Review of Knit Swirl by Sandra McIver

I drove for an hour to a yarn shop that was hosting Sandra McIver author of Knit Swirl. She had most of the coats and jackets from the book available to try on. It was fascinating and wonderful to be able to see how each one fit and figure out which one was your own personal choice as a “first knit” since I can see that after knitting one you will want to knit more. I had a hard time choosing but I finally picked two and maybe three that I plan to make. Five years of work went into the development of creating the concept of the rounded jacket structured as Sandra McIver pictured it in her mind. Knit from the outside in and creating the shaping by decreases.

My dilemma is that I have two baby blankets, two shawls a coat and a Kimono and an almost finsih jacket on my needles right now and I really need to finish all of them before starting anything else. I wish I could knit faster and nothing else to do all day. So many projects and so little time, Sadly I won’t be starting my swirl just yet although I have picked out my yarn.

If you have been following my blog I made a similar type jacket a few years ago. That one was knit in two pieces, a circle and rectangle and then put together. This also had very little seaming but I have to admit that after trying on the Knit Swirl I think the fit and shaping is nicer. My original pattern came from a Korean company Zaol that is now out of business and the pattern was offered for free on the internet but is no longer available. The circle was knit using short rows which I find fun and easy but it took a while to knit the whole circle and the rectangle was simple and straight but a bit boring. I wasn’t entirely happy with the sleeves as the cuffs were a bit wide but after looking at the Swirls I have an idea of what to do to fix the problem.

The Swirl is knit all in one piece and has one seam to sew when you are finished. You cast on an enormous amount of stitches and work from the outside in. The beginning of the swirl is slow knitting because of all the stitches but as you decrease it goes faster and faster and then you get to the center where you bind off part of the circle leaving a center section knit the back and sleeves flat. The book diagrams and explains everything so that even a beginning knitter can handle this if they are okay with working so many stitches. The patterns are knit in a series of welts that you keep track of by just counting. You mark the beginning and end of the circle with a colored marker.

There are two basic shapes, a circle and an oval which are either centered or off center centered which means the opening is in the center which creates a larger collar and or off center (more near the top) which makes the collar and lapels more narrow. The off center oval makes a longer back and there is even a very short bolero style perfect for a summer jacket. The patterns are offered in 3 sizes, small medium and large. According to my measurements I would be a small but as I tried on the samples I quickly decided that I liked the slightly larger jackets with more overlap room so I will be knitting a size two. With each pattern she tells you what yarns were used for the samples and how much yardage. All are knit in worsted weight yarn on #8 needles but you will need a cord length of at least 40 inches to start in order to accommodate all the cast on stitches, over 600. She explains how to use two balls of yarn for your cast on. There were lots of women in the store all trying on the jackets and it was interesting to see that they looked good on everyone, short, tall, thin, heavy with large bust or small.

After trying them all I decided that I would either knit a longer coat called Silken Dreams, knit in Tilli Tomas yarn with beads that is a bit more dressy since the alternating welts are knit with a beaded yarn. or Copper Collage. I have some red merino/silk in my stash if I decide to make this one. The third one that I thought I might like called Silhouette In the Sun. I will be anxious to learn which ones you like the best.

I hope some of you get the book and knit a Swirl for yourself . http://patchworkfrog.com/books.html
Thea

Finding the best Basic Yarn

In Search of the Perfect Basic Yarn

We all love the speicaly yarns that our eye is drawn to when we are looking at yarn but often they sit in your stash because after purchasing them you aen’t sure what to make using them. It seems that mot of the time I find a pattern with some interest and what I need is basic yarn in solid colors. Every company seems to have them but many are expensive, put up in small balls and require lots of balls which equals lots of money.

I have been searching for the perfect all around yarn. The go to yarn when you want something basic. I looked for something that would have a good feel, nice memory and easy care. My final vote is Ella Rae Classic and Ella Rae Amity.

Classic is a wonderful basic wool yarn that will meet your every need. Both knit at about the same gauge.

Amity has a touch of wool , 25% but is mostly acrylic, 75%. Has great yardage at 200 yards per skein and knits up on a # 8 or #9 US needle. It is great for sweaters for the whole family babies included, scarves, afghans and blankets, hats , gloves and just about anything you can think of.
It knits up with a really good look and feel and doesn’t pill.

