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Winter Leaves pattern available now

As promised, I'm making the pattern for this handknitted rectangular shawl available free download now
Hope you enjoy it :)

Winter Leaves Shawl complete

I'm very pleased with how this project turned out. Actually it was quite a fast knit.

I've used the same borders as Anusla used on her "Frozen Leaves" shawl and I designed it to be knit straight through from bottom to top. That means no provisional (temporary) cast on and no kitchener stitch grafting. Yay! It doesn't matter to me that the leaves are all going in the same direction. When the shawl is being worn the leaves grow up on one side and down on the other. I know this bothers some people, but in the interest of easy knitting I'm happy. In fact, it's more true to nature anyway. As I look out my window at the vines, the leaves are looking in all directions:)

I'm almost finished making the pattern which will be offered free on Ravelry and here if I can work out how to do it.

I'm looking for some test knitters. Please let me know if you're interested. You can use lace or fingering yarn, and make it wider if you like.

The next 2 photos show how I blocked the shawl. I wasn't sure how I would block the curved leaf edges along the length. I started by threading the blocking wires through the very outermost tips of the leaves on both sides so I could stretch the width out evenly. I pinned the rods in place then threaded 2 more rods through the ends, catching them in the points made but the yo's in the borders. My intension was to use mega lots of pins to shape the leaf edges in curves but common sense prevailed and I just carefully took out the side rods replacing them with a single pin in each leaf. If I had left the side rods there, it would have made bumps in the edges...not good. I had trouble getting the edges looking good at each end (borders), so the rods you can see along the long edges in the photos are woven into the lace holes at the very ends to keep them straight. They are just resting on top of the shawl along the rest of the edges. Clear as mud??

download now

best wishes
Colleen

To Everything There is a Season Quilt by Renata!

I'm very excited. Renata (a lovely long-time student and friend) has finished her magnificent quilt! Renata used my pattern and certainly made it her own. Her use of striking contrast makes it a happy sort of quilt.

The applique is fused and Renata finished the edges with machine blanket stitch.
As you can see it's quite a huge quilt, well and truely suitable for a queen size bed. Now Renata is more than capable of quilting, but made the decision to have it professionally machine quilted by Tracey Browning of Constantine Quilts. Wow, the quilting just adds another dimension. There are some close-up photos showing the quilting and also Renata's great applique.

Thanks Renata for sharing this with us:)

Winter Leaves rectangular shawl

Well the rectangular shawl is taking shape. I'm using some Knitpicks laceweight merino that a smart and lovely lady...Mary, you know who you are.... from The United States sent to me. (Knitpicks will not send yarn to Australia, unfortunately). This yarn is very low priced but it's perfect for swatching and trying out ideas.

When I knit the leaves using the same pattern as Anusla's Frozen Leaves" they got lost somehow. It's probably the colour. Anyway I decided to add a vertical line of paired yo's between the leaves and I like the effect. The shawl has curving edges as it follows the outline of the leaves.

I can see a design fault but I'm not worrying about it at this stage. I'll correct it later.

It's not particularly hard to knit.

I'll be writing up the pattern for this shawl, for anyone who wants to try it:)

Let me know if you'd like to have a go.

best wishes

Colleen

Loving a Reproduction Shawl

Frozen Leaves Shawl
I found the pattern for this lovely shawl on Ravelry
A knitter who calls herself Anusla on Ravelry took elements of German designs from the 1930-50's to create her shawl.
I made mine with some very fine alpaca yarn I bouhgt from Barb's Sew and Knit at Glenelg.
The close-up photo shows the clear beads I used throughout the edging. They add a little to the design, but mostly they help with the drape of the feather-weight shawl.

I blocked the shawl into a slightly crescent shape because I like the way it drapes over the shoulders and stays on without fussing.

