Fractured Hearts

I realised the other day that I hadn’t yet updated the Fracture MKAL pattern into a single PDF, but it is now done and I had a few requests for written instructions so I have added those too. The final single pattern has been renamed Fractured Hearts and is now available to purchase on Ravelry.

I really enjoyed running my first ever mystery knit-a-long, I was so worried before starting that it came as a bit of a shock how much fun it turned out to be. I am now considering running a mystery knit-a-long every spring, I’m already thinking about possible designs, but there are so many considerations, laceweight again or perhaps 4ply, single colour or multiple colours, and then what elements should I add, lace or cables, twisted stitches or ripples, the possibilities are endless!

Keep an eye on the blog next week as I am planning on a running a little questionaire with regards to KAL’s and would love you input.

New Pattern: Tracks of my Rainbow Tears

Time to start July with a splash of colour, this is my latest pattern – Tracks of my Rainbow Tears. This is a great project for using up small amounts of leftover bright coloured yarn, or you could do like I did and use some West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4ply in shade Rum Paradise.

This is an easy knit, the teardrops are shaped with short rows, but they are simple and it knits up really quickly. It’s knit from end to end so is also completely customisable with regards to length, you’ll need a minimum of 300yds of the main colour and 100yds of contrast colour to get a good sized shawl.

You can purchase the pattern via Ravelry here and there is a 20% discount with coupon code ‘tears’ available until the end of the 4th of July.

New Pattern: Leaf Anatomy

It’s a cold and damp day so here’s a bright rainbow shawl to brighten things up.

This is my latest pattern Leaf Anatomy, knit in 4ply / fingering weight yarn it uses from 500 – 1200 yards of yarn. My sample was knit in Knitting Goddess 4ply Britsock in the printer ink colourwheel shades, I used 600yds of yarn and the finished shawl is a large 53″ wide x 33″ deep.

Leaf Anatomy is available to purchase now, and if you use the coupon code ‘leaf’ you can get an introductory 25% discount. As always if you decide to knit this pattern I would love to see a picture.

New Pattern: Belieu Shawl

 

photo copyright Practical Publishing

I have a pattern in the latest issue of Knit Now, this is the Belieu Shawl. The challenge was to design something using a max of 100g of Knit Picks Palette and this was what I come up with, the shawl above is knit in shades Suede and Masala which I think go really well together.

Picot bind off

I have a love/hate relationship with picot bind off, I love how it looks but hate how long it takes to do. Before starting a picot bind off there are two really important things to consider:

• Have you got plenty of yarn
• Have you got plenty of time

If you are already close to playing yarn chicken then this is definitely not the bind off for you as it uses a huge amount of yarn. Also if you have got a lot of stitches to bind off then find a good film, a comfy chair and large cup of coffee before starting.

I’ve seen a number of different methods for this bind off but below is my version, I personally find this way to be the quickest and easiest.

Picot Bind off:

1. Cast on 2sts using the cable cast on method
2. Bind off 4sts using the normal method
3. Return the single stitch back to the left needle

Repeat steps 1 – 3 until all sts have been worked.

This is a 2 stitch picot, which I like as it is not too big or small, you can change the size of the picot points by casting on more or less sts, just remember that you always have to bind off twice as many sts as you cast on.

The picot bind off is really stretchy so it is great for the bottom edge of a shawl or for a decorative edge on pretty much anything.

Fracture Shawls

So now that my Fracture mystery knit-a-long is finished I can post some pictures, the one above is my sample, but below are some finished shawls from knitters that joined in. One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is seeing all of the great finished projects and how the shawl looks in different yarns and colours.

How lovely is this white version, would make a great shawl for a bride.

Pink and hearts are a perfect combination

The next two are by the same person, I’m in awe, they both look amazing.

I’ve enjoyed the MKAL so much that I will definitely do it again, possibly towards the end of the year.

 

Fracture MKAL progress

The Fracture mystery is the first ever knit-a-long that I have run and one of my favourite things about it is looking at everyone’s progress pictures and so I want to share some with you all.

These pictures all show progress up to clue 3, there is 4 more clues to go.

The only  problem with seeing all of the photos is that it makes me want to go out and buy more yarn in every imaginable colour, I especially love the beautiful blue of this shawl…

I’ve been considering running a mystery KAL for over a year now, but being a natural born worrier I had all of the doubts: would anyone join in, what if everyone hates the pattern, etc. But I am really glad that I decided to go ahead with it, I’ve enjoyed the interaction and seeing everyone’s pictures and I’ve had some wonderful messages from people too. Sometimes I need to stop fretting and just get on with it!

A huge thank you to the knitters who let me use their photos in this post.

New knitting pattern: Merry Dancers Shawl

I’ve just released a new pattern, this is Merry Dancers:

Merry Dancers is knit entirely on the bias from end to end, the directional shaping means that the pattern creates diagonal lines along the length of the shawl; to further enhance the diagonal lines I used Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball in shade Indian Rose.

The pattern is available via Ravelry and until the 14th there is an introductory 20% off the price, as always if you knit this pattern I would love to see a picture.

A very windy photo shoot

I’ve recently finished a new shawl pattern and wanted to take photos somewhere with big sky, so a couple of weeks ago we went up to Felixstowe which is a large port not too far from me.

I was lucky, it was a fine clear day, the major problem was that it was also extremely windy, so rather a lot of my photos ended up looking something like this….

Thankfully I did also manage to get a few photos that didn’t look so windswept, I guess I should be happy that it didn’t rain too! The little bit of beach where we took these photos is very popular place with dog walkers and boat spotters, standing in the middle of the beach taking photos of my knitwear does get you some awfully strange looks! I’ll be releasing this new pattern at the weekend once I’ve finished going through all of the photos

Spring Sale

I’m having a spring sale on all of my patterns, firstly you can get the Smalti Cowl pattern for free until the end of March and all of the rest of my patterns have 25% off the price until the end of March too, and as always if you make something from one of my patterns then I’d love to see a picture.

Arborescent

Alpinia

As Autumn
Leaves

Smalti Cowl