Category Archives: Beads

Unfinished Purses & A Beet

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There are more projects in this stash of UFOs. Here’s the next one in my finishing queue.

This was a kit from Knitpicks with instructions and wool for six fruity purses, called The Elegant Edibles kit. (That’s a Ravelry link – the pattern is no longer available.) I remember thinking these were so cute.

Here are the official pictures from Knitpicks:

Elegant Edibles purses from Knitpicks
Elegant Edibles purses from Knitpicks

I did not remember that it was 2008! I finished the kiwi and the orange purses by 2010, and they’ve been waiting patiently ever since to be finished up. Enough!

Here’s how I found them:

Orange purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke
Kiwi purse from Elegant Edibles Knitpicks kit, knit by Deborah Cooke

These are really cute knits and I like that there are beads for the ‘seeds’. I made some changes to the pattern, noted on my Ravelry project page here.

I suspect what happened was that I didn’t like how floppy they were and wasn’t sure what to do about it. In the KP pix, they look more like pillows than purses to me. I did felt them a bit, which gave them a little more substance. I also decided against the handles shown in the pattern and adapted the leaves from the bunch of grapes for the orange. Those leaves are felted as well.

And now to finish them up. I found some coordinating zippers (there were zippers in the kit, but who knows where those ones are now) and pinned them in. I also cut linings and interfacing for those linings – in fact, I’ve cut buckram for the outer curve on each one. The kiwi one doesn’t have a handle at all, but my Rav stash lists the bin (in the attic) where the remaining yarn is supposed to be. (It was there at some point. Is it still there? I’ll have to go up and see.) I’m thinking a long i-cord in the green would be a good choice for a handle on the kiwi bag. If the yarn is gone, I’ll do one in black.

The beet and the grapes are also cute, but I have no idea what I did with the pattern. Hmm. If I find the yarn, I’ll hunt down the pattern. I do remember that the brighter purple (for the beet) was called Fairy Tale. 🙂

Did I use up the KP yarn on this Norah Gaughran beet? Here’s my Rav project page, and yes, the purple is the KP yarn. The green is Patons Classic Wool Worsted, so the green from the kiwi purse might still be in the stash. I’ll have to go hunting…

Beet by Norah Gaughan knitted by Deborah Cooke

Heaven Scent Shawl Blocked

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I blocked the Heaven Scent shawl last weekend, and the lace opened up beautifully!

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

I still have to sew in the ends, but it was a good day for pictures.

It blocked out to a really nice size. It’s about 20″ deep at the middle back, and that long curved edge is about 84″ long.

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

And one last detail shot. 🙂

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

There are three more shawls in this pattern bundle. One is rectangular, so less interesting to me, but I’ll have a hunt through my stash for candidates to knit the other two crescent shawls.

Heaven Scent Shawl – & Playing Yarn Chicken

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I told you last week that I’d cast on this shawl, Heaven Scent by BooKnits in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball. (That post is right here.) It turned out to be a compulsive knit and I charged right through the charts. I knew it would be a close call to make it out of the one ball, and ended up playing yarn chicken.

Could I finish with the one ball of yarn? As with many crescent shawls, you increase the needle size at increments in this pattern, which opens up the lace even before blocking. Keeping an eye on my diminishing ball of yarn, I didn’t change needles for the border, but kept on with the ones I’d used for the body.

I made it to the final row and chose not to do the picot edge, hoping I’d still make it.

Nope.

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino - losing yarn chicken

The cast-off is on a wrong side row, so I made it all the way from the left edge to where you see the last 8″ of my yarn. It’s maybe 3/4 of the way around. I lost yarn chicken.

I also played bead chicken at the same time, but I won that. I added more beads to the border then realized I might run out. I have five beads left in the vial. Phew!

I went through all my stash, and my bits and ends, but couldn’t find anything to match that shade of red in a single ply wool. I couldn’t even match the colour. (The colours of this yarn have photographed to look more vivid than they are in real life. They’re bright, but not this bright.) So, I picked back the cast-off row and cast off again. I thought I’d cast off in purple, a contrasting edge that matched the centre of the shawl, and couldn’t get the shade of purple right either. So, I used two strands for the cast-off, one in Sugar Bush Drizzle in Monsoon Mauve (which is a bit light) and one of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Black.

And here’s the result.

