Lace and Shakespeare

What do these two have in common, you say?

Well, more than you might ever think!

Here is a big, big hint... Design is now is progress!

Yes, that's right, another subscription lace club for 2009! This is another gem, folks, so get over and reserve your spot if you enjoy my designs, and the other stellar lace designers that are slotted for the club in 2009.

I had Great Fun deciding which Shakespearian theme was to be mine, but there was really no contest. I love Rosalind, my favorite heroine in the works of Shakespeare. The new lace shawl will have elements of the best of the story, complicated but with a neat resolution (just like the Bard's plays)...

You articulate, well-read knitters, leave me a line if you love W.S.!!!

Uno Amore, Up Close and Personal

Kristine asked for a closeup of the scarf, so here it is... ask and you shall receive!



Click for bigger.. hope this fills the bill.

She also asked for information on how the beads go into the design. Here is a description of sorts.

First, the beads go across the beaded purl edging. After the edging is complete, the pattern separates into several patterns across the row, of which two are beaded: the right and left cables and the Fan pattern, which only contains 3 beads in itself but after 20 rows becomes the Beaded Center Pattern which features one centered bead every fourth row of the scarf. Most of the 500 beads go into the beaded cables, and you could still get the impact of beads by just beading the center stitch in my opinion. Hope that helps you sort out your bead priorities!

In other news, I have written a draft of the Rolling Thunder Glove pattern but still need someone to test the larger size. Is anyone up for that??? Please contact me here or at my regular email address, siviaharding AT shaw DOT ca.

In other non knitting news, I have taken up learning the ukelele! Hehe... more on that later, perhaps MUCH later...

Happy almost Canadian Thanksgiving, everyone!

Two Lovers

Now available: the Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf.

Two Lovers... Lace and beads provide sinuous lines in this poetic glove and scarf duo. Fan and Leaf lace motifs are framed by twisted ribs in the gloves and mirrored beaded waving cables in the scarf. The gloves are in two lengths, sized for women’s small, medium and large.

The Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf Set is designed for fingering weight yarn and requires 400 yards of yarn for the scarf and 180 (300) yards for the shorter (longer) gloves. I used a US 2-3 (3 mm) needle for the scarf and US 2 (2.5 mm) needles for the gloves, which are knit in the round. The gloves are sized in two lengths for women's small, medium and large.

The set shown above is worked in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction (50% merino, 50% tencel, 400 yds/100 g) in the Quilla colorway. The set required two skeins. The pattern features beads as a prominent part of the design. The scarf requires approximately 500 size 6/0 beads; the shorter gloves, 114 (122, 130) beads. The longer gloves require 134 (142, 150) beads. For the samples, I used off-white pearl finish seed beads.

Below, the longer gloves are worked in Seduction in the Tanzanite colorway with silver lined amethyst beads. The longer pair requires one skein of yarn.

Thank you, Jamie and Francesca, for the modeling, camera clicking and pinch hitting all around!

And especially a huge, huge thank you to my test knitters, Carin and Kat, who are my saving angels and I bow at their feet...

The pattern is available for sale (so far) on ravelry, my website, Patternfish, and the Knitting Zone as a pdf download. More soon I hope!


Happy knitting to all... enjoy.

An Unexpected Pleasure

I just spent most of the weekend in the company of one of the knitting world's most treasured teachers, Susanna Hanssen. And what a pleasure it was.

The West Coast Knitters' Guild sponsored the weekend, and it was superbly organized by their president, the lovely Holli Yeoh and her staff, and well housed in a setting with plenty of natural light and great food.

But the main attraction was, of course, Susanna. She is a great teacher. Now I know what my friends who go to Madrona are going on about when they rave about her. Friday evening was an overview of Norwegian knitting, which has always intrigued and fascinated me. I am considerably more informed now than I was before Susanna's talk, and came away with a wonderful flavor of the past and present traditions. Susanna is a very entertaining speaker, and we were treated to many anecdotes and stories along the way.



