Breezy Net Repeating Lace Pattern

Recently I knew I wanted to make a stole out of a lace weight yarn (in this case, Artyarns' Silk Mohair Glitter in color H12). I wanted a really simple, open lace pattern with lots of space between the threads, almost like a fisherman's net. But I couldn't find a lace pattern that was open enough without being way too overwrought for me. So I made up my own pattern.

Breezy Net Lace

When repeated, this pattern does not increase or decrease stitches, so it is good for a square object such as a scarf.

This pattern is a multiple of 6 stitches plus 4; the plus-4 is for two garter stitches at the edges of the piece, but you could of course have as many or as few garter stitches as you wanted. It is a four-row repeat.

Breezy Net Repeating Lace Pattern
Start by casting on as many stitches as you need for the width of your piece size as if you were knitting it in garter stitch.

This version of the pattern includes two garter stitches on either edge of the piece.

1st round:  K2, *yo, k3tog, yo, k3, repeat from * to last 2 sts, k2.

2nd round:  K2, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, *k2tog, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, repeat from * to last 9 sts, k2tog, k1, k2tog, yo, k2, k2.

3rd round:  K2, *k3, yo, k3tog, yo, repeat to last 2 sts, k2.

4th round:  K2, k2, yo, *k2tog, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, repeat to last 6 sts, k2tog, k2, k2.

The stole, partially stretched to show

lace pattern.

The pattern from a little farther away.

Victor Op-Art Socks

Dimensions: Fits men's U.S. shoe sizes 9-10
Completed: January 2016

Vega-Nor by Victor Vasarely (1969)

I made these socks using the pattern called "Victor" in Op-Art Socks by Stephanie van der Linden. (This is the same book I used to make the Symmetry socks in 2015.) These socks are based on the art of Victor Vasarely, who liked to use optical illusions in his artwork.

As with the Symmetry socks, I substituted Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock hand-dyed yarn for the pattern's original Zitron Trekking Sport 4-ply yarn. I used 2 skeins each of #511 Buckingham Fountain for the variegated khaki, and #4ns Blackberry for the purple. I knitted these on a US #1 needle.

To avoid the problem I ran into with the Symmetry socks, where one of them ended up slightly larger than the other, I knitted these socks simultaneously on a 36" circular needle.

This pattern involved a lot of complex chart-following two-color knitting. And I'm not that skilled when it comes to keeping my gauge correct in two-color knitting; I tend to make it far too tight. I tried to remain loose with these socks, and to catch my floats using this method whenever I had done three stitches of the same color. The socks still came out a little tighter than I had planned, but they are wearable.

  They look great from the top...

  ...and the heel is cool, too.

Socks at rest.

Symmetry Op-Art Socks

Dimensions: Fits men's U.S. shoe sizes 9-10
Completed: July 2015

I made these socks using the pattern called "Symmetry" in Op-Art Socks by Stephanie van der Linden. This book is packed full of unique, colorful, and beautiful sock patterns, most of them based on the styles of various Op-Art artists like Victor Vasarely, Bridget Riley, and Josef Albers.

The finished socks

The pattern is written for Zitron Trekking Sport 4-ply yarn, but I couldn't find the colors they used anywhere online, so I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock hand-dyed yarn instead. Shepherd Sock has just about the same gauge and came in very similar colors to the ones used in the pattern.

I used (hand-dyed) in color 16ns (Charcoal) for the main black background and color 76 (Aslan) for the lighter variegated stripes. I knitted them on a US #1 needle.

I made one of the socks back in the winter of 2014-2015, and then put the project aside for months while working on other things; when I finished blocking the second sock in the summer of 2015, it was smaller than the first. I re-blocked it and tried to stretch it so it matched the first a little better, but this will forever be a lesson to me not to let my projects sit too long.

Made for a human...

 ...but cats like them too

Big E Natural Brown Alpaca Scarf

Dimensions: 5 1/4" wide by 70" long
Completed: December 2011

In the fall of 2011, I went to The Big E. (For the uninitiated and/or non-New-Englanders out there: The Big E is like a state fair, except that it includes all of the New England states.)