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

It’s funny that in this picture, the cast-off edge looks too dark. The purple in the middle of ths shawl appears to be the same shade as Monsoon Mauve. You’ll have to trust me that in real life, the colours are matchy-matchy.

Next up, a good soak and a blocking. I’ll show you the finished shawl when it’s done.

I’m kind of amazed that I knit this shawl in less than three weeks. I guess that’s what happens when I concentrate on one project, instead of working on a dozen things at once. (Actually, I had two on the go at the same time and finished the other one, too – it was the mittens and scarf of Patons Rumor. I’ll show you that tomorrow.) There’s a lesson there that I should take on board. 🙂

More Comfort Knitting

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I haven’t knit a shawl in a while, lace or otherwise – well, I’m still plugging along on my Water shawl, but it’s not a very fun knit at this point. I don’t think it counts anymore. 🙂

A LYS had Freia Handpaints yarns on sale, and I simply can’t resist gradient dyed yarns. I ordered some and cast on.

I chose a pattern by BooKnits. I wanted to knit a lace shawl with some beads and I had The Close to You Collection of patterns already. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I had knit Snow Angel from this pattern collection, also in Freia Handpaints yarn, but in their Wool/Nylon Lace which is discontinued. The colourway was Autumn Rose.

Here’s my Ravelry project page for the project.

And here’s that Snow Angel shawl:

Snow Angel by Boo Knits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Ombre Wool/Nylon Lace

There’s a blog post for it, which is right here.

This time, I’ve chosen the pattern Heaven Scent, which is in that same collection but also available on its own. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I’m knitting the smallest size, with the stockinette stitch top.

This yarn is Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino. The colourway is Vamp. Here’s the Ravelry yarn page.

Here’s my progress so far:

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

The camera is really emphasizing that hot pink. The colourway ends in a bright red.

Of course, it’s curled on the circular needle in the opposite direction of its shape – the shawl will be a crescent curved the other way when it’s off the needles and blocked. (Much like Snow Angel, shown above.)

The yarn is a loose single ply. It’s very soft but tougher than expected – there is the usual thick-and-thin of single ply yarns but it hasn’t been splitty to knit and it hasn’t broken.

And here’s a detail view. I’m using 6/0 purple Czech glass beads in dark purple, which match the beginning of the gradient pretty well.

Heaven Scent shawl by BooKnits knit by Deborah Cooke in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino

I did make a slight change to the pattern. The shawl grows quickly in width because you add four stitches on every right side row and two on every wrong side row. The additions are at the beginning and the end of each row, and the pattern uses make-one (slanting left or right). I found that two M1s with just a knit stitch between them, then another M1 on the purl side pretty close by made for a tight edge. I switched out the two M1s on the purl side for YO’s, then the outer M1 on the right side rows to YO’s as well. I’m curious to see how this blocks out. It feels better to me.

I’m almost halfway through the second repeat of the main chart, then have the border chart to knit. I’m thinking I might run out of yarn (the pattern notes that 400m is close) so if I do, I’ll have to find something matchy to finish.

A Citron Shawl in Noro

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Citron is a free pattern for a semi-circular shawlette Hilary Smith Callis. It’s available from Knitty.com and has been around for a while. (Ha. It’s in the Winter 2009 edition, so that is a while!) Here’s a link to the pattern at Knitty.com.

Here’s the Ravelry page for the pattern.

I’ve made a couple of these in the past. First, I made one for my MIL in Noro Kureyon Sock. (This yarn is discontinued, which is a sad truth. Here’s its page on Ravelry.) She wanted something cheerful and bright.

Citron by Hilary Smith Callis knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

There are a couple of variations in this version from the original pattern. The original has stockinette bands alternating with gathered sections for a ripple effect. I added some eyelets and beads to this version. Here’s the blog post about it (which has now reminded me of the Gaia Shawl, also a nice one skein knit and a free pattern. That’s a Ravelry link. Hmm.)

One of the things that still irks me about this shawl (I have it now, since my MIL passed) is the lack of a second band of pinky-purple. Knots in yarn are frustrating, but in self-striping yarns, a knot may also mean that part of the colourway is missing. This was made from one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock, but it had a knot. Instead of a second repeat of the pink and purple part at the outer edge, I got a third repeat of the green. It looks to me as if the pink and purple part shouldn’t be there at all.

