Skylark's Fashion Extravaganza

You know Sharon if you have ever visited my ravelry group, Sivia Harding Knits. Sharon (skylark on ravelry) is the behind-the-scenes mama figure moderator who greets each and every new member with warmth and panache, and even trolls the new projects lists to find folks who might want to join the party.

At a risk of embarassing Sharon and making all of you jealous, she is an unparalleled helper, never complains about the work load, and even test knits for me from time to time - and she is an amazing knitter! You should check out her projects. Really.

Her latest enterprise is the Fashion Show, a growing compendium of photos of people's versions of my shawls. It is a magnificent thing to do, huge in scope, and I am starting to worry about whether Sharon has time to eat and sleep in the face of it all.

So, just to make it a little easier on Sharon, if you have posted pictures of yourself or a friend modeling a Sivia Harding shawl, send a link or leave a comment. We'll add it to the list, and we thank you.

Now back to previously scheduled insanity.. getting ready for SS09!

Phoenix has Risen

So many people have written to me over the last year asking when the Phoenix Rising shawl would be available after its stint in last year's Year of Lace 2008 subscription club.

After much reworking and in a gorgeous new yarn, here she is on my website, and here on ravelry. Please do take a peek.

You will notice some differences between last year’s version and this new one. I have added beads into the flame-like center lace panel, and a brand new beaded lace edge that I feel is a perfect finish. I hope you agree.











The yarn is Sweet Georgia Yarns’ Cashsilk lace, a wonderful blend of 45% cashmere, 50% silk that is truly sinfully soft. Lovely Felicia Lo, whom you see modeling the shawl, dyes a wonderful yarn.. I used her boysenberry colorway. Yum!

Happy lacing and beading to all,

Sivia

The New Phoenix Rising

Yes, it is almost here! Phoenix is about to rise again.. with a few little changes.



Notice the beads that now grace the center lace panel? I hope you do... there are more changes to follow.. stay tuned for those.

I love this yarn.. allow me to sing the praises of Sweet Georgia, whose cashsilk lace yarn this is, in the boysenberry colorway. I swear that several folks at the Three Bags Full knit night last Wednesday evening were swooning when they touched it.

My picture does not do justice to either the super saturated color or the intensely pleasurable feel of this yarn.

I close with a few shots of San Diego, where I was when I started this version, and where a very pretty springtime is to be found.

There and Back Again

Most of you know that for the last two months I have been away looking after my son.

I am back now, a little sleep deprived but all in one piece. Internet access was not always available to me, so there is a lot to catch up on!

Thanks to all of you who offered their wishes for my son’s recovery. It is so hard to see a child hurting, even if he is no longer a child. My son, Ari, has sustained nerve damage from a surgical procedure that went wrong. He has a long road ahead as he continues his rehabilitation, and every prayer and wish is appreciated.

Although we were able to find him excellent health care, the support in California for people in need is not the best and he does not have enough money to meet his bills, especially since he lost his health insurance along with his job a few months ago.

I will be hosting a blog event soon to raise some funds to help with his medical and other expenses. I will be sure to post all the developments here.

In the meantime, I have been busy knitting and designing. Here are some new things you can look forward to seeing:

The June issue of Twist Collective will feature a new beaded shawl pattern. See the Sneak Peak page here.

Also in June, the Fiddlehead Sock pattern, already published as part of Dye Dreams’ Four Seasons Sock Club, will be available from my website and here on ravelry.

The Embrace the Lace Club from Woolgirl, loosely based on the Seven Heavenly Virtues, is now featuring a new beaded lace shawlette pattern along with hosting a charity event in honor of the theme (my virtue: Charity). Please see the blog to join in the event, which will benefit Autism Speaks.

I am working up a new version of the Phoenix Rising shawl that was first seen last year in the Year of Lace 2008 Club. The new version is in a glorious yarn by Sweet Georgia and now includes more beads and features a different edging than the original.

And last but not least.. I am getting ready for Sock Summit!!! New designs and new classes.. oh my.

Please stay tuned for more developments, and thank you again for being such a worthy audience…

Love to all,

Sivia

Happy Gloves to You!

The Rolling Thunder Glove pattern is available as a free ravelry download. Some of you already found it on my website as a freebie, but now the rest of the knitting world will be discovering it!

The Rolling Thunder glove is an offshoot of the Rolling Thunder sock pattern that was published in Knitty.com in the Spring 2006 issue. The gloves came about because I wanted to make a new pair to replace the samples that walked away with my mom after she visited me last fall, but I just couldn't quite make myself do the pattern as written... hehe. This familiar to any of you? No, I thought not...

