Aqua Cotton Capelet

Capelet, cotton chained tape, wide rib stitch, size 10.5 cable needle, nickel, 24 in.

I found this chained cotton tape on sale at The Yarn Company in New York City this summer and began a project with it immediately.  I enjoy this yarn a great deal because of it's springy-ness, even though it is cotton, which is often the texture of  kite string. I've worked with it in five colors now.

After a good start I created the notes page - each project gets a page to keep track of when it was started, notes about the design and techniques, where photographs are located, when it is completed and other useful notes.

This is the last row before binding off the stitches. The weight is a little on the bulky side, which I find very interesting. It still has all the properties of a good cotton. I began at the bottom and knit upwards to the neck edge, decreasing the width of the rib on the way up.

It is a thing!

The pale aqua looks a little different in different kinds of light.

I steamed and blocked it to relax the texture and I really love the way it looks and feels - it has a beautiful drape, which is I why I love working with this cotton.  It's about 55 inches around at the bottom and about 24 inches at the neck, and is about 15 inches long - it stops at around the elbows.

This gives the best sense of the color.

This scarf will be for sale along with  others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

Black Lacy Cotton and Linen Shawl/Scarf

Shawl, cotton, silk and linen, seed stitch, size 10 aluminum cable needle, 24 inches.

The two novelty yarns  and large needles make this a very unusual fabric.  The small flags yarn is somewhat crispy due to the linen paper, and the more dense cotton, silk and linen yarn adds a lovely drape.  While not totally transparent, it's very lacy.

This is about halfway through - the yarn slides around on the aluminum needles so it's necessary to keep a good grip on things.  Losing track of stitches with black yarn can be disastrous.

The linen paper flags make a little rustle and a lot of texture. Although it's not gaudy, this unusual

surface makes the fabric a standout.  The fine guage yarns make for a very lightweight shawl, and if wrapped around the neck with the triangle point in front it will act as a scarf without too much warmth because of the cotton and linen fiber.

70 inches wide and about 18 inches deep at the triangle point.

This scarf will be for sale along with  others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

I Can't Resist Shaggy Black Shawls

Scarf, seed stitch, mixed fibers, size 10 wood cable needle.

The surface really looks this complicated, which is most of the reason I like to make black shaggy shawls. This one has fifteen yarns and that also made it a wondrful textile to put together.

I carried around a grocery sack of yarns for awhile, but it was definitely worth it to produce this wild and drapey fabric.

The textile was created in a pet-free and smoke-free environment.  It has some wool and mohair content and will be for cooler weather.

I'm beginning to love the "card" method of keeping the rows of yarns in order.  For this fabric I wanted to balance the delicate and bulky yarns and spread them through out evenly, so the card helped me determine what would be in the next row as I went along.

It's about 75 inches long, so plenty of length to produce wrapped up shapes or sprawled out shapes.  It will go around the neck twice and has plenty of length to do interesting knots.

The triangle is deep enough so that it can be worn "babushka" style like a headscarf and it will cover the back of the head and ears on those extra-cold days or nights.

It's just shy of "wild thang" category.

The light is reflected and absorbed differently by each yarn, and the beads provide a bit of sparkle.  So this can be funky or sophisticated and be a great wrap for many different occasions.

This scarf is for sale along with  others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

Light Pink Cotton Scarf

Scarf, cotton, garter stitch on the bias, size 8 wood cable needle, 16 in.

This lovely light pink yarn was the inspiration for this fluffy piece.  I decided to stitch it on the bias so that the fabric would be a little bit more unconventional than a straight stitch.  The thick and thin yarn doesn't really need a fancy stitch to produce a striking fabric.

The bias orientation means that in row one a stitch is added at one end of the row and a stitch is deleted at the other end.

In spite of the straightforward, uncomplicated stitch, this scarf spent many months in suspended animation as I struggled about whether to go on.  I'm glad I did! When I hold its lovely soft pink fabric in my hands I know that people will find this to be a delightful scarf.  I love the pebbly surface!

The scarf is about 60 inches long and about 7 inches wide, so it's perfect for warmer weather wear, or for air conditioned spaces.

It folds up neatly and will fit into a small bag or packpack, but it also will comfortably wrap around the neck twice and allow for a loose knot.

This scarf is for sale along with about a dozen others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

Hot pink silk with mohair

Chained pink silk, mohair lavender boucle,  seed stitch, size 11 wood cable needle.

It took awhile to figure out what to do to take an ordinary hot pink and elevate it to something else.

After awhile I began to really love the way the lavender boucle loups made a little halo around the bulky pink strands.

I love all the contrasts within the scarf - the bulky silk and the delicate mohair, the delicate lavender against the brash pink. The texture is soft because of the matte silk, but not terribly fuzzy.

It's not quite a triangle, but not a regular rectangle shape.

It will easily wrap twice around the neck and have plenty of room for a knot to secure it.  If worn like a headscarf it will cover the ears nicely, but not quite cover the entire back of the head.

This scarf is for sale along with about a dozen others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

Shiny!

Scarf, rayon, polyester, linen, cotton, seed stitch, size 8 cable needle, 24 in.

I've had both of these novelty yarns for awhile and have wanted to put them to good use, so I waited until I felt like I had the right idea.  The railroad yarn with the pastel "ties" seemed to have too much color by itself, so I hit upon adding a black yarn, but I did not want something fuzzy - I wanted to keep the shiny aspect as the stronger texture.  The linen flags yarn from Japan seemed like the right idea.  Yes!

I think the attitude for this scarf is more like a pettit but strong accent, so the scarf is smaller than I commonly make, but still easy to tie or pin together to cover the shoulders or work as a headscarf.

The black background is formed from shiny polyester with some white strands that make it glint, and the cotton and linen yarn form a matt black depth so that the pastel bits pop out.

It's not quite transparent, but lacy enough so that anything under it will show through. This makes it a good summer scarf and a good party scarf.

This scarf is for sale along with about a dozen others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio

Blue Cotton Daily Scarf

What first attracted me to the yarn was the color.  And then of course cotton.

I definitely like the tweedy and heathery effect that the different strands within the yarn produce.

While making the scarf I enjoyed the way the yarn went through my fingers.  It was always a joy to pick up the knitting and work with it for an hour or so.  I used a large cable wooden needle and a straightforward rib stitch.  The rib was very tight when I was working it, then it stretched out to make the famous "ribs" as I bound off the needle.

The long length and the drape will look good on very tall people as well as others - this scarf will never look "skimpy" no matter what the body shape.

Tassel!

This scarf is for sale along with about a dozen others in my etsy shop, Little Hands Studio: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/littlehandsstudio