The second version I knit of this shawl was in one colour, a kettle-dyed laceweight yarn from an indie dyer.

Citron by Hilary Smith Callis knit in Waterloo Wools Kirkland and Malabrigo Lace by Deborah Cooke

I added beads to this one, as well, gradually increasing the number of them toward the hem. It’s edged in black Malabrigo Lace. There’s a blog post about this one here.

And now on to the new version. This is knit of Noro Silk Garden Sock in the colourway 211.

Citron by Hilary Smith Callis knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

It’s had a gentle block to make it rounder, but not a hard one to stretch it out. I wanted to preserve the ripple (which was lost in the first one for my MIL, because of a very hard block.) I could – and maybe should – have knit it on larger needles. The fabric is quite sturdy on the 4.0mm needles but I do like the colourway. Here’s the yarn on Ravelry, and here it is on the Diamond Yarns website, which is Noro’s distributor in Canada.

The put-up for this yarn is less because it’s thicker – it’s a sport weight (while Kureyon Sock was a fingering weight) and has 300m per skein (while Kureyon Sock had 420m). So, having two balls didn’t make a huge shawl.

I also added some eyelets and beads but not as many as the first one.

Citron by Hilary Smith Callis knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

For the cast-off edge, I did a simple crochet edging to keep it frilly. A single crochet in each stitch, then chain 2 before repeating. I ran out of yarn when the cast-off was almost done so substituted in a piece of leftover Silk Garden Sock from another colourway (in my stash for sock yarn squares). I picked out the turquoise section so it would match a bit.

Citron by Hilary Smith Callis knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

The first skein had no knots at all, which made me happy. The second one, however, had three knots in rapid succession. I can see what that did to the colour progression (grr) but still I like this shawl a lot. It’s 22″ deep and 44″ across the long edge, just enough to hang over my shoulders to the elbows.

What do you think?

Papillon Done

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Papillon is a garter stitch short-row shawl worked in two colours, which I started in May. That link will take you to my first post. I used Noro Silk Garden Sock and a local black alpaca yarn from my stash. There’s a lot of counting with this one, and a lot of turning, but it’s a pretty easy knit otherwise. Here’s my finished shawl:

Papillon shawl knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

This is a big shawl! Mine probably feels more substantial because both yarns are a little heavier than a fingering weight, maybe closer to sport. It took all of the black that I had, and just over 2 balls of the Noro Silk Garden Sock.

This was an addictive knit, but then, it often works out that way for me with self-striping yarns.

I knit the shawl just as the directions instructed, but added some beads at the hem.

Papillon shawl knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

You can just see them in the black border. (I like how they nestle in there and are a bit subtle.) You knit four rows of garter stitch before casting off, and I added the beads in the third row. They’re 2/0 beads and I used the crochet hook method, putting a bead on every fifth stitch. It took about 100 beads, which was just about all I had left of those. (I used them before, on another Noro shawl and these were left over. Hmm. Can I find it? This one! Noro spider web fichu. Ha!)

What do you think?

The Wingspan Shawl

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It’s finally finished and here it is:Wingspan shawl by Kyle Vey knit in Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl by Deborah CookeIt’s so big that it was hard to take a picture!Wingspan shawl by Kyle Vey knit in Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl by Deborah Cooke

This is the Wingspan shawl, a pattern that was released this past spring. I substituted a yarn from my stash – Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl – because I thought it had a shine like raven’s wings. One skein was also the right quantity for the shawl. This stash-busting plan went awry, though, because I ran out of yarn and bought another skein to finish the wing tips. So, now, instead of having one skein of Sea Pearl in my stash, I have .9 skein in another colourway. C’est la vie.

I also went up a needle size, because I thought the fabric was too tight. That might be why the shawl is so big. I blocked it hard in a slight V and it’s 78″ from wingtip to wingtip.

Although it’s an amazing and unusual shawl design, it’s was less difficult to knit than I’d expected. If you’ve ever knit a chevron stitch, this is similar. I found it a little tricky at the beginning to get my bearings, but stitch markers were a big help. Once I got the hang of the pattern and could read my knitting, it became a bit repetitive (but not a TV knit for me.) The transitions – between each tier of feathers – were the challenging part for me and I had to follow them very closely. I don’t love the transitions, btw, and wish the spine of each feather started sooner in the transition, as soon as the stitches are available instead of all feathers beginning at the end of the transition, but it would be a lot more complicated that way. The transitions blocked out better.