There will be a class featuring these gloves at Three Bags Full knit shop in January, so be sure and sign up for that if you are here in town and you thnk you may be interested... it is a fun glove pattern with a hemmed cuff, beads, and a nicely shaped thumb.

May your holidays be peaceful and filled with joy! All wishes for a happy season of light, from snow blanketed Vancouver...

Buried Treasure, Unearthed

What is it about cables and beads that is so magical together?

Many of you have been asking about the Buried Treasure Socks pattern that appeared in Yarn Magazine last year, as the magazine is hard to find here in North America.

Good news.. the pdf pattern is now available for purchase on my website and on ravelry!

When I designed this sock, I had wanted for a long time to make intensely cabled socks, and here they are... elegant socks with cables galore, plus a “buried treasure” of glittering beads. The cables cause the leg to draw in more than usual, so the number of leg stitches has been increased to compensate. These extra stitches are then decreased in the gusset with a special technique.

The yarn I used for this pair is Sweet Georgia's Handpainted Sock, and the pattern requires approximately 226 (254) size 8/0 beads. The socks are sized for women’s medium and large. Retail price is $6.00 and download is immediate from either source.

I actually added this pattern to my projects a couple of days ago but ravelry was having a little trouble with accepting pattern uploads then... happy happy, all is fixed now...

New Mystery

What happens when you combine a luscious yarn, a highly textured self-pleating pattern, and a mysterious Moebius structure?

Well, this! (Shown in its current, half-completed state...)









It's a Moebius cowl/wimple/neckwarmer with a mysterious beaded spiral in the middle! I am quite pleased with how this version is coming out. (A previous, much smaller version had been distributed to students in my Moebius Knitting classes at Three Bags Full over the last few months).

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru in the Valkyrie colorway. Beads: matte raku blue/purple iris 6/0 seed beads from Earth Faire.

I have been so inspired by the response to the One World Moebius KAL on ravelry. Please keep those pictures and posts coming! So wonderful to see you all in Moebius land. If you haven't looked us up, do join in if you have half a mind to do so, and happy knitting wherever you are...

As the Moebius Turns...

So turns the world.

Tomorrow the US will have a chance for a new beginning, and I truly hope that the healing can then begin. Read on for a way for all knitters to join in together and help in this process! I have a little *prize* at the end for all of you as well.

I just received a wonderful message from Cat Bordhi about a way to heal ourselves and our very disturbed and torn world through the humble act of knitting a Moebius scarf or wrap... which is one of my most loved and cherished things to do, and I know many of you share this feeling.

For those of you who have always wanted to knit a Moebius but didn't know how to start, Cat has generously provided a video explaining the cast on, which you can view here.

Now I hand the *microphone* over to Cat... please read!!!

November 3, 2008

Heal the Election Wounds and Embrace Humanity with a Moebius

By Cat Bordhi

I awoke this morning realizing that publicly knitting a beautiful Moebius scarf as I begin to float (I live on an island), drive, and fly toward Stitches East on Tuesday would be a beautiful and profound public expression of my hopes and dreams for the world, as well as a symbol of the healing that our country will need after the election.

If you want to follow along, I recently made a Youtube video which will clearly teach you how to knit a Moebius whether you have my books or not. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnTda7F2V4

So - here is why the Moebius is a perfect expression of the best of humanity, and the healing of the fractured country and world that I trust is coming:

1. The Moebius *appears* to have two surfaces and two edges - ie, polarities such as black and white, right and wrong, good and bad, Republican and Democrat - but when you follow the surface around you will run right into your starting point without ever having changed to the other "side." For there isn't one. Everything flows into itself. Polarities are an illusion. What lies beneath the apparent polarities is oneness, beauty, and grace. In a Moebius you can see it, hold it, be awed by it. Once the frenzy dies down, hopefully those with opposing views will slowly rediscover their common humanity.

2. Like the surface that flows into itself, so too does the Moebius's single continuous edge - thus everything is recycled. In fact, I would not be the least bit surprised if the ultimate alternative energy involves a Moebius form or dynamic. By the way, the recycling symbols (2 are in common usage, one with a single twist, the other with 3) you see everywhere are actually Moebii (too hard to say Moebiuses - try it!). I think we are all hoping for significant and effective new discoveries in alternative energy - and the Moebius would be a great symbol for this global effort.

