Red Charlotte’s Web

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been quiet here on the blog. I’ve been writing a lot and solving a lot of publishing things – I’m still knitting and crafting but have been waiting to have a finished project to show you.

Here’s one.

This project jumped onto my needles after our trip to the Koigu Tent Sale in August. You might remember my acquisitions:

Deborah Cooke's acquisitions at the Koigu Tent Sale 2023

Those three reds were screaming to become a shawl, along with the grey/red mix and one of the lighter greys off to the right. (Not the lightest one.) Those two light greys look like a progression in hue, but they’re actually two dye lots of the same colourway. The right one is a bit more blue.

I showed you the shawl in progress, but here it is again:

Charlotte's Web knitted in five colours of Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke, in progress

I used a longer colour transition than the one recommended in the pattern: this is the one that The Unique Sheep suggests with their graduated colourways. It takes 24 rows when you’re working back and forth, 12 if knitting in the round. When changing from A to B and knitting back and forth:

With B, work 2 R.
With A, work 6 R.
With B, work 4 R.
With A, work 4 R.
With B, work 6 R.
With A, work 2 R.

In the round, the row counts would be 1, 3, 2, 2, 3, 1.

It’s interesting how much evident the colour changes are in a photograph than in real life.

Here it is, fresh off the needles:

Charlotte's Web knitted in five colours of Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke

This used pretty much all of those five skeins of Koigu KPPPM – the bind-off I-cord is knit in the leftover red from my Lunenberg Cardigan. My Ravelry project page is here.

Here it is, stretched out to block. I was amazed that it blocked to 80″ – wingtip to wingtip – by 45″ deep.

Charlotte's Web knitted in five colours of Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke, blocking

Here it is finished up (well, the ends need to be stitched in.)

Charlotte's Web knitted in five colours of Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke, done

And a detail shot:

Charlotte's Web knitted in five colours of Koigu KPPPM by Deborah Cooke, done - detail

I did think it was too stretched after I’d blocked it, so I tossed it into the dryer with some towels that were finished up. (Just for about 10 minutes.) That took it down 4″ in the length and about 8″ across the top, and also improved (to me) the look and feel of the stitches.

I want to make another shawl, maybe not with the same stitch pattern, from those skeins to the right of the reds. I’ll start with the almost-black and work down to the pale grey. That will give me four skeins, so it will be a bit smaller than this one. I have a partial skein in a lovely purple-pink mix that will be great for the I-cord bind-off.

I’ve also been working on an Entrelac scarf for the mister in that Noro from the thrift store. I’ll show you that next week, whether it’s done or not. 🙂

2023 Trip to the Koigu Tent Sale

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

I’m a day late this week in posting. Holiday Mondays tend to throw my game. I wrote on Monday, but didn’t get the other things done.

One thing we did in August was run away for the day to the Koigu Tent Sale. We always take a picnic and enjoy the scenic drive – plus, of course, there’s yarn that comes home with us.

Here’s what I bought this year:

It’s all Koigu KPPPM. (That link will take you to the Koigu site.)

I’m always looking for purply-blue yarn, esp since I used up the Koigu KPPPM that I had in blue for my Halo cardigan. I think this lot on the left will replace that lot 🙂 for a Latitude sweater. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I still have a lighter blue and white for the contrast.

The turquoises on the bottom row coordinate with the leftovers from my Navelli and will likely become a shawl.

The row with the burgundy through the black will become two shawls with gradient hues – the reds have already jumped onto my needles for another Charlotte’s Web shawl. (Another Ravelry link there.)

Here’s a picture of it in progress:

So far, these are in the order of the stash pic above, but I’m going to end with one of those pale greys. They’re the same colour but different dye lots – the left one will finish out my red shawl and I have scraps of another red – from my Lunenberg cardigan – for the I-cord bind-off. I prefer that to a fringe. The black and grey shawl will only have four skeins, so it’ll be a bit smaller. I have bits of a purple-pink mix to bind off that one which will be fun.

It’s interesting how much easier it is to see the colour changes in a picture than in real life. I’m using a 24R transition instead of the 16R one suggested in the pattern, the same sequence recommended when using Unique Sheep gradients. (My Urdr shawl is an example, though knit in laceweight.)

I also found some Noro Silver Thaw at the thrift store recently (that’s a Ravelry link) which will probably jump queue and leap onto my needles.

There are three skeins but I’ve already balled up one of them. I wanted to see how the colourway would work, whether it would stripe or fleck. It will stripe, like most Noro yarns, so I’m going to make an entrelac scarf and hat from this lot.

