Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Deborah Cooke

Today, we’ll talk about another stole from Victorian Lace Today that I knit (this time in 2008) but never added to the blog. The pattern is Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern by Jane Sowerby and I knit it in a handpainted yarn from Wellington Fibres. The base yarn is their 3-ply fingering.

Wellington Fibres is a small mill and also raise angora goats themselves. They’re near Elora, Ontario and well worth a road trip. They have a shop attached to the mill where they sell both tops for spinning and finished yarn. They have a spring open house, when there are lots of baby goats, too.

Mohair is a glorious fibre with a wonderful sheen. It also takes dye very well. The rich jewel tones of the yarn at Wellington Fibres makes their shop feel like Aladdin’s Cave.

Here’s the shawl:
Diamond Lace Shawl from Victorian Lace Today knit by Deborah Cooke in Wellington Fibres 3 ply This one finished out at 65″ by 19″. I think it was the first time I knitted on a border. I did change out the specified border for the Cyprus edging.

There’s a slight striping effect from the handpainted yarn, but I like it:

Diamond Lace Shawl from Victorian Lace Today knit by Deborah Cooke in Wellington Fibres 3 ply

What I like about the patterns in Victorian Lace Today is that I can memorize many of them, especially ones like this. That means I don’t have to sit over a chart as I knit, but can watch television or talk to other people. I like charted lace patterns, too, but VLT is distinctive in that for me.

Here’s an old picture of the shawl, which shows the pattern stitch a bit better. This one is closer to the actual colours, too. Large Rectangle with Center Diamond Pattern by Jane Sowerby knit in Wellington Fibres 3-ply by Deborah Cooke

Now, I’m thinking about knitting another shawl from Victorian Lace Today!

Alpine Knit Scarf

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s a project from Victorian Lace Today that was never documented on the blog. It’s a wide scarf—really, it’s a stole—and I knit it in Malabrigo Lace in the colourway Whale’s Tale. The pattern is the Alpine Knit Scarf with Double Rose Leaf Center Pattern and Diamond Border by Jane Sowerby.

Alpine Lace shawl from Victorian Lace Today knit in Malabrigo Lace by Deborah Cooke

My finished shawl is about 55″ long and 18″ wide.

There are several interesting details here. One is that photography often reveals colour shifts that aren’t as noticable in real life. Malabrigo Lace, like many handpainted yarns, has colour variations between skeins. I didn’t know anything about alternating skeins when I knit this and you can see, just a little past halfway and to the right, where I changed from one skein to the next. The left skein is a little bluer and the colours in the right skein are a little less blended.

You might also agree with the idea that lace shouldn’t be knit in yarns with color variations because it hides the detail of the lace. I kind of like it.

Here’s a shot of about half of the shawl (the right half above). Even in the handpainted yarn, you can see that this pattern has a border with a central panel in a different lace pattern, and that they’re separated (and edged) with garter stitch. The Malabrigo didn’t really pool in this knit, which was a nice bonus.

Alpine Lace shawl from Victorian Lace Today knit in Malabrigo Lace by Deborah Cooke This is a beautiful pattern and I loved knitting it. Malabrigo Lace is very (very!) soft, too. I would like to knit it again in a more solid colour, just to see the difference.

You can see the pattern stitch a bit better in this older photo:

Alpine Lace Shawl knit by Deborah Cooke

My Ravelry project page says I knit this in 2007! It’s been living in the cedar chest ever since. One of the good things about digging it out for a new photograph is that I’ve kept it out and am (finally) wearing it.

Lady’s Circular Cape

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

And here it is!This is the Lady’s Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today, finally finished and blocked.

I blocked this a bit too hard at the time, and later was disappointed that it came out so flat. The illustration in the book showed the finished shawl having some ripples in the main body of it and since I’d used the specified yarn, I wanted the same effect.

I spritzed it down with water and left it in mound to dry. I did that again, letting it relax into the shape it wanted to take, and think that this is a happy compromise between blocked and not.

This was the first pattern from VLT in which I ran out of yarn, despite using the specified yarn and having the specified quantity.

I’m thinking of adding a line of crocheted chain stitch around the collar. It seems a bit fragile to me there, given the fullness and weight of the shawl. I think that if I did it in the same yarn and chose the location well, it would never show and it would ensure there was no damage in wear. I’m probably over-engineering it, but I would like to wear it with a pin at the neck (which is comparatively heavy) and also the neck is a bit bigger than expected. Got to think a bit on that.

Kidsilk Haze Circular Cape and Calienté

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

This past week, I’ve been plotting like crazy, which also means I’ve been knitting like crazy. Here’s what I’ve accomplished.

First off, I’ve been plugging along, knitting the border on that Lady’s Circular Cape in KidSilk Haze. The pattern is in Victorian Lace Today. I was making good progress on this last winter, until I realized that I was going to run out of yarn. I had two balls left when I started the border and didn’t get to the halfway point with the first one. Ooops. Naturally, this yarn had been aging in my stash so there was no more to be found in the same dye lot. I ordered a ball from the same vendor and it was really different – it looked like a different yarn, as well as being a different colour. I finally found a decent match in the old stock at my LYS – she said she thought Rowan must have changed mills for KSH, because she had also noticed that the newer stock looked different. (It’s shinier, as if it has more silk.)

