Tag Archives: shawls

The second coming of Orlane’s shawl

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Orlane's textured shawl in bulky grey

The temperature has finally started to dip here, and as Bob and I were headed out the door the other day to walk down to the market, I thought, “Wasn’t I knitting myself a shawl? A grey shawl.”

That evening, I pulled this old thing out of its project bag and decided to finish it, no matter how it turned out, because at least it would be A) warm and B) out of the WIP pile. As I started my way down the next garter row, remembering I’d planned to do quite a bit more, I realized it was actually enough. As in, I’d been done this whole time. So I worked one more row of garter to put me back on the right side. (Not because it mattered; just because I can be a little OCD like that.) And then I spent two evenings working EZ’s beautiful sewn bind-off on it, before blocking it last Sunday. What on earth was I thinking wanting to frog this? It’s totally fine! Warm as can be, and no longer clogging up my basket. (I put all the gory pattern, yarn, measurement details at Ravelry. And for anyone interested in knitting Orlane’s Textured Shawl but not sure how it works, here’s my explainer.)

By the way, that middle photo is titled “Oh the grainy, raccoon-eyed agony of last minute photos on a foggy day.”

Speaking of clogging up my basket, things had gotten a little out of hand around here. The basket had spawned two more, both with the remains of finished projects rolling around their bellies. There was yarn everywhere — not neatly organized by size in the four allotted bins. Abandoned WIPs had never been frogged and were overflowing a bin of their own in the laundry closet. Gradually, over a few days, I tackled all of it. The yarn is all sorted and put away. The failed knits are frogged and reskeined. Now all there is in my big basket is the neverending cardigan and the jumbo swatch for my next pattern. It feels amazing to have everything so pared down. Now if I can just keep resisting the incredible urge to cast on another sweater before the Acer is done …

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One small shop note before I tell you Happy Weekend. I spoke to Amy this week, maker of the leather Wrapper pouches, and she’s decided to discontinue the rust. Which means the 2 rust-colored Large Pouches I have on hand are presumably the last of their kind, and it’s no longer an option in the Long Pouch either. (Navy and tan will still be available in both.) So if you’ve had your eye on the rust, nab one now!

Happy weekend, everyone!

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Four great Manos patterns = four great prizes

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Four beautiful Manos patterns, four beautiful prizes

The nice people at Fairmount Fibers/Manos del Uruguay Yarns recently pointed me to their pattern archive, which I somehow hadn’t explored before and which turned out to be a treasure trove. They also expressed an interest in giving one of you some yarn. There happened to be four accessory patterns in their recent releases that I especially liked, so I arranged a four-prize giveaway with them — lucky you! Here are the patterns I zeroed in on:

  • TOP LEFT: Rocha beret pattern designed by Heather Zoppetti, knitted in aran-weight Wool Clasica (+Ravelry)
  • TOP RIGHT: Salto fingerless mitts pattern designed by Christine Marie Chen, knitted in DK-weight Silk Blend (+Ravelry)
  • BOTTOM LEFT: Sandalo shawl pattern designed by Corrina Ferguson, knitted in fingering-weight Fino (+Ravelry)
  • BOTTOM RIGHT: Vanda hat pattern designed by Anne Kuo Lukito, knitted in worsted-weight Maxima (+Ravelry)

So the deal is, we’re giving away one of each of these four patterns, along with the yarn for knitting it, in the winners’ choice of colors. To enter, do the following—

Step 1: Decide which one of these four patterns is your favorite, click the Ravelry link next to it and add it to your Ravelry favorites.
Step 2: Come back here and leave a comment saying which pattern you’re playing for, along with your Ravelry username.

You have until Sunday night to enter. I’ll choose a winner at random for each of the four patterns and announce the winners here at the beginning of the week. Please note* that this giveaway is for people with U.S. mailing addresses only, and is limited to one entry per person, as described above.

So here we go — which one will you choose?

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*Note also that Manos is providing the prizes for this giveaway, but the opinions expressed are strictly my own and freely offered. Employees of Fairmount/Manos are not eligible to enter, nor are any of my family members.