Yesterday was the true prize though... a whole day's workshop on the Bohus Stickning company and the legacy it left, crowned by the opportunity to actually view and touch (with white cotton gloves, natch) about ten of the original vintage Bohus garments and accessories. We even got to knit a little wristlet in yarn and colors that are certified to match the *real* Blue Shimmer. Be still, my heart.


Susanna, in her wisdom, allowed us to get right into the knitting first, knowing that as knitters we would be figety unless we could be doing something with our hands. We over ambitiously, as she put it, dove into the tiny skeins and wound them into tiny balls. I looked over and Mel, my workshop mate, had wound hers into the most perfect little balls I had ever seen, so I had to take a picture:



As pleasurable as the knitting was (and it was VERY pleasurable), it was ecstasy to fondle the Bohus garments. Susanna encouraged us to mentally take the sweaters apart and figure out how they were constructed, which wasn't always easy. Those Bohus knitters did things in ways that were designed to be haute couture, not knitterly. But mostly, it was so much fun to imagine the hands that knit the sweaters and other items, and the people who had purchased and worn them. Some of them had been altered by their owners, or replaced parts of them when they were worn out. It was evident that they had been very loved.

















I know... sigh. It was heaven.

What's left to do but knit one? I will saving up for a while to do this myself, but you can go here to order your own beautiful Bohus sweater kits containing the same gorgeous merino/angora yarn that we had for our little wristlets, handdyed to exacting specifications in Sweden by Solveig Gustaffson. We also found out that Susanna volunteers her time to translate the English patterns from their original Swedish. If you would like to "pay it forward" in honor of her dedication and selflessness, you are asked to give a donation to Knitters without Borders.

We also learned that there will be a magnificent museum exhibition about the Bohus tradition next year (2009) in Minneapolis. Do go if you can.

The parting feeling for me was awe in this wonderful company, which schooled knitters in their techniques and left us with an enduring legacy of beautiful, artfully designed and executed garments. A tradition which I can only hope to continue in my own way...

Oh and by the way? I finished the first opera length Due Amori glove...

Sock Summit

You are all now officially invited to the Sock Summit!

If you knit socks or have ever wanted to, this will be THE thing to do next year, hosted by the amazing trio of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Cat Bordhi and Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts. The unholy trinity of Knitting Out of The Box. Need I say more????

And get a load of this:


Hehe.. more on this as the news breaks!

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...

The Retreat!

Here is the report on the Retreat over the weekend of September 5, long long overdue...

First, a few words about the enchanted and magical spot where the retreat was held. The house of Sage and Linden is situated right on the ocean, in a little community called Cobble Hill, between Victoria and Duncan on Vancouver Island. I hope I am describing this accurately, as I am the worst in the world at directions, maps, etc. Anyway, here is a view from the porch, which Sage and Linden get to see from their bedroom window... Note the treetop level view and the ocean peeking through the trees. I saw eagles and ravens circling BELOW, which was amazing.



The house itself is graciously proportioned and perfect for a retreat. Here is our workshop room:



and another view of the lovely, spacious room:



We had three days of fun, which included a visit to a nearby Alpaca farm. One alpaca really wanted to check me out, and it looks like she was whispering in my ear. They were such lovely, sweet animals.



The farm owners allowed us to feed them and even wander around in the girls' pen, which was great, and some of us got a bit mobbed.







That is Sage in the midst of an alpaca mob. Sage has a special relationship with one of the babies too:



I think she makes a lovely alpaca mommy.

You all probably know by now that the subject of the retreat was the new pattern, Dué Amori, which is a glove and scarf set. Some chose to start the glove and some the scarf, and I hope all had a great time and learned some things too.

I must say that I think I learned the most from getting to know these talented and ingenious knitters. I certainly enjoyed them all! Hi to everybody!!!!

And now I am ready to do another one, as long as Sage and Linden don't mind another swarm of knitters at their eagle's nest of a setting...

