I finished the border on my Lizard Ridge afghan, knit in Noro Kureyon. I used some Berella Muskoka that was in my stash, in the colourway Amethyst Heather.
I was concerned that the yarn would look too smooth in contrast to the Noro, but am very happy with the result. Here it is!
This is the edging from the pattern. It’s a nice shell stitch, which fits perfectly with the waves.
What do you think?
I’ve been sharing my progress this summer on my Lizard Ridge afghan knitted in Noro Kureyon. This has to be the fastest project I’ve ever knitted. The pattern is addictive, plus I pretty much stuck to this one project. It was great car-knitting for summer road trips.
I showed you the finished squares last time. I’ve washed and blocked them now, and have sewn them together. Kureyon isn’t a really great yarn for seaming because it’s loosely spun. Instead, I used some black sock yarn – it’s three-ply Patons Kroy – which is smoother and thinner as well as having a bit of nylon in it.
Here it is, assembled:
The pattern suggests a crocheted border in Cascade 220. Instead of buying yet more yarn, I visited the stash. I have more than a sweater’s worth of Berella Muskoka in Amethyst Heather, which is (surprise!) purple. I’ll use that for the border.
The next time you see this beast, it will be done!
Here’s an update on my Lizard Ridge afghan in Noro Kureyon, predominantly in shades of blue and green.
I finished the seven blocks in colourway 327 which has a lot of deep blues – also some burnt orange and a bit of burgundy.
I only included six in the picture, since it made a nicer composition, but there are seven of them.
Now I’ve knit one block from each skein. I have 21 blocks and a lot of bits:
They’re grouped by colourway here. The total weight is 150g and it takes about 40g to make one square.
Here are my last three squares, each of which has at least two colourways in it. That’s the last of the yarn below them. They don’t look bad, do they?
I’m surprised to only have 13g of yarn left, but several of the colourways were spun thicker than the original one. I have 8 complete blocks of the first colourway I used (the one from my stash – 254), plus it’s in two of the leftover blocks, and there’s still a bit of leftover. I had 7 skeins. In contrast, I bought 7 skeins of the last colourway (327) which was spun much thicker. I got 7 squares out of that, plus half of one of the last three, and the other bit of leftover.
Just for fun, I laid out all the blocks on the patio. They’re curly because they need to be blocked and I know I’ll be moving the order around, but here they are all together:
Now I have a lot of blocking and sewing to do.
What do you think?
I’ve been talking about the afghan I’m knitting in Noro Kureyon, in a pattern called Lizard Ridge. There are two posts so far: here’s the first one, and here’s the update.
Today, there’s another update. 🙂
This week, I knit the three blocks in colourway 40. Here they are:
This takes me into the blues from the greens. I have some bits left but will do my blended squares after knitting all the ones that are in a single colourway. I’ve started to knit the blocks in 327 which has a lot of lovely deep blues. I’ll show you some of them next week. I have seven balls of that colourway, so it will take me a couple of weeks to get them all knitted. Then the mixy mixy ones. THEN I can start to put it together!
What do you think of these?
I’ve been knitting away on my Lizard Ridge afghan in Noro Kureyon, and wanted to show you my progress today. I showed you the first two squares two weeks ago, which were knitted from some Kureyon in my stash. That was colour 254, which is discontinued. I knit up most of that, and have the eight squares at the top of this picture as a result, as well as some bits and ends leftover.
I then knit 3 squares with colour 332, which is shades of green with a bit of brick red. Those three squares are at the very bottom.
Because it hasn’t been blocked or had the blocks sewn together, it’s a bit curly on the edges, but you get the idea.
Right now, I’m knitting squares from colour 40, which is more blue with a touch of lime and pink.
Finally, I have seven balls in colour 327, which is mostly blues with a little bit of orange and purple.
These eleven squares completed means that I’ve done almost half. The pattern calls for 24 squares (4 by 6) but I’d rather it was 25 (5 by 5). I’ll have to see what I can do with those bits and ends once the blocks that are entirely each colour are done.
What do you think? I think it’s going to be fun to rearrange the blocks once I have them all knitted! There’s an edging in a solid colour and I have a feeling mine might need to be purple. We’ll see!
This past week, I cast on yet another knitting project. It’s funny how no matter what is on the needles, I crave something else. I realized that I needed something to knit in the car, a portable project on larger needles (than socks) that didn’t require a lot of attention. Summer is the season of road trips, after all! I wanted to use yarn from my stash, too.
The Lizard Ridge afghan is one that I’ve admired for years – this is the Ravelry link and this is the link to the pattern on Knitty, where it was originally published in 2008. It’s a free pattern. Lizard Ridge is designed to showcase Noro Kureyon, one of my favorite yarns, and does that brilliantly.
Here my first few blocks – this is the colourway 254 from my stash.
I had seven skeins of Kureyon in my stash, but the pattern calls for twenty. I played with mixing and matching, but really, the Kureyon makes the project. I was compelled (alas!) to buy more Kureyon in coordinating colorways. 🙂
What do you think?
Well, this week we have kind of a re-useable bag theme going on here, at Alive & Knitting. First there were bags we could make from reclaimed or vintage sweaters, that had been felted to make them tough. And now, here’s a bag knitted from scratch, ready to be used again and again and again.
