Yarn Intercept

Inspiration

I’ve had these two skeins of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic in my stash for a few years now. I always planned to make a Clapotis with it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to cast on. I was afraid it would languish and this yarn is too beautiful to land in the lost world of UFO’s.  (Sadly, it would have had plenty of company.)

So, instead, the yarn languished in the stash….until a few weeks ago. I was browsing the blogs in my feed reader and came across Turtlegirl’s Abalone knit with the very same yarn (different colorway). I had NEVER considered knitting a cardigan/sweater/top-of-any-kind out of this yarn and I was truly inspired by her fabulous top! I wanted a top that would have a little more coverage in the front so I wrote to her asking how easy it would be to modify it. Since Abalone is a free pattern, I downloaded it and realized that the whole thing is a percentage based pattern – easy to figure out (which is what Cristi said), but I decided that if I was going to do math to knit something, it was going to be a pattern of my own!

So I sketched…and no, you don’t get to see the sketch. (It’s rough….really rough.) I wanted a waterfall type cardigan – one of those tops that has excess fabric hanging down. I wanted easy lace as well. See? Left and right fronts of my cardigan:

(I guess should have ironed that pillowcase before taking this picture.) While it may seem I’m knitting a cardigan for Olive Oyl, it’s just curling due to the stockinette edges. Here, this is better:

I started with a cast on along the bottom edge and then began working on the bias. Once I finished the last of the eyelet sections, I used short rows to straighten them up. You can really tell by the direction of the colors. I will add bands to each later and it should almost close in the front. For now, I’m in the dead zone – the endless stockinette that makes up most of the back. Ugh.

Will it ever end? When I have 15 inches knit, I get to bind off for the armholes! I can’t wait. I was noticing a smidge of pooling with the darker colors in the center and the gold colors at the edge, so I started knitting from each end of my yarn ball. You can definitely tell where I began as it looks a bit stripy. I think it’s fairly subtle though and doesn’t bother me a bit.

Tiger says, “It doesn’t bother me either! Stripes are always good.”

Candy Shop Socks

My latest sock pattern was just released through Knit Picks Independent Designer Program today!

When I first sketched the sock, I pictured little oranges, lemons, and limes, but the orange available in Knit Picks Stroll was more of an autumny-rusty orange and not a bright, summery orange. They suggested the red and once I started knitting the socks, it was obvious they were NOT fruits, but candies. My husband said immediately, “they look like gum drops” and he gave the pattern its name. (Thanks, Mike!) Of course at that point, I knew the photo shoot would have to include gumballs! 

 

 

Choose three contrasting colors and a main, background color. You could also choose to use one variegated yarn as your gumballs as one of my testers did. (This might be a good use of the “clown barf” yarn that you keep asking yourself, “What was I thinking when I bought this?!”)

 

 

The pattern is available from Knit Picks here for $1.99 or through Ravelry at the following link where you can use Paypal (also $1.99).

The socks are written for three sizes – S[M, L] with leg circumferences of 7.75[8.25, 9] inches and a gauge of 9 sts/10 rows = 1 inch in stranded pattern using size 1 – 2.25mm DPNs. The pattern is mostly written with a color chart for the main pattern.

As always, I am happy to answer any questions about the pattern!

 

 

Tiger says, “I had fun during the photo shoot…I got to bat around these shiny, colorful balls!”

(I wish I had a picture of it…he was so cute playing with the gumballs!)