Tag Archives: Knitting

Estuarine Shawl

This top-down shawl, with a two-colored cable center section, just begs to be wrapped around you!

The dot-knit stitch is a fun and simple way to give texture to the side panels. A sumptuous lace and cabled edging is knit on at the end.
Play with this pattern: you can even work it in a single color, or with a contrasting edging, in case you don’t want to tackle the stranding and intarsia!

Estuaries are a place of transition: rivulets of fresh water mix with the ocean’s salt water. They are a rich and diverse part of the ocean and coastline ecology.

One Size

Finished Measurements
Height: Height: 33½ in / 85 cm
Top Edge: 85¼ in / 216.5 cm

Yarn
The Fibre Company Cumbria Fingering, 60% Merino Wool, 30% Masham/MassamWool, 10% Mohair (328 yds / 300 m per 3.53 oz / 100 g).
4 skeins (1173 yds / 1073 m) MC (shown in Helvellyn)
2 skeins (624 yds / 571 m) CC (shown in Scafell Pike)
Sample used 1066 yds / 975 m MC and 567 yds / 518 m CC

Needles
US3 / 3.25 mm, or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
20 sts and 31 rounds = 4 in / 10 cm in side panel stitch pattern (blocked)
Note that this shawl is blocked quite vigorously. See notes on blocking.

Notions
(4) stitch markers, yarn needle

Skills
simple intarsia; stranding; cabling; reading charts; knitted on edging; garter stitch tab; provisional cast on if desired; knitted cast on

The Estuarine Shawl, shown below, is now available!

It’s worked in Fibre Co Cumbria Fingering, a yarn I fell in love with while working on this shawl.

Although the pattern is written for using multiple colors, you can knit it in one color, or knit the main body in one color, and the knit-on edging in a second contrasting color.

Check out the gorgeous projects from the test knitters here and in the thread here.

Morro Shawl
The Morro Shawl is the little sister to the Estuarine Shawl. It features some of the same nifty details of the Estuarine Shawl: the dot knit stitch, and the lovely edging. If you’re a little nervous about tackling Estuarine, give Morro try!

Morro is shown in two different yarn weights: laceweight Meadow and worsted weightKnightsbridge, both from Kelbourne Woolens.  You can work Morro in any weight and any (reasonable, lol) yardage, following the guidelines in the pattern, making it a great choice for stash busting.

I’ll do a post about each pattern including all the details (you can find the same info on their Ravelry pages, though, the in the meantime!  Estuarine Shawl and Morro Shawl).

Exakta Hat, Stolen Jewels Mitts, and Thornhill Cowl, from Hitch: Patterns Inspired by the Films of Alfred Hitchcock, are now available as single patterns!

From now through midnight July 28, 2016 PST, purchase any or all and automatically get 1/3 off, no coupon code needed!

These patterns are some of my favorite patterns I’ve designed. I love the graphic punch of Thornhill, the cable play in Exakta, and the simplicity of Stolen Jewels.

Of course, the PDF to Hitch is still available — do check it out, it’s chock full of gorgeous patterns from amazing designers — as are a few hard copies I have remaining that I’ve listed on Amazon (mine’s the new for $19.99; I’m happy to sign it for you!).

Here’s Part 2, including stranded stitch dictionaries.

These are all useful, and it’s hard to recommend just one or two. They’re not listed in any particular order.

I tend to like creating pictorial motifs, so often I’ll use something I find in one of these to use for an accent motif, and tweak it til I get what I want so that it fits with my main motif. (I talk about modifying motifs in my Craftsy class, Custom Colorwork Techniques: Mitts.)

Stranded Stitch Dictionaries
Scandinavian Knitting Designs (Pauline Chatterton)
Alice Starmore’s Charts for Color Knitting. Awesome, very thorough resource.
200 Fair Isle Motifs (Mary Jane Mucklestone). Both this and 150 Scandinavian Motifs are fun because the swatches (yes, there are swatches!) are often shown in different colorways.
150 Scandinavian Motifs (Mary Jane Mucklestone)

Mittens Books (that you can use like a stitch dictionary)
Latvian Mittens (Lizbeth Upitis)
Latviesa Cimdi (Maruta Grasmane). Huge gorgeous book. Link goes to an English edition.
The Mitten Book (Inger and Ingrid Gottfridsson)
Mostly Mittens (Charlene Schurch)
Selbuvotter (Terri Shea)

Stranded Knitting Books (that include stitch patterns)
Bohus Stickning på nytt The Revival (Viveka Overland). Lovely to look at even if you don’t want purls in your colorwork.
Traditional Fair Isle Knitting (Sheila McGregor)
The Art of Fair Isle Knitting (Ann Feitelson)
Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting

Arguably the most important resource for designing are stitch dictionaries. Ask any designer their favorite, though, and you’re sure to get a wide variety of answers. Shoot, even I don’t have an absolute all the time favorite – it all depends on what sort of design I’m working on.