At the Big E, in the Mallary Complex, which is where all the sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and other fleecy animals are housed, there is a small store called the Fiber Nook. There they demonstrate spinning and weaving, and they have yarns and hand-made woolen goods for sale.

There at the Fiber Nook I bought one skein of a soft, worsted-weight alpaca yarn. It looks like it's the natural shade of whatever alpaca it was taken from.

It knitted up quickly into this beautiful, soft, natural brown, k1p1 rib scarf.

I have no idea who produced the yarn, since I lost the label shortly after I made the scarf. I went back in subsequent years to see if the yarn would still be there, but so far it has not.

So this is truly a one-of-a-kind accessory.

Swatch Yarn Has Arrived and Now I Need to Buckle Down

I just received the Cascade 220 yarn I bought for my TKGA masters program swatches. Very exciting.

Now I just have to get up the courage to make the first one. Who knew a simple garter stitch swatch would be so scary? Especially when it's going to be in one of these silly Easter egg colors?

Ultra Alpaca Fisherman's Cap

Completed: 2013

Dimensions: 18" diameter

Several years ago I was all eager to make myself a brick red sweater. I bought a couple skeins of different alpaca yarns I thought were good colors, and I had all these grand plans to make a bunch of sample swatches in fancy cable patterns, and then the sweater itself.

Once I came to grips with the fact that I most likely was never actually going to make the sweater, I figured I should go ahead and use up the sample skeins in smaller projects. One of the skeins I had lying around was Berroco's Ultra Alpaca yarn in color #6280 Mahogany Mix. It is a really soft worsted weight alpaca and wool yarn, perfect for a non-itchy fisherman's hat.  

This one is knit on #5 needles, with a gauge of 23 stitches and 32 rows = 4".

The finished hat with more accurate color

Good stitch clarity but inaccurate color!

Office Supplies

Office supplies for the HGA COE
and the TKGA MHK

I biked down to Staples and bought all of the office supplies I'm going to need for the handknitting and handweaving masters programs. It makes for quite an array.

The differences in the program instruction manuals are interesting. If I were to judge them based purely on the handbooks, the handweaving program seems a lot more organized and a lot more businesslike.

For one thing, every single item that you submit for the handweaving COE must only have your ID number on it; no names are allowed, so as not to bias the judges. They also give you a clear outline of the different sections and types of work you'll have to do for the program, and a list up front of all the materials you will need for the program.

The knitting program, on the other hand, requires you to put your name, address, email, and phone number on every single sample piece you submit. The instructions seem a bit hodgepodge; for example, the swatches themselves are described in one section and the information sheet you have to submit with your swatches is described in a different section. And the materials you need for your submission are sprinkled throughout the instructions, section by section, so you have to read through the entire thing to figure out all of what you need to gather.

A Great Leap Forward: Masters Programs

I did something rash a couple weeks ago. I bought the instruction packets for both the Master Hand Knitting Program from The Knitting Guild Association, and the Certificate of Excellence (Level I) from the Handweavers' Guild of America.

These are the two top master certificate programs in the national American guilds for these respective crafts. I realize it's a bit presumptuous of me to attempt to do both. I don't know if I'll be able to finish getting all the materials together for either or both programs in a timely manner, much less pass either one--but I'm very excited to try. My dream would be to finish the submissions for at least one of them by 2018.

Now I have to read through the packets and see what I need to get started.

Big Block Romney Mittens

Completed: Fall 2014
Dimensions: Women's Large or Men's Medium (8" around widest part of hand)

The finished mittens, palm side up

These mittens were a bold experiment for me, since I used a big ostentatious blocky pattern that was far outside my usual delicate and demure comfort zone. They're not one of my more successful products, but they went quickly and I know I benefited from the radical departure from my norm.

I made them using the Foxhill Farm yarn I had left over after finishing my Spartan Romney sweater. I had one skein of their natural Black Romney left, plus a skein of oatmeal-colored Romney in roughly the same gauge that I had bought from them at the same time.

