The Take Your Time Sale!

If you’re like me, then you, too, don’t like to be rushed when shopping, especially at this time of the year, so this sale runs from Wednesday, 11/29/23 through the end of Sunday, 12/3/23.  

Everything in my Etsy shop is 15% off – knitting and crochet patterns, handspun yarns, handwoven scarves, and handwoven rag rugs.

No coupon is needed, no minimum is required!

As I’m beginning a new line of weft-faced rugs, I have dropped the price of my current rag rugs by 50%.  

The 15% sale is an extra discount on top of thealready reduced rug prices!

Happy Holiday Crafting!
Dawn
 

Satisfying Plain Weave

I finally added 2 blogs to my sidebar, for now, as I’m rather particular about such things.  I enjoy, and learn from, both Peggy’s and Karen’s blogs and I’ll surely add some knitting blogs.  Peggy has great general weaving information and Karen often posts about her rag rug projects, though not in detail!

Many weavers seem to have fallen down the multi-shaft rabbit hole, where I have always been content with 2 shaft or more basic 4 shaft weaves. I love simpler traditional textiles - plain weaves and twills, stripes, plaids, tweeds, and weft-faced and plain weave rugs. They may not provide the wow factor like other weavers’ work, but I find them to be comforting and relatable.  

When it comes to textile gymnastics, I prefer it in knitting, via color patterns or cable patterns.  

Needless to say, any snafus which occur whilst knitting are far more easily dealt with than a complicated weaving draft errantly threaded!  At this point in my life, I don’t need unnecessary stress!  (Although, is *any* stress really necessary?  I wish I could avoid it entirely, and save my heart the distress that ensues, undoing the good work of my heart meds.). Keeping it simple doesn’t mean it will only be boring!

More complex weaving drafts are lovely, but they do not *speak* to me.  Even Overshot, which I used to love, and have several books on, but we no longer own an antique home, at least for now, so I want whatever I weave for this non-fussy circa 1947 Cape Cod house to not look out of place.  And as we live on the Cape, a simpler seaside decor suits it well, although it will take me a while to weave and sew all that I want in the house!

As I may have mentioned, my floor loom (a 45” Hammett CB with sectional beam) is in pieces now, moved upstairs into a room where I will actually have space to weave easily.

Moving it also allows us to use my work table for Thanksgiving dinner, as the rest of my studio supplies and FO’s (handspun yarns and handwovens) need to remain in a room that is constantly heated or cooled.  I’ve BTDT enough, dealing with having to rewash linens that were stored in an unheated and non-cooled room.  I won’t do that to my hard work!

But this does mean it will be a while before hubby and I can get to putting the floor loom back together.  I only had time to weave one weft-faced rug, the warp for the remaining 3 rugs was rewound back onto the beam and taped down.

So, with the floor loom out of commission for a while, my small RH loom has been getting a workout.  It is not an unenjoyable process to direct warp the RH loom, even the more persnickety color and weave designs, although I think I prefer the actual act of weaving on the floor loom!  Passing a stick shuttle isn’t the same as throwing a boat, ski, or rug shuttle.  Floor loom weaving also gives my legs some exercise, like handspinning, which I also spend quite a bit of time doing

I now have 10 wool and alpaca scarves on Etsy thus far, and recently finished 3 more: another Houndstooth Tattersall, an all white Tweed, and a pattern I call “Faux Rib”, aka Log Cabin, as the pattern reminds me of offset panels of knit and purl ribbing.  LOL, I don’t like log cabins, much preferring Federal, Greek Revival, Colonial Revival, or Shingle Style. 

Actually, I was never crazy about most of the Log Cabin threadings and treadlings I’ve seen.  Many appear murky and confusing to me – I prefer clear, crisp, repeating patterns, which are easily readable.  This one, a 9-st rep both in warp and weft, please my sense of order!

Below are some other drafts I plotted and have been weaving.

