Celtic cable neckwarmer

It's been feeling more more autumnal here the last week or so which always makes me want to start hunting out loads of yarn and new knitting patterns for some warm, chunky knits. Preferably quick projects like hats, gloves or scarves but with a bit of a challenge to them as well. I managed to find one to start with - the Celtic cabled neckwarmer - full of complex looking cables with a simple button fastening around the neck for a warm snug fit. No flapping scarf ends with this one, just a neat fit for a snuggly neck come winter.

And snuggly it is:) I don't usually like too tight fitting things around my neck but this one has such a snuggle factor and is so warm that I'm tempted to knit another just for me:) I'm thinking a strong red or a forest green maybe? It didn't take that long to make either - a few evenings of tv watching and this knits up a treat. 

The neckwarmer itself is about 20" in length and has a three button fastening to keep it wrapped around the neck. I used two strands of DK yarn on 5mm needles to get a rough worsted weight yarn as per the pattern instructions. It has a simple 1x1 rib border with the cable chart repeated to the desired length then another section of 1x1 rib with two rows to incorporate the buttonholes. It took only 4 repeats for my knit to be 20" although it did feel a bit of a tight fit. But the pattern did say lightly block first so I had fingers crossed that it would ease the fit to a slightly bigger size. I suppose I could just have reblocked it bigger if it was still too neat for me:)

Cable repeat

If you don't want a neck wrap then you could just continue the cable repeats and make as long a scarf as you wanted. I quite like this idea too and I did consider it for a while till the shiny buttons convinced me that a neckwarmer was really the only way to go! Still, I'm not sure how many guys would want this style:)) Happy to be proved wrong!

There is an errata in the pattern at the first buttonhole row - just a small one:) I noted the changes I made on my ravelry project page here if you are thinking of making this yourself or want more technical details of this knit. I personally didn't want to add any bigger sized buttons to this aesthetically and found the buttonholes then a little on the large size so if I knit this again, I might alter that buttonhole row anyway and bind off one less stitch per buttonhole for a neater fit.

So, first knit of the autumn is done. I haven't knitted cables in a while so I really enjoyed this knit. I'd forgotten what a lovely textured effect cables can give and it's been fun to watch the crossovers of the pattern appear as you knit. Hmm, now what will be next on the needles? I think I'll have to have a good look around for some inspiration - something with a challenge, hehe :)

Off to have a scout around - see you all soon!

Camino bubbles

Today's been a busy day of mostly painting the ceiling with a little bit of knitting. It wasn't quite meant to be ceiling 90% - knitting 10%, but the painting just kept going on and on..... and one coat wasn't enough so it went on and on.... again! Hoorah for my friend who phoned and made me stop, lol!!

I really should try that the other way around, shouldn't I? Start with the knitting first and then squeeze in the painting. I obviously got my priorities skewed!!

So after said phone call and a lovely homemade pizza, I decided it was well past time to start my weekend knitting project. I've been eager to try Camino Bubbles out since I spotted it last week. My first quick sample used my own dyed yarn but the colour runs were too short for this design so I'll just save them for something else. I haven't dyed any new graduating yarns yet so I thought I'd have to put this on hold. But as I was yarn rummaging, I found a lovely bright ball of Schoppel-wolle's Zauberball in colourway Fuchsia. Seriously yummy find. And it's going to be just perfect - long stripes and gorgeous colours:)

 

I haven't got far yet but I can tell the colour gradations are going to be just lovely. The deep purple is going to run into a deep fuchsia soon, then onto red, vermillion and orange. This is going to be one bright scarf! But I think this pattern is designed for just that so it's going to be really exciting to see both the pattern and colours emerge together.

It's a very clever little design using tension and ladders to create the distortion from straight lines - a very nice knitting challenge indeed. And that makes me Happy :)) I'm sure I can squeeze in another hour of knittting yet tonight, don't you think?

 

See you all soon, hopefully with a knitting update. Fingers crossed that ceiling looks finished in daylight because tomorrow it's knitting in the lead, painting nil!

Crochet lace scarves

Goodness, hasn't January just flown by? I'd best get blogging again - can't have last year's post sitting at the top this long! So how have you all been? The creative ideas flowing for 2012? I have had lots of experimental ideas going on but nothing actually finished as yet to show you. I'll take some progress pics as soon as the rain stops and the light is better so you can have a peek:) But I can show you a few crochet lace scarves that were being finished off for presents that had to remain under wraps then.

In all, I'm on my fourth one of these - yes, that pattern is addictive!!  - and they are perfect as a tv project now I know the pattern. The stitch is one I found in a chinese stitch pattern book so just a diagram to work from but crochet symbols are universal so it's all good. I liked the openness of the fan construction and how it gave a lacy, delicate feel despite being 4ply or Dk weight yarn. I haven't tried a very thin fingering or lace weight with this yet - could be very interesting to see how that turns out. Light gossamer feel I think, but the pattern may be too uniform and repetitive on that finer scale. Worth a try though, don't you think?

This version uses Debbie Bliss silk and gives such a beautiful sheen and handle. Gorgeous and soft as a scarf too. I'm on my second silk version right now using the powder blue colourway - very yummy to work with. Shame it's an expensive yarn option! The green version above is a DK acrylic that's very soft to the touch. It crocheted up very quickly and made a slightly bulkier and snug scarf. Loving the 'appliness' of that green:) Is that a word?? :) Anyways, you know what I mean!

