Summer Shawls - Part 1

We enjoyed a wonderful two week vacation in Mexico and I finally had time to knit and read.
I actually read 4 books and finished 3 shawls so I get to cross off some things on my “To Do” list. I will be posting pictures of each one separately.
Spring and summer are a wonderful time to wear shawls and there were several on Ravelry that I had stored in my library hoping to find the time to knit them. For those of you who are looking for alternative projects using the wonderful ruffling yarns you should consider making this shawl.
Using Marina Glitz http://patchworkfrog.com/rozettiyarns.html#glitz  I made the circular shawl on Ravelry called kelp-forest-shawlette, a free pattern, and before you knit do watch the video it helps.  I started mine a few times before I got it the way I wanted it. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kelp-forest-shawlette the pattern called for using two balls of yarn but when i finished the first ball I realized that it was big enough so here is a great idea for another one bal project. I have tried this shawl on several people and it is wonderful. Since you fold it over doubling the lace you can control how low the back drapes. No matter if you wear it with jeans, a sun dress or a sexy black dress for dinner out it will certainly be a favorite and what a wonderful special gift for some lucky person if you don’t want to make it for yourself. You can knit this one in an afternoon and it is light and the perfect carry along project. I used #9 needles. You can use a larger needle but it doesn’t change the gauge as it is determined by the holes in the yarn and I found that working with a smaller needle was actually better. About every 12 inches a gentle tug on the yarn to pull down the lace is advisable

FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS

Valentines Day is just around the corner and as our gift to you we will have started something new. We will be featuring items that will be offered at a 10% discount. A notice will go out announcing the featured discount and it will be available for a short time only. The discounts will keep changing so get yours while they are active. This month we will be picking items that are red or pink. Some of these items will be new arrivals including yarn so check back often to get your discount before it is gone.
Please check the What’s new Page to see which item is featured if you missed our announcement on Facebook or our Yahoo group page.
The first item offered at a discount is Fix A Stitch. A wonderful tool to have in your knitting bag.
http://patchworkfrog.com/notions.html and remember orders of $65 and over qualify for free shipping.

The Patchwork Frog Knitting Blog: Preview "FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS"

The Patchwork Frog Knitting Blog: Preview "FEBRUARY DISCOUNTS"

Dreamz Interchangeable Knitting Needles - my evaluation

Dreamz Interchangeable Knitting Needles

Do you Dreamz in color? I finally had the time to try the new Dreamz wooden interchangeable needles and I found that I like them very much.

A bit of background first. The first interchangeable needles that I can remember were offered by Boye. The needles were steel, each size being a different color. The man designed the needles for his wife, he then designed a hard resin set where the needles snapped into the cords and he named this set after his wife, Denise. The Denise company was sold a while back to a family who has taken this set and made many changes. The Denise set has been one of my personal favorites, and the standard by which I measure other needles because I find them comfortable to use. The one complaint that I have is it is sometimes hard to read the needle size especially on the older sets and i have to admit that since I owned several (4 ) from before I started my business I often am working with the older sets although I did buy myself one of the Pink sets that supports breast cancer and the markings on the newer needle are much easier to read .

The Dreamz design is similar the Boye set and the same as the Knit Picks set but at a better price. The needles are colored wood with each size a different color. This means you can easily match up the pairs. Unlike the Boye set the cable is soft and flexible and the join to the needle is amazingly smooth. The needle tips are just pointed enough to make them easy to work with but not so pointed that they will split the yarn. Each cord comes with a small tool that can be inserted into a small hole to help you tighten the connection.

The set comes in a zippered plastic pouch with sleeves to hold the needle points and a removable pouch to hold the cables. End buttons and tightening tools are in small zip lock bags.

The basic set offers needle sizes 4 though 11. Also included are needle markers so if you transfer your work to a holder you just slip on a marker to let you know what size needle you were using.