Here’s an annotated list of what’s in my library. I’ll be adding links (some affiliate, some not) as soon as possible – some of these are out of print and not easy to find. (Note: I’ll do a separate post with stranded stitch dictionaries!)

I’ve tried to keep it to stitch dictionaries as opposed to pattern books that have a secondary small section of stitches, but I’ve included a few of those as well.

All opinions are my own — feel free to agree or disagree in the comments!  If I’ve missed a favorite of yours, please also comment.

And before I start…for help reading charts: Charts Made Simple (J.C. Briar). Highly recommended!

General and/or Specialty Stitch Dictionaries

Barbara Walker 1-4. 1 and 2 are essential, 3 and 4 are nice to have. You get a little bit of everything with these: texture, lace, cables, slip stitch patterns, etc.

Knitting Brioche (Nancy Marchant). This one does include patterns, but it does have a large selection of stitches too.

Lace

Omas Strickgeheimnisse (Erika Eichenseer et al). I hardly refer to this one.

Knitting Lace (Susanna E. Lewis). Ditto.

The Haapsalu Scarf (Siiri Reimann et al). Stitch patterns are shown as parts of complete shawls. Lovely oversized book.

Heirloom Knitting (Sharon Miller). Great for vintage Shetland patterns.

I have other lace books and patterns (Niebling, Kinzel, Estonian lace, etc) that I actually use a lot, but they aren’t strictly stitch dictionaries.

Japanese

I do recommend getting Clear & Simple Crochet Symbols and Clear & Simple Knitting Symbols before tackling the various stitch dictionaries. Also check out my Japanese knitting resource page here.

Japanese stitch patterns in the dictionaries I have range from textured to lace to cables and twisted stitches.  Many of the designs are very feminine and intricate. You can lose yourself in these dictionaries!

Some of the Japanese pattern books are also a good source for stitches.

Knitting Patterns 260. Just got this one, so haven’t used it yet.

Knitting 150 Designs. Again, just got it, so no comments yet, except this has some colorwork and garment and accessory patterns as well.

500 Knitting Pattern World of Chie Kose.  This has some really lovely crochet edging patterns that I’ve used (which was the main reason I bought this one).  It also has a mix of knitting patterns to include colorwork.

Knitting Patterns 300. Variety of stitches.

Knitting Patterns 250. One of my favorites.

Knitting Patterns 100. This one is cables, and some of the swatches are just so pretty — great combinations of stitch patterns to study.

Cables, Aran Lace, and Twisted Stitches

Ooh, fun. Get ready to dig in!

Cables

Patterns for Guernseys, Jerseys, and Arans (Gladys Thompson). What it says. I don’t use this one often.

Aran Knitting (Alice Starmore). Basic selection of cables, but worth studying the patterns – she’s a master.

Aran Sweater Design (Janet Szabo). Not a lot of stitch patterns (though she has a nice discussion of closed ring cables and filler stitches), but she walks you through designing an Aran sweater.  Well worth having.

Cables Vol 1: The Basics (Janet Szabo). Nice selection of basic cables, and includes discussions of the components of the stitch patterns and what’s actually happening with the fabric etc. Unfortunately there’s not a Volume 2.

Annie Maloney

Annie’s awesome. So awesome she gets her own section. Honestly, these are my go-to dictionaries when I want cables. I’ve started a spreadsheet noting which patterns I’ve used and in what designs.  I often end up adapting these stitch patterns (inspired by Annie’s creativity!), swapping out filler stitches, changing regular cables to lace cables, etc.

I buy these as soon as they are published.  Annie used to sell hard copies, but the latter six are PDFs. I can’t even say what’s my favorite or most used, because I dig through them all. Buy them all – you won’t regret it!

Aran Lace. With Annie’s blessing, I developed a class around the topic of Aran Lace which I taught at Madrona and Taos, and turned into my Aran Lace Knitting DVD from Interweave.

