Dragons Ruff
Dragons Ruff is now available for purchase as a download, for $6.00 either on Ravelry, or directly through the blog … buy now
Inspired by the ruff many dragons are depicted with, this shawl consists of a background of garter stitch mesh interspersed with strips of stockinette that add depth. It’s finished off with a deep garter stitch border that grounds the entire piece.
Knit in one piece from the top down, this shawl begins by casting on 9 stitches at the back of the neck and increasing 7 stitches every other row to shape this shawl into 7/8ths of a circle that stays draped elegantly over the shoulders. Finally, an eyelet-increase row is worked just before the garter stitch border, and just before the bind off to ensure that a thorough blocking is possible.
Yarn: Madelinetosh ‘tosh lace,’ 950 yards (968 meters), 100% superwash merino, 1 skein, shown in ‘nebula’
Needles: US size 2.5 (3.00 mm) 40 inch (101 cm) circular, or size needed to obtain gauge
Notions: 7 stitch markers, tapestry needle
Gauge: 6.5 sts/inch; 12 rows/inch (6.5 sts/2.5 cm; 12 rows/2.5 cm) in washed and blocked garter
Blocked Dimensions: 24 inches (61 cm) from center back to each point along the hem
Skills Used: casting on, binding off, knitting, purling, k2tog, yarn over, weaving in ends, blocking lace
Photos: Parterre Garden
Originally published in partnership with The Sanguine Gryphon (sadly, no longer in existence), it was inspired by images of Parterre Gardens (but you probably could have guessed that.) The idea was to create small groupings of flowers contained within fences of cables and migrating decreases. Sections after section of flowers were placed next to and on top of each other to cascade down the shawl and create the idea of an overflowing garden.
It turns out that this color is amazingly hard to photograph. It’s a combination of pastel greens, yellows, pinks, purples, and is really very beautiful (though not my normal colors), but tricky to photograph. Maybe at some point I’ll knit this again in a solid or semi-solid colorway.
The pattern for this shawl, along with Zodiac le Plume and Gene Tierney, the divine (all originally published with the Sanguine Gryphon) with be republished tomorrow.
Photos: Ponycorns and Rainbow Fragments
Ponycorns and Rainbow Fragments. I really love the way that this came out, especially how the patterning diagonal lines and the crazy amounts of color don’t compete, but rather work with each other. Sometimes the patterning is more dominant, and sometimes the colors take over, I think that the other is still always visible and present within the shawl. Most of the time I’m extremely cautious when it comes to crazy color and lace, but I think in this case it came out great.