Tegna Pullover

Posted on July 21, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Tegna is a pullover designed by Caitlin Hunter. here’s the pattern picture – it looks like a lovely summer top, doesn’t it? I’ve linked the picture to the Ravelry page.

I cast this on with Koigu KPPPM bought at the tent sale last summer. The colourway is 534.

My “hmmm” comes from the colour of the yarn not the pattern. I’m just not sure I love it.

I’ve finished the lacy hem bit and am alternating between three skeins as I knit in the round.

Here it is, all bunched up on the needles:

Caitlin Hunter's Tegna knit by Deborah Cooke in Koigu KPPPM

Here’s the yarn in the skein – the top row are all the same colourway, but you can see the variation between them. I started with the lighter ones – this top is knit bottom-up – and will shift into the darker ones near the shoulders. I think that will be more flattering, but we’ll see.

I suspect I had a fear of pooling, which was why I stopped. I’m going to carry on with this one and hope for the best. If it pools into a spiral, it’s going to be frogged!

And this year at the tent sale, I’m going to look for colourways that are closer to solid like those navy ones at the bottom left.

That’s the end of my on-the-needles review. Now I need to get knitting!

Halo is Done!

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Another sweater freed from Sleeve Island. This cardigan is Halo, a pattern from Fleece Artist.

Mine is knit in Koigu KPPPM held with a strand of Rowan KidSilk Haze. Here’s my first blog post about it.

I started this project a year ago, in February 2022. (It was a free pattern then, but might not be so now.) I liked the design a lot but didn’t want to buy more yarn, so I shopped my stash. I came up with some Koigu KPPPM in a mixy blue and some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Turkish Plum which matched. The resulting fabric is lovely and soft, with enough variation from the Koigu to make the colour interesting.

Mmm. Squishy goodness.

Halo Jacket by Fleece Artist knit by Deborah Cooke in Koigu KPPPM and Rowan Kidsilk Haze

The construction is interesting. You can tell by the ridges that it’s a sideways knit. You cast on provisionally at what might be considered a sideseam, knit across the back, cast off stitches for the sleeve, then knit across one front. You put those stitches on a holder. You go back to the provisional cast-on to pick up enough stitches for the other front, then when it’s done, put them on a holder. You sew the shoulder seams, then start knitting those front stitches, up one side, pick up stitches across the back for the collar, then down the other front. This makes a self-rolling shawl collar after you knit five inches of it. Then you go back to each sleeve opening to pick up stitches and knit in the round, decreasing down to each cuff.

By the elbow of the second sleeve, I was sure that I would run out of yarn. I stopped knitting so I could look for something matchy-matchy at the Koigu tent sale in August. The best I could do was some solid-ish navy (it looks kettle-dyed) so I decided to use it on the cuffs and the front edge of the collar, if necessary. I frogged a lot of the collar to be sure I had enough Koigu for the second sleeve. By this time, I’d lost momentum and the project sat. As is so often the case, I picked it up finally and finished it in a couple of evenings.

And – ha! – I didn’t run out of yarn. I took the remaining Koigu and knit on the collar until it was gone.

Here’s Halo completed.

Morning sunlight through the tree branches makes for dappled light and shadow. 🙂

Mine came out a bit smaller than anticipated. I made the larger size, which meant it should have been 25″ long and 48″ wide. There’s no row gauge specified, probably because it’s stretchy, but the stitch gauge is 20 sts to 4″. Mine is right on, but my sweater is 22″ long and 42″ wide. So, if and when I make another of these cardigans, I’ll add 15 stitches to the length and 7 or 8 repeats to the width, probably 4 across the back and 4 on each front.

I’m thinking I might knit a second one of these rather than another Lunenberg-meets-Hebrides cardigan. I have more of the KPPPM in the teal colourway than I had of the navy, so that should work out well – plus I have KSH in Trance to knit with it. Or I might buy a Halo bundle from Fleece Artist and actually knit the sweater in the specified yarn. (Had to sit down for a minute there. Phew. What a concept.) We’ll see after I finish up a few projects still on the go.

In the meantime, here’s the link to my Ravelry project page.

Fairy Fingers

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

This is a pattern from Fleece Artist to make fingerless gloves called Fairy Fingers. Fairy fingers is also an old term for foxglove flowers. As seems to be happening a lot lately, I made my first pair from Koigu KPPPM. (They were done last week, but a gift, so I couldn’t show you before the recipient saw them!)

