Quite a few years I splurged and got myself the Haapsalu Shawl Book. It’s a beautiful stitch dictionary/Estonian knitting history book. It’s one of my very favorites. And I’ve been meaning to take a stitch pattern from that book, replace the nupps with beads, and make a lovely shawlette for as long as I’ve owned it. Finally it’s done!

I am not a big nupp fan. I find them fiddly, and I rarely think the result is worth the effort. Your mileage may vary of course. Some folks adore nupps. Not me. But beads… swoon. Why I haven’t designed with beads yet is beyond me. Really. Why haven’t I? I definitely need more beads in my life.

Brindille is the French word for twig. And the patterning is of course one of the Estonian twig patterns. Why are words in other languages so much lovelier? If I named this pattern “twig” it would just be odd. And slightly guttural sounding. But Brindille sounds very fancy. And fancy it is!

This shawlette is worked asymmetrically – from tip to side edge in Sincere Sheep‘s Agleam yarn in Cumulus. It’s a superwash merino/tencel blend that has an amazingly soft hand and a luminous sheen. The beads are 6/0 seed beads procured from AC Moore in a flat amethyst colorway. They were applied using a fishing line method by the sample knitter, but the pattern calls for a tiny crochet hook – which is how I prefer to do it. You can even string the beads if you like – it’s up to you!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm)
Yarn: Sincere Sheep Agleam in the Cumulus Colorway – 412 yards to 4 oz.
Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette
Size: Approximately 42″ wide and 24″ deep

Brindille is available on Ravelry for $4.50 USD for a limited time!

I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I took on a lot of projects after the winter TNNA and came home with a ton of gorgeous yarn. Somehow I didn’t manage to take a before pictures of this lovely Keen yarn from the Sincere Sheep. But the after is so lovely that we won’t feel sad.

Sarla is my new favorite thing. I didn’t actually get to knit this one. I have finally started hiring sample knitters. And my first experience was all kinds of awesome. Her name is Brenda. If you are a designer and you try to steal her things will get ugly. She did three shawlette samples for me. And this is the first beauty!

It blocks into a 3/4 circle kind of shape that is perfect for sitting on your shoulders. And it’s reversible!!!! That’s right. Totally reversible. So only pretty shows no matter what.

Sarla is offered with written and charted instructions. And it’s way easier than it looks! Can you knit? Can you purl? Can you yarnover? Can you pick up stitches? Then you can make this shawlette!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm)
Yarn: Sincere Sheep Keen in the Virid Colorway – 460 yards to 4 oz.
Gauge: 20 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked garter
Size: Approximately 52″ wide and 18 deep

Sarla is available on Ravelry for $4.50 USD for a limited time!

I went looking for a new photo spot today and this is what I found nestled behind a toddler’s playground. And I wanted to chuck the photoshoot and set off and see where the paths might take me. When I was a kid I didn’t play on playgrounds – I played in the woods. We built clubhouses out of people’s cast offs and branches and sheets. There was always somewhere to explore. This place needs exploring and I plan on taking the boys as soon as we can!

But the reason I was out “in the woods” today was to photograph this beauty. Lawsonia.

It’s a crescent shaped shawlette (why yes I am addicted to these) cast-on and worked in my favorite method with a gorgeous leafy edging and finished off with crochet loops. The yarn is not quite semi-solid and not quite variegated. I guess you would call it a tonal. But the large areas of stockinette and the strong lace motifs stand up nicely to the blues and greens with hints of purple.

Lawsonia is on sale for the rest of this week for 25% off to celebrate it’s unveiling. This baby has been a long time in the works. Circumstances conspired to make it’s original debut untenable but now finally you get to see her.

And in a lucky coincidence a good friend of mine has a new shawl debuting today as well. The Ceili Shawl was supposed to come out with Lawsonia, so we thought it was only fitting that they come out together. They actually use a part of the same lace motif – totally a surprise as they were supposed to be in the same publication – so we’re calling them sisters!

If you comment here on this entry you can win a copy of both Lawsonia and the Ceili Shawl for your very own and you can knit up these lovely sister shawlettes. The winner will be drawn next Tuesday, April 16th. Head on over to Tabetha’s blog and leave a comment there for another chance to win both patterns!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm) and size E hook (3.5 mm)
Yarn: Socktupus Sokkusu Original in the Triton colorway (433 yards to 100g)
Gauge: 18 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette
Size: Approximately 60″ wide and 14 1/2″ deep

Lawsonia is available on Ravelry for $6.00 USD 

Sometimes you just want something fast and sweet. With squishy garter stitch and just the right amount of lace.

A little something to keep the chill off during the last dregs of this seemingly interminable winter (yes even in Florida).

Jovia is just right. It’s crescent shaped, with garter stitch short rows and picot-edged lace. It’s good for a beginner with written and charted directions.

Jovia was designed for the Stitch Jones yarn club and is now available for purchase.

Needles: Size 8 needles (5.0 mm)
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK (225 yards to 100g)
or Stitch Jones Pure BFL Light Worsted (250 yards to 100g)
Gauge: 14 stitches and 22 rows = 4 inches in blocked garter
Size: Approximately 58″ wide and 12″ deep

Jovia is available on Ravelry for $6.00 USD!

The stripes are finished. And they are fabulous!

I’m so very happy with how this turned out. It’s the first time I’ve used the asymmetrical shaping, but I will definitely be using it again. This is one of those designs I kept second guessing as I went along. But I’m so busy right now I didn’t have time to start it all over. So I just kept going. And I’m so glad I did. I love it!

It’s worked from tip to long edge with a coin-cable / eyelet rib that makes a nice strong diagonal against the gorgeous color stripes. Twisted Fiber Art makes amazing yarns, and I can’t tell you how many times at TNNA or knit-night folks have stopped to admire the colors and the softness. The stripes never get so small that they are obscured and the edging is applied after the main body is done. It’s a quick knit and a lovely result!

