New Wave, or Further Adventures in the Land of Pink

First, thank you for everyone who has queued or favorited my little sock thong... it is wonderfully fun to see those numbers go up and up!

Next, here we go back in time, to a design that just begs to be reworked again and again... gee, I hope that's the hallmark of a really great design and not the opposite!

This version of the Waves in the Square came about because I seem to be trying all of my patterns, one by one, in lace weight yarn. The latest lace yarn to tempt me is Misti Alpaca, just lately available in the Vancouver stores. It was a big surprise to me that I really wanted to try this corally pink, normally a stay-away color for moi. You will have to tell me what you think about the end result when you see the pics below...

Now for the story of the new version! This was to be a store sample for Three Bags Full, where I teach most of my classes and where I work one day a week. Francesca, owner and boss extraordinaire, allows us shop girls to knit during times when the store is slow, and this has been my shop project of choice for a couple of weeks now. Since I haven't been working on it at home, having multiple deadline projects to do there, it has been sort of dragging on and on, and the knitting hasn't been adding up to what I would have hoped, being tiny yarn and needles and all. So, not to make too fine a point of it, I stopped short: a little middy shawl that just covers the shoulders. And I added beads into the lace. And I love the results. Hehe.

Pictures and specs below.




Yarn: 1 skein of Misti Alpaca Lace in Color CD43, with which I used 3.25 mm Addi turbo lace needles and size 8/0 silver lined crystal beads. Finished size after blocking: 27" wide across the back, 12" long at center back.

I placed the beads with a crochet hook wherever a “yo, k1, yo” occurred in the pattern, on the k1 stitch. I followed the pattern up to row 86, after which I skipped to row 168 with the following changes:

Row 168 had 321 stitches, not 561.
Row 170 had 323 stitches, not 563.
I ended with 324 stitches, increasing 1 st as the pattern says to do for row 179.
The beaded picot edging was done exactly as it says to do in the pattern.

Just a note about that: In the beaded picot instructions, I omitted the part about transferring the last bound off stitch to the left needle before casting on the 2 additional stitches. I know most of you will have the sense to do this anyway, but I must apologize to anyone who has been confused and/or unable to follow these instructions because of my omission.

The instruction paragraph should read:

*CO 2 sts using knitted-on cast on method, place bead on last st made with small crochet hook, BO 6 sts. Transfer last stitch on right needle to left needle. Repeat from * across row. End with picot, then pick up and knit 1 st at bottom corner of picot, BO 1 st. Cut yarn and draw through loop.

I think this version may be an ideal summer lace item... drop me a line and let me know if you agree.


Well, at least somebody is happy... my blocking gremlin, Mooshie, gets this way every time I block something!

Happy summer lace knitting, everyone...

Flippancies, as promised

Here is the Merriam-Webster entry for "flippancy"... in case you ever wondered:

flippancy

Main Entry: flip·pan·cy
Pronunciation: \ˈfli-pən(t)-sē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural flip·pan·cies

Date: 1746

: unbecoming levity or pertness especially in respect to grave or sacred matters

Now, God forbid that I be flippant or pert about a grave or sacred matter. But somehow, these new sockies just make me want to smile.

So, without further ado... here is Flippant!

Someone came into Three Bags Full a couple of weeks ago wearing some thongs (on her feet) with little socks underneath, and they were SO CUTE that I had to make my own version. I have done the pattern in three sizes and two lengths, but I would recommend that you make them with some negative ease, especially the shorter one (pictured above and below). See the previous blog post for pictures of the longer version.



It is such a little project, you can use little leftover bits from other sock projects, like the above sample, which is done in Sundara's Fingering Silky Merino in Robin's Egg. Ahhh.. so very, very nice. The other sample is done in koigu, which is nice too, but silky merino? Mm-hmm. Hands down sweet.

Please forgive my unretouched feet in the photos. I didn't have time to search out someone with a pedicure, so here is proof that I am not vain, about my feet anyway.

Click here for the pdf file of the pattern. And have a giggle on me.

Hey, so what's with all the pink?

Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of pink. Pink in my book is, well, soft, lighthearted (not that there is anything wrong with lighthearted) and sort of namby pamby. In general, I much prefer strong colors with a bit of drama or depth to them. It's just my personality, what can I say. I like to dwell just a little (and sometimes more than just a little) on the dark side.

Maybe it's that summer has finally come to us in Vancouver, but lately I have been entertaining pink in my environment, and it ain't half bad. I think I could learn to live with certain pinks... like these:

Blue Moon Fiber Art's new colorway, Quilla. A poem of vintage-y, angelic, almost-not-there pink.

Pink Granite Sheep to Shoe spinning fiber, also from Blue Moon Fiber Arts... the pink part.

Misti alpaca lace yarn in a corally pink. I find this so yummy.. maybe it's just the texture I find so delicious though.

And what's this????? I know the yarn, koigu KPM in an almost-solid deep magenta, but what the _*&$! is the knitted thing?????

Does this help? Any guesses now????

Next time... my latest little confection for the feet... look for a free pattern right here, soon!