Here they are:

Fairy Fingers knit by Deborah Cooke in Koigu KPPPM

This is the colourway that made a swirl in my teal Navelli so was frogged and returned to the stash as a result. I wasn’t sure what it would do in these gloves and was pleasantly surprised by the result. The colourway is P528. Here’s the other side of them:

I did only 12 repeats of the pattern on the cuff instead of the 15 specified.

The pattern calls for 2.75mm needles but I thought the cuff looked too loose, so I went down to 2.5mm needles. I really like the fabric that resulted, but this might make the gloves too small for some people. They fit me perfectly 🙂 which is inevitable since they were a gift.

I did end up with a pair for myself, though. When I cast on the second glove from a different skein of Koigu, it didn’t look like it would match the first one. I knit one with 15 repeats in the cuff then and made a second pair, which I kept. You can see that glove in the middle here – doesn’t it look a bit lighter than the outside two?

Instead of using a second skein, I went back and cast on the second of the shorter gloves from the leftovers of the first skein, to make sure it matched. Koigu comes in skeins of 50g and the first short glove used 28g. For the second glove, I got all of it out of the remainder of the skein except the fingers – if there’s a colour difference, you can’t see it.

This pattern also launched me on a hunt for Fleece Artist yarn. I love their colourways. There’s some new Fleece Artist yarn on its way to me, which I’ll show you once it’s knitted up.

Just editing this to show the other pair, the longer ones that are for me.

I’m also noticing the pooling on the hand with this pair – the other pair has it, too, but I’m taking a better look now. 🙂 If I flip one over, you can see that it worked out the same way on both, just it ends upon on the back of one and the palm of the other.

I did do the fussy-knitting thing of casting on at the same point in the colour gradation – I usually do this with a self-striping yarn by choosing a point (like where the burgundy changes to the turquoise) and making my cast-on knot there for both mitts (or socks). That way, the striping will unfurl the same way on both. A second fussy-knitting fix would have been to knit an extra half row on the hand before starting the thumb gusset, moving it to the other side so that the two palms would be the same (and the two backs). They wouldn’t mirror but they’d match.

Maybe next time. 🙂

The Koigu Tent Sale 2022

Posted on August 24, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

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:

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.

Another Charlotte’s Web

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

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:

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:

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.

Modern Day Goddess Dresses

Posted on March 30, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

Sometimes you need a quick project. I’ve been pushing dragon alphabets around the floor and needed some close-to-instant gratification. My go-to in these situations is making for Barbie and friends. Modern Day Goddess is a fantastic little pattern for a slip-on sleeveless dress for 11.5″ fashion dolls – and it’s free! (That’s a Ravelry link.) It requires a bit of sock yarn and is knit in the round from the top-down. There are just two ends to sew in and it’s ready to wear.

Modern Day Goddess dress for fashion dolls knit by Deborah Cooke

I knit the first in leftover sock yarn with a slow gradation and a tweedy flick. I followed the directions as written, then noticed that the pictures all showed Barbies with the Model Muse body sculpt. I have one (rescued from the thrift store) so here she is in her first dress. (She was naked at the thrift store and has since been washed and had her hair redone.)

This dress is the same front and back, which makes it easier to pull on right. It fits like a dream and was really a quick project.

This Ms. B. is Top Model Resort Barbie from 2007, and originally looked like the image below:

Hmm. I need to steam down her bangs. But that hat! I see a listing for her on ebay NIB for $299US today, so I’ll stick with my thrift store girl and find a different hat.

The pink purse is a new acquisition – it seems to be hers now – which AstroJen sent me. It’s from a 5-Surprise Mini Fashion by Zuru. (That’s an Indigo listing. Amazon.ca doesn’t stock them. This company makes a lot of different miniature bundles, so check the fine print and make sure you’re getting the fashion bags if you want the purses.) Each one contains a mini purse and four other things (one might be a sticker. Hmm.) Jen sent me her duplicates, which was sweet. The purses are just the right size for the girls and are quite well made. (I succumbed and ordered a few myself now that I’ve seen them.) There’s a third one in kind of a silvery purple, but the Monster High girls made off with that one. (They made a quick getaway on the Vespa.)

purses from 5-surprise mini fasion from zulu

My only concern with the dress was that vintage B isn’t the same size front and back. The blue one stretched tight over the front and the armholes gapes. I made some modifications on my second version to give her a little more fabric over the girls. This one is knit in Koigu KPPPM. Ms. B. is also rocking a purse from those surprise packs.

Modern Day Goddess dress for fashion dolls with variations for vintage Barbie, knit by Deborah Cooke in Koigu KPPPM

You wouldn’t know it from her expression but she’s happy about the better fit.

What did I change?