3. Once you complete the first ring (it takes 2 rings to make a round - watch the video) of your Moebius, you are in for smooth and happy sailing. All you have to do is to knit the stitch in front of you, then the next stitch in front of you, with not a care in the world for what came before or what has shifted into the "future". You'll look at the mysterious shape on your needles and wonder how "those stitches" can ever come to you . . . well, they will, without your needing to understand how. And they will all come in perfect sequence, resulting in a beautiful and graceful Moebius. The Moebius rewards your faith in its mystery with the easiest knitting you will ever do. And the result is always graceful - for this is the very nature of the Moebius. You can knit along while you watch the election results, while walking, while standing in line at the store, wherever you may find yourself during these days to come. You will be knitting the graceful healing and ease that I believe is flowing toward us, requiring only of us that we stay true to the powerful sense of loving kindness that resides in the center of every person. No one could ever possibly understand enough to make the healing happen, but if we all just knit the stitch before us, as they come, marveling at the innocence and sweetness of it all, with our oh so familiar continuous strand of yarn, the healing will happen. We need not understand either one fully - the Moebius or the world. They both operate with inherent grace.

4. I looked through my stash and chose a luminous yarn in deep watery colors from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - LSS (Luscious Single Silk), and did not realize until I looked at the label that the colorway is absolutely apropos: Lunasea. Tina no doubt named the colorway after the moon and the sea - and after lunacy. So let the lunacy of the election months give way to Lunasea - the grace of the moon, the sea, the Moebius, and the beautiful heart of humanity, of all people, the "us" and "them" who merge into one. I shall be winding the skein on the ferry tomorrow, then knitting all the way to Baltimore. I hope to see many, many of you there.

With love from Cat Bordhi

Note: If you alternate sets of knit and purl rounds, you will have purl ridges all around. Then your Moebius will not curl along the edges when you are done.

Now back to me...

In honor of Cat's generosity and the importance of the day, I am releasing a Moebius scarf pattern for you all to enjoy as a free download. I call it Elegant Arrows, and it features a lovely and graceful herringbone rib that showcases many yarns, from simple and elegant (like the one pictured) to colorful. I also include full instructions in the pattern for doing a beaded picot edging, which is a favorite way to bind off a Moebius as it accents the crossing point so well.

Download the pattern from my website here

or from Ravelry here.

I am now doing one in Noro's Silk Garden Sock and I am very happy with how beautiful it is to knit a Moebius and watch the colors changing en route... pictures soon.

I hope all of you decide to join Cat and me in this worthy event, starting tomorrow... Happy Moebius knitting to all!

Progress and More Progress

So... just to catch up, since I have been back from the retreat, most of my time has been spent visiting with my Mom (she went back home a little over a week ago), answering emails and such, and working at the shop.

But a few things have been getting knitted too.. and here is a little progress report on those.

First, the Dué Amori items now include a pair of long gloves in the works as well as a pair of shorter (gauntlet length) gloves, and the scarf is close to being finished.


The scarf, like the shorter gloves, is being done is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the Quilla colorway, with 6/0 pearl beads. More pictures promised when finished... it promises to be one of the nicest eye candy lace pieces yet, if I do say so myself. Here it is shown about one-half blocked, one half unblocked, and still on the needles for the rest.


The longer gloves are in progress too, and they are lovely in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the Tanzanite colorway with silver lined matte amethyst beads that Nancy gave me during the retreat... thank you my dear! They are perfect for this yarn! Here you see the Fan Pattern that begins all of the gloves, and then the beaded lace pattern that continues up most of the length of the glove to culminate in the leaf pattern on the hand, which I promise to show when it's done!

This shows the decreases on the back of the long, opera length glove. I think this view is quite elegant actually...


And here is actually something JUST FOR ME! Yes, I DO knit for myself sometimes, strangely enough! I picked up this beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed yarn at the Beehive when we passed through Victoria on the way to the retreat, and I truly love working with it. The Leaf Yoke Pullover pattern is from a Classic Elite Summer booklet but it will be very fall-like by the time I am done. I love the in-the-round top-down construction and it is a perfect foil for the detailed knitting I am doing otherwise. I am making several mods of course, starting with the leaf cable, which if you can tell is a bit fatter and rounder than in the pattern. What can I say... it's probably pathological the way I just can't do a pattern as written... ahem.

And here is something I had to start, with a great new yarn we are carrying at Three Bags Full, Malabrigo Sock. Hehe... my mom literally walked away with my only samples of my Rolling Thunder sock pattern so I just had to start another pair... right? This one is working up beautifully (if I do say so myself) in the Tiziano Red colorway with some amazing Toho triangle beads. I am really enjoying the knit, even though the most interesting part is done and now it is just ribbing and regular top down sock stuff, which makes it my designated car and bus project for the next little while. Here is a pic of the sock top so far:

I guess I am getting the Fall Knitting Bug...

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...