New Pattern: Varna Shawl

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Varna Shawl is released as part of Knotions December 2019 issue. Knit using one skein of Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in Frische colorway  and two skeins of Knit Picks Stroll in Ash colorway. Shawl is knit using mosaic colorwork technique, in which you work with only one color every row.

Varna, ‘color’ in Sanskrit, is a celebration of variegated yarn with long repeats. Paired with a neutral, solid colored yarn, the shawl lets the variegated yarn be the hero, while the solid yarn remains the unsung one.

The Varna Shawl is knit from one corner to the other edge, starting with few stitches in a row and gradually increasing on one side, to get the tapered triangular shape.   It uses mosaic knitting, in which every row is worked with only one color, making the Varna Shawl a mindless and enjoyable knit.

Varna Shawl on Ravelry
Varna Shawl on Knotions

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Queen Bee Wrap – Free until Nov 1

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Queen Bee Wrap, which was published as part of February 2019 issue of I Like Knitting, is now available as a single pattern on Ravelry.

To celebrate the launch of this pattern in my store and the festival of lights, this wrap is available for free until Nov 1 (midnight India time) using the code “diwali2019”. Hurry and grab a copy now.

© I Like Knitting

Ravelry Pattern: Queen Bee Wrap

Summer Dress

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When the sun is blazing hot and temperatures are soaring, the last thing you want to do is knit with wool. The obvious choice would be cotton. And when your dear friend announces there is a new addition to her family, you grab that opportunity and cast on for a summer dress.

The pattern is Muti Dress by Tagia Hilliard and is super fun to knit. The yoke keeps you interested and get done quickly. Then comes the full skirt, which can get monotonous and slow you down.

I used fingering weight cotton yarn and used up all of 100 gms of it. I ran out of yarn and had to skip one repeat of lace on the skirt border. I wish I had more yarn, as this dress turned out just a bit shorter.

I had these cute pencil buttons in my stash since ages and never got the opportunity to use them. I find the perfect project in this. Flowery buttons would have suited the girly dress better, but I went with pencils any way.

New Pattern: Sindhu Shawl

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Sindhu Shawl is released as part of April 2019 issue of Knotions. Knit using two skeins of Malabrigo Silkpaca Yarn in gorgeous Pearl and Fucisa colorway, this shawl is a mindless, yet interesting knit.

Sindhu is one of the longest rivers in India, originating in the icy hills in the north and flowing south to finally merge into the Arabian sea. During her journey, Sindhu witnesses different terrains, including icy hills, rocky mountains, lush greenery and smooth sand.

Sindhu Shawl is an attempt to capture these interesting terrains. The shawl starts off with a mindless garter stitch which then transforms into garter stripes and the finale is akin to a musical crescendo – a pretty lace stitch pattern.

Sindhu Shawl on Ravelry
Sindhu Shawl on Knotions

New Pattern: Queen Bee Wrap

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I am so excited to have my pattern Queen Bee Wrap published as part of February 2019 issue of I Like Knitting. The theme Honeybee got me all excited and this wrap was fun to design, experimenting with different stitches, textures and eyelets. I love how the Ochre and Alcaucil colorways of Malabrigo Sock Yarn are so close to the yellow and black colors of bees.

The wrap is worked from one end to the other, in sections which range from plain garter, stockinette to stripes, eyelets and bobbles. The change in stitches make this wrap a very interesting, yet mindless knit.

The finished wrap will be 18″ wide and 64″ long, but you can easily change the length by working fewer or more inches or sections.

 

Link to Pattern: Queen Bee Wrap on I Like Knitting
Ravelry Pattern: Queen Bee Wrap

New Pattern: Anahi Hat

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It has been ages since I published a pattern and what better way to make a comeback than with Knotions magazine. Jody is a pleasure to work with and the working model which Knotions follows is so convenient for international designers like me. I see many collaborations with Knotions in the future for myself.

© Edsger Studio for Knotions Magazine

Anahi Hat is a beautifully textured hat, with cables all over. The meandering cables make this hat look way more complicated than it actually is. It is knit in round, from the brim up and is a quick knit, owing to the use of worsted weight yarn and the addictive cables.

The pattern comes in one size, which should give you a finished circumference of 20″.

© Edsger Studio for Knotions Magazine

 

Link to Free Pattern: Anahi Hat on Knotions
Ravelry Pattern: Anahi Hat
Yarn Suggested: Cascade 220, Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted

I don’t need a new hobby…

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And yet I picked up one. I have always been enamored with weaving. The repetitive act of throwing the shuttle, beating with the heddle was so mesmerizing to watch. I knew I will buy a loom, sooner or later. It was a question of when rather than if. And the “when” question was answered with “ASAP” when I visited the weavers at Kumaon Grameen Udyog.

