As the second wave of COVID-19 swept through India, we went into yet another lockdown. We had already been working from home, but this lockdown put a stop to even the small escapes like an evening stroll or a morning run or even a chat with our neighbors. It hit us hard this time – many more casualties than the first wave and emotionally too. The helpless cry for hospital beds and oxygen from all around us was just heart breaking. As with the first wave, I took refuge in knitting.

Knitting is my haven and my safe space. It embraces me and loves me with no judgement. It ignores my mistakes, tolerates my tantrums, celebrates my wins, applauds my accomplishments and loves me unconditionally.

I grabbed two random skeins of yarn from my stash and casted on a random number of stitches. I did not know what it would turn into, but I started knitting anyway. I started with mindless stripes and added on lace, colorwork and texture – everything to my whims and fancies. I thought I would end up with an non-coherent wrap which would look more like a sampler scarf. I was very surprised when I ended up with a wrap (longer than I thought) with the different elements of lace and texture and color, somehow working together.

So, here is Diya Wrap, featuring beginner-friendly lace and colorwork. Even though the wrap uses two colors, you always knit with only one color at a time. I knit my sample using fingering weight yarn, but this wrap would look beautiful in laceweight yarn too. Or use a sportweight yarn to make it more cosy.

Diya Wrap is available on Ravelry and PayHip. Diya Wrap happens to be my 40th published design (how did that happen!) and to celebrate this milestone, I am offering this pattern at a whopping 40% off with coupon code DIYA40. Coupon is valid on Ravelry and PayHip.

I am so happy to release this pretty baby/child dress out in the world. Prisha Dress offers lot of options for beginner and adventurous knitters, alike.

It can be made in a single color which gives it an elegant look. The single-color Latvian braid gives this dress a structure, as it flares up into a full skirt below the braid. This is perfect for beginner knitters or adventurous knitters who need a mindless knit.

If you want to amp up your adventure, you can make this dress in two colors (or go wild and add a third one!) which features icord edges on the neckline and sleeve edges and a 2-color Latvian braid. The shell lace is also made alternating these two colors.

Prisha Dress comes in chest sizes from 18.5 to 27 inches (46 to 67 cms). It is knit from the top down, so you can easily check the fit as you knit.

Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo or Knit Picks Shine Sport or any sport weight yarn

Gauge: 22 sts x 28 rows = 4” (10 cm) in Stockinette stitch, knit round, after blocking

Prisha Pattern on Ravelry
Prisha Pattern on LoveCrafts

I absolutely love the beautiful effects of tie dye technique and have worn my fair share of Bandhani dresses. It is common to see this technique used on fabric and I wanted to try this out on a hand knitted fabric. This posed quite a few problems – some foreseen and some new, but I am quite happy with how my experiment turned out.

Tie dye is a resistance based technique in which you tie pieces of fabric and block it from dyeing, thus creating different shapes and patterns. The parts of fabric which are tied do not get dyed and remain undyed while the rest of the fabric gets dyed and becomes colorful.

Hand knitted fabric differs from a woven, store bought fabric in many ways. The most important of those, from the perspective of tie dyeing, is how loose the fabric is. Woven fabric is tighter and the individual threads are finer than hand knitted fabric. This makes it easy for the dye to seep into the yarn and thus makes it hard to prevent the tied fabric from getting dyed. After many failed attempts, what finally worked is to use thicker thread to tie and to tie it really tightly and broadly.

Winter Sunset is my humble attempt at creating a beautiful tie dyed hand knitted scarf. The scarf pattern is kept intentionally simple since the focus is on the tie dye effect. The scarf uses a simple eyelet pattern and is knit on bias to create an interesting shape. Since we use food colors to dye this scarf, you need to use any animal based yarn. I have used 100% merino wool and it absorbed the colors really well.

Once the scarf is knitted, it is tie dyed using whatever pattern you choose and the colors you like. Read the article for detailed instructions on how to dye.

You have created a stunning scarf which is truly unique! You can style this over jeans-tee or even with a simple kurti.

Winter Sunset Tie Dye Scarf Pattern

Tie Dye Article

I love designing and knitting baby things. The pretty sweaters, cute hats and the tiny booties – oh, I can’t have enough of baby knits. Luckily, the extended family and friends keep making babies and I am more than happy to knit for the new additions to the family.

Priti Dress was borne out of one such opportunity. After knitting many plain, textured cardigans for a few baby boys in the family, I was itching to knit something pretty and lacy for a change. I fell in love with this lace pattern and a quick swatch and two later, I was knitting away on the dress. The soft, cotton yarn in its bright yellow color and the delicate lace were made for each other. After I knit the dress in yellow, I had to cast on for another in what else, but pink! This was made for sisters and I hope they get to wear this one day and play matchy-matchy game.

Ravelry Link: Priti Dress

Priti Dress comes in a range of sizes, from 6 months to 8 years. It can be knit in cotton fingering/sport weight yarn to make it suitable for summer. This is a seamless knit, starting from the neck down, with cap sleeves and A-line skirt. The lace is written out and charted and easy to memorize.

Priti Dress is available for free for just one day – May 16, midnight EST, with coupon code PRITIFREE. It will be available at 40% OFF with code PRITI, until May 18th. Grab your copy on Ravelry before offer expires.