The yarn comes in both sold and heathers and at $5.00 a skein is a real bargain. A baby blanket will take about 3 or 4 if you are making it bigger and adult sized afghan will take 8-10 depending on the finished In my opinion this yarn is wonderful for all your basic sweaters especially if you want to show off our stitch pattern and for everyone in your family.

http://patchworkfrog.com/ellarea.html

AMITY

Fiber: 75% Acrylic, 25% Wool
Yardage: 200
5 Stitches = 1 inch Needle size: 8 US
$5.00

Summer Shawls

I had shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff injury that I suffered with for about a year after stupidly tripping in my kitchen. While I have been able to knit getting dressed is entirely another story.
It is difficult to get most things on and not much that goes over my head. My left arm is in a sling and since I am only able to use one arm getting a sweater on or off becomes a real workout. I quickly realized that a light weight shawl was the most practical piece of clothing in my closet but I wanted to have many different ones that would co-ordinate with my clothes and cover up my sling. After making several like the first one on this blog I was ready to design my own. Each one that I made was really nice but I wanted a top down with more or a natural drape over the shoulders and one that stay there becuse again it putting it on is still a bit of a challenge. I set to work designing exactly what I wanted and the result is the June Clouds Shawl which I have uploaded to Ravelry. It knits up with about 450 yards of light weight fingering or sock yarn and the interesting ribbed ruffle finishes the edge nicely. I have been experimenting with a variety of yarns and I am about to mke one using Tillie Tomas Sock yarn. Many of the sock yarns come in multicors and while that makes up in a very interesting pattern I also found that I needed solids. I will be casting a new one during the holiday weekend with the Tillie Tomas yarn and will post pictures as soon as i have enogh on my needles to show off my work.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/june-clouds-shawl

Blocking the Final Step to Finishing your Project

Blocking your knit or crochet project is the final step in finishing your garment and should not be over looked. First-time blockers are always amazed by the difference blocking makes to the final
appearance of their knitting. After blocking, sweater parts lay flat, stitches even out, and projects have a more professional look.

I used to block my projects either on a spare bed or on the floor. In order to block, your knitting has to be wet or steamed (I use a Jiffy Steamer) and pinned to the correct shape and measurements so there is drying time involved. For the most part this was very inconvenient and if I used the carpet I had to close the door to the room so the dogs didn’t walk on, or worse lay down, on my wet knitting.

I looked for a long time to find a blocking board that would work for me. Most boards that I found folded but were large, expensive, and storage was awkward. A blocking board needs to be large enough to block a long shawl, an afghan or a large sweater so getting something too small made no sense..

Last January at TNNA I finally found what I was looking for. The Knitters Block by Coco Knit is (9) 12 inch blocks that look like large puzzle pieces and they fit together in any configuration that you need for the particular project you are going to block. Unfortunately the production was slow so it took a while before I got my first order and like everything that I sell I wanted to test it out for myself to be certain that I really liked it before adding it to the website. I have now used it on several different types of knitted articles and I have been more than pleased with how nice it is to work on. It is almost half the price of other boards that I found, it stores in its own reusable tote bag and it is very light weight. I particularly like that I am able to make it long enough to block my shawls, and, because this is completely water proof i am able to set this up right on my dining room table and not worry that the table will be ruined

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

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

Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton Yarn Sale

Just in time for your Spring and Summer knit and crochet projects we are closing out our inventory of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton. We need to made room for know yarns that are arriving so we have decided to offer this wonderful yarn to you at a fantastic price of $4.00. It was $6.50 per ball and this is the best price for this yarn any place on the internet. I checked. 100% cotton, machine washable, worsted weight, 96 yards per ball, 4.5 stitches on US# 8 needle. Purchase quickly to get your choice of colors while we have availablility. we only have a few colors left. the yarn is wonderful to work with and you can see it knit up in my circular knitting prject. It knits up light which is nice because many of the cotton yarns fell heavy when you knit with them and the yarn is very, very soft. http://patchworkfrog.com/debbieblissvarn.html#DBPureCotton