Category Archives: Shawls

The Koigu Tent Sale 2022

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We took a little road trip last week and went to the tent sale at the Koigu farm. This annual event has been on hiatus thanks to the pandemic, and I was really excited that it happened this year again. Here’s an old picture of the Koigu barn, taken the first year we went to the tent sale:

Of course, I bought some (more) KPPPM home. 🙂 I have such a hard time choosing from the array of colours at this sale, but here’s this year’s selection:

yarn from the Koigu tent sale 2022

The top seven are all the same colour and dye lot. They’re a little less blue than they look here, more pinky-lavender. I’ve already balled one up and cast on a Tegna. I’ll show you that when I’ve made more progress than just casting on.

The blue at the bottom left is insurance yarn for my Halo jacket. (That’s the Ravelry link for the pattern. Here’s my previous post about mine.) I think I’m going to run out of the KPPPM blue before I get to the cuffs. (Yes, I’m knitting faster, just in case.) That’s not a huge surprise as I’m a bit short on the yarn requirements.

This jacket has an interesting construction – it’s knit sideways, starting at one side. You knit across the back and around to the centre front, then go back to the cast-on edge and knit to the other front. Then you pick up the stitches from the shoulder to knit down each sleeve to the cuff. I love the feel of the KPPPM knit with Rowan Kidsilk Haze – it’s a wonderfully squishy soft sweater. When I started the sleeves, I had two skeins of KPPPM left, so one for each sleeve, then (maybe) some of this other blue at the cuff.

Here’s my progress on Halo so far:

Halo knit in Koigu KPPPM and Rowan Kidsilk Hazze by Deborah Cooke

The other four skeins that I bought at the tent sale are just pretty. They’re more earth-toned than they look here, russet and brown with some green. Three are the same colourway and I chose the dark one because it coordinated. I think they’ll be a shawl, probably another Charlotte’s Web. The one I made for Nikoo used four skeins and it was a nice size, even without the fringe.

I hope they have the tent sale again next year. By then, I might have more of my Koigu stash knit up.

Ups-and-Down Cowl

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I just finished this cowl, in time for fall!

The pattern is free from Yarnspirations and you can download it from their site here. It’s also listed on Ravelry right here. The specified yarn is Red Heart Boutique Treasure, which is discontinued. Here’s the Ravelry page for the yarn and you can see that it’s a two-ply yarn with a slow gradation of colours and made of acrylic. I used a yarn from Lionbrand called Scarfie in the Charcoal/Aqua colourway. It’s not listed on the manufacturer website anymore, so here’s a Ravelry link.

What I liked about this cowl is the buttons. I find cowls are great outside, but then too warm if I step into a shop or get in the car. This one gives you the option of unfastening a bit of it without taking it off.

And here’s the finished cowl:

Ups and Down Cowl knit by Deborah Cooke in Lionbrand Scarfie

I used 5mm needles because I liked the look on the knitting better on that size, but that also meant that I used a lot less yarn. (a LOT less. Maybe the yardage is wrong on the pattern.) This one took 140g, leaving 10g from one ball of yarn. That’s just 265m and the pattern says you need three balls of yarn with 138m in each.

What’s funny is that I don’t love the buttons so much now that it’s done. They don’t seem to make a lot of difference, since the cowl gapes open at the throat anyway. So, I’ve cast on another one in Caron Cakes in the colourway Rainbow Sprinkles, modifying it to be worked in the round. I’ll knit this one on 6mm needles and see how that affects the yardage. I kind of want to use the whole ball to get through the entire gradation, but it’s 350m.

Interestingly, this yarn has vanished from the Michaels website, which is where I bought it. Seems like everything gets discontinued these days before I even find it!

I’ll show you that one when it’s done.

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?

Another Charlotte’s Web

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Things have been quiet here because I’ve been busily knitting away. The sad fact is that I know too many people right now who are battling cancer. I’ve been trying to knit a bit of comfort.

Here’s one project, now complete, for a friend. The pattern is Charlotte’s Web and it’s knit in Koigu KPPPM. The recipient asked for something red and I had four skeins of this colourway. This shawl is usually knit in multiple colours, but I quite like how it came out in just one:

Charlotte's Web knit in Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke

Bonus! You get to see the left toe of my kitchen clogs. 🙂 It’s a crappy day for pictures – we’re having wet snow and rain, and the skies are overcast – but I need to get this on its way. I took this quickly so the shawl wouldn’t get wet, thus my left toe. The colour isn’t quite right despite the dull skies – the shawl is more red than pink.

You can see that the last skein was a bit darker. Even though all four skeins were the same colourway and dye lot, I sorted them from light to dark as there was obviously some variation. This way, the changes are subtle. I only did a graduated change for the transition from the third skein to the fourth.