Although I have a handful or rwo of 4+ shaft weaving books, I’ve only had one RH book, although the only thing that interested me in that book was how to weave a palindrome skein, which I have yet to do.  I'd much rather play around on weaving software to try to create interesting designs.

As you can see from the following 3 drafts, although they are similar, the first draft varies from the last two. Warping the first one is easier, with its solid blocks of color, but weaving it is slower, requiring 2 shuttles.  So, I decided to shift it, by moving the alternating color ends to the warp, making it slower to warp, BUT allowing the weaving to be solid blocks of color – just one shuttle for a # of picks.

Here’s some twists on the Log Cabin, which I’m calling “Peepers”, after the spring peppers we had so many of in the acre-sized pond back in the mid-Hudson.  I would even find them in the evergreen, off the porch.

These are next on my list to weave up.  As you can see, a simple adjustment to the color pattern in the warp and weft creates 3 options - a single set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with horizontal peepers, a double set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with vertical peepers, then a double set of alternating horizontal and vertical bars with *both* horizontal and vertical peepers: peepers on the ground, peepers up a tree, and peepers everywhere!

So many drafts, so little time!

Onward!
Dawn

Two Yutes!

Remember the court room scene in “My Cousin Vinny”, where the clash of Brooklyn, NY and Alabama accents come to life?  In case you haven’t seen it.  

Well, when I was thinking of a title for this blog post, that’s what came to mind!  Though, in my case, it’s not yutes, or utes, but utensils.

I have been wanting to get new kitchen utensils for quite some time.  Sure, we have plenty of wood ones, which are used all the time, but wood, by its nature, does not provide the kind of surface and edge some cooking and baking requires.  So, we also had a selection of silicone (and I don’t know what) utensils for use with non-stick pans. 

Unfortunately, we’ve had them a *long* time, likely even before they started making BPA-free.  And forget about heat resistance, hence the tips on some of them had begun to melt.  Not acceptable.

So, I went searching, and found this company’s wares on Amazon. I started by replacing the spatula (which hubby uses) and the spoonula, which I exclusively use.

I love it for both mixing and lifting up/turning foods during cooking, especially after I whacked cake batter onto my face using a spatula!  That never happens when using a spoonula. Then came the set of flippers - one slotted and wide, the other not slotted and narrow. 

They’re BPA-free, safe to 600º, and well made, if you’ve been looking to replace yours.  

Please note: I post links to products or  sites that might be of interest. I have no stock in this company, or Amazon (despite how much I need to buy there!), and if you click on any links in my blog posts, I do not earn anything.

Onward!
Dawn

Like Words on a Page

I still haven’t worked at the floor loom, as I’m engrossed in weaving on the RH loom!  For every scarf I weave, I chart 5-10 more drafts, so as soon as a scarf comes off it, another warp goes on.  Only a few of my ideas don’t translate well into a scarf, although they’d be fine as yardage, where too thick selvedges don’t matter.  

In this Handwoven article about Nell Znamierowski, it says, ”For Nell, sampling was the joy of weaving. Making an actual project—yardage, scarf, or whatever was a byproduct.”

I understand what she meant.  I’ve long been in love with color.  Not masses of every color everywhere, but instead, carefully chosen and placed color.  Like words on a page, color needs white space.  They also seem to need at least one other color to *bounce off of* –  colors singing in a harmonious voice.

These days one doesn’t need to warp and weave in order to sample color placement, there’s software to, at least, get the ball rolling by creating a visual. I’ve only used PixeLoom (on a Mac), so I can’t speak to other software or hardware, but PL is easy to use, at least for 2 or 4 shaft weaves.  I haven't yet put the software through all its paces, just using the basics thus far, but, I could sit all day and play with colorways for drafts, working to find patterns that sing to me!

Here’s the first grouping of scarves for sale in my Etsy shop, with a few photos below.  I just finished the 10 listings. One more scarf is lying flat, blocking, and I can't wait to get another warp on the loom, using the squishy, supersoft, extra fine (19.5 micron) merino and heavenly baby alpaca yarns which arrived yesterday!