Here’s a detail shot. It’s hard to capture the subtlety of the colours in this yarn. It really is lovely.Wingspan shawl by Kyle Vey knit in Briar Rose Fibers Sea Pearl by Deborah Cooke

You can see the transitions I’m talking about, below the tier of feathers on the left and before the ones that hem the shawl (and fall to the right). They’re triangles of stockinette stitch, filling the space between each feather on the previous tier.

You can see that I added some beads, too. I really should have used a lot more of them.

Phew. I’m glad to have that one off the needles! What do you think?

Renaissance Fan Shawl

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I just finished this shawl, which was a bit of an impulsive buy. The kit came from Earthfaire, with beads and yarn included. I thought it was pretty and ordered it—when it arrived, the colours were so beautiful that the project jumped queue and leaped onto my needles. I’m really happy with how it came out.Renaissance Fan by Nim Teasdale knit in The Unique Sheep Luxe (Earthfaire kit) by Deborah Cooke

The pattern is called Renaissance Fan by Nim Teasdale (the same designer who created the Dragon Scarf I showed you a few weeks ago.) That’s a Ravelry link, and you can buy the pattern there. I bought the kit from Earthfaire, which puts together wonderful kits often with The Unique Sheep gradient-dyed yarn and matching beads. This one isn’t on the site anymore. It came with six skeins of yarn, shading from purple to green.

Renaissance Fan by Nim Teasdale knit in The Unique Sheep Luxe (Earthfaire kit) by Deborah Cooke

The beads included in the kit were purple, although they’re hard to see even in this detail shot. They look great on the actual shawl. You can see that I made a slight miscalculation and ran out of the last green. Fortunately, I had a little bit of lime green left from my Bitterblue shawl (also an Earthfaire kit using TUS yarn, and dyed on the same base yarn – it was meant to be!) so I was able to cast off in lime. I like it!

Renaissance Fan by Nim Teasdale knit in The Unique Sheep Luxe (Earthfaire kit) by Deborah Cooke

What do you think?

Moonrise Necklace and Bent Needles

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Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I’d had to get a new set of DPN’s because I’d bent my needles. I promised to show you how that had happened. Today’s the day.

I bent my steel knitting needles by knitting with wire. I was knitting this:Bead Soup Necklace from Earthfaire knit by Deborah Cooke

 

This necklace is a kit from Earthfaire, which includes both the materials and the pattern. It’s called the Moonrise necklace, and I ordered my beads in the Moonrise on Neptune colourway. It comes with silk thread but I thought it would be cool to use silver-plated wire instead. I also changed out the clasp and used a sterling one instead, since I was spending so much time on the project. The result is wonderful and I like it a lot, but it took a long time to knit this. I had to keep putting it aside to let my fingers heal! Knitting with wire isn’t for wimps, especially when you use teeny needles (2.5mm) like I did. I think that the result was worth a few sore fingertips and even the bending of a couple of DPN’s.

I still have the bracelet on those bent needles and will have enough beads left to make matching earrings.

What do you think?

Finished Celestarium Shawl

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You might remember that I was knitting a shawl that was a map of the heavens. The pattern is Celestarium, which shows the stars overhead in the northern hemisphere—each star’s position is marked by a bead and an eyelet.

I finished the shawl last week. At first I was disappointed in the size, because it seemed small, and I thought it was a bit stripey. Then I blocked it and the magic happened. Here it is:Celestarium by Audry Nicklin knit in the Unique Sheep Luxe (Earthfaire kit) by Deborah Cooke

The yarn is a Gradiance colourway from The Unique Sheep on their Luxe base yarn called Celestial Twilight. Luxe is a 50/50 blend of merino and silk, and quite a luscious yarn. Earthfaire offered this yarn with the beads as a kit, and I chose to have the lighter colour in the middle and the darkest at the outer edge.

I wasted a lot of energy worrying that I’d run out of the yarn for the border, even though that skein was larger to ensure there was plenty. I chose a narrower border than I’d originally planned to use, and (of course) had almost half the skein left over when I was done. Now that it’s blocked, though, I wouldn’t have wanted the border to be any wider.

What do you think?