All of this is priced at $82.00 http://patchworkfrog.com/dreamz.html. You can add to the basic set the chunky set which has needles US 13, 15, and 17 tips plus two cords, 24" and 32 " four end caps, two keys, and a flat envelope style carrying case that you can put into the larger case that holds the delux set.

New From The Patchwork Frog

What is new at The Patchwork Frog

The Knitter’s Blocks from Coco Knits are back in stock We were only able to get the small set with 9 blocks right now as the company is having problems getting the larger set of 12 manufactured.

We also have our sweater weight blocking wires from Fiber Dreams back in stock. Another manufacturing problem caused these to be unavailable for a few months but we are happy that we now have them again. These wires are made by hand and packaged in long tubes. They can’t be shipped with many of our other products since they ship in a mailing tube so if you order several items the wires will ship separately.

We are now carrying a new line of yarn hand dyed in Canada by Tradewind Knits. We have Cat’s Pajamas and Celestial Merino. Both fingering weight. The yarns are so soft that you will looked forward to knitting just to hold the yarn. Check out the Sea lettuce Scarf pattern for either of these yarns. This is a pattern suitable for even the advanced beginner and it is a wonderful project to take along when you are traveling.

We have added lots of new patterns to our pattern page. No comments:

Cottage Creations Patterns

I was sad to learn that Carol Anderson of Cottage creations is going to phase out some of her Creative Cottage patterns. Many of you may not know her name but have knit at one time or another “The Wonderful Wallaby” or one of her afghan patterns. Carol has decided that she would like to get to more of her own knitting as well as find time for some of her other interests.

The Creative Cottage patterns come in a small booklet format with a story line that reads through the various parts as you knit. They are not only easy to read and simple patterns but are fun to read as well.

One of the patterns that will not be re-printed once her supply is gone is the Log Cabin Afghan, which is one of my favorites. This is a great pattern for using up your stash and also a wonderful pattern to carry along since the motifs are knit one square at a time and then later knit together with a three needle bind off.

She is offering one new pattern called Celia’s Blankie that is a cousin to the Rambling Rows Afghan. This is another seamless pattern that can be knit with almost any weight yarn and can be made in a child sized version and also a dolly sized. This pattern will be in stock in about a week.

Priced at just $6.50 each, get your copy of your favorite patterns before the supply is gone.
http://patchworkfrog.com/cottage-creation-patterns-s.html

What’s New at The Patchwork Frog

If you are looking for a quick fun project consider the kntted necklace and bracelet kit from Swallow Hill. There are enough beads to complete one project , but enough rayon to make several. Addtional bead soup may be purchased. I am certain that you will want to make more than one, I know I will.

Even though I do have some lovely jewelry there are times when I want something with sparkel but not so serious and more fun. I chose the crystal bead kit because Caribbean trip next month and I decided this would be the most neutral since I do not know what I am going to pack.

The beads come loose so the first thing to do is to string them on the rayon. If you use a bead mat and a dental floss threader the stringing goes quickly and is quite easy. The mat keeps the beads from rolling around and they are easily picked up on the threader that you can buy in any drug store. The kit comes with a big eye needle that also can be used.

Since I wasn’t sure how to figure out the amount of beads I would need I decided to string them all. The problems with doing this is that you have to stop and slide the beads down on the rayon as you work to give yourself thread to work with. I decided that I preferred this to making joins in the work. You can use the Russian join for a strong, seamless join if you want to string only part of the beads. If you do this you will have to cut the rayon, string more beads and then make a join in the rayon to attach the two parts.

http://patchworkfrog.com/SwallowHill.html


The pattern calls for casting on 90 stitches and tells you that you will end up with a necklace of approximately 15 inches that will stretch a bit longer from the weight when you wear it.. I knew that I wanted something longer so I cast on 110 stitches. My finished piece measures about 21 inches ( see the picture). When I cast off all the stitches according to the pattern instruction I made a tiny knot at the end of my work and I left a long tail of rayon, twice the length of my finished piece that I am going to use to whip stitch the two long ends together to form a rope. I will then twist the rope to coil it so that the rows swirl.