The Miracle of blocking

Up until recently, I hadn't done much lace knitting. I tried a few free patterns on Ravelry (e.g. enja's scarf stole by Åsa Tricosa, Ella by Wendy Wonnacut and Nori by Carissa Browning - all beautiful and well written patterns that I highly recommend), but I ended up frogging most of them because I was too lazy to count, didn't want to concentrate too much on my knitting or rather wanted a pattern that I could easily remember - thus avoiding to carry the printed out pattern with me. 

About a year ago, I designed a lacy scarf myself (Seifenblasen Lace Scarf), but the lace pattern wasn't too sophisticated (only two different rows, i.e. really easy to remember :).

Just a while ago, I started experimenting with randomly knitted lace and used it to make e-book, tablet and phone sleeves that I really liked (see tutorial here). However, these are small enough projects (i.e. with a knitting time of a few hours), so it wasn't such an exercise in patience to see the crumply piece on the needles and wait for the blocked and lovely looking end-product.  The picture below shows how a small piece of random (or freeform) lace looks before (left hand side) and after (right hand side) blocking.

Moreover, the counting the total number of stitches wasn't much of a problem because there were only about 25 stitches on my needles and I could easily concentrate on the numbers of increases and decreases I had made (the number of increases and decreases needs to be equal in one row to keep the stitch count) or recount the whole row in a jiffy. Plus, there was no pattern to remember, since I made it all up as I went along :)

I really liked the technique and the outcome, so I decided to knit a freeform lace summer scarf or wrap. 

Having found some fingering weight yarn in different shades of red, I cast on 50 stitches and started ... however, I didn't exactly go as I planned. I hadn't anticipated that it would be an exercise in concentration to keep track of the increases and decreases during one row - even though I only counted the difference to the original count (i.e. "minus one" after a decrease and "plus one" after an increase). So I ended up counting each row at least once ...

Moreover, it took quite a while to finish the piece - the random lace pieces I had knitted up until then had measured 40 cm max. A scarf or wrap for an adult of my size must be at least 160 cm long and even though the technique is fun, after a while it got a bit boring and repetitive (this is not an instant gratification project, definitely not), I didn't see much progress ... and while knitting it, it wasn't exactly nice to look at. Here's how it looked about half finished. Crumpled and rather unattractive ... 

But I gritted my teeth, went on knitting and was really (really, REALLY) happy when yesterday I could finally put it on the blocking board. And I do like the look of it now.

The most ironic thing is, that with that kind of freeform lace, I ended up counting MORE than with regular patterns ... and I had to concentrate much more. However, I think the result made it worth its while. I'm looking forward to wear it as a summer wrap and I guess I will publish a tutorial soon.

Lovely Gift - Or Swingy Wingspan

If you search for shawl/wrap patterns on Ravelry Wingspan by maylin Tri'Coterie Designs will be among the Top 10 with over 10'000 projects. There are also quite a few variations and adaptaions
of it (as you can see on this Pinterest board).

Some time ago, I received and email from the Designer (maylin from Tricot Treat) with a gift of all her patterns. At the time I was really touched by this gift, because it was so unexpected.
And this morning, I found another receipt email from Ravelry in my inbox - with another pattern gift, her new pattern: a swing knitting version of Wingspan called Rigoles. Again, I am surprised and I honestly think, that it's a lovely, lovely present by a very gifted designer. Thank you so much!

I downloaded it. The pattern is written with much attention to detail, many illustrations and photos, plus there are some diffent versions included.

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of a finished shawl, but there are some really nice ones on the Ravelry pattern page of Rigoles. I can only show a screenshot of the pattern's thumbnail.

P.S.: Three years ago, when I published the Mixed Wave patterns (cowl and fingerless gloves), I tried to do a wavy (or swingy) version of Wingspan as well. But at that time doing short rows within short rows was a bit to much for me - so I frogged it ... and I haven't tried it since :)

More Modular Knitting

After finishing the Little Rectangles Scarf I thought more about modular knitting patterns and the way they can be used to emphasize variegated yarn. So I tried out some patterns on paper and found that these Xs or crosses could be used as well.

I'm still not sure whether this pattern will work out - especially how to knit some of the crosses, the ones that need to be knitted upside down and then attached to the lower ones. Or maybe I have to think about it again ... But if it works, it will be an interesting scarf or blanket pattern.

Monster Tooth Scarf

Tired of wearing wintry gray? In need of something that looks strong and colorful? Then knit yourself an antidote with this nice wide scarf for spring in beautiful colors with a strong graphic pattern.

This scarf is knitted (nearly) only in garter stitch; the graphic effect is achieved with short rows.




This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.



