my handspun sweater is done, and my winter coat will soon have pockets
Each Wednesday, I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on.
I knit the last couple rows and bound off the shawl I was working on, now it’s sitting next to the couch waiting for a good soak & blocking.
I wove in the ends on my handspun sweater.
Which was a surprisingly huge number of ends.
For some brainless knitting, I pulled out the pockets of my winter coat again. Funnily enough, before I pulled them out of the project bag, I thought that I had an inch of knitting left on the first pocket, but it turns out I have an inch to knit on the second pocket. I don’t remember knitting that second pocket at all. Maybe it was elves? Or maybe I have a magic appearing pocket?
So, not a heck of a lot of knitting happened this week, it was mostly finishing things up – and working on secret projects.
(Wondering what happened to that project with 1800 yards of thread, from last week? Well, that project is done, the total thread used ended up somewhere north of 3,000 yards – to give that some perspective, we also bought the fabric shop around the corner out of white thread…)
a snowstorm, some knitting, and 1800 yards of thread
Each Wednesday, I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on.
First off, the obligatory snowy photo. We got a decent amount of snow (more than ended up on the fire escape) – not nearly as much as other people though.
My snowstorm project of choice was the shawl I’m working on. Which included dropping down and re-knitting part of it when I didn’t follow my own pattern.
And more bead crochet bracelets.
Prior to the blizzard, over the weekend & into Monday, I was sewing a bunch of gigantic pieced together drops for a theater project. The project has already emptied 7 spools of thread (2 not pictured), for a total of 1800 yards of thread – and it’s not finished yet…
Rosmerta – a new shawl pattern!
I sort of sneaked a new shawl pattern up onto Ravelry Friday morning.
It’s a crescent shaped shawl with a mesh lattice work pattern, and knit with one skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto,” which is 800 yards of a beautifully plump lace weight yarn.
Hand dyed yarn and complex stitch patterns usually fight with each other, and can play epic games of tug-and-war if you let them. What do you look at first? The yarn or the stitch work?
With this pattern I’m calling a cease fire.
The strong diamond & mesh pattern creates lace work that shines, while smooth expanses of stockinette allow the gorgeous yarn & colors to take center stage.
Here’s the pattern on Ravelry.
I started this pattern way back in August, and am so excited to have the pattern out to you.
The name “Rosmerta” was initially inspired by the last name of everyone’s favorite Hogsmeade pub proprietress. After a little digging it also turns out to be the name of the Gaulish goddess of abundance & fertility.
And (maybe most importantly) it fills “R” in my (slightly strange) quest to name shawls after every letter of the alphabet.
This is also my 40th(!) pattern on Ravelry. When did that happen?!?!
You can see them all here.
All the important pattern details.
Materials: 800 yards (740 meters), lace weight
Sample Shown in: Julie Asselin, “Merletto”
1 skein, 800 yards (740 meters)/skein, colorway ‘Anémone’
75% merino wool, 15% cashmere, 10% silk
Needles: US size 3 (3.25 mm) 40 inch circular needle
use needles needed to obtain gauge
Notions:
stitch markers (8)
extra stitch markers for internal reps (36)
it helps if these two sets of stitch markers are different
tapestry or yarn needle
Gauge: 26 sts and 40 rows = 4 in (10 cm) in washed and blocked St st
Blocked Dimensions: 18 inches (45.5 cm) down center back, blocked
exact dimensions may vary depending on how aggressively the piece is blocked
Note: This pattern only includes charts for the stitch repeats.
The pattern is available on Ravelry, now.