Your thoughts, please …

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Textured Shawl in grey tweed work in progress

… on two matters. First: this shawl. I’ve had disturbingly little time to knit the past couple of weeks, and an extra short attention span, so it’s mostly been this grey mindlessness. I had the idea that I’d like to see the textures of the Textured Shawl used in three equal swaths rather than as alternating stripes. And thought that would look nice if it were a little larger and heavier. But I told myself it had to be knitted from stash, which, quantity-wise, meant either my kelly-green Manos (my first choice) or the rest of this grey Kathmandu Chunky. The Manos didn’t want to be wound (silly story) so I went with the grey. And at this point I’m pretty underwhelmed by it. It’s just not the best marriage of stitch pattern and yarn — the yarn looks better in stockinette and garter than in the textured stitch, but I’ve created this sea of the textured stitch. (I’m convinced it would be great in the green Manos.) So I’m debating whether to finish it, rip it back and knit textured stripes, or frog the whole thing. But I’ve come this far! And it’s pretty much moot once it’s bunched around my neck anyway, right? What do you think?

The second matter is more meta, and something I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on. The other day on Twitter I was bemoaning the lack of words for what we do — something I run into constantly in writing and thinking about and talking about this blog (and the shop, e.g. even the header over there). The two most common lacks are: 1) a word for people who make things out of yarn, and 2) a word for people who make their own clothes. The former should encompass all the yarny pursuits: knitting, crochet, weaving, even spinning and dyeing. The latter should cover both knitting and sewing. So I inadvertently sparked a good discussion on Twitter about, mostly, the first of those. Caitlin Newman Storify’d the gist of the exchange, and there’s more here, here, here, especially here … oy, everywhere. In the course of it, I came to like the word “yarnsmith” as a catch-all for yarny people, and will be trying that out. But still no ideas about the other. Then Caitlin also wrote a thought-provoking blog post about the perception of ‘handmade’. I have no conclusions (nor, apparently, anything very coherent to say) about any of it at the moment! Just would love to discuss it with you all. So please voice your thoughts …

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New Favorites: Fancy Tiger’s sweet shawl and hat

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Fancy Tiger Imposter's Shawl and Radish Hat knitting patterns

Months ago, when people were Instagramming from The Makerie (as I recall?), I kept seeing pictures of Fancy Tiger’s Amber Corcoran with her neck draped in a brownish scarf-shawl that I desperately wanted a close-up of. But alas, I was left wanting. Until last week, that is, when the Fancy ladies announced a total of six new patterns on their blog, and HOORAY, one of them was Amber’s shawl. It’s called The Imposter’s Shawl and I like it every bit as much as I expected I would. In fact, it’s all I can do to resist casting on before finishing the one already on my needles. Vying for my attention, though, is the other lovely item pictured above, the Radish Hat by Holly Priestley. Love that combo of cables and super-minimal lace.

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This week’s ICYMI post is Blog Crush: L.A. in Bloom — I was excited to see that Heather Taylor is one of the weavers included in the new One King’s Lane collection I keep hearing about, so congrats to her!

WIPs for the road

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Travel essentials - yarn, shoes, iPad

I am, as they say, leaving on a jet plane; don’t know when I’ll be back again. Back to blogging, I mean. I’ve given myself permission to take a little blog vacation next week, but we’ll see whether I’m able to stay away. In other words, expect posting for the next week to be somewhere between sporadic and non-existent. I will check in on comments plus Instagram and Twitter, so if you want to see pictures of my niece learning to knit or of Kansas cows (both likely), tune in there.

Traveling with me are exactly two knitting WIPs. One low-attention item, which you may have noticed is another Textured Shawl. (This one will be a slight variation on the pattern, and I’m using the Kathmandu Chunky left over from my Walpole.) And for putting the uninterrupted flight time to maximum use, my neglected Acer cardigan. Not accompanying me are any spare needles or yarn for possible spontaneous cast-ons. If I finish the shawl and need another low-attention option (not likely), I can cast on a sleeve for the Acer. One way or the other, I’m determined to make serious progress on this cardigan over the next few days.

Wish me luck!

