Pacific Cowl and Madelinetosh yarn!

I've now seen and felt Madelinetosh Merino Light yarn for real! I love the complex colours in this hand dyed yarn and it's soft smooth texture. I wanted to use just one skein. I wanted to try out a stitch pattern I've seen in a Japanese knitting book. A Cowl was the perfect project.
This is the cowl just off the needles:

I'm showing a blocking photo. I don't know of another way to block a cowl, so it's blocked double. In the next photo it seems the cowl is narrower at one end, but it's just the distortion of the camera.
The second blocking photo shows more clearly how I placed the pins and used wires on the ends. It took more than the usual 12 hours to dry.

Now, the finished project!  I thoroughly enjoyed every stitch. Oh, I almost forgot to say....This stitch pattern, like many of the patterns in Japanese stitch books has lace work on every row. I'm not really keen on working lace in a purl row. This cowl is knit in the round, so every row is basically a knit row. There are some purl stitches to define the texture, but every row is worked from the front of the work. Yay! No purl rows!

Ceryle's Celtic Quilt

I want to showcase Ceryle's finished quilt top! The strips of bias fabrics are all hand stitched, and it's been amazing watching Ceryle work slowly (and sometimes not so slowly) and steadily on this work of art. In person it looks even more spectacular.
The pattern came in monthly instalments with the fabrics, from The Quilt Basket at Victor Harbor, South Australia. Because Ceryle likes to add her own touch, she designed her own centre square. Well done Ceryle!

Secret Summer Garden Shawl (Rectangle)

Some time ago I designed a triangular shawl with this same pattern, and knit it with a very fine laceweight yarn. I've worn it and worn it. Then I made it with a fingering weight seasilk yarn, and again it's been worn and worn. I had a skein of alpaca laceweight yarn that appealed to me for a rectangular shawl. That's how this shawl came about. I'm writing the pattern which will be ready for testing very soon.
The modelling has been a family affair, with Daina, Betty and Lynn all looking fabulous! Oh, and Jess wanted to do some sniffing too.

Tanya Whelan, fabric designer and author

This wonderful designer has a new fabric line out, and a new book coming!

Sew What You Love: The Easiest, Prettiest Projects Ever

 can be ordered from Barnes and Noble  or from Amazon. I love Tanya's design including  accessories, clothing and gifts so this book will be a welcome addition to the library.
You can see her beautiful projects and fabrics on her blog
Hop on over and enjoy the eye candy!

Ceryle's Celtic quilt

I was celebration time for Ceryle this Tuesday at patchwork class. During the years when she's been very busy having 2 children and working, she's managed to hand-sew this amazing quilt top. The design came in a kit from The Quilt Basket at Victor Harbor, but Ceryle redesigned the whole centre block. It's truely a masterpiece.  The design had to be marked on the blocks, the strips of bias fabrics all cut and hand sewn into suitable lengths, then tacked onto the black background fabric making sure the pattern twisted over and under sorrectly. Then Ceryl could begin hand-sewing both sides of each fabric strip!This Tuesday the quilt top was finished up to the borders. ...congratulations and it's fabulous:)
The first photo show the quilt top ready for borders (more patterns) and the bottom photo shows just the centre block that Ceryle designed. The quilt is perfectly straight and square. It's the photo that's distorted.
Now this quilt is in danger of being finished:)

Knitting another shawl in Royal Style!

I had a cone of cashmere from Colourmart enticing me to knit another shawl like the one the Duchess of Cambridge was spotted wearing on her shopping trip just after she was married. After studying the photo I decided the shawl has a chevron texture with a k1p1 ruffle. I swatched and yes! the pattern looks good. To replicate the shape exactly I would need to work just one large triangle either from the bottom point up or from the top down to the bottom point. Because the main texture required a lot of garter stitch, the shaping would be too complicated this way, so I chose to work top down from the centre back, with a spine dividing  two triangles. That would give enough shape at the top for the shawl to stay on the shoulder well and not be a nuisance.
So here's my shawl made with 2/36 NM cashmere held double to make roughly a fingering weight yarn. It would have been better knit single, but I didn't want to take a year to make it:) What's the project called? "Shopping in Royal Style", of course.
Thanks Teagan for being a wonderful model:)

The Koala returns

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We used to think it was funny when international visitors expected to see Koalas wandering the streets in the suburbs. well we have our own Koala who strolls down the road to his favourite tree right next to our house. We think it's a male as he snorts like a pig during the night. The first few nights we were all a bit perplexed as he sounded like a wild pig. There was evidence that he had climbed into our yarn and had a drink from the fish pond.

