Ashokan Shawl featured in Patternfish Newsletter

So exciting! This month’s Patternfish newsletter is focusing on Canadian designers and they’ve included my Ashokan Shawl!

Their designer of the month is Lana Hames of Lanaknits Designs - if you’re interested in knitting with hemp, check it out. Some gorgeous designs as well as lovely yarns.

Ashokan Shawl published by Knit Picks IDP Program

Ashokan Shawl knitting pattern

The Knit Picks IDP program just added the Ashokan Shawl pattern to their pattern catalog -very exciting!

This sample is knit in Wool of the Andes Sport in the Mai Tai colorway.

The Ravelry pattern page for this shawl also shows a sample knit in Cascade 220 Sport in a luscious Granny Smith green.

Photo Shoot

The On the Moor Shawl knitting pattern was also picked up by Knit Pick’s IDP program and here’s a little behind-the-scenes look at the photo shoot that Knit Picks did for the shawl. 

(c) Knit Picks

I find the attention to little details, like the wild flowers for the second example, just fascinating.

Happiness in new yarn!

Cascade 220 Sport Superwash (left) and Cascade 220 Heather (right)

Why does that package of new yarn in the mail always give one that lovely feeling?

First, I’d like to give a shout-out to the folks at Yarn Forward (Stittsville, ON). I ordered my yarn online on Sunday (5th) and received it here, in rural NS, today the 10th! Thank you!!

This is my first foray into Cascade 220 yarn (I know, where have I been??). So far I have only fondled — both the sport superwash (left) and regular 220 are wonderfully soft; yum!!  You’ll notice I snuck an Addi needle in there too

The Sport Superwash is in the Granny Smith colourway; I was afraid it would be too pale, but it’s perfect for what I’m planning — a beautiful spring green that just exudes images rebirth and new beginnings. This is destined to become shawl #4 in the Celtic Shawl series. And this new design will have a new and interesting shape — different from all the others.  (The series already includes a Faroese-style shawl in fingering weight ‘On the Moor‘, a crescent shaped one in worsted weight ‘Margaree Harbour‘ and Lady of the Canyon which is a rectangular shawl in fingering weight yarn.)

The Cascade 220 is a heathered Moss Green and I think it will become a Celtic vest — we’ll see.

Celtic Shawl #3: On the Moor published

Here’s the latest design in this series of shawl knitting patterns.

The Faroese-style incorporates shoulder shaping and the tapered back panel to create a shawl that fits like no other!

The double closed-loop cable is the star of this show!!

Full details are on the Ravelry pattern page.

 

The pdf knitting pattern is

$4.99 USD

Lady of the Canyon Shawl joins Knit Picks IDP program

The Lady of the Canyon Shawl pattern has been accepted into the Knit Picks IDP program and is new on the Knit Picks website today — if you love to do your pattern and yarn shopping all in one place.

This shawl uses 6 skeins of Knit Picks Gloss Fingering – a merino / silk blend – very nice to knit. The sample is knit in ‘Robot’ but now that I see the Cranberry and Bordeaux colourways, hmmmmmm

Celtic Shaw Series #3: On the Moor Shawl

sketches for On the Moor Shawl

Just thought I’d share a little of the design process for my next shawl — this the 3rd in a series of Celtic Shawls (the first is Margaree Harbour and the second Lady of the Canyon).

This new one, On the Moor, is a Faroese-style shawl. Faroese-style shawls include a unique shoulder shaping that stops the shawl from slipping.

Here are a couple of sketches that started the process. The dark lines going out from the neck (bottom drawing) are the lines for the shoulder shaping.

I tried a number of different cable patterns for the wings of the shawl but finally decided on the lattice pattern (derived from one of the pattern stitches in Annie Maloney’s The Cable Knitting Handbook), since I didn’t want the side patterns to take away from that centre-back cable panel — it’s really the star here.  The centre-back cable is an original.

You can see some of the ‘in-progress’ project pics on my Ravelry project page.

The pattern is due out around the first of June 2011.

Lady of the Canyon Shawl has arrived!

“Trina takes her paints and threads and weaves a pattern all her own,” Joni Mitchell sings in her ‘Ladies of the Canyon’

Another example of music influencing design….it’s the inspiration for this shawl…  the combination of the very unique Aran Lace stitch patterns¹ and wonderful merino / silk blend  yarn².

This is the second pattern in the Celtic Shawl Series – Lady of the Canyon. The link leads to the Ravelry pattern page.

(The first pattern in the Series is my Margaree Harbour Shawl)

::wink:: little plug here for our new software program: the written directions for this shawl were generated using knitXpress  - 132 lines of written directions took less than 10 seconds to be formatted to all caps at the beginning, periods at the end of each line, identifying all of the repeats within each line and all of the row repeats, etc.; needless to say I love it!  

¹ from talented stitch designer Annie Maloney’s book Aran Lace

² Knit Picks Gloss Fingering yarn

Margaree Harbour Shawl now has written directions!

Margaree Harbour Shawl

Thanks to a brand new nifty little program that I’ve been Beta testing (soooo much more about this in a little while!!), my Margaree Harbour Shawl now has a set of written directions accompanying the charts.

It’s offered as a separate download when you buy the pattern on Ravelry so that if you just want to work from the charts you don’t have to download the extra 13-page doc containing the written directions.

However, you’ll need the original pattern in order to work from the written directions, so be sure to download both if you like the words!

Hopefully this will make the pattern accessible to so many more of you

 

Great News – Published through Knit Picks

Whitney Pier Socks

My Whitney Pier Socks pattern has been accepted into the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program (IDP)!!!! I’m very excited

The socks are knit in Stroll Sock Yarn in the Dove Heather colourway and the pattern is now available through their website here.

Just a note: The pattern in the sidebar available through Ravelry.com is an expanded pattern and has both sock yarn and sport yarn versions for this sock; the Knit Picks version only has the sock/fingering weight version included.