Evelyne....again

One of the first designs I came up with (if you can call it a design), was a simple lace scarf for my MIL. At that time I hadn't yet discovered bulky and superbulky yarn, so I swooned at the thought of all things lace! I still love lace, but the "bulkies" give me such awesome instant gratification that I keep forgetting my first love. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few pictures of this sample of my Evelyne scarf, handknit by my friend Sara (a friend I made in college in 2001!).

   

As always, I'm so grateful for my partnership with my fellow small business owner and photographer extraordinaire, Kwaku of Nkadu Photography, and my ready-for-whatever go-getter model Lilia!

I hope you enjoyed the photos, and see you next week!

Evelyne Revisited

It's a new month, and time for some new things! Or in this case, some new old things. Evelyne was one of the first patterns I designed, and is named after my MIL. I hadn't yet planned to be a knitwear designer, and thought any photo is better than no photo. So I listed the pattern on Ravelry with this photo:

I took this photo indoors....and at night. Tsk tsk tsk. Now I know better, and I was able to get a professional to take some better photos of the shawl for me. Thanks to my friend Sarah for knitting the new sample for me. As always, I'm thankful to Lilia for being such a professional model, and to my friend Nana Kwaku (who I've been bugging to take photos for me for years!) for going above and beyond what I even imagined. Check out some of the new photos of the Evelyne shawl. It's free! I never offered a PDF copy of the  pattern because I didn't have pretty photos, but that is going to change shortly.  I'm so excited!

This new sample was knit in KnitPicks Aloft Sky colorway. It's so soft and light that the stole looks ethereal! I just love how it turned out, and now I want to knit Evelyne in as many Aloft colorways as I can. I never learn do I?

Be on the lookout for a PDF of the Evelyne pattern, for those who would like a copy for your records. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Melody's Stole Knit-a-long: Recap

I'm feeling quite under the weather today so this blog post will be hopefully short and sweet. Remember the Melody's Stole Knit-a-long that I was holding with Sandra Singh on her Ravelry group? Well, I promised to keep you updated on my progress with the stole. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish the stole in time for the deadline. However, two people finished the stole (one even made TWO of them), and have graciously given me permission to share photos of their finished Melody. Here we go. One of the participants, Laurel, made 2 stoles. The first one was in KnitPicks Aloft, in the Tranquil colorway.

For her second one, she used Saffron Dyeworks Odara: Silk/Merino in Parrot Blue. I love that you can see the zigzag nature of the pattern very well in this second stole.

Gini H. who also took part in the knitalong knit her stole in Sandrasingh.com Lace, the yarn that I designed the pattern for. She used the Cinnamon Girl colorway and it come out looking quite delicious. :)

Finally, here are photos from my friend Catrin (whom I've never met, but she's awesome, and we've had numerous chats online about knitting and other stuff), who test knitted the pattern for me and also knit 2 of the stoles for herself.

The pattern is really easy to knit, and you can even go up to a fingering, dk or sportweight yarn if lace isn't your thing. You can even double up the lace yarn to make your own version! Make your own Melody's Stole (pattern is free and can be downloaded via that link) and support Sandrasingh.com by using her Sandrasingh.com Yarn-Lace. You get 950yds of gorgeous lace-weight yarn in one skein, so you can make TWO Melody stoles if you so wanted.

Thank you so much for visiting today, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Update - Melody's Stole Knit-a-Long Weeks 3 & 4

The past few weeks have been quite slow in terms of knitting this stole. Almost all of us fell sick in my household, meaning that most of my knitting projects are way behind schedule (I'm currently recovering from a terrible cold). I also traveled to Indiana for 3 days, which also reduced my knitting time (and got me off schedule a bit so I missed putting up an update), and then Thanksgiving was here. Still I tried my best to knit a few rows of the stole to keep the momentum going. Here it is.

I also wanted to share how I keep track of my rows when knitting from multiple charts. I know there are row counters around, but because my charts don't have the same number of rows, I actually prefer to write down and mark off the rows as I finish them. To do this I usually carry a piece of paper/a small notebook and a pen/pencil in the knitting bag (ahem...ziploc bag) that I have the knitting in.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'll see you next week.

PS: If you are looking for a lovely holiday gift to give to friends and loved ones during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, visit my Etsy shop at http://NiseyKnits.etsy.com and use the coupon code SFETSYHOLIDAY2012 for 15% off your entire purchase!

Also, if you live in the Bay Area, please visit me at the Bazaar Bizarre Fair in San Francisco on Dec 1st and 2nd in Booth #156! (THIS WEEKEND) http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/shows/holidayshow/

Saturday December 1st & Sunday December 2nd 2012 Concourse Exhibition Center EAST HALL 620 Seventh St. (at Brannan) San Francisco, CA 94103-4901 Saturday & Sunday 11-6PM – FREE TO ATTEND

Melody's Stole Knit-A-Long

Hello! I hope you are all having a great week so far. For those of you on the East Coast, I hope you and yours are well and safe during this Hurricane Sandy. Today's post is to give you a quick update on the Melody's Stole Knit-A-Long (KAL). The official start date has been set for Monday Nov. 5th (next week Monday). I'm working with Sandra Singh, the owner of Sandrasingh.com, and she is hosting the KAL in her Ravelry Group here. If you are already a knitter and would like to try out lace knitting, this pattern is easy enough to follow along, and there will be lots of hand holding by me and other knitters in the KAL.

Best of all, Sandra has been so kind to offer 15% off her Sandrasingh.com Lace for anyone participating in this KAL (You can purchase the yarn and download the pattern here.) So, you have a free pattern, 15% off a humongous skein of yarn (that skein is enough for 2 stoles), and a lovely group of knitters to help and encourage you through this project. What are you waiting for? Come join us in this fun KAL here: Melody Stole KAL.

Melody's Stole: A new free pattern

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Sandra of www.sandrasingh.com about designing a shawl using her newly launched lace yarn line, Sandrasingh.com Lace. I have to tell you that this yarn is one of the softest I've worked with. I really wanted to do justice to this yarn with my design. My initial plan was to redo my Evelyne pattern for her, but the more I looked at and played with the yarn, the more I wanted to do something different. I wanted a zigzag design to the shawl, but not one with sharp turns. I wanted it to be super lacy like Evelyne, and I knew that I wanted some garter bands separating the lace sections. I also wanted a zigzag border to match the zigzagging of the stole's body. After a few swatches, I finalized the pattern and got to work on this stole in May. It took a little bit of time as I was working on this design and a few other secret projects. I finished in June and sent it over to Sandra, who loved it (Thank God!). Here it is, Melody's Stole.

I'm so glad the pattern is out now. I hope you love it as much as I do. Did I mention that it's free? Visit this link to download it from Sandrasingh.com. Here's what you'll need to make your own Melody's Stole.

Size 21in x 61 in

Yarn Sandrasingh.com Lace (100% merino; 950 yd [869 m]/100 g [3.53 oz]): Electric Blue, 0.5 skeins

Gauge 14 sts and 16 rows = 4" in Right or Left Diagonal Openwork Pattern 32 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch.

Tools US #8 (5 mm): 32" circular (cir) needle or straight needles 2 Markers (m) Yarn needle

We are planning a KAL (Knit-A-Long) for this shawl, just in time for Christmas gifts. Please leave a comment below and let me know if you would be interested in participating in this fun activity.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

PS: Please share with your friends and family who might also be interested. KALs are more fun with more people, don't you think?