Ravelry Monday: Caffeinate, My Heaven, and Pull Capriate

April 25, 2011April 25, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

First Pick: Caffeinate! Press Style Coffee Maker Cozy, by Coryna Blasko (FREE!)

Um, hooray! What a great way to brighten my day! Anything Doctor Who is awesome, and this Dalek-inspired cozy is extra awesome. It makes me want to buy a coffee press just so I can make a cozy for it.

Second Pick: My Heaven, by Patusha (FREE!)

Oh My Heaven, that’s some pretty lace! Check out blog for Patusha’s Knitting Club for free, beautifully formatting charts and pattern. As of right now, the pattern is available is … some language that uses a different alphabet (but the English version is coming soon). Experienced lace knitters know that all we really need is the cast on and the charts! 🙂

Third Pick: Pull Capriate, by Carole de Marne (in a book, in French)

I’m just charmed by this knit — even though the pattern book is in French, and even getting the book seems to require speaking French … if I had a little girl who’d wear it, I’d totally learn French :).

Ravelry Monday: Cascade Kid Seta Cardigan, Forgotten Garden Shawl, Ballycastle Tam

April 18, 2011April 17, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

First Pick: Cascade Kid Seta Cardigan, by Marelie Hurter (FREE!)

Frothy, drapey, pretty … and very, very simple. Made in laceweight yarn on big needles, the finished cardi should be lightweight and warmer than you’d expect … just the thing for spring. What really sells me on it though is that it reminds me of Annie’s cardi (the ghost in “Being Human”). This one made in into my queue! I think I’ll use something browny-grey?

Second Pick: Forgotten Garden Shawl, by Rose Beck ($5.00)

This elegant geometric shawl evokes formal gardens: box hedges and well-tended rosebushes in measured rows. I think I’d go with green or maybe shocking pink.

Third Pick: Ballycastle Tam, by Anne Podlesak ($5.50)

I love the subtle shading and simple pattern to show off the beauty of natural wool. Gorgeous. I’d be tempted to use my usual palette of blue/green/purple, but I hope I’d have the strength to stick to the lovely colors provided by the sheep themselves.

Ravelry Monday: Eomer Shield Tam, Pineapple Delight, Starboard Cape

April 4, 2011April 4, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

First Pick: Eomer Shield Tam, by KYMaggie ($3.50)

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! This pattern uses stranded colorwork and cables to re-create in yarn a beautiful design from the Lord of the Rings. I think I might depart from the official Rohan colorway — the design uses 7 colors, maybe deep purple, bright sky blue, and silvery gray?

Second Pick: Pineapple Delight, by Larissa Valeeva (FREE!)

What a stunning (and FREE!) pattern! I am thinking of using this with my new Zauberball skein, but I would have to do a shorter version as I don’t have quite enough yardage. This is worked provisionally downwards for the main lace color, then upwards with short rows to make the top. The second PDF (with “en” at the end) is in English, even though the title is in Russian.

Third Pick: Starboard Cape, by Courtney Kelley (available in Knitscene, Summer 2011)

This little sleeved capelet is so darn CUTE. It makes me think of Mad Men for some reason — just the thing for an office girl to wear?

Test Knitters Needed: Drop Everything and Kudzu

March 2, 2011March 2, 2011remilyknits 6 Comments

I’m working on two projects for Classic Elite. Both will eventually be FREE! to the world via CEY’s daily web-letter. Right now I’m working on the samples, and they are looking good. I also need a few intrepid test knitters to help me eliminate any errors and clarifying confusing bits.

Dear reader, this is where you come in! One of the projects is quick-and-easy; the other is more involved-and-complex. If you have time over the next 2-3 weeks to test knit a pattern, please let me know. I’ll email you a test version of the pattern, you supply the yarn and mad knitting skillz. You get to keep your finished object, and earn my undying gratitude ;).

Drop Everything Scarf

Quick and fun drop-stitch scarf, using ribbon-style bulky yarn.

Flavor text:
Ribbon yarns shine in drop-stitch projects. Katydid’s exceptional softness and drape make this straight-forward drop-stitch scarf something special, and just the thing to accessorize in springtime.

The pattern alternates between large sections of horizontal drop stitches between rows of garter stitch and vertical drop stitches between columns of stockinette.

The easy pattern repeat and big needles means it works up quickly. This project should appeal to experienced knitters and beginners alike.

Sizes: 6″ wide, 5 feet long
Approximate Hours to Complete: 6
Deadline: March 15
Tools needed: US#10 needles (6.0 mm)
Material needed: appx 250 yards of aran yarn, ideally a ribbon-style yarn
Pattern Difficulty: Easy
Pattern Style: written
Testing needs: Check for errors, test for ease of understanding drop-stitch directions

Kudzu Shawlette

This is a leafy lace shawlette, with a pattern that flows from one motif to the next. Intermediate-to-advanced level lace: stitch count varies row to row, and knitter must understand & execute sk2p vs. s2kp correctly.

Flavor text:
In the southern US Kudzu flows over the land like waves caught in time. I tried to capture the impression of motion in this shawlette. The twisted rib grows leaves that expand to cover a lattice.

