Transitions Shawlette Pattern update

 

There's an updated version of the Transitions Shawl pattern.  New instructions have been added for a Shawlette. It's a smaller version of the original asymmetric shawl but long enough to wrap around and secure with a loose knot.

Knitted with a new yarn called Charm, which I received from Stylecraft as a sample. It's a blend of acrylic, wool and mohair with colour swirl shade changes. I love the colours of this particular combination called 'Spring Dawn' and enjoyed seeing the changes as the knitting progressed. Charm is a 4ply, light and soft yarn perfect for knitting shawls and accessories. There are 5 more different shade combinations in the range.        

The main part of the shawl is knitted in garter stitch with a simple eyelet edging, finished with a picot cast off. The colour changes are most evident and effective on the edging detail, see the image below.

The edging detail is also featured on the original shawl, seen below. 

Ever tried a picot cast off? 

There's a tutorial for a knitted picot cast off, you can find it here on my blog. Alternatively, there's a short video on my Instagram account - @handknittedthings showing the technique in detail.

The updated knitting pattern for the Transitions Shawl and Shawlette can be found in my Ravelry and Etsy shops.

Ripples Shawl Knitting Pattern

Keeping busy and a positive mind set is something to be aimed for and never more than during this time of Covid-19. Knitting is something which helps me to stay occupied and focused generally but especially so now. 

This latest pattern is a shawl which uses a variegated cotton blend yarn with contrast stitches creating ripple effects. It's a wrap to use as a cover up when sitting outside (hopefully) enjoying the unpredictable summer weather. 

The yarn is from Stylecraft and inspired by the artist Monet. This shade of blue called Giverny gives an hint of the artists work and reminiscent of his painting the Water Lilies. A definite summery  blue vibe with hints of soft pink. The ripple effects are created using two solid colour shades of Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK.

Ripples Shawl knitting pattern is available to download from Ravelry. 

Read on if you'd like further details about the pattern.

Skills required

Cast on, cast off, knit, purl, knit 2 stitches together, slip stitches, knit into the front and back of a stitch.

Yarn

(A) Main colour, x4 Stylecraft Monet aran 100g 183m/200yds shade, Giverney #3971

(B) Contrast colour, x1 Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK, 50g 92m/100yds, shade Grey Blue #3965

(C) Contrast colour, x1 Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK, 50g 92m/100yds, shade Ivory #3665

Needles

5.5mm circular knitting needle 60cm long to accommodate number of stitches

Notions 

Blunt tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Size

190cm (74inches) long x 35cm (14 inches) wide

Ripples Shawl is available to download from Ravelry.

Pool Shawl Pattern

The shawl pattern I designed specially for Head Over Heels All Stars yarn is now available from Stylecraft website free (link at the end of the post). You can read about this yarn and how it was inspired in an earlier post I wrote here.

Here are some details about the yarn:
75% super wash wool
25% nylon
100g ball weight
400m/437yrds
needle size 2.25mm
machine washable at 30 degrees

Inspired by colours in the "Swimming Pool" painting, this is how the 'Pool' yarn looks close up. The wool blend is durable for socks but light enough for making knitted or crochet shawls.

Click on the link below to download the free pattern.

Head Over Heels All Stars

Pool Shawl

Transitions Shawl

The words "Life Changes" could bring to mind so many meanings. For this shawl it's a new variegated DK weight yarn from Stylecraft. There are 8 shades in the range and for this shawl project I chose three, Roses, Berries and Ashes. The yarn is a mix of 25% wool and 75% acrylic, 100g balls, 298m /326 yds long.

The shawl is a triangular shape knitted in garter stitch (knit each row). The shaping is very easy to achieve with an increase and decrease on every other row. Small stripes occur when a new colour is added. The main interest is provided by the colour variations with in each shade. I particularly like the Berries shade which incorporates a purple plum colour through to cherry red. The final edge is finished off with an eyelet and picot cast off detail. 

Projects pegged to the fence with a scenic background are becoming a regular feature. A sunny morning (before the rain started again) resulted in this light and not too breezy shot.

I've enjoyed working with this yarn very much. It feels very soft to handle and I love the way the colour variations have developed along the length of the shawl. The colour changes and stripes were the inspiration for the name 'Transitions Shawl' and the pattern can be found on Ravelry.

Head Over Heels All Stars

New yarns in Head over Heels All Stars have arrived from Stylecraft. All 6 shades have been  chosen by Stylecraft Blogstars and inspired by the artist David Hockney. Earlier this year knitters and crocheter's voted in their thousands for their favourite combinations of colours to add to the yarn range. There's a post about the competition on the Stylecraft blog. I was amazed and thrilled to find out my combination was one of the winners.

Influenced by this picture on the cover of the book by Chris Stephens about the artist I chose muted shades of blue, green and a splash of pink. The picture is called 'Pool with two figures'.

Six shades from the special dk range went into my yarn combination.

Here are some details about the yarn:
75% super wash wool
25% nylon
100g ball weight
400m/437yrds
needle size 2.25mm
machine washable at 30 degrees

This is how the final 'Pool' yarn looks close up. The wool blend is durable for socks but light enough for making knitted or crochet shawls.

Below is the shawl I designed specially for Head Over Heels All Stars 'Pool'. The pattern is available from Stylecraft bricks and mortar stockists and is free with the yarn purchases.

The 6 new All Star colour combinations and designers are from top left 

Saltaire by The Twisted Yarn,  Ossie by Cherry Heart, Woldgate by Josie Kitten, 

bottom row from the left:

Pool by (yours truly) Hand Knitted Things, Splash by Zooty Owl, Red Pots by Attic 24.

Linen Drape

What a summer it's been with the hot dry weather here in the UK. There's been no need for extra layers and shawls. 

Back in February I had an idea for a design using the new Linen Drape double knitting from Stylecraft. The design was completed in May. Since it's now August, I though to write a short post about it before the summer turns into Autumn.

There are 8 shades currently available (from the top down): Peacock, Sangria, Cranberry, River, Coral, Lime, Wheat, Natural.

Some more yarn details:
70% Viscose, 30% Linen
186m / 203 yds
4mm (US6) recommended needle size
Tension 22sts over 28 rows 10x10cm (4x4ins)
Machine washable at 30 degrees

The fresh clean colours of Lime, Natural and River, were picked when it was snowing in February. I was looking forward to summer, blue skies, fluffy white clouds, green fields. There's certainly been the blue skies but I couldn't have anticipated the heat and the parched brown fields of England's green and pleasant land. 

The shawl is knitted from the top down working a combination of stocking stitch and yarn over knit two together eyelets. So far I haven't written up the pattern for this but hopefully I'll get round to it soon. 

The yarn lives up to it's name, in that it does drape really beautifully when knitted up. It is also lovely to work with and has a silk like sheen to the fibres. 

August is almost at end and the evenings, dare I mention, are drawing in somewhat cooler than of late. I'm looking forward to  wearing this shawl before summer is officially over. As I write it's been the Bank Holiday Weekend and of course, raining! The grass outside is slowing returning to it's more usual shade of green.

The weather forecast for the working week is for blue skies and fluffy white clouds...