Cabled Shrug

Ah, a little breather between work, design submissions and proposals. And obviously it has to be filled with some crafting. :)

I've bumped into a yarn sale a bit earlier in the year and picked up a couple of balls of this bright and fresh colored bulky yarn. It's Yarn Bee Melody Bulky Wool Blend (70% wool, 30% acrylic) in "Enchanting" (#120). What a nice yarn to work with! It's soft and glides through my fingers, doesn't split and is machine washable!

I have to admit, I have not yet knit anything in bulky yarn as I am more on the fine yarn, colorwork side of things... but here was a great opportunity to explore the bulky yarns.

After a bit of swatching to get a feel for the yarn and what might look nice with these bright colors, I decided to make the Aran Cabled Shrug by Crystal Yarns (free). This would be a great shrug for the cooler and gray Fall days together with some jeans. I always like to add color to my life. :)

It works up really fast, is a fun easy pattern and I hope to get it done before the next load of work is hitting my desk or needles.

I've made a few minor adjustments so far:

Adjustment 1: Started with CO 7 sts on each side of the cable panel, increased 5 times every 10th row, then increased every 5th row until there were 20 sts on each side of the 36-sts cable pattern.

Adjustment 2: I changed the bobble start to “k1 tfl, k1 tbl, k1 tfl” instead of “k1, yo, k1” to avoid any holes.

My sleeve will be 3.5 diamond patterns long and the back will be 3 patterns across = 10 total patterns.

August 10: Oops, work has caught up with me and my shrug will have to wait for the next break...

Whale Watching - 12"x12" Afghan Square

Yippee! This square was selected as a finalist!
Will have to wait till Sept. 15 to find out if it was voted as one of the 10 winners…

Entered in the Chain Reaction Afghan Project Contest on www.crochetme.com. You should go over there and check out the other entries…

It is summer time, temperatures are soaring and I am longing for some cooling off. My thoughts wandered off to being on a sail boat, enjoying a nice ocean breeze and watching whales frolicking in the cool waters…

Worked in a soft washable cotton yarn with hook I-9 (5.5 mm). Different stitch patterns have been used to convey the feeling of waves, the sail and sun texture. The background is worked in one piece. The boat and sail are worked onto the background (no sewing). The sun and whale with water spout are crocheted separately and sewn on.

Go Fish! - Kids Tank Top

We've been busy bees over at Petite Purls to get the Summer 2010 issue up and running. And what fun patterns there are - AGAIN - and for FREE!

This is the first time I’ve knit something for a boy for summer! Wow, I wonder why I haven’t done that earlier?

This design was definitely inspired by my boys’ love for the aquarium and all the colorful fish. And I love the air-conditioning during a hot summer day. :) So we're all happy campers.

The worsted weight 100% organic cotton yarn was provided by Blue Sky Alpacas, a great sponsor of the Petite Purls webzine. And what a pleasure it was to knit with! You should check it out for your next project - perhaps even a Go Fish tank top?


It's always fascinating to see how the original pattern submission turns into the final piece. For this issue my Go Fish tank top design went through some drastic color changes... my very bright and colorful tank top design for summer that was a lot of fun to knit:

 My 10"x5" submission swatch

But yes, if you don't live in a very sunny spot like Hawaii, California, or Florida this might be too much for you. Haha!

Isn't it amazing how different the two tank tops look even though they are the same design? So make sure to play around with color to find the combination that really works for you.

And if you are a designer, when you submit a design, don't be surprised if you are asked to change colors and/or even the yarn because your design will have to fit into the overall look and feel of a collection or magazine issue.

To read more about this and the other cute patterns, hop on over to Petite Purls or find it on Ravelry.

Double-Knit Headband

Project Yarnway May Challenge Entry:

The May challenge description was:

This month, you were challenged to learn a new skill - and with that skill, design something that would be a good introduction to the skill for someone else.

As a longtime knitter, crocheter, needlework, lace, beading, etc. multi-crafter it was challenging to find a technique that I haven’t tried yet. Especially because I am always curious about new things. Double-knitting ended up being my technique to learn for this challenge.

I’ve learned quite a bit a long the way (different cast ons, bind offs, design considerations for the mirror image, what design features work and work not so well, etc.) and I am sure to use this technique for the upcoming fall/winter season.

After knitting now 4 headbands, I can nearly knit at regular speed of a typical k1,p1 ribbing (you knit the front side stitches and purl the backside stitches which makes for a k1,p1 knitting experience).

The resulting fabric is so nice thick, warm and squishy that you just love touching it. And the reversible nature of the fabric with its cool color play just tops it off! I love it!

Some notes I took along the way:

I was not quite happy with the cast on/cast off edges. It just didn’t look tidy enough for me, a bit too grungy (could be a look in itself).

 grungy edge

After a bit of experimenting and googling I settled on a 3-stranded long-tail cast-on. You hold your two colors over the index finger and the front color around your thumb.

The trick is to keep the double strand in the same order: red/white, red/white, etc. which will setup your front (red) and back (white) stitches.

3-stranded long-tail cast-on

Then came the cast off. I went with a single strand cast off with k2tog in the front color where I knit the first front colored stitch and from then on k2tog and bind off as usual, k2tog and bind off, etc. This makes for a nice solid front bind off and cute little bumps in the alternate color on the back side. Perfect!

 cleaned up edge

This was a fun challenge and very educational. How about you take the plunge and try a new technique as well?

Beadstar Finalist!

I was so excited to find one of my necklace submissions for the Beadstar stringing contest selected as one of the 20 finalists in the "Designs with Heart" section: It's the lucky #13!

"Ribbon Heart" - Designs with Heart

You are invited to vote on the Beadstar site for you favorite design in 9 different categories. So head on over their and check them out. You can vote until June 9.

It was a lot of fun diving into my bead stash and re-discovering all the treasures that have accumulated over time.

Here are my other design submissions:

"Black Butterfly" - Metal category

Various butterfly themed burnished black metal beads and pendant with Olivine fire polished Czech glass beads. 18" long.

"Nearly Jaded" - Stones category

Aventurine carved focal bead and stone chips, interspersed with Cloisonne beads, gold metal discs, and crystals. 20" long.

"Squared Pearls" - Pearl category
Natural Lavender colored freshwater pearls and Hematite beads. 20" length.

"Double Dip" - Plastic category

Various black and white plastic beads with Turquoise flowers. 24" long.

"Candy Coral" - Under $25 category
Real coral beads with Filagree tubes. 16" long.

 I'll list them in my Etsy store over the next few days.