This time he's also making other noises too, much quieter. He has been seen wobbling along the local roads, but we have no idea where he comes from or where he goes. He arrived earlier this year and it will be interesting to see how long he stays.

An August Tuesday Patchwork class

Some updates on the Tuesday Class happenings:)

Ceryle is dedicated to finishing her Celtic quilt, and Anthea takes some time out to check out a book.

Bev's almost finished the lovely I Spy quilt for her granddaughter. The hexagons provide a little game of "spot the pairs" and "spot the odd one".

Here you can see the great block Anthea is working on. It's from her latest block of the month quilt purchase.

This is a better view of the centre of Ceryle's Celtic quilt. She has re-designed the centre with her own creation and we're all looking forward to seeing the full quilt. Stunning!

Renata is working steadily on her "Fun on the Farm quilt". It looks superb:)

Another view of Renata hard at work. If she keeps working at her present rate there will be many finished projects by Christmas time.

A hand-knitted shawl in Royal style!

A few weeks ago I was experimenting with an easy Estonian knitting stitch with the idea of making a triangular shawl with some very soft Malabrigo Lace yarn. It just happened that at that time the newly married Duchess of Cambridge was photographed dashing out to the supermarket wearing jeans, a casual white top and a green cashmere ruffled shawl.
I loved the shape of the shawl and how it looked on her. That was it, the Estonian stitch would work perfectly for a shawl in the manner of her shawl. Not deterred by the fact that The Duchess could make any clothing look great I imagined that I could make a stylish shawl like that:)
It seems that I wasn't the only knitter intrigued and envious of this shawl, because on Ravelry there was a group started for those who fancied making their own version of the shawl.
A few thousand stitches later, the shawl was off the needles. I did it! It looks like Kate's!  Well with some imagination it does. The length is right, the wings drape down just the right way and the ruffle sits beautifully:) My model is every bit as stylish as Kate!
I began getting emails asking for the pattern. Five lovely ladies volunteered to knit and test the pattern, trying out different sizes using a variety of yarn. It was exciting.
Now at last the pattern is available so you too can knit the shawl in the style of the now famous one worn by the Duchess of Cambridge.
Available here or from my page on Ravelry for AU $4.50.

A shawlette finished/ Fiore di Mare Shawlette by Tiziana Samuri

Over the last month or so I've been knitting a lovely shawlette designed by Tizianz. It's called Fiore di Mare. Those who know me won't be surprised that the inspiration for the flower shape, and the crescent shape of the shawl come from "old" shawls.As with quilts, I'm drawn to the antique ones.
I used Yarn Addict Anni's hand dyed yarn called Fairytale sock yarn. It's a lovely mix of  wool, silk and cashmere. The pattern is available from Tiziana's Ravelry shop.

If you enjoy knitting or crochet, it's definitely worth joining Ravelry. It's free. It's an international data base of thousands of free patterns, pay-for-patterns and more. There are forums for any kind of thing you could possibly be interested in. I've discovered a world of yarns and patterns I didn't know existed and made some great friends. One really cool feature is this..if I have some yarn and don't know what to do with it, I can search a data base for all the projects others have made with that particular yarn. They're shown with links to the patterns. In about 10 minutes I can see what I want to make. Amazing!

Free quilt project

I just discovered that a quilt I designed for Quilter's Companion Magazine is up on their website for free. The photo is lovely. I'd like to  say the photo is taken in my dining room...but those who know me would know it's not:)
The quilt is called "Down by the Old Mill Stream". The pinwheels and the flowers somehow made me think of a river with rambling flowers on the banks and a big paddle wheel powering a mill. Mukm and Dad used to sing the old song "Down by the Old Mill Stream" and I couldn't get it out of my head as I designed the quilt.
So if you want a free pattern go over to Universal's complete craft website

This is a computer generated image of the quilt, but you can see a much better styled one by following the link.
best wishes
Colleen

Ceryle is progressing with her Celtic designs quilt

It's great to see Ceryle making huge progress with her hand stitched Celtic Design quilt. It's a kit (block of the month) she bought from "The Quilt Basket" at Victor Harbor a little while ago:) The outer blocks are now all finished and Ceryle is working on the centre design. She's changing the original and designing her own celtic curves for this large block. The colour arrangement is very clever. Being a busy Mum of 2 boys means Ceryle doesn't get much time to work on her project at home, but she sure can achieve a lot at class!
The photos show some of the blocks, and Ceryle's Mum, Anthea working on her quilt, along with Alexander who loves being "in" on what's going on:)

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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