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In quick Fringe Supply Co. news, the latest issue of Taproot has landed. And please note that orders placed today (Friday) through Tuesday will ship on Wednesday. Thanks again to all the lovely patrons of FSCo. I love packing up your packages.

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Be well, and I still want to hear what you’re working on …

New Favorites: Jared Flood’s kerchiefs

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Jared Flood Guernsey Triangle and Romney Kerchief knitting patterns

Having finished my Textured Shawl, which is really more of a kerchief, and having decided it’s really the perfect size and shape for Bay Area summer shoulderwear, I’m itching to knit another one. (Kerchief is such a funny word, but so much better than “shawlette.” It sounds like a polite sneeze, kerchief.) In trying to keep myself from literally casting on another of the exact same thing, I’ve been considering other non-lace, modern-ish textured shawls, and I keep coming back to these two by Jared Flood, both of which have been on my list for some time:

The Guernsey Triangle (on the left), with shawl and kerchief options, rivals any of his lace designs for showcasing his brilliance with knitting stitches, whereas the Romney Kerchief (on the right) is a lesson in how effective simplicity can be.

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In the ICYMI department this week, I’m also still thinking about this — New Favorites: Haiku.

Starting and finishing Orlane’s Textured Shawl

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Orlane's Textured Shawl

In the end, as you all suspected, everything is fine. With the knitting finished and the object blocked, it’s smaller than a shawl but bigger than a kerchief. I failed to measure anything before I blocked it, but I suspect it wound up about 32 inches wide. After blocking, it’s 42 inches wide and 21 tall. It’s just big enough to be useful, but I had an idea and it may be going to live with someone else anyway. I’ll definitely make it again, either way. I just love this combination of textures.

For the sake of anyone who’s wanted to knit Orlane’s Textured Shawl Recipe but didn’t know how to fill in the blanks, here’s how to do it:

It’s a top-down shawl, which means you begin with the few stitches right at the base of the neck and work outwards into the triangle, which is shaped by increases along the way. Start with the garter tab cast-on — Stephen West’s tutorial is terrific — which will leave you with 9 stitches on your needle. Now work a setup row: k2, place marker, m1L, k2, m1R, place marker, k1, place marker, m1L, k2, m1R, place marker, k2. You’ve now marked off the two edge stitches and the center stitch. The top edge (the two stitches on either end) is worked in garter stitch, so you’ll knit the first and last two stitches on every row. Every right-side row is an increase row, worked the same as the setup row above: k2, slip marker, m1L, work to next marker, m1R, slip marker, k1, slip marker, m1L, work to next marker, m1R, slip marker, k2. A wrong-side row in a stockinette or textured portion of the shawl is: k2, purl to the last two, k2 (slip all markers, obviously). Once you get to the garter border, a wrong-side row is just knit every stitch. Hope that helps.

If you’re smarter than me (especially if you’re using a yarn that’s a drastically larger or smaller gauge than her DK), you’ll knit a gauge swatch and measure your row gauge. If you have a target height you’d like your shawl to be, multiply that by your row gauge and you’ll know how many rows you’ll be knitting. Then you can divide those up between stockinette, textured and garter rows however you like.

Mine is 16 rows of stockinette (41 sts on the needles), then 14 rows of the textured stitch, 14 stockinette, 14 textured, 14 stockinette, 8 textured, 30 garter. The yarn is the really delicious Pioneer from A Verb for Keeping Warm, knitted on US8 needles.

Blocking the Textured Shawl

After consulting with Twitter friends, given that I wanted to block this fairly aggressively, I used Elizabeth Zimmermann’s sewn bind-off, and wow, I love it — this despite the fact that it took me THREE AND A HALF HOURS! I also took the time to use blocking wires on this to make it as perfect as possible. And it was perfect when the wires came out. But two hours later, when I took the photo on the right above, it had already started to go a little wobbly along the top edge again. Of course, when it’s around your neck nobody knows if that edge is straight or not. As long as the rest is flat and lovely, I’m content.

Cheers to Orlane. And heartfelt thanks if you’d favorite it on Ravelry.

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In other news (for anyone who missed the edit), Pom Pom Quarterly is back in stock!

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