The finished mittens, palm side down

I wound both skeins into two balls each, and then knitted the mittens by holding two strands of the same color together as one. The original wool was a heavy worsted weight, and the double strand ended up being roughly a super bulky gauge.

The pattern for the mittens--both the structure and the two-color design--came from The Mitten Book, which is a great little book chock-full of traditional Swedish mitten patterns.

Spartan Romney Pullover

Completed: Summer 2014

The finished sweater

Finished size: 41" chest diameter; 24" long;
                       18 1/2" sleeves (not set in)

The yarn for this sweater is a deep, rich, undyed, natural, 100% Black Romney 2-ply wool from Foxhill Farm in Lee, MA. What a pleasure it was to work with this wool. It is a bit scratchy, but the color is great and it is warm.

Note the fluid range of motion

There were only six skeins of it at the Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair where I bought it, and the skeins added up to just over 1,100 yards. I was worried most of the time that I was making the sweater that I wouldn't have enough to finish it, but it ended up being almost a whole skein more than enough.

The sweater is patterned after the Spartan Pullover by Kristin Nicholas, with all stitch and row counts adjusted for my yarn's gauge (which was roughly a heavy worsted).

But, by request of the sweater's intended recipient, I gave it a regular crew neck instead of a v-neck. The crew neck is done in garter stitch, instead of ribbing, as are the cuffs and the bottom edge of the sweater.

Close-up of wool and garter stitch cuff

Happy Black Romney sheep

Steamer Trunk Baby Henley Pullover

Completed: October 2014
Finished Size: fits a 0-to-6-month-old baby

Working a sweater from the top down
feels awkward at first.

I knitted this using Erica Kempf Broughton's Simple Baby Pullover pattern, which is a free pattern you can download from Ravelry.com.

It is a top-down pattern, and I'd never worked a sweater from the top down before, and I didn't have the right length #7 circular needle so the needle I made it on was enormously long, so it felt a little bit awkward while it was in progress, but it was interesting to see how it came together.

The finished product

The pattern is written for a Cascade Yarns worsted yarn, but, on the advice of Webs Yarn Store, I used Mrs. Crosby's Steamer Trunk yarn as a direct substitute with no change in gauge.

The sweater knits up very quickly with such a big yarn, and the roasted chestnut color I used had really nice color variegation. I had originally planned to put black buttons on the placket, but after seeing the color in person, I decided red would be better (not to mention more fun).

The superwash merino is also machine washable and dryable, which should certainly be a plus in a baby sweater.

Blue Heron Farm Striped Wool Hat

Lovely subtle striping!

Completed: 2013
Finished Size: 17" diameter

I bought the yarn for this hat at the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival in 2013. The wool is from sheep raised on the Blue Heron Farm in Grand Isle, VT, and was spun by the Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney.

I think the wool is blue-faced Leicester; I know it is all 100% certified organic, and it comes in beautiful hand-dyed colors.

I got two skeins: one in oatmeal, which is made from a mixture of the wool from their natural white and natural dark brown sheep, and one in aubergine, which is the same oatmeal yarn dyed a light purple.

It is roughly a worsted weight yarn, so I used #7 double-pointed needles. I cast on 72 stitches and worked in k2, p2 rib for about 2 ½". I decreased 6 stitches evenly around once, and then switched to stockinette stitch until the hat was about 8" from the edge. Then I decreased six stitches evenly around in each round until I had 12 stitches left on my needles, and pulled the yarn through the remaining stitches.

At the same time, I incorporated a sort of an hombre color patterning into the hat, which my intended recipient had designed. The entire rib and the first 2" of the stockinette stitch was done in the oatmeal color. From then on, I alternated the oatmeal with the aubergine, like this:

The finished product in use

1 row aubergine
5 rows oatmeal
2 rows aubergine
4 rows oatmeal
3 rows aubergine
3 rows oatmeal
4 rows aubergine
2 rows oatmeal
5 rows aubergine
1 rows oatmeal
All the rest of the top of the hat in aubergine