don’t knit”. He responded with the obvious “Then why are you asking me?”

I fretted and debated during each and every row if I should omit a motif repeat before the border, and as I looked at the dwindling yarn ball remaining, I was sure I didn’t have enough. DH tried to reassure me that I had plenty of yarn, but I kept ignoring him thinking he didn’t know what he was talking about. I remembered thinking at one point that it would have been wise to weigh the first half of the completed scarf and then the remaining ball of yarn to know for sure.

I finally decided to omit one pattern repeat of the last motif and knit the border. As I bound off the last stitch of the border, I looked at the ball of yarn remaining and gave myself a swift quick in the butt. I not only didn’t need to omit the last repeat of the motif, but I had to tell my husband he was right. I hate it when that happens.

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All About Illusions

I know many of you are waiting to see the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, but you’ll have to be patient for a few more days. First I want to share with you my latest pair of socks.

Pattern: Illusions by Laura Patterson

Pattern Source: Fiber Dreams (Ravelry)

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in Java

Needles: Knit Picks Circular in size 2.25 mm / 1 US

Modifications: 3 additional pattern repeats on the leg

These are probably the quickest pair of socks I’ve ever knit. I was motivated to get them done quickly because this was a test-knit for my girlfriend Laura, but also because my mother said her feet were freezing and she wanted another pair of socks. She’s just recently discovered the pleasure and warmth factor of wearing handknit socks, but when she commented that if I knit them she’d pay for the yarn, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Pay for the yarn? I think if she knew the yarn was somewhere around $20, she’d have a heart attack. I bet all the socks that she currently owns don’t add up to $20.

I knit these socks at the same time on two circular needles, and the only trick for me was remembering that the socks are mirror images of each other. I did mess that up a time or two, but that’s because I was paying too much attention to the movie I was watching at the time. I can’t imagine how much worse the mess would’ve been if I’d been watching a subtitled movie.

The pattern has been released and is available at the Fiber Dreams pattern site, and don’t forget to put this in your Ravelry queue. I think the best part of the pattern is that it’s so versatile. Although I knit these for mom, my husband (who is Mr. Picky) loves these socks and has decided to find himself some yarn when we go to Stitches West next week so that I can knit this pattern for him.  No problem.  I’d knit this pattern again in a heartbeat.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the “sweeties” that frequent my blog. Without you, I probably wouldn’t continue to do this.

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Testing at the Garden Party

I just finished my second test-knit for Laura (Fiber Dreams) and I’m so in love with this shawl, I’m keeping it.

Pattern: Garden Party by Laura Patterson (Ravelry)

Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18; Colorway: Ruby

Needles: Knit Picks Options Harmony 3.75 mm / US 5

Modifications: One that I thought was no big deal, but came to bite me in the butt when I was blocking.

There are 2 other knitters who also test-knit this shawl, and the pattern is released and ready for PDF download.

Other than just the overall beauty of the shawl with all the lovely flowers and leaves, the best part of it is the construction. Not that I’ve knit a lot of shawls, but I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a center panel of leaves that you knit first and it seems like it’s just going to end up being a rectangle, but when you get to the end of that section, it ends in a point. Kind of like a long rectangle with a triangle at the end.

Next you knit the rows on the right side of the shawl while you pick up the stitches from the center section. As you get to that center point of the rectangle, you stop and put those stitches on a stitch holder. Since I was knitting with the Knit Picks Options cables, I was able to just leave the cable there, take of the needle points and start the next section.

The left side is knit exactly like the right picking up those center panel stitches until you get to the center point and then you join the waiting stitches from the right side and continue knitting back and forth while working decreases to shape the triangular point of the shawl.

The final step is the large border that you start on one side of the shawl and knit back and forth while picking up the stitches along the edge of the shawl until you come to the center. Here’s where I screwed up.

Somehow my counting was “off” (won’t be the first time, won’t be the last) and as I approached the center point, I discovered that I was on the wrong row and the center border panel wasn’t going to be centered at the triangles point. So I tried to fudge. Let me emphasize that word “try”. Instead of figuring out where I went wrong and ripping back, I continued on, and omitted a lot of the “knitting into the same stitch twice” rows. Because of this, when I blocked, I didn’t have enough ease at the point, so I had to stretch that yarn into submission like it was on some kind of torture device from medieval times. Although it worked overall, it was a great learning lesson and I’ll never do it again.

Obviously after you get through the center point, you continue knitting the border along the next side and then block and enjoy the masterpiece you created. I’m very pleased with how this shawl turned out, but honestly all the credit goes to the designer. Bravo Laura!

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