This lacy shawlette can be worn over the shoulders with a fancy accent button or shawl pin to hold it in place. It can also be wrapped twice around the neck for a more casual look.

Directions are be provided in both chart and written format.

Sizes: appx 10″ deep and 50″ long
Approximate Hours to Complete: 25-30
Deadline: March 22
Tools needed: US#6 needles (4.0 mm)
Material needed: appx 750 yards of sport or DK yarn, button (if desired)
Pattern Difficulty: Experienced
Pattern Style: fully charted and written
Testing needs: Check for errors, especially in the written directions.

New Pattern Release: Aviator Scarf

February 4, 2011February 3, 2011remilyknits 1 Comment

Introducing my latest pattern: the Aviator Scarf! This lacy scarf pattern can be worked in lace weight or fingering weight yarn, with two very different finished products. The lace-weight version produces an ethereal scrumptious scarf that floats around your neck. The fingering-weight version is sturdier and more forthright (and, it should be said, a much faster knit).

Pattern: Aviator Scarf

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: for $1.99 at Knit Picks

Yarn: Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud (for the lace version) or Knit Picks Gloss Sock (for the fingering version)

Inspiration: I wanted to make something lacy that looked impressive but was do-able for beginner lace knitters. Size, repeating pattern, and only a few lace stitches make this scarf deceptively simple. Early in the design process I found myself thinking of real-life aviators and steampunk air pirates while working on the pattern — this scarf is for the girl pilot in all of us :).

Design/Skills Needed: Scarf is worked in two halves, starting from the ends and grafted together in the middle. Wrong-side rows are purled to speed knitting, and narrow garter-stitch borders help the scarf lie flat. The pattern looks tricky, but is achieved with only k, p, k2tog, YO, ssk, and a right-leaning centered double decrease.

I would be delighted to answer any questions or help any knitters working on this project.

Tips and Tricks: Interchangeable Cables as Blocking Wires

January 12, 2011January 11, 2011remilyknits 1 Comment

Early this week I finished work on a lace scarf — it’s a sample knit that I need to photograph and send off to Knit Picks for their Independent Designer Program. Assuming all goes well, the pattern for my “Aviator Scarf” will be live later this month. The pattern has two versions: one for lace-weight yarn, and another for fingering-weight yarn. I made the lace-weight sample first, out of Alpaca Cloud in Oyster Heather. It’s lovely, but I got lazy in the blocking and didn’t use enough pins, which created an unintentional “scalloped” edge, as you can see in this photo:

If that’s what I were going for, all would be fine and good. However, I really wanted the scarf to have a smooth, straight edge. I was able to fix the “scallops” with a little judicious steam blocking, but when I finished the fingering-weight sample scarf (Gloss Fingering in Robot — how cool a colorway name is that?), I wanted to block it right the first time. Now, of course this would all be easier if I owned some proper blocking wires, but I don’t. However, I did listen attentively when my friend Heather talked about her plan to block her recently completed pi shawl using the cables from her interchangeable needle set. Brilliant, I thought!

(Let us pause for a moment to admire her gorgeous shawl!)

Without any further information, I decided to give it a go with my scarf. I had two 40-inch cables available, which was enough for one side. My other 40-inch cables were in use (ahem, WIPs, ahem), so I had to make do with four 24-inch cables on the other side. I put my smallest needle tip (US 4) on one of the cable, and threaded it through each purl bump on the garter-stitch edge. After this, I put cable end-caps on for safety, although I don’t think I’ll bother to do that in the future.

Pinning out the cables was a breeze:

Here’s the whole thing, all pinned out:

The results were fantastic — the cables came out smooth and easy. The edge was great — just as smooth and straight as I could wish. I was a little worried about some of the places where two cables met, but it turned out better than I expected. I still need to get pattern-quality photos taken of both versions of the scarf. I’m hoping to steal away my photographer friend at this weekend’s agility trial for a few outdoor photos. Failing that, I can take reasonably good photos on my own. One way or another, the samples and the pattern PDF will be headed for Knit Picks early next week.

Ravelry Monday

January 3, 2011January 3, 2011remilyknits 2 Comments

This is my inaugural “Ravelry Monday” post, so let me explain a bit … every Monday, I’ll look back at the previous week’s recently added knitting patterns on Ravelry. Based solely on my own personal opinion, I’ll highlight a few of my favorites, including at least one free pattern and at least one for-pay pattern. I love novelty, but classic beauty always gets me too.

First pick: “Big Breakfast” by Amanda Berry ($2.95)

I’m a sucker for a cute stuffed food, and this breakfast-gurumi has it all: bacon, eggs, beans, sausage, tomato, and waffle!

Second Pick: “Nine Dwindling Cables” by Yarn Owl (FREE!)

Lovely, three-dimensional cabled tam! Love the color and the design.

Third Pick: “Hearts in Estonia” by Susan Gutperl (€3.50 EUR)

Like so many, I’m addicted to gorgeous lace just like this.

Remily Knits

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