Mohair scarf of black and multi color stripes

Scarf, stockinette stitch and rib stitch, mohair,  size 8 cable needle, 24 in.; about 15 in wide and 72 in long.

Started during a month-long working guest stint at a meditation retreat center, I began the big scarf with the black worked in stockinette stitch and the bright multicolor stripes worked in rib stitch to make the texture more interesting than straight stockinette and less curled up than straight rib stitch.

I enjoy working with bright multi-color yarns, but I think they look even more striking when alternated with black.

This design has stripes of uneven width to give the fabric a dynamic feel rather than ordinary regular stripes.

After working until the shawl was a few feet long I knew I was going to run out of the multi yarn and had to search for quite a while through bins and bins before finding the second ball. At times I doubted that I still had the second ball or if I ever had a second ball, but at last it appeared. I have become a bit better at keeping all the yarns for a project together in a project bag.

It was selected as a Christmas gift from among several scarves by a dear friend.

Yellow Linen Cloth in Garter Stitch

Wash cloth, linen, garter stitch, size 1 aluminum needles, 14 in.

The finished cloth is 11 in x 11 in and the fine gauge made with sport weight yarn produces a fairly sturdy and heavy cloth.  It's made to stand up to a lot of wear and to be machine washable and dryable.  This is a work horse cloth.
 

Sunny Yellow Linen - in progress

Wash cloth; Sport weight linen; garter stitch;  size 1 aluminum needle

I have really enjoyed this basic cloth, which is a gift for a departing work colleague. The very fine needle makes the cloth nicely tight-knit and it will machine wash and dry very well. It's LOTS of knitting for a piece that will probably be 11 x 11 inches.

 

Blue gray basketweave variation

Wash cloth, cotton, basket weave stitch, size 1 needles, 7inches, bamboo

No, this is not cable stitch.  Looks like it, but it is a basket weave variation from a long line of experiments.  I like varying the number of rows and the numbers of knit and purl stitches in order to obtain these patterns.  The washcloth doesn't take very long and the worsted cotton shows the stitch definition beautifully.  

This is also a variation on the old garter stitch diagonal pattern wash cloth given away by aunt Shirley, or maybe your mother in law.  

I love to give these away.  I have a large back of keins of Rowan Hand Knit Cotton and when the mood hits I pull out a skein and think of a basketweave variation I have not yet tried.

Green cotton tabard

Tabard, cotton, rib stitch border, stockinette body, size 7 cable needle, 24 in

 

I joined a knitting group in 2018 and chose this project for my "social knitting". I often get very involved in the conversations of a knitting group and my knitting suffers unless I choose something very simple.  I wanted to get back to a nice smooth sockinette stitch for this tabard.

I didn't need a pattern because this is a rectangle with a hole in the middle.  Tabards do not have side seams or sleeves.  Usually they extend to the shoulder or a little beyond.  The sides can be buttoned or held together by any number of fasteners.  Often tabard style aprons are tied at the sides

The casting off and rebinding in the middle leaves a neck hole.  By picking up the neck hole stitches and knitting a ribbed edging a nice finish is given to the neck.

 

I knitted the rib stitch edging into the fabric at the bottom of the front and back by changing the stitch pattern, then I picked up stitches along the sides and knitted the 3 inch edge in rib stitch.

  This the the finished tabard.

Knitted masterwork: the amazing technicolor dream shawl.

 The amazing technicolor dream shawl is complete!!!!  I began this huge shawl in 2008 and stuck with it through thick and thin. I consider it my first knitted masterwork.

Shawl, mixed fibers - wool, mohair, nylon, silk; woven stitch, size 4 wood cable needle, 24 inches.

 

12 years! The challenge, beyond persistence, has been to keep the characteristics of the fabric the same over all those years.  With the basic formula of color sequence being to use a black yarn every third or fourth row, the challenge was to keep the color sequences as random as possible and to keep from beginning to favor warm or cool colors. The process had to involve looking back at the fabric each time I began kntting in  order to check the colors and keep them at a sufficient level of consistency so that the fabric stayed the same and didn't change into something else.  I loved the whole thing!

All told, it has dozens of yarns, beads and sequins. I also had to be vigilant regarding the beads and sequins. I watched carefully as I used the beaded and sequined yarn to make sure that they were distributed evenly through the fabric and not clustered.

Previous entries:

Included in summary entry for 2012

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/catching-up-fall-of-knitting.html

December 2011

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/shawl-mixed-fibers-wool-mohair-nylon.html

March 2009

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-studio-lightweight-linen-stitch.html

September 2008

http://thatknittingblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-studio-woven.html

 

Green and khaki cottons shawl

Triangle shawl; dark olive cotton with khaki cotton; seed stitch, knitting, size 8 cable needle

I loved knitting this cotton triangle shawl! It felt marvelous going through my fingers during the knitting process. It is a shallow triangle shape with a self fringe formed by tying off the yarn and switching between yarns for each row.