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm)
Yarn: Twisted Fiber Art Tasty Striping in the Phantom Colorway plus a coordinating skein of Vapor – 380 yards of fingering for the body and 90 yards for the edging
Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette
Size: Approximately 56″ wide and 28″ deep

 Ordway is available on Ravelry for $6.00 USD! 

I have a love/hate relationship with variegated yarns. Love the colors, the combinations, the life in them. Hate the way they mess up my designs. Hate it! But I’ve been experimenting more and more with variegated yarns. Fortunately Rachel of Dyeabolical supports my research with yarn grants.

This is the lovely custom color she dyed up for KnitCrate – over at KnitCrate they do all sorts of fancy yarn and pattern packages. Extras of this particular package are available still!

So I took that yarn and turned it into this:

It’s a sideways shawlette with short-rows and eyelets to break up any pooling and make the most of this gorgeous multi-colored yarn. It’s a written pattern, but the short-rows and eyelets become pretty intuitive after you figure out how it works.

The sport-weight yarn makes up a generous shawl – 84″ wide and about 22″ deep. Nice for wrapping around yourself during these last chilly dregs of winter. It’s even cold here in Jacksonville, Florida – we had a freeze last night!!!

Needles: Size 8 needles (5.0 mm)
Yarn: Super Ego in the KnitCrate Cafe colorway, 440 yards to 150g, sport weight
Gauge: 16 stitches and 22 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette
Size: Approximately 84″ wide and 22″ deep

Bryndis is available on Ravelry for $6.00 or as part of the KnitCrate package.

I love the details. The way things go together, the little bits and pieces that make a beautiful whole. And I’m in love with this new pattern.

Poe is the last of the Seven Sonnets. I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to find that no one had used the name Poe for a pattern. But hey, more goodness for me. When I received this gorgeous Breathless yarn from Shalimar Yarns I immediately thought of the dark poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. Specifically The Raven. I’ve always loved all his work, and I was so pleased the wings of this shawlette worked out just as I envisioned.

It has a shallow crescent/half-circle shape, achieved by working top-down – no short-rows involved. It does have a lot of cables though. If you don’t know how to cable without a cable needle, I would highly suggest you try it out – it will make this project go so much faster.

Poe is now available on Ravelry as and individual download or as the final of the Seven Sonnets. So if you were waiting to see all seven before you committed – now’s your time. All Seven Sonnets are published and available.

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm)

Yarn: Breathless in the Byzantium colorway by Shalimar Yarns, 420 yards to 100g, fingering weight

Gauge: 18 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Size: Approximately 70″ wide and 17″ deep

Poe is available to purchase individually for $6.00 USD

Or as part of the Seven Sonnets for $21.95

Looking for a last minute knitted something for someone special? These stockings, worked up in Lamb’s Pride Bulky on size 10.5 (6.5 mm) needles are the perfect last minute knit gift. I’m a super slow knitter* and I could easily knit one of these up in a lazy long afternoon.

Both stockings are worked in the round on 16″ circular needles, with dpns needed for finishing up the toes. Each of them starts with a snuggly white seed stitch cuff. And you have your choice of cables or a more masculine textured chevron pattern.

Each of the stockings features a short-row half-heel with the patterning continued on the heel. And the patterning goes all the way to the tippy toes.

So if you have some free time and some bulky yarn – get to knitting! But don’t go with just the traditional colors – the sky’s the limit. Make your stocking hot pink with a green cuff. Be crazy, have fun. Because if you are knitting Christmas presents this late in the game you definitely qualify for the crazy!

Needles: Size 10.5 needles (6.5 mm) 16″ circulars and dpns

Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Brown Sheep Bulky, 1.5 skeins of Red Hot Passion *or* Kiwi for body of stocking and 1/4 skein of White Frost for cuff.

Gauge: 14 stitches and 18 rows = 4 inches in stockinette

Size: Approximately 18″ long and 12.5″ wide – designed to be the same size as store bought stocking.

Speedy Stockings is available to purchase for $6.00 USD and includes both patterns!

*You would think a super slow knitter would pick another line of work, but apparently I’m a glutton for punishment!

One of the things that I love about the Seven Sonnets project is that I get to work with some really amazing dyers. And when Sarah of Stitches ‘N Rows said she wanted to do red for this project I was really excited. I love this red! Well to be honest I just love red. But nothing stirs me more than a rich blue red – mostly because that colors looks best on me!

Teasdale is named for American poet Sara Teasdale. Red is the color of love and longing, and Sara’s poems bring those feelings to life.

Fate is a wind, and red leaves fly before it
Far apart, far away in the gusty time of year

Teasdale is started with red leafy border worked in one long piece and is worked up in the “Killjoy” colorway dyed up by Stitches ‘N Rows. Stitches are picked up to work the patterned body. And I adore this patterned body. I love the way the short rows don’t interrupt the patterning and the pattern is simple and intuitive to work.

Teasdale is a half-circle shape and is available via Ravelry for PDF download. It can be purchased individually for $6.00 or as part of the Seven Sonnets collection for $21.95. There are only two sonnets left to be recited. And Sarah from Stitches ‘N Rows has the Killroy colorway in stock right now, as well as a selection of gorgeous hand-dyed fiber!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm)

Yarn: Stitches ‘N Rows Definitive Sock or Entwined Sock in “Killjoy”
400 yards needed to work the pattern

Gauge: 20 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Size: One size – 50″ wide and 15″ deep after blocking

Teasdale is available to purchase for $6.00 USD
or as part of the Seven Sonnets Collection for $21.95 USD