But first, a bit of a saga. Remember the sweater I made from Noro Kureyon? Well, I had some leftover yarn and wanted to use it. (Stash management is key, right?) Remember my Dr. Seuss Socks? There’s just something about using a self-striping yarn like Noro in stripes that works for me in a big way. Noro Kureyon is said to felt wonderfully, so I decided to make a felted stripey messenger bag with those leftovers.
I paired the Noro with a colourway of Patons Classic Wool that I bought on a pilgrimage to Spinrite – thus, yes, doing some responsible stashbusting while pursuing a responsible project. This must have been a test colour because it’s not on their site. ($9.99 C for 8 x 100g balls. That’s not temptation. That’s inescapable acquisition.) Actually, there were a number of colours available at the mill, all of which had one ply that had a long graduated colour change. This is a mustard with the coloured ply changing through reds and purples. It worked well with the greens in the Noro Kureyon.
This is the massive project that has been taking up my needle time. After all the knitting was done, I wanted to add I-cord. Ugh. There are about 10,000 miles of applied I-cord on this bag. It’s not strictly necessary, but it does make the edges look so much better. Here’s a shot of the I-cord in progress – it’s done on the left but not on the right:
See how the I-cord neatens up those edges, and makes the bag look more crisp? I get really bored knitting I-cord, but I love the results.
I found some amazing buttons in my stash – I bought these because they were so wonderful, but never found a project for them. (Until now.) They look like pieces of amber, but have little lines inside them – Mr. C. says they look like rutilated quartz. I’m taking his word on that.
And here’s the finished bag before felting:
It’s HUGE. The edges wanted to roll so I pinned them down – here’s hoping they just stay flat once it’s felted.
And here it is, after felting and finishing. Of course, it has a zipper and a lining, because I’m kind of compulsive like that.
I LOVE this bag! What do you think of it?
My Ravelry project page is here.
The pattern is posted as a free download on Ravelry right here.
I seem to be convinced that I need cardigans, because I cast them on all the time. And I LOVE self-striping yarns. They entertain me enormously. I saw some Noro Kureyon on sale and could not resist.
On Ravelry, in the listing for Noro Kureyon, it says that “Kureyon” is the way that Japanese speakers pronounce “Crayon”, so the yarn is named for its bright colour combinations. Noro, of course, is a Japanese manufacturer. This is such a good story that I hope it’s true.
Top down raglans are insanely easy to knit and to fit – you can just try on the sweater as you go and adjust the fit accordingly. And there’s no sewing at the end! No seams! It’s all one piece. You just have to sew in the ends.
I used Laura Chau’s (a.k.a. CosmicPluto Knits) free pattern for an Easy Top Down Raglan, partly because she had knit it with the same weight of yarn. I did use smaller needles, though – 4mm instead of her 5.5mm – because I wanted a denser fabric. The only difference that made (because you do try it on as you go) was that it took more increases to get to the underarms. Laura suggests 24 but I did 30. Instead of ribbing, I worked the edges in seed stitch. I left out the buttonholes for a cleaner front. I did some waist shaping, but mostly I wanted a big loose cardi in pretty colours. I also was (big surprise) pretty compulsive about keeping the self-striping in sequence, even when changing balls of yarn.
It’s had a good soak (and is much softer for it), then a block. Here’s the result:
You can see that the sleeves aren’t a perfect match. I had to change balls in the light green near the top of the sleeve on your right, and it looks like I didn’t break off enough green. See the dark green line in the middle? The dark green band should have started there, not three or four rows down. That’s what threw off the match, but by the time I saw it, I didn’t want to rip back. It did become more out-of-step as the sleeves became more narrow, but I’ll live with it.
A couple of notes:
• From the 12 balls of Noro Kureyon, I used parts of 11 balls in my matchy-matchy fussiness. There’s a little more than 150 g left, though – so if I hadn’t been fussy, but had just knit it as it came off the balls, I would have needed 9.
• I did change the method of increasing at the raglan seams. The pattern instructs you to knit to one stitch before each marker, then KFB, move marker, KFB and continue. I don’t like how knitting front and back into the same stitch looks. Because each stitch is made into two, a knit stitch and a purl stitch, it makes a purl stitch right where the marker is and again to the left of the stitch after the marker.
I prefer when there is a neat line down the length of the raglan. So, I kept the increases outside of the two stitches that bracket the marker, leaving those two stitches to make that line. To do that, I knit to one stitch before the marker, make 1, knit 1, move the marker, knit 1, make 1, and continue.
Here’s a picture of different styles of increases so you can see what I mean. KFB is near the bottom of the sample. I’m not sure which of the M increases is the one I use, as these are the poster’s assigned names – it’s either M1A or M1L/F (and the corresponding M1T and M1R/B). It’s amazing to see how many ways there are to make a new stitch, isn’t it?
Of course, I’ve finished this winter cardi exactly as summer starts. This is pretty funny. It’s done just in time to be stashed away – while all the cotton ones linger on the needles. OTOH, in September, I’ll have a new sweater to wear. Look at the yummy colours!
Have you ever knit a top down raglan? What did you think of the method? And the result? Is your knitting “in season”? Or do you finish things at the wrong time to wear them, like me?
Alive & Knitting 