After the live demonstration of weaving on her Ashford RH Loom by the lovely enabler Josie, a decision was made. I was going to buy a loom and an Ashford 24″ RH loom. My loom arrived a month ago and I have been getting my hands dirty since then.

I wove a sample with some acrylic yarn and I loved how the fabric turned out. I have a love-hate relationship with variegated yarn. The colors look so pretty when the yarn is in skeins/balls, but the moment you start knitting with it, you end up with ugly pooling. I finally found what to do with my huge supply of variegated yarn – weaving!

 

I next wove a placemat with the same multicolored acrylic yarn. My length calculation was not off the mark and I ended up with somewhat closer to the length I had planned for. This now adorns my chest of drawers and is a lovely sight!

Log cabin pattern looks difficult, but is just plain weaving with some intelligent placing of colors. After following a video tutorial and some hits and misses, I finally wove a skinny log cabin scarf. Not really long enough to wear, so it is more like a sample. Will definitely weave myself a scarf in this pattern.

After experimenting with acrylic and tasting decent success, I was bold enough to try with natural fibers. I took a huge leap and decided to experiment with two different fibers in the same scarf. I used merino wool fingering weight for warp and silk laceweight for weft.

Result is a gorgeous scarf with a lovely drape. I ended up with a shorter scarf than planned for, but the scarf is still useable.

As I said, I didn’t really need a new hobby, but I picked up a new one any way!

Instant Gratification

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When your only knitting project on the needle, is an adult sized cardigan in laceweight yarn, it can take a while before the project can see the light of day. And when you start getting frustrated at the slow pace of growth and are ready to run away from knitting one more stitch, you need instant gratification to pep you up. What can give you instant gratification like a baby bonnet?

Baby bonnets are quick to knit and they are so cute, so double bonus. Somebody or the other is having a baby in the extended family and friends, so having some baby knits in the gift box helps. So, when Kelly was looking for test knitters for her bonnet pattern, I jumped at it.

I used Knit Picks Shine Sport in Orchid colorway. The yarn and the pattern are a great match. The beautiful texture shows up so well in this yarn and color. Love the attached i-cord. It took me just an evening to make this. Instant gratification at it’s best.

Ravelry Project Page

 

Norwegian Love

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I love knitting baby stuff. They are instant gratification and they turn out so cute. So, when my cousin announced that they are expecting a baby, I was thrilled. Of course, I was happy for them, but I was also happy for myself that I can knit some baby things.

I zeroed in on Norwegian Fir cardigan. Cozy garter stitch and subtle lace on the raglan – what not to love? I decided to use Nako Hoşgeldin yarn (which I have in abundance, thanks to a recent visit to Pony store). This was my first time knitting with bamboo. Yarn is soft and has great stitch definition, but it splits like crazy. Thank my stars, I did not have to frog my knitting. Frogging this yarn will be a nightmare.

The cardigan turned out cuter than I thought. Yarn and the pattern worked out so well together. I made a few modifications to the pattern. The sweater looked too wide, compared to its length, so added an inch to the body and sleeves. I added more buttonholes as well. I had bought these cute buttons from Itsy Bitsy which added the right contrast colors to the monotonous blue sweater.

If I knit this sweater again, I will cast on 5-6 sts more for buttonband. Designer has not accounted additional sts for buttonband, so the cardigan puckers when buttoned up.

Also made these quick, knit booties to go with the sweater.

Patterns:
Cardigan: Norwegian Fir Top Down Cardigan
Booties: Baby Uggs
Yarn: Nako Hoşgeldin

Clapotis

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Looks like all the knitters in the world have already knit or are knitting a Clapotis. I didn’t want to be left far behind, so picked up this gorgeous ball of Knit Picks Chroma in Pool Party colorway and started knitting a Clapotis.

While the pattern is pretty straightforward, I wanted to know how long a scarf would I get out of one ball of KP Chroma, so went digging into the bazillion projects on Ravelry and stumbled on this amazing group dedicated for Clapotis. Not only are there many helpful threads for customizing your clapotis, I found this awesome-sauce spreadsheet which gives you a row wise stitch count as well!

I started knitting mine using the spreadsheet and making sure I was on the right section and had the right count. Once I finished the increase section, the straight section was quite mindless. The part where you get to the stitch-to-be-dropped and actually drop it and unravel was super cool. I would knit away just to get to the next drop stitch section just to see the magic unravel (see what I did there?)

And I love how the Pool Party colors show up here. Bias knitting gives this scarf a cool diagonal coloring which looks wonderful. Post blocking, while I am happy with how my scarf turned out, I would have liked it better if it had been longer. Two skeins of Chroma would have given me a longer scarf.

This was a super easy and fun knit. I have another KP Chroma (in another colorway) and I know what I am going to knit with it.