slipped rib scarf

Slipped Rib Scarf

Knit this Scarf bigger for a cozy wrap or small (as pictured) to wear wrapped around your neck.

Yarn: You can use any weight you prefer. I used two skeins of an aran weight cotton yarn, Araucania Pomaire, colorways 4 & 7. I had more than half a skein leftover of the green/yellow/purple colorway.

Needle: With an aran weight yarn, I used US 10 circular needles for a loose drapey fabric. I recommend using larger needles for any given yarn to get the most out of a yarn's yardage and to create a fabric with nice drape.

Slipped Rib Stitch:
Row 1 (WS): Purl all sts
Row 2 (RS): K1, *wyif Sl1, wyib K1, repeat from * for slipped rib stitch


Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
yo: yarn over
Sl: slip (stitches in slipped rib stitch are always slipped purlwise)
wyif: with yarn in front
wyib: with yarn in back
RS: Right Side
WS: Wrong Side
CO: Cast On
St: Stitch

Instructions:
CO with your favorite triangular shawl cast on.
I usually CO 5 sts and do the following 2 set up rows...
Row 1 (WS): K2, yo, P1, yo, K2
Row 2 (RS): K2, yo, K1, yo, K1(this is the center st), yo, K1, yo, K2

Row 3 (WS): K2, purl to last 2 sts, K2
Row 4 (RS): K2, yo, work the RS row of slipped rib stitch until you get get to center stitch, yo, K1, yo, work in the slipped rib stitch again to last 2 sts, yo, K2

Repeat rows 3 & 4 being careful that all the Knit sts are stacked on top of each other and all the slipped sts are stacked on top of each other on the RS of the shawl. This will mean that on one right side row you start the slipped stitch pattern with a knit stitch and on the next right side row the slipped stitch pattern begins with a slipped stitch.

Work shawl until desired length leaving a couple inches free for a garter stitch border.
I knit 8 rows while maintaining the 4 yo sts every other row.
Cast off, weave in ends, and enjoy!

(My cotton shawl ended up being about 20 inches in length from the cast on edge to the pointy tip, and the width or wingspan of my shawl is roughly 48 inches across)

chicago trip

I came up to Chicago with Chris on Monday so he could talk with a professor about grad school research opportunities at UIC. We stayed at my mom's in Skokie and took the train into Chicago Tuesday morning. After we went to UIC we got to check out Loopy Yarns in Chicago.


They had a really great selection of all kinds of yarn organized by weight. So, their worsted weight yarn was what you saw first, then they had their chunky yarn and sport/dk weight had its own room as well as lace/sock weight yarn. Their Lorna's Laces selection was excellent. I may have to get some of that at their shop this summer. However, their prices were all $2-3 more per ball of yarn than I've seen anywhere else. Perhaps that's because of their Chicago location, but they had some really nice yarns 25-50% off downstairs. They also had some roving downstairs. I want to explore spinning more, so I got my favorite colorway of merino top roving that they carry from Frabjous Fibers.


I even got a 10% discount for being a student and an awesome free tote bag for signing up on their email list. The bag has sheep knitting on the train.

Also on Tuesday, we went to Close Knit in Evanston, Illinois. It's a nice cozy one room shop with nice yarns stacked on all the walls. I found some awesome Fiddlesticks organic cotton yarn on sale for less than $5 a skein. I grabbed all five skeins because it was a soft neutral tweedy cotton.



I worked on a little shawl Monday and Tuesday with some Araucania Pomaire yarn. It's a wonderful cotton with amazing variegated colors. I loved working with it.



I cast on during the car ride from Urbana to Chicago, knit at home that night, on the train in the morning and throughout the day, and finished it at the beach in Evanston that afternoon.



I used a simple slipped stitch pattern with yarn overs on the edges and on either side of the center stitch. Then I just switched to garter stitch for eight rows with another colorway and cast off.



I think I'll definitely use this yarn again. It's a really nice soft cotton. There are several gorgeous colorways and they are all a little different. I like the purpley blue based one I got because it just had hints of the the yellow/orange bits.


I used one skein of the blue and less than a half skein of the green. So, I might have enough leftover for some fingerless mitts. I may try to add a crocheted border? Or some tassels maybe? I don't know. I may save that edging idea for another shawl sometime.