So, with that solved, I’ve gotten back to it. Here’s a peek:

What you’re seeing here is the part of the shawl that has the border knitted on already. The neck is at the bottom of this shot, and you can see (at the pink thread) where I began to attach the border at the centre back of the neck. It then goes down one front and along the hem. There are 13 scallops in the entire shawl – you can see 4 here. I have 5 more to go, then up the other side and back to the centre back neck. Exactly one ball of KSH – 225m of knitting – to go.

The issue with this border is that I can’t knit it while I’m watching television. I have to pay attention. So, since we’ve been watching DVD’s of the first season of House, I’ve been knitting something else. Also Kidsilk Haze – but this is the new KSH Stripe.

This is my pattern, Caliente, which is free on Ravelry. I made it narrower than the pattern specifies, increasing only to four diamonds in width. I’m thinking this is about halfway, but am not yet sure how I’ll know when to start the decreases for the other end. I’ll likely guess, and if I’m wrong, I’ll be frogging KSH. Ick. I’d better make it a good guess!

Garter Cuff Mittens & Lace Scarf

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

I just finished a pair of gloves in that gorgeous MadTosh Merino. These match a scarf that I’m still working on. The scarf uses a stitch pattern from Victorian Lace Today – I’ve used the pattern stitch from the body of the Large Rectangule Shawl in Spider Net with a garter stitch border for this scarf. It’s a little more of an instant gratification project than the shawl – and I love it so far. The colour is Ambertrinket, which is a wonderful gorgeous blend of orange, yellow, brown, purple, red, burgundy – I think maybe WOW is the best description. Here are the gloves:The flash is – as usual – making the colours look a little lighter and brighter than they are IRL.

The pattern for these gloves is from a book called Weekend Knitting. The pattern is by Deborah Newton and called Garter Cuff Gloves and Mittens. It was easy enough to knit, but I’m not entirely happy with the fit. They are big. If they don’t shrink down to my size in a good hot soak, then Mr. Math will have a great orange pair of gloves. (He can’t have the scarf.) They’re long too and quite loose in the part between the wrist and thumb. If I made them again, I’d add a thumb gusset – the pattern calls for making the increases in the first row after the garter stitch cuff is done. A gusset would fit better.

I am pleased with them overall, though, and I love the scarf.

Kidsilk Haze & Lace

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve ended up with two lace projects, both in Kidsilk Haze, on my needles. (Good thing I have too many needles.) No sooner did I cast on the Lady’s Circular Cape from VLT – which is proving to be an addictive knit – than the KSH for the Lace Cardigan in VK arrived. So, I cast it on, as well. Since I’m in the midst of a revision that is bending my brain (all good) I’m getting lots of knitting done as I think.

Here’s my progress so far on the Lady’s Circular Cape from Victorian Lace Today. (Which is a truly amazing book.) This one is cast on at the neck, then you work back and forth to the hem. At the end, you knit an edging around the whole thing. The colour of this one is Black Currant and it’s a very deep purple. I’ve worked about 25 rows of the pattern – of course, it’s lace so it looks like a lump right now. The little bits of sock yarn are my stitch markers – they indicate the pattern repeats:The other project is a Lace Cardigan from the current issue of Vogue Knitting. This one is knit outward from the centre back in a pentagon. I’ve used the colour Trance, which is a smokey blue. I’ve done about 30 rows from the first chart and again, it looks like a lump.So tell me – what’s on your needles?

Half Hexagon Fichu Shawl

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Deborah Cooke

I just finished blocking this shawl, but still need to weave in the ends. I’m trying to decide whether to give it away or keep it! Here it is:Wow. That shot is even out of focus! A new low in my photographic efforts!

It’s the fichu of the Spiders’ Web Shawls from Jane Sowerby’s VICTORIAN LACE TODAY. I used a skein of handpainted sock yarn – the pictures don’t do the colours justice. It looks purple from a distance, but up close has many different (and unexpected) shades in it. The gold beads aren’t showing up too well in the photos either – they’re on every second row, right above the YO holes.

Essentially, I knit until the yarn was almost gone (the skein was about 400m) then did a quickie edging. Theoretically, these are half circle shawls – well, half hexagon – but in reality, they always want to block to be more than half of a circle. This is a nice size, though – it hangs just to the elbows.

Here’s a detail shot:This one shows the colours better, but not the beads.

So, what do you think? Should I keep it (remember that I already have two Spiders’ Web shawls, but in different yarns – one in Noro sock yarn and a bigger one in Fleece Artist yarns) or give it away?

Spider’s Web Shawl

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Deborah Cooke

This is the semi-circular Spider’s Web Shawl from Jane Sowerby’s book, VICTORIAN LACE TODAY. One of these days, I’ll knit the full circle version. The yarn is from Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 which comes with a skein of Angelhair dyed the same colourway. I used the yarns separately, knitting the middle of the shawl from the merino and the lacy edge from the Angelhair. I used another Fleece Artist yarn, Somoko, in red for the band between the two sections and for the outer hem. See the gold beads?

Inky Spider’s Web Fichu Shawl

Posted on February 4, 2009 by Deborah Cooke

As you know, I’m very fond of Jane Sowerby’s book VICTORIAN LACE TODAY and have knit a few projects from it. Here’s another. This is the fichu variation of the Spider’s Web Shawl, knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock. I love this inky colourway and added some iridescent beads to it, too.Technically, this should block out as a half a hexagon, but mine came out more like 3/4 of a square. It’s a nice size and just falls to the elbows. Here’s a detail shot of the edging with the beads:I love the colours and the texture of this one and know I’ll wear it a lot. What do you think?

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