Here’s a detail shot:

Charlotte's Web knit in Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke

I love how airy this lace pattern is, plus it’s pretty easy to memorize. The pictures really don’t do justice to this yarn, which has so many flicks and gradations, as well as rich saturated colour. I hope Koigu has their tent sale this year, as I’m due to stock up on more pretty yarn.

I had thought the shawl might end up too small with just the four skeins, but it’s 70″ across the long edge and 35″ deep. That’s plenty big enough!

Here’s the first shawl I knit of this pattern, also in Koigu KPPPM:

Charlotte's Web Shawl by Maie Landra knit in Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke

This one was knit in five different colourways, as the pattern specifies. I shaded them from light to dark. This photo was taken in the snow on a dull day.

Here’s a detail of the lace on that first version – it shows up better against the snow:

Charlotte's Web Shawl by Maie Landra knit in Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke

It seems more open on the purple one. Maybe I used a larger needle, or maybe I blocked it harder. Hmm.

Wrapped in Colour by Maie Landra and Taiu Landra

Now for some links. I have the book, Wrapped in Colour, which includes the pattern for Charlotte’s Web. (Those are Ravelry links. This pattern has also appeared in some other publications.) As designed, it takes five skeins of Koigu KPPPM and has a fringe. I’m not much for fringes, which means I can knit it bigger.

Here’s my project page for the red one on Ravelry, here’s my blog post about the purple one, and here’s the Koigu website in case you need some of this yarn.

Now I need to work out these chemo caps. I’m deeply unhappy with the pattern and yarn combinations I’ve tried so far, but am hoping to sort it out soon. I’ll show you when I do.

Finished Shawl

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I finished my shawl, knit from the Rowan subscribers’ kit! I told you about this in December when I cast it on. Here it is on the blocking needles:

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

It’s BIG! It blocked out to 18″ by 83″, with ten repeats. I used up all but 10g of the wool.

Here’s a detail image on the blocking needles:

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

The colour of the yarn is a greyed blue, quite pretty. It looks more grey here and more blue in the first post. In reality, it’s in between.

The shawl is supposed to be knit in a circle, with the ends grafted together, but I knew I’d wrestle with wearing that. Instead, I knit 6 rows of garter stitch at the beginning and at the end. I also increased the selvedge stitches from two stitches to three. I would have liked to have done another repeat of the first motif at the end – this second picture actually shows the cast-off end – to make it more symmetrical but there wasn’t enough yarn. I could have added a repeat of the second motif at the beginning if I’d thought of it then, but we’re going to go with asymmetry at this point.

My Ravelry project page is here.

I found this a nice knit, although it got to be quite a pile in my lap by the end. The lace stitches were easy although I didn’t quite memorize them, and the wool showed them off well.

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

It’s interesting that the shadow in the snow makes the picture look blurred. The colour is more true in this shot. I’m hoping this will be the last chance for a while to toss a project in the snow for pictures.

On to the next project waiting to be finished!

Lace Scarf from Rowan

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I’m literally stitches away from finishing my Stripes pullover, but will miss the chance to take a picture of it in time for this post. I’ll show it to you next week instead. It took a bit longer because I had to rip back one sleeve – there was a join in the yarn that made the gradation change too quickly. Once the second sleeve was knitted, that became obvious and (of course) I wanted them to match, so I frogged it back.

Since I’ve been knitting in the kitchen, I cast on something a little more interesting. This is a lace scarf designed by Sarah Hattan in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply. It was the Rowan subscribers’ gift in (gah!) 2009/2010. Yes, I’ve had it in my stash all that time.

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

This was a gift for buying an annual subscription to the magazine. It came with 6 balls of yarn and two patterns – there was enough yarn to make either one. Incredibly, there aren’t any pictures of this online. Give me a minute…..

Here’s the pattern card that came with the yarn. MIne is a bit faded:

Rowan Members' Gift pattern

I’m making the one on the right, which is supposed to be joined in a circle, like a huge cowl. That didn’t seem very practical, so I worked 6 rows of garter stitch instead of doing a provisional cast-on. I’ll do 6 rows of garter stitch at the other end, making it a big scarf instead. You’re supposed to work 2 stitches in garter at either edge, but I changed that to 3 – a two-stitch border always looks a bit lonely to me.

Why did I have this stashed for so long? Well, I wasn’t sure I wanted a big scarf or cowl. I’d thought the wool would make a nice little sweater, but it really isn’t enough yardage for that and the colour (Eau-de-Nil) is an odd grey-blue that is pretty but hard to match with anything. I decided it was time to just knit it up and be done with it.

I like the pattern and it’s pretty easy knitting – just not tv knitting. That’s the second ball of yarn, so it will be pretty long when it’s done, probably similar dimensions to my Earth Stripe Wrap (but with fewer ends to work in! Ha!)

