Eyelet Lace Insanity!

I've been so busy learning new, exciting knitting techniques that I haven't been updating as often as I should, but here goes!

As you may have seen on my FB Page I have been working on a new line of shawls, based on  an eyelet lace pattern that  found here.

But today's spotlight is on my latest, which incorporates another new technique I learned, thanks to Eunny Jang & co on Knitting Daily: Short rows!

I was really intimidated by working short rows at first, but once I got the hang of it, I could not stop! This project is slightly serendipitous, because the flounced collar that I used was originally intended to be a full scarf, (like the one that you can download for free after registering here)  but I ran out of yarn & just bound it off, unsure of what to do with it. Then after doing some research on how to pick up & knit stitches, I decided to give it a try, using 36" Size 13 (US) needles, and a bulky white white Lion Brand "Homespun" Yarn:

As I began to run out of white yarn, I decided to switch to a contrast color

This is how it turned out

As you can see, I used a novelty yarn for the last few rows for a fun, whimsical border!

Here is another shawl type capelet that I made, utilising the same techniques:

The eyelets are not as obvious on this black mannequin, but up close they are gorgeous!

Coaster Magic!

I recently discovered the wonderful show, Knitting Daily, hosted by Eunny Jang. The tips and techniques she shares are a godsend, and have really helped me step up my stitch game.

I made the following coasters based on the pattern found here; I altered the pattern slightly as I was working double-stranded and felt the initial increases should be a little more gradual. Until I made these coasters, I was very intimidated about using increases & decreases in my knitting, worrying that I would ruin my work, but these turned out great, don't you think?

The coasters are available in sets of four for only $12. Feel free to request your own colors!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/156022804/diamond-shaped-knitted-coasters?

Coo Coo For Coozies

I've been compulsively knitting coozies since the last post, in all sorts of new & exciting stitches. Cables, ribs, the trinity stitch, erry thang. Learning to do the 4-stitch cable from the last post was a great starting point for me. As I kept working the pattern, I started wondering how it would turn out if I left out the cabling step and just kept alternately knitting & purling on opposite sides & that's how I figured out how to do what I believe is called a rib stitch:

Even softer to the touch than it looks...

The pattern I created for this was:

CO 10

Row 1: Slip 1 PW, P 2, K 4, P2, K1

Row2:  Slip 1 PW, K 2, P4, K3

Repeat until you can stretch your coozie round your favorite cup, then bind off to where the long end of your yarn is on the opposite side from the one you started with. Use your yarn needle to seam the two ends together & BOOM.

My favorite part about making these coozies is that by the time I start to get tired of whatever stitch I'm dealing with, the project's finished & I have a cute little piece of functional art to sell!

I have done a lot of variations on the 4-stitch cable, but when I had initially looked up cable knitting, I saw that there were loads of different kinds & I've been curious about something I saw called a staghorn stitch. I immediately dismissed it as too complicated, but since I've been pumping these coozies out (eww doesn't it sound nasty like that) at the rate of a few a day, my confidence has increased a lot, so I found a pattern I could understand here and I adapted it to work with this Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn. As you can see, the original pattern calls for you to CO 20 stitches, with the cable taking place over 16 stitches, between 2 selvedge stitches on either side. I used half as many stitches in the repeat part of the pattern, so I call this Sammi Kat's Half-Stag:

CO 12 stitches

Rows 1, 3, 5 (WS) Slip 1 PW, k1, p8, k2

Row 2: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k2, C2B, C2F, k2* p1, k1

Row 4: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k1, C2B, k2, C2F, k1* p1, k1

Row 6: Slip 1 PW, p1,* C2B, k4, C2F,* p1, k1

This is what it looked like after 6 rows:

I sort of lost the plot somewhere along the line (I think i cabled back when I wasn't supposed to, sigh...) but I think it still works:

A good 1st effort, no?

After I finished this, I thought I'd add a bit more to the pattern:

Row 8: Slip 1 PW, p1,* C2F, k4, C2B,* p1, k1

Row 10: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k1, C2F, k2, C2B, k1* p1, k1

Row 12: Slip 1 PW, p1,* k2, C2B, C2F, k2* p1, k1

This way, instead of just making those kind of V shapes, the pattern creates a sort of diamond effect:

You can kinda see where I got a lil wonky with this one too...

...but it looks fierce from here!

They are available on etsy for $10 each or a set of 5 for $35!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/130138754/drink-covers-in-mardi-gras-colors

I'm not listing every single one of these things on etsy this minute, but you can contact me to order specifics!