As I was knitting I kept thinking about a rectangular shawl using the same stitches. Hmmmm. Shouldn't be too hard :)

Happy stitching and knitting
Colleen

The Shawl with no name again

What a difference blocking makes! This is the finished shawl. In the previous pictures the shawl looked like a crumpled up piece of nothingness and here it is with the lace all stretched out and in good shape:)

I used some size 6 beads amber colour lined with a turquiose centre.

Yes, this is the same pattern as the orange shawl from the previous post. The pattern will be available in about 3 weeks if all goes to plan

cheers

Colleen

Shawl with no name

I've been moving right along with finishing the warm merino version of this shawl. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. The Knitpicks Lace yarn is a lovely soft yarn for a very reasonable price. I used just over 1 skein for this shawl.

The photo on the right shows the detail of the bottom lace diamond pattern and the edging with the nupps. Nupps are the Estonian version of the "bobble".

Now I'm editing the pattern ready to go to the test knitters.

Happy stitching and knitting!

Colleen

A Little bit of shawl knitting designing

Just thought I'd give you a peek at what I'm knitting. This is a rather poor photo of the green tencel shawl I'm designing using patterns from Estonian Lace stitch books. I've fiddled with the diamond shape pattern a bit to make it fit in with the smaller pattern.

More details later, along with another shawl using the same pattern, different yarn :)

Cheers

Colleen

The SnowQueen Pi Shawl

Once again I just had to join the lovely group

to make BadCat's knit-a-long project. This time it's the SnowQueen Shawl. What a beauty!

I used Silky Merino lace yarn from Yarn Addict Anni and size 8 triangle beads from Cranberry, Berry-licious beads.

Andrea always runs a friendly educational group, and I hear she's starting her new "Summer" projects very soon.

How about joining in with the fun learning experience?

cheers

Colleen

Secret Garden Shawl

It must be at least a year ago that I started designing this shawl. I had some yarn from Yarntopia called Tencel, in this soft colourway and had a picture of the sort of shawl I wanted to knit. The amount of variegation in the colour meant I had to be careful what lace patterns I chose.

I worked to the point shown in the photo on the right then put it away for the winter last year. This summer I finished and I'm very pleased with the project!

I've since knitted 2 more samples as I've been writing and checking the pattern. Pics another day:)

Thanks to the beautiful model:)

Flowery Hearts Shawlette

I came across the pattern for this wonderful and different hand knitted shawl on Ravelry. It's called "The Flowery Hearts Shawlette" designed by Tiziana Sammuri . I love how the design has elements from Herbert Niebling designs and Estonian motifs. The dark outline of the hearts is achieved with Nupps. The yarn is an absolute pleasere to knit with. Unfortunately the yarn dyer is taking a break from dyeing. I bought her yarn, Titania a merino/silk laceweight from Chili Gredelin.

Another project I love

Colleen

Easter projects

I decided to make some little gifts for my Grandchildren for Easter.
Madison had expressed interest in Alan Dart's Noah's Ark and I talked her into choosing just one animal. I wasn't sure I'd really relish knitting and sewing up all the little pieces required for the whole caboodle:)
I started with the monkey. It took a while but eventually he was looking like a monkey with his seemingly millions of pieces sewn together including the pipe cleaners needed for the legs and arms.
Then I went searching for simpler creatures. I came up with the ones pictured above. Thanks to Ravelry I found many to choose from. Each creature needed a little blanket...easy after the fiddly creatures. So here's the little troup all wrapped up snuggly ready for Easter Sunday giving.
I visited Hettie's Patch and fell in love with the little Easter basket Lorraine had designed and made. Armed with fabric pattern and special bag batting (oh it's fabulous stuff) I returned home ready to attack the project. They were really quite easy especially with the super tips Lorraine gave on the pattern sheet. I'll be using the special bag batting for all my bags now. It is firm yet soft and definitely gives shape to the bag.

Lastly I put together a pattern for some "little chicken in an egg in a nest" projects for the Grandchildren. These cute eggs hide a little chicken ready to hatch and the nest adds the finishing touch.
The Grandchildren loved them.
I'm not sure how long it will be before I make any more though:)
cheers for now
Colleen