Stitch Definition. Aran lace, but also cables and lace separately.

Lovely Stitches Vol 1: 29 Cables

Lovely Stitches Vol 2: 35 Lace Cables

Lovely Stitches Vol 3: 37 Cables

Cable Inventions Vol 1: 33 Composite Designs

Cable Inventions Vol 2: 35 Unique Designs

Cable Inventions Vol 1: 33 Textural Designs. These are cables and lace cables with additional bits of texture.

Twisted Stitches

Note that these charts are NOT read the same way as any other charts I’ve seen (including Japanese, Estonian, etc.)

Uberlieferte Strickmuster  Teils 1, 2 and 3 (Maria Erlbacher). I purchased these volumes via the Schloss Trautenfels site. Luckily, you can now get….

Twisted Stitch Knitting (Maria Erlbacher) from School House Press. Includes all three volumes in one book, with a nice intro (in English!) on how to read the charts etc.  I do use the smaller volumes more, just for being able to flip through and compare stitch patterns, but if I didn’t already have the individual volumes first I’d be more than happy with the School House Press edition.

Bauerliches Stricken 1, 2, and 3 (Lisl Fanderl). Not just twisted stitches; includes a bit of lace and texture as well. I don’t use this one as much.

The Morro Shawl is up for testing in my Ravelry group!

Here are the details:

Love the Estuarine Shawl, but either want more of the edging and dot knit pattern, or maybe something a little simpler than the two colored cables?

This sideways knit shawlette features the dot knit stitch in a textured side panel, and a sumptuous lace and cabled side edging that’s knit at the same time. It’s easily sized to your yarn quantity; work the repeats according to the recommended percentages of your yarn weight.

Morro is shown in two different yarn weights: laceweight Meadow, shown above, and worsted weight Knightsbridge, shown below. You can work it in any weight following the guidelines in the pattern.

My grandparents took me and my younger brother Paul to Morro Bay so many times when we were growing up. Grandpa would go deep sea fishing, and the rest of us would go beachcombing and exploring. The Morro Bay Estuary is a vibrant, thriving estuary on the Central California coast.

Sizes
Laceweight (Worsted)

Finished Measurements as shown
Length: 70 (89¾) in / 178 (228) cm
Width: 10 (15¼) in / 25.5 (38.5) cm

Yarn
Laceweight: The Fibre Company Meadow, 40% Merino wool, 25% Baby llama, 20% Silk, 15% Linen (545 yds / 498 m per 3.53 oz / 100g), 1 skein. Shown in Hydrangea. As shown, shawl weighed 94g.

Worsted: The Fibre Company Knightsbridge, 65% baby llama, 25% merino, 10% silk (120 yds / 110 m per 1.76oz / 50g), 7 skeins. Shown in Skyworth. As shown, sample weighed 300g.

Needles
US3 / 3.25 mm (US7 / 4 mm) or size to obtain gauge

Gauge
Laceweight: 29 sts and 29 rows = 4 in / 10 cm in dot knit stitch pattern (blocked)

Worsted: 24 sts and 20.5 rows = 4 in / 10 cm in dot knit stitch pattern (blocked)

Notions
yarn needle, cable needle

Skills
simple cabling; simple lace

Both charts and line by line instructions provided.

Testing needs: 4-7 testers. I’d love to see a variation in sizes and yarn weights.

Due date: July 20th 2016

Please PM me that you agree to the testing policies (link here) and include your email address so I can send you an invite to the google doc & send you a link to the pattern. (If you have a google account, please send me the email address associated with it.)

This pattern has been sent to the tech editor.

Third time’s a charm, right?

There wasn’t an issue with the stitch pattern this time. I still love the stitch pattern.

Rather, I decided to change the rate of increases from every row to every other row.  This will make for a longer, skinnier shawl, and I’d rather have the shawl longer and skinnier, than shorter. I think longer shawls are easier to wear, and I was a tiny bit afraid (even with a second skein) of running out of yarn before getting it long enough.

The cats, above (Cali scratching his ear, Meggie looking off disdainfully), are not tremendously impressed with my progress!

Isn’t it Romantic is now available on Ravelry as a PDF download! Check it out here.

There’s also an informal KAL in the Ravelry group here in this thread.

Make sure you check out the finished projects — I love the pattern in the gradients, but you also see it in single colors as well.  If you are working this pattern, please do post a project page with in progress and finished object pics!