Wednesday, October 28, 2015

rash promises....

Do you ever do that? Promise something to someone and then after, think, why did I do that? Anyway, I did do that when I was in St Cloud in September... Everyone seemed to like my 'Karen's wedding stole' so much and several people asked for the pattern and I did it - blithely said, 'oh yeah, I'll write that up and put it on my blog for free...
Well, you probably don't want to hear what I had to go through (trying to install DK8 on new computer to get stitch picture printed; searching for photos because I forgot where I put them; learning to type all over again because texting spoils you with auto-correct; trying to put a pdf on this blog...). I do have the pattern for the stole done as a pdf but can't figure out how to add it here, so just email me at knitwords@shaw.ca and put TLR stole pdf in the subject line and I'd be more than happy to send it to you...thanks for being patient!


I also promised to do a mid gauge version of the RTR Lace Cardi...I AM working on it!

PS - these swatches are just practises - not the actual yarn I'll be using...

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

it's never too late...

'member last Christmas I was messing around with some black and ivory alpaca on the LK150 trying to come up with a gift for my son...well, I finally got back to it! (see blogpost, January 2, 2015, 'a rookie mistake...')

 Two colour Tuck Stitch: Cast on waste yarn and ravel cord, ending carriage at right (CAR). RC000.
T9. MC, K1R. Set russell levers ll - l (left at ll, right at l). Select every other needle (EON). K1R (this makes a tuck row). RC002.
Change to CC. K1R (stockinette). Select opposite EON. K1R (tuck) RC004. Repeat these 4 rows throughout.

I decided to turn it into a toque -
that's Canadian for knitted hat, beanie, ski cap, head warmer, etc...
here's what I did: (LK150 and Baby Alpaca Grande from Plymouth Yarns)
41-0-40 ns to work. Cast on waste yarn and knit several rows, 1 row ravel cord.
MC, e-wrap all ns. T7, K6R.
One at a time, drop stitch from every other needle, beginning with second stitch from right side, for 5 rows and relatch for 1X1 rib. Reset RC000.
Begin 2-colour tuck pattern as above (after RC000), knit to RC037,  ending CAL with plain row in MC. Using 3-prong tool, decrease 1 st at left side.
Decrease 8 sts evenly spaced  as follows: counting from right, bring every 10th needle slightly forward. This will be the needle to transfer to and the end one at left should be the last one. Take stitch at right and move to the marked one. Put empty ns out  of work. T8, K1R.
Remove work and rehang, with either waste yarn or garter bar and move sts together, eliminating empty ns. K1R.
Repeat above, making decrease on same stitch [9 sts between the decreased sts this time] as above, K2R as above, [one less stitch between each time] to 16 sts.
Transfer to EON, T4, K1R. Leave a long enough tail to make seam and take sts off with darning needle and pull tight into circle.
Seam by hand, using tail from top, half outside edge stitch, modified mattress stitch, matching stripes and rib.
P.S. I did unravel the swatches/scarf...
I don't know about him, but I love these!