A little close up of the fan pattern for you. I haven't got any photos of the scarves on as yet to show you the length etc but they are little wrap around the neck ones which you can tuck into your jacket or pin with a brooch. I did consider permanent button fastenings but the scarf draped too much to make them stay in place nicely so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Would work well with a good strong cable wrap pattern though..... more ideas;)

So that's all the christmas stragglers done and dusted so now I can start off  this year with new work and ideas that are on the go right now. Fingers crossed for decent light for photos tomorrow - a little experimentation and playing going on:))

Till then, 

elaine x


 

Sunflower scarf - take two

Okay, so this is where we left the sunflower scarf last week. About an inch or so of the so-called scarf pattern. This was just a sample to help me work out what this lovely yarn would look like knitted up and I was super-pleased with it. So, just before I ripped this back and cast on for real this time, a friend suggested another pattern that I might like to try with this yarn. Yup, you just know what's coming.....

This is the scotty's sunflower yarn knitted up using the Prismatic scarf pattern. A lovely pattern and it has great stitch definition in the original pictures so I'm thinking - great! This will be one for me! I do like this knitted up and I think there is great subtlety using this yarn with this stitch. But is it showing the gorgeousness of the yarn as much as the so-called scarf? I don't think so. But if you want subtle then definitely yes.

As this isn't actually for me, I decided to ask my partner (his pressie), which one he would prefer to wear as a scarf. He liked the so-called scarf, then he was swayed by the prismatic scarf's subtleties and then swayed back again to the so-called scarf as the colours looked better. So, I'm going - whew! Sorted. Now I can get knitting. But..... you know what's coming next, don't you?

Yup. Yet another pattern. This time it's a lovely star stitch pattern called holding hands, feeding ducks. The original picture following the link looked perfect. Even better stitch definition and a lovely textural finish. Excellent, I'm thinking. I'll just knit an inch to see what it looks like and then we can decide - again.

But somehow, my stars just don't look as defined as theirs. I know I'm using much thinner yarn but it shouldn't matter. After persevering for a bit, I had to conclude the stars were fighting my lovely colourway and the pattern was doing the yarn no favours. So, back to the so-called scarf. Again.

You know, there's a lot to be said for going with your gut feeling! But then if I hadn't explored I wouldn't have found two new patterns that are lovely and can be saved for another day - with a different yarn:-)

Sunflower scarf

Well, I didn't wait long to wind my new skeins into balls ready to knit:-) I thought long and hard about patterns that would show up the lovely tones in this yarn and after looking at a lot of scarves, socks and gloves patterns, I decided to go for the so-called scarf design by Allison Isaacs. Yes, this is something I have started before, if it sounds familiar. I never got round to finishing my first one as I kept losing stitches and got fed up having to keep taking it back. So why am I setting myself up for this? Didn't I learn the last time that me and so-called scarf don't get along?

Well, two reasons really. One, is that my disaster could have been just me watching tv when I should have been concentrating more and it is a lovely pattern and should be given a chance. Two, I'm damned if I am going to let this pattern beat me!!! So look! A full inch at least with no mistakes or lost stitches! Okay, I did have one false start where I dropped a stitch two rows down to the cast on so I just ripped it back and started again. But this inch is perfect - tada!

I even used a long tail cast-on to get a neater and stronger edge - liking it a lot. But the best thing, the absolutely best thing is the way this yarn just blends and contrasts as you go along. The PSSO st that makes the sloped pattern contrasts with the blended tones underneath. Every row, every stitch is different and it's fascinating to watch it all emerge. I haven't knitted enough yet to decide whether the overall look is what I want but at the moment, it's all looking good.

The only thing that is a teensie weensie problem is the gauge. I'm not using the given weight - quite a drop to 4ply/fingering weight actually - so I'm estimating the number of stitches needed. I increased the number from 30 to 50 thinking that would be plenty for a scarf but I forgot to account for the type of stitch this is. Your normal stocking st, garter or rib would stretch and have some give but this is much more dense, more like a woven fabric and it pulls the knitting in from the cast on. So I'm averaging about 10sts per inch. That means my scarf is now only 5 inches wide - not so good. So, I'm considering this my gauge sample and now I can start the real thing:-)))

Rip, rip, rip..... Back soon. I've a so-called scarf to master!

Magenta Ishbel scarf

Some progress for you on the Ishbel scarf I've been knitting. This got a bit sidelined by the albem cable bag but I'm back on track and working a few rows in between other things. I can't really watch tv whilst knitting this so it really needs a good block of time devoted to it to get the final few sections finished. I'm knitting the smaller version in fingering weight/4ply and have probably done about nearly half the lace edging now.

Its a nice, logical pattern that uses the same vine pattern as the Ishbel beret and the design is mirrored on either side. You have this nice lace YO line up the middle, which really helps you keep track of each section and off you go. The pattern by Ysolda, is in both chart and written form, with sizes for a small or large shawl/scarf for both laceweight or fingering/4ply.

I do love the final look of lace but it never looks that dynamic till it has been blocked. I found some lovely examples of finished Ishbels' for you here, here, here and Ysolda's own pics here. So plenty of inspiration for me to get finished and blocking.

Hmm, blocking will be a problem, though. I don't think I've blocked anything that big before and basically, I don't have anything big enough to spread it out on or pin it to. Suggestions anyone?

And then there's the cat...... Is there a safe place to actually put it once it is pinned? :-)