You can see the whole pictures set on Flickr here. Enjoy...

Dué Amori Unveiled

I think it's time for a little unveiling... this is the first glimpse of my new design that will be released soon, right after the workshop that will be happening on Vancouver Island in early September. It might be a little premature because the patterns are not completely ready, but I just couldn't wait any more!

The Dué Amori Glove in its shorter version, medium size. There is also an opera-length version, and two more sizes available.

The start of the Dué Amori Scarf, unfinished and unblocked. Note the beaded cables and lovely little cable needle... more on that later.

The Dué Amori Glove and Scarf set is shown using a stunning yarn in a new and very ethereal colorway: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in Quilla, one of the brand new Spirit Colorways. I feel so privileged to be working with this yarn... it is literally angelic in look AND feel. I am using size 6/0 pearlized seed beads, which lend a sweet Victorian air to the design.

I do hope you like them so far... more progress shots promised soon.

In other news, a big thank you to all who expressed such delight in the new stole pattern, Midnight Lace Stole from Alt Fiber. I have now added the pattern to Ravelry so you can queue it up! Go over and do it right now!!!

And a little word about a beautiful knitting tool from Leslie Wind, the sinuous, lovely cable needle necklace in bronze. I don't have it on a necklace as I prefer to keep it stowed in my knitting tool box, so forgive me Leslie! I love the heaviness of the bronze which makes it stay put while you are doing your other manipulations, and the squat shape of mine (each one of her cable needles are completely unique in size and shape) is perfect. Leslie will even customize your cable needle for the size of yarn you use most. What more can you ask for????

You can go here to view a video of the cable needle necklace in action and purchase your own. I was fortunate enough to get mine in person at Three Bags Full.

Happy knitting to all...

And now for something dark and silky...

It's out! It's out!

What, you may ask?

Why of course, Alt Fiber: 25 Projects for Knitting Green with Bamboo, Soy, Hemp, and More, Shannon Okey's newest knitting opus, which includes a stole design by yours truly!


And what is the stole like, do you say?

Well, as a matter of fact, it is a not-completely-rectangular type of stole, which in this case means that it includes the lovely little back panel treatment that I have been exploring lately in all my designs. Here is the schematic that I submitted to the book folks in the beginning (in case you are at all interested):

I have found that adding a little shaping to the back of a shawl or stole helps tremendously in the ability of the garment to feel comfortable and stay on the shoulders.

This particular design felt like a real departure from "the norm" and I walked on eggshells until I saw that it was indeed going to work out, quite well indeed as a matter of fact. Wearing this stole (which is really more of a wrap) is a lovely experience, and the long side panels look and feel like wings. Really nice to wrap and wrap and wrap around yourself.

The yarn is sea silk in the Midnight colorway. A sensuous experience in itself.

Here are a couple of (rather bad) pictures of the final product:



I really can't wait for the official book pictures to come out so I can salvage some self esteem and look good again, in print anyways...

From the Book Summary:

Twenty-five projects to knit and crochet using environmentally friendly plant fibers from a popular craft author, teacher, blogger, and shop owner.

Although DIYers have been using salvaged materials for years, the fastest growing trend in knitting and crochet takes reduce-reuse-recycle to a whole new level. In ALT FIBER, craft author and teacher Shannon Okey presents 25 patterns for sweaters, wraps, socks, hats, pillows, bags, and more using non-allergenic plant fibers. From the seaweed-derived Seacell yarn, which transmits vitamins and nutrients to the skin when worn, to soy-based yarns made from tofu manufacturing waste, alternative fibers are readily available, easy to care for, and good for the environment. And because these fibers work up, drape, and wear like no other yarns, Okey teaches crafters of all skill levels about each fiber's properties, how to incorporate them into existing patterns, and how to hand-dye them. Knitting green has never been so easy.

I haven't actually seen the book myself yet, but I have high hopes that the book truly delivers what it promises to. Please drop me a line and let me know what you think!

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!