Let me know if you want me to write up a little recipe for this pattern. It's basically the same as the Boneyard Shawl that I wrote up, but you use less yarn and there's a different easy stitch pattern for the body of the shawl/neckwarmer.

boneyard shawl

Boneyard Shawl
By Stephen West

This simple triangular shawl is a great project for traveling or while relaxing at home. Once you get started, it is easy to memorize the construction of this cozy garment.

I worked this shawl in a DK weight tweedy wool yarn, but it would look lovely in any weight or fiber (bulky, fingering, striped, variegated, cotton, silk, etc…) I like to knit with a larger than recommended needle size for the yarn on this shawl because I get the most out of a yarn’s yardage. A looser fabric also allows for excellent drape.

Yarn: Rowan Rowanspun DK, colorway #748, 3 skeins (654 yards)

Needles: US 8, 32” circular

Notes: The shawl increases from the cast on stitches and ends at the shawl’s point with a garter stitch edge. The first and last 2 stitches of every row are knit while 4 yarn overs are added every other row (a yarn over at each end and a yarn over on each side of the center or “spine” stitch). As the shawl grows, a ridge is added every 12 rows to create extra textural interest and a simple garter stitch border ties everything together.

Instructions
CO 5 sts

Set up row (WS): K2, P1 (mark this center stitch by placing a marker on it or a removable marker on each side of it), K2

Row 1 (RS): K2, yo, K1, yo, K2

Row 2 (WS): K2, yo, P3, yo, K2 (this is the only WS row where you increase with yo’s)

Row 3 (RS): K2, yo, knit to center stitch, yo, K1, yo, knit to last 2 sts, yo, K2

**Row 4 (WS): K2, purl to last 2 sts, K2

Repeat rows 3 and 4, creating a stockinette stitch fabric with garter stitch edges.

**On every 12th row (on the WS) knit the entire row instead of purling to form the ridges.

Continue knitting until shawl reaches about 2 inches less than desired finished size.

Keeping the yarn over increases going on every RS row, Knit all stitches on the RS and WS rows, making the garter stitch border. (Remember to allow enough yarn for the garter stitch border because with the large number of stitches at the end, the long rows use a lot of yarn.)


Finishing
After the border is the desired length, bind off all stitches and weave in the ends. (I used one of my favorite flexible bind offs, Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind off, and I was very pleased with the finished edge.)

Block the finished shawl if you wish and enjoy!

felted things and malabrigo

A lot of knitting has been going on, but not a lot of typing due to an incident involving a bowl of soup and my computer keyboard. I can still access the internet and my mouse works along with half of my keys, but I have to click letters on my screen to make up for the other half of my keys that don't function. I'm waiting until I'm back home to get it looked at. Fortunately, I don't have to type many papers this semester.

Anyway, I've been knitting constantly and completing several projects. Most recently, I've felted a couple things.

Last night I just added the lining and button/closure to a felted bag.


I used Cat Bordhi's Moebius Sling Bag - Summer Weight pattern as a guideline, but I cast on about 20 extra stitches to the strap and 10 extra stitches to the body of the bag. The strap also isn't a moebius.


I used a few skeins of Classic Elite Skye Tweed (marmalade) and some leftover Madil Loden in a pickley grellow color that I got when I was in Italy last summer. The Skye Tweed took several hot washes to felt for me. I put it through a couple cycles in a top loader washing machine and a few times in a front loader. I've never had a wool that took that much washing to felt. It turned out fine though.


I sewed some quilting fabric together with a machine and then attached the fabric to the felted bag by hand with a tapestry needle and some Noro Shinano. Then, I just made a simple i-cord loop to fasten around a wooden button.


It's the perfect size for a small knitting project like a hat.

I also recently made a basket/bag type thing for Klose Knit out of Malabrigo in the Cadmium colorway.


It's been a little while since I worked with Malabrigo worsted and I've fallen in love with it again.

After making that felted basket I got a couple skeins of Malabrigo at Knit 1 in Chicago to work on a pattern of mine. I came up with a reversible hat idea last summer, but I'm finally perfecting it and starting to get the pattern written up.


I'll put the free pattern on here and on my Ravelry page in the next few weeks or so. The hat looks great playing with two different yarn as well as a solid color.


I'm excited to see other people knit this hat up in different colors.

My needles have been busy with hats in March. I worked with the new Noro Chirimen yarn and whipped up this hat about a week ago.


It's a wonderful cotton blend with gorgeous colorways. I'll be able to wear it in the spring and summer.