• In the original pattern, the top decreases are at the sides. I moved the decreases to be below the bust, like darts, because there are more of them. The pattern has this nice 6-st panel running down the front and back of the skirt, so I lined up the bodice decreases with that.

• I cast on 4 more stitches.

• I also knit 2 more rows before splitting for the sleeves. That makes the neckline a bit wider and less like straps.

• I cast off fewer stitches for the sleeves. The armhole gaped on vintage B, probably because the fabric was stretching across the front.

• I positioned the sleeves so there would be more stitches on the front than the back. (That’s where my extra 4 stitches went, in front.)

• I added 2 rows to the bodice length. From that point on, I knit following the original instructions.

I really like how both versions came out. I still need to block them both, and that will uncurl the necklines a little bit.

This process inevitably gave me More Ideas, so I’ll have another variation to share later. I also found paper boxes in the stores again (yay!) so will be creating two more carriers, one for the Barbies and one for the Monster High and EverAfter High girls. We need more closet space!

Halo Cardigan

Posted on February 25, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

Sometimes, you just need a quicker project. I have a lot of projects on my needles right now, but most of them use small needles, which means slow progress. I’ve finished eight repeats of the pattern on my Rowan Lace Scarf and am partway through the fifth ball of the six provided in the kit. I’ve almost finished the body of my Noro Mitred Jacket. I’m coming down to the hem on my Spector pullover, which may be the slowest knit on the planet for me. (Will it languish on Sleeve Island? Maybe…) And I’ve been knitting a lot of Barbie clothes. There’s a whole pile of them waiting for their ends to be sewn in. Last weekend, I felt in need of some more immediate knitting gratification.

And then, an ad from Fleece Artist sailed across my screen. Ooooooooo. I’m a complete sucker for their gorgeous yarns.

The Halo Jacket is a free pattern from Fleece Artist. (That’s one of the pattern images from Fleece Artist.) You can download it from their website, or grab a copy here on Ravelry. It’s knit side to side with two yarns held together, a fingering yarn and a mohair-silk laceweight yarn (which creates, hey, a halo!) Here are the yarn bundles at Fleece Artist — as usual, their colours are absolutely scrumptious.

But….in the interests of managing my own yarn inventory, I decided to shop the stash. I have some Koigu KPPPM in a purpley-blue, which I bought for a sweater I ultimately decided not to make. I also have some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Turkish Plum. I’m a little short of yardage in the Koigu, but fortunately, the original pattern (the one that wasn’t knitted) required two coordinating colours. I have the coordinating colour and will use it on the cuffs and collar if necessary. The best part is that those bits are knitted last, so I can decide after the majority of the garment is done.

Here’s my start:

Halo Jacket knit in Koigu KPPPM and Rowan Kidsilk Haze by Deborah Cooke

I’ve pinned it down because it wants to roll into a tube! The actual colours are darker than they appear in the photo, but look at how much the KSH darkened the KPPPM. I hadn’t knit up this Koigu because it wasn’t dark enough – although it’s very pretty – but I love it combined with the KSH. The fabric is wonderfully squishy and soft.

What do you think?

The Final Navelli

Posted on July 9, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

I finally finished my teal Navelli, and it’s actually the season I could wear it!

You might remember that this top (which has been a cursed project) was a bit too short for my liking. Here it is alongside the red version of Navelli that I knit (and love):

I had knit the teal one first, in a larger size. I thought it was done and blogged about it here. For the red one, I went down a size, then discovered that I’d measured incorrectly while knitting the teal one. Here’s the post on the red one. I wasn’t really looking forward to ripping out the sleeves, neck and top of the sweater to fix it. It sat for a while, then I had an idea.

I picked out a row below the split for the sleeves at the underarm, putting the live stitches from the lower part of the sweater on one needle and the bottom loops from the live stitches on the top of the sweater on another. I knit two more inches onto the bottom of the sweater, then grafted the two pieces back together. The grafting took ages because of the number of stitches, but I kept reminding myself that I hadn’t had to reknit the top of the sweater.

Here’s the result:

In this picture, you can see the newly knitted band. I wasn’t sure whether there was a difference in colour between skeins (it’s all the same dye lot, but Koigu sometimes varies anyway) or whether it would vanish when the sweater is washed. Those stitches look crisper and more tightly twisted than the rest. It turned out to be a bit of both – the stitches relaxed so they look like the ones that had already been washed, but there is a teensy bit of colour difference due to variation within the dye lot. There are a couple of lighter zones on the back and the front, but overall, I’m happy.

This one is FINALLY done!

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