The two colors that are rather similar create a fabric that has a dynamic quality with a surface that shifts around a little as the fabric is viewed from different angles or is folded in different ways. So even when the colors are neutral, the fabric has a vibrancy. The deep olive yarn has quite a lot of texture and the khaki yarn is smooth, so the contrasting textures also contribute to the lively surface.

Stripes! scarf

Scarf, mixed fibers; mohair, silk, wool, nylon, rayon; seed stitch and stockinette stitch; size 4 needles, 14 in.; approximately 10 in. x 74 in.

Yet another scarf recently pulled from the work in progress bin, this one is a lovely weight with good drape.  There are probably around 20 yarns, cut into uneven lengths to give the strips a dynamic feel. The mohair will give it great insulating properties so it will be a great bright scarf to wear all winter.

The size 4 needles make this a fairly dense fabric but the fluffy mohair keeps it light weight. It is a LOT of knitting and I blazed through many a podcast while finishing it up this fall.

 

Blue Marled Alpaca Scarf

Scarf; basketweave stitch variation; alpaca; size 7 cable needle

Photographed on a blue blanket, the blue is revealed in a new way. This is one in the series of works that vary the basketweave stitch. I adore knitting with alpaca because of the way it makes my fingertips warm while I am knitting. 

This is the first knitting that I tried using as a concentration exercise. It was quite wonderful to keep my mind conscious of the knitting rather than let it wander.  

Bulky Gray Capelet

Bulky thick and thin wool yarn; size 10.5 metal cable needle; stockinette stitch

I love making capelets and have made many, this being the most recent example. I still use the formula set out in a book called The Knitting Experience by Sally Melville.  I think she called it a circle scarf.  I is a versatile formula and I intentionally call it a formula rather than a pattern.  

When I use it I work out a gauge with the yarn then cast on the bottom, knit for seven inches and then decrease.  I knit four more inches then decrease again, which will be right about at the shoulders.  I knit four more inches and then create whatever kind of neckline I'd like the capelet to have.  I like this length, which generally falls right around the elbows, because it provides warmth and yet it doesn't get in the way like a full length cape or poncho might.

Mixed media on paper

 

12.5 in. x 12.5 in. Fabriano Maxim ; Tao Te Ching text; graphite; pastel; collage; gel pen;

Collage greeting card

 

Mixed media greeting card 4 x 6

Mixed paper elements with water color splatter. Muted colors provide a neutral context for the stark black. Metric elements suggest mathematic or scientific quantification. We often want to be sure in our lives and use measurement to compare.

Filet Crochet scarf

Filet crochet scarf

Filet crochet scarf with a double crochet border; one circle embellishment,;72 in long x 8 in wide; size 2mm hook; the yarn is one strand/ply of linen with one strand/ply of kid mohair.

The crochet involed here forms a grid by spacing double crochet stictches along the row and in each row stictch the double crochet only into the double crochet from the previous row.  It builds a very open lacy fabic quickly. The linen in this fabric gives it body and weight.

Mail art / Postal Art August/September 2020

Weather

Weather

Weather

Influential Book

Weather

It was quite a bout of mail art during last week.  I joined in Erin Fussell's year long project #howstheweatherherethere and it's juicy!  I've beeen using a little heart as the ongoing motif among  mixed media abstract collage elements.  My very deep stash has come in handy as I've expolore colors and images to express weather that is inside and outside.  

The Art Association of Sudbury, MA is calling for mail art that represents an influential book in our lives, and I've sent two verses from the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic that I have read on and off since 1972.

One of the best parts about mail art is taking it to the mail box out on the road and putting the little red flag up before the mail carrier drives by. It means one more work of art is completed and making its way out int he world.

 

Purple teal orange brown wild thang

This is several different yarns cut into random lenghts, all a bulky weight, knit with a size 11 cable needle.  Often I will add squins, eyelash yarns or other novelty yarns, but I think this has plenty of "interest" already.

Lots of alpaca and silk

A bit on the bulky side, this ribbed scarf will be very warm and soft. I've used two yarns switching each two rows. I'm using an old pair of plastic needles that were my mother's.

Basketweave variation in apricot

This is all the same piece in spite of the way it looks in different light, etc.
It's quite entertaining to keep producing variations of this stitch while making face cloths with cotton.  I've taken to using small needles to make a nice firm fabric - I'm always happier with something more firm than floppy when the cloth is wet.

Blue and Gray Silk

Pure silk worked in seed stitch, size 7 needles, self-fringing.  There are three blue yarns and one gray yarn in this fabric.