Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Finished Shawl


I finished my shawl and blocked it in time to wear it this Memorial Day weekend.
As I look at the color changes for some reason with the color yarn I picked I
see Watermelon. Maybe it is because the red coloring at the very top changing
into the yellow and green reminds me of the fruit and the rind. Or possibly it
is because it is the end of May and we are still not having really warm weather
here in southern California and I just want to imagine warm days and out door
barbeques. http://www.patchworkfrog.com/images/rainbowshawllg.jpg

Friday, May 13, 2011

My summer Shawl


I guess both the advantage and disadvantage of having a knitting business when you are as addicted to yarn and knitting supplies as I am is to try to learn to control your addiction and not see everything that arrives (for sale) as something I should pull and knit myself.

Having said that when my order of Poems Yarn arrived I just sat looking at the yarn. The colors were just calling to me to make something. I couldn’t decide which yarn to pick, should I choose the Poem silk or the Poem sock? A real dilemma. My next question is what do I want to make.

With the odd weather we have ben having here in California I started thinking that what I would love to have are some shawlettes. Not big warm things that are heavy but some really nice lacy and light shawls that will just cover my shoulders. So off I want to look at my vast collection of patterns. Since I sell patterns, and really have some awesome patterns for sale, I guess I should have picked one of those, but I finally decided on one that I had found free on Ravelry called Citron (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/citron) that looked simple to knit and would show off the color changes in this beautiful yarn. I finally decided on Poem sock yarn in color 958 a mixture of deep rose, greens and bkue with just a touch of yellow orange that I decided would compliment several of my outfits. The shawl is a simple knit started at the top and adding increases and rouching so the shawl becomes curved and is a nicer fit than making a straight piece. The pattern is basically a 20 row repeat but only on the two rows that have the increases is there anything to think about. This pattern would work for even an advanced beginner and it only takes one skein of the sock yarn, knit not on the size #3 needle that is called for on the yarn band, but on a# 6 circular needle so the knitting goes quickly and produces a light and airy fabric