I'll still be knitting with wool over these next couple seasons, but I also want to work with some cooler yarns as well. Do you all have any favorite spring/summer yarns. What projects do you find yourself working on in warmer months or what to do you plan on knitting during spring and summer?

textured shawl

I had a lot of fun knitting this textured shawl recipe by orlane over on Ravelry. It is just a normal triangular shawl, two garter stitches on each side and left/right increases instead of yarn overs.


Pattern: Textured Shawl Recipe by Orlane
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza (colorway 077), Cascade Jewel Hand Dyed (colorway 9888)
Needles: US 10 1/2
Started: January 25 2009
Completed: January 27 2009


The textured stitch pattern was extremely easy and adds a lot to the shawl. I made my first shawl a few months ago for my mom that used garter and stockinette stitch and some yarn over rows. I like the simplicity of these triangular knits and the stitch variations that make them interesting.


The last picture is a variation of the Simple Yet Effective Shawl by cosmicpluto.


Both yarns were so nice to work with. I love the colors in Cascade Pastaza, especially this heathered mustardy yellow. It makes an even dense fabric that gives the piece good drape. The charcoal Jewel Hand Dyed is very interesting with its light and dark shades gray. It's a squishy thick & thin yarn. I only had to use two skeins of Pastaza and one of the Hand Dyed.


I have figured out a few ways to wear this shawl and it is very warm so that's good for these cold winter days. I have scarves and other things for my neck too, but I wanted to make a shawl anyway. I had just enough yarn and when I don't wear it, I like looking at the wonderful fabric hanging in my room.


I just started another triangular shawl in stockinette stitch with several garter ridges in a gray tweed. They are so easy and enjoyable to knit and make great FO's.

seamless hybrid

I've wanted to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's Seamless Hybrid sweater for awhile now and finally got around to it. I love how the sweater can be just the size I want with her percentage system and the majority of it is good mindless knitting.

I started this sweater soon after the new year in Minnesota with family. It was a great project for all the down time I had sitting around visiting with family, waiting an hour for my little cousin to open all her birthday presents, and of course all the time spent in the car. I even knit in the sanctuary before a service at my aunt's church. (Their exit signs in the sanctuary were stained glass!)

The final product turned out pretty well. If I do it again I'll make the body an inch or two longer. I had to block and encourage a little more length out of the body fabric.


Pattern: Seamless Hybrid by Elizabeth Zimmerman (Knitting Workshop)
Yarn: Beaverslide Dry Goods Worsted, Clear Water colorway
Needles: US 8, US 6 (ribbing)
Started: January 2, 2009
Completed: January 9, 2009


I got the yarn from Beaverslide's website on sale about a year ago and was a bit surprised when I saw it in person. The color seemed bright for my taste, but I love the yarn quality and finally cast on with it. I thought I might try dyeing it darker, but the color has grown on me so I'm liking it now.


I didn't have many problems with the construction except I forget to allow a plain stitch between the arm's double decreases going up to the shoulder. You don't notice when I wear it unless I raise my arms. I cast on 182 sts (my key number) for the body and 36 sts for the arms.


I had 6 balls of the yarn but I ended up just dipping into the fifth one for the neck's ribbing. You get great yardage with Beaverslide, 250 yards/skein, $8 for the colorway on sale, less than $40 for a great sweater!


I loved working with Beaverslide's yarn. It's nice, plush, and has great texture. There are also scattered flecks of lighter blue throughout the yarn. It has a loose twist, but that didn't bother me at all. I need to try other colors in the future.

durrow

I finally got to give Chris his Christmas sweater a few days ago. I started working on the pattern at the end of September and finished the collar and sewing the seams January 1st. So, it's my first FO of the year!

I did some collar modifications and mirrored cables on the sleeves after reading Ken's blog entry of his Durrow. I used the smallest size on US sz 6 needles instead of 8s and added some sleeve and body length.


Pattern: Durrow by Jodi Green
Yarn: Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran, colorway 155
Needles: US 6 & 4 (for collar)
Started: September 30, 2008
Completed: January 1, 2009


Kathmandu Aran is one of my favorite yarns to work with. It's soft and the subtlety of colors is great.



I had the front and back done during school and tackled the sleeves over winter break. About a week ago I had to be in the car from Chicago to Tulsa, OK. So, I spent the whole time finishing one sleeve, took about 10 hours or so.


The cables and charts look complicated, but by the second sleeve I was moving along quickly and memorized what all the symbols in the chart meant. It's a lot easier than it looks.


It fits Chris perfectly and he loves it!