There are two versions of instructions – one (short and descriptive) that just gives the gist of what is done when. And one with rows and stitches spelled out.

Personally, I prefer instructions given in the short style (or rather that’s the way I started thinking about the pattern), but I know that instructions like this can confusing for others and are uncommon. That’s why there is a normal version as well.

Please note, that the scarf is not quite symmetrical.

Material

• about 100 grams of fingering weight yarn in Color 1 (light green on the photos) 
• about 100 grams of fingering weight yarn in a contrasting color (Color 2, purple on the photos)
  (the yarn used for this project is Malabrigo Sock - Colors 037 Lettuce and 141 Dewberry.)
• a circular knitting needle (3mm) or a long double pointed needle 
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques and Abbreviations

• Short rows with double stitches (German short rows, t+p): when you turn, bring yarn to the front and pull it back so that a sort of "double-stitch" is created, then knit back as usual - when you have to knit the double-stitch, make sure to knit it as one stitch (see also this YouTube video); this method has the advantage the no picking up of stitches is necessary. In the pattern, this stitch will be called t+p (turn and pull).

Instructions (Telegram Style)

• Start with 14 sts (in Color 1) and knit one wedge, slip sts to other end of needle and add 4 sts in Color 2.
• For wedges in Color 1 always start from one end of the needle; for wedges in Color 2 always start from the opposite end of the needle, i.e. slip stitches to the other end of your needles between knitting wedges.
• All stitches are knit stitches – except the first rows of Color 2 wedges (purl stitches).
• For all wedges: Start with a long row (until 5 sts before end), then knit each row 2 sts shorter, until there are only 6 or 7 sts left.
• During the first half, knit increases at the side of every 6th row (i.e. every 3rd ridge) of wedges in Color 2.
• When your piece is about half knit a wedge in Color 2 without increases or decreases
• Afterwards, knit decreases at the side of every 6th row (i.e. every 3rd ridge) of wedges in Color 2.
• End with a wedge in Color 1.

Instructions (Detailed)

Wedge 1 (Color 1)
CO14
Row 0: sl1, k to end
Ridge 1: sl1, k to 2 before end, t+p, k to end
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Repeat Ridge 2 until the last row is only 6 sts long (i.e. 6 on RS, 5 on WS)

Wedge 2 (Color 2)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) and CO4 with Color2 (see picture No. 1), then turn needle
Ridge 1: sl1, p to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
(Your piece should now look similar to the one in picture No. 2.)
Ridge 3: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to 2 before end, kfb, k
Continue knitting ridges 1 to 3 until the last row is only 6 or 7 stitches wide, the last ridge does not have to be a ridge 3.

Wedge 3 (Color 1)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) – continue knitting with Color 1
Ridge 1: sl1, k to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Repeat Ridge 2 until the last row is only 6 or 7 sts long - after a few ridges, your piece should look similar to picture No. 3

Wedge 4 (Color 2, with increases every 3rd ridge)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) – continue knitting with Color 2
Ridge 1: sl1, p to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Ridge 3: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to 2 before end, kfb, k
Continue knitting ridges 1 to 3 until the last row is only 6 or 7 stitches wide, the last ridge does not have to be a ridge 3.

Repeat wedges 3 and 4 until the piece measures about half the desired length of your scarf. Then knit on odd-numbered wedge (i.e. in Color 1).

Picture No. 4 shows how your piece should look after knitting wegde 3 and 4 twice.

Middle Wedge (Color 2, no increases or decreases)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) – continue knitting with Color 2
Ridge 1: sl1, k to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Repeat Ridge 2 until the last row is only 6 or 7 sts long

Wedge 6 (Color 1)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) – continue knitting with Color 1
Ridge 1: sl1, k to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Repeat Ridge 2 until the last row is only 6 or 7 sts long

Wedge 7 (Color 2, with decreases every 3rd ridge)
Slip all stitches to the other end of your needle (do not turn your work) – continue knitting with Color 2
Ridge 1: sl1, p to 5 sts before end, t+p, k to end (during the first row, make sure not to knit the double-stitches as two stitches, but as one)
Ridge 2: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to end
Ridge 3: sl1, k to 2 sts before last double stitch, t+p, k to 3 before end, ssk, k
Continue knitting ridges 1 to 3 until the last row is only 6 or 7 stitches wide, the last ridge does not have to be a ridge 3.

Repeat wedges 6 and 7 until you have knitted the same number of wegdes 6 and 7 than you did of wedges 2 and 3. End with an odd-numbered wedge (i.e. in Color 1). Bind-off all Color 1 stitches in the last row, then bind off the other stitches in Color 2.
It is possible that you don't end with the number of stitches you started with - that's because the decreasing wedges have less ridges than the corresponding increasing wedges.