I’ve had a few other Rowan subscribers’ gifts. This was what I did with the six balls of Rowan Denim – I made a bag, just in not the pattern that was included. I still have the yarn gift for the Judy beret. (That’s a Ravelry link.) It’s bright pink. Maybe I should knit that up next.

Crystal Twist Complete

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Does your knitting project change depending upon where you knit?

Mine apparently does. Just over a week ago, the mister and I decided on a new plan. Neither of us were sleeping as well as would be ideal and my eyes were bothering me. We decided to eliminate blue light after dinner. Nor more evenings watching television, surfing online, or even reading ebooks. Instead, we’re reading paper books. Instead of knitting while watching TV, I’m knitting for a couple of hours in the kitchen each night, then reading. And that means that I can work on all those projects that need a little bit more concentration. While watching TV, I prefer to knit endless miles of stockinette—and whenever a project gets to the point that I need to pay attention, I put it aside. This change means that I’m picking up those projects and getting them done.

First up is my Crystal Twist shawl, which didn’t require that much attention. (That link is my first post about it: here’s the second post about the size of the shawl after one skein.) There’s just a little pattern bit at the left end of the row, but it was enough that I wasn’t knitting while watching movies. And it’s finished! Here it is, right off the needles.

Crystal Twist shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

The ends are a bit curly because it isn’t blocked. I like the second colour but wish I’d picked something a little darker, maybe a little bluer. That second yarn has a bit of a tighter twist than the first yarn, but that distinction may diminish when the shawl is washed. It’s really only something I would notice.

I switched yarn colours the same 12-row transition recommended by the Unique Sheep: after working colour A, work 2R colour B, work 4R colour A, work 4R colour B, work 2R colour A, then continue in colour B. They photograph quite distinctly, but in real life, the colours of the two skeins appear to be much closer.

Crystal Twist shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

I could have maybe managed another 12-row repeat in the purple, but I would have been playing yarn chicken. Here’s the ending edge, which I worked in the first colour:

Crystal Twist shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

I’m really pleased with this shawl and may make another. I like it in this two-skein size, and if I do make another, I’ll definitely add the beads.

What do you think?

Crystal Twist Conundrum

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I showed you the Crystal Twist shawl I started to knit with a skein of hand-dyed yarn, without beads, a few weeks ago. The pattern is quite pretty but I started to be concerned about yarn quantity. Here’s how far I got with my one skein.

Crystal Twist shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

I’m supposed to knit to 51″ length, but that measured side is 31″. The pattern specifies one 400m skein of fingering weight yarn, which is what this is. I’m using the specified needles and my width gauge is spot-on. Hmm. I couldn’t figure this out. I thought there was a mistake in the pattern, but the designer contacted me on Ravelry – I should have measured the angled side, which is, in fact, 51″ long. Ha! I have enough yarn to knit the finishing rows and bind it off but I’d like the shawl to be bigger.

This skein is a one-off, so there is no more. (I dyed it.) The base yarn is discontinued. Hmm. This makes for a conundrum! I left a bit of yarn so I can do some stripes to transition to another yarn for the rest of the shawl – if I can find a good candidate.

The hunt is on!

Meanwhile, I’m working on a second sock…

Crystal Twist Shawl

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Crystal Twist is a triangular shawl with a cabled border. (That’s a Ravelry link.) It’s knit in fingering weight yarn with beads. I saw a kit for this pretty little shawl, but decided to buy the pattern on its own and shop my stash instead of buying the kit.

I had a skein of Knit Picks Bare Merino Silk fingering, which was one of several yarns including in a dye-your-own kit I bought from them ages ago. I made mine purple and there it is on the left. (The yarn on the right is KP Stroll which is a sport weight that I haven’t knit up yet)

Knit Picks yarns acid-dyed by Deborah Cooke

The incredible thing is that I didn’t have any beads to match a purple yarn. I guess I’ve used them all up. This is a bit of a wasteland for buying beads so I decided to knit the shawl without any.

I was a bit confused by the first chart, because row 1 is a wrong-side row, making row 2 and all even-numbered rows right-side rows. This was the opposite of my expectation, but once I had that sorted out, I was off. It’s a nice easy pattern to knit – you start at a point and increase until you have six cable bands, then the other stitches are in stockinette as the shawl grows wider.

I had another small issue when I started the second chart – which starts on row 1, a right-side row! – in that I was short a stitch. I did it over and over but couldn’t find the stitch. I had 52 stitches as specified but when I count the chart, I get 53, which could be the issue. In the end, I just crossed out the column for stitch 16 and carried on.

Here’s how it looks so far:

Crystal Twist shawl designed by Emily Wood and knit by Deborah Cooke

I like the colours and the pattern, but am not that fussed about the yarn. I thought it would be soft, but it feels a lot like cotton when it’s knitted up. Maybe I’ll knit a second shawl in another yarn and with beads. For the moment, I’m knitting on!

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?