Simple Lace Knitting Luxury Lace Shawl

This gorgeous lace shawl is a perfect project to begin understanding a few fundamentals about lace knitting.

It is a simple triangle shape, using a two row lace pattern and lovely yarn.

The stitches used are K-knit, P-purl, YO-yarn over and K2tog-knit two together.

The dynamic design comes from choosing a variety of special yarns and rotating between them. The pattern is for sale.

Matched Socks from a Painted Roving

Spinning matching yarns for socks or mittens can be a challenge when you start with a painted roving. But the effect is well worth the small effort.

These socks combine three different yarns that all started with the same painted roving. The basic two ply is used in the foot of each sock.

A blend created with blending nylon is used in the heels and the toes for extra strength.

Then a fancy slub is used in the cuff to highlight the colors in the roving. 

Simple Crochet Cocoon/Vest/Collar

My daughter is wearing the crocheted cocoon as a vest in this photo. 

There is only one crochet stitch used in the whole piece. That is Lover’s Knot

The dynamic yarn comes from using an illegal plying combination. The cashgora is spun Z and the fine silk is spun S. The combination is plied in the S direction. The pattern is for sale.

Felted Hat and Woven Scarf

My favorite winter hat and scarf came from two different projects.

The hat started with a group of spinners trading a variety of fibers. All of them were blended on the drum carder and spun thick and soft. Then they were knit large and loose then felted to size.

The scarf was created just to go with the hat. I had to search through all of my fibers to find a dull mauve wool which would tone down some of the warp yarns and maintain the soft coloring of the hat.

Some of the warp are plied against a sparkly starfire nylon. Then a fancy slub is a core-spun bouclé, which is used as a warp.

The weft is a painted roving that was totally blended to prevent the creation of a plaid instead of emphasizing the subtle stripes in the warp.

Lopi Singles, Knitted Headband

Lopi is the name for puffy single ply yarn that is spun from both the Thel and the Tog, (short and long), fibers in Icelandic fleece. These are carded together into a rolog and then spun thick with a light twist. The open airy yarn is easy to knit on large needles. The stitch definition is muted since the yarn is very fuzzy, so choose large motifs.