Along the way, some scarves may be gifts, and one or two may go to a local charity which collects warm clothing for the poor (along with some other wool handknits to also donate). I would like to weave a scarf for my two grandkids, and already have a few drafts created just with them in mind.

I wonder if Nell ever repeated her designs.  Some drafts I may only weave a few times, others please me enough that I want to weave them in many alternate colorways and in different yarns.  But they all came about through play.  And who ever gets tired of playing?  It’s what keeps us young!

Onward, Dawn

Yarn Sale and Coming Soon!

 Yarn Sale!

All the handspun yarns in my Etsy shop are 15% off, from today, 11/6/23, through the end of day 11/13/23.

Falkland wool yarn is available in 5 weights, as well as Romney and yearling mohair yarns.

Stock up now for all your winter and holiday crafting!

No coupon needed!

Just a few of the yarns on sale:

Coming Very Soon!

Handwoven wool and alpaca winter scarves!

Happy Crafting!
Dawn

Lip Balmed!

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity, as hubby had a doctor’s appointment 2 hrs away, which meant that I could make hay while the cat was away (I know, one of my mixed metaphors!) Many chores got tackled, including the making of lip balm.

I no longer need body moisturizer, since switching to Dr. Woods coconut milk soap, but lip balm I use all the time.  I had been using Sierra Bees lip balms, which are inexpensive enough and organic.  But with 2 empty tubes, I decide to Google to see if they are recyclable. I used to toss empty tubes into the recycling bin, but if hubby’s around, he catches me out on what can actually be recycled, as I want to toss *everything* into recycling.  So, this time, I decided to check first.

It turns out there’s apparently 200 million lip balm tubes removed to trash each year, as the tubes are too small - they clog up the machinery.  Egads.  So, these tubes will get reused until they no longer work properly.

I then checked online DIY recipes.  I had made a small batch years ago, which was also just about used up, but I’d forgotten how much of what I had used.  I do remember that the recipe was a bit of a hassle.

One recipe was super simple - 1 TBL each of shea butter, coconut oil, and beeswax into a microwaveable container, stir, then pour into jars or tubes.  Other recipes used cocoa butter instead of shea, some added raw honey, many added essential oil for scent/flavor, one recipe used a double boiler, but using the microwave makes it a quick process, with far less clean up.

As I was out of shea butter, and I have no sweet almond, avocado, or jojoba oil on hand, I substituted 1 TBL of grapeseed oil which I do have, but the mix ended up too oily - it wouldn’t set properly, so I scooped it all back out, and remelted it with an additional TBL of beeswax.  This blend turned out perfectly.  

So, 1 TBL each grapeseed oil and (solid) coconut oil, with about 2 TBLs of beeswax filled 2 small glass jars, which I use at home, and refilled 2 lip balm tubes, to use when going out.  When the tubes need refilling, I can remelt the mix in one of the jars.  

The cost was almost nil - the jars I had (one was a jam sample, the other was a face moisturizer sample), the grapeseed oil was a gift, the beeswax came from what was left of 2 handmade rolled beeswax candles I made 20 or 30 years ago!, and the coconut oil was here, as it’s the only oil I use for my occasional scrambled eggs. 

The microwave method is SO quick and easy, I will experiment with more formulas, and as small glass jars are easily available, they could make nice stocking stuffer gifts!
Onward!
Dawn  

Need More Hands!

It’s been over a month since I’ve posted, but the autumn whirl has begun, trying to get enough yarn and handwovens ready for the winter season!  Lazy winter days won’t occur until after tax season next February or so.  I am sure I’m not the only one who’s perhaps busier than they’d prefer!

A set of 4 weft-faced rugs are on the floor loom, though just one rug has been woven thus far, because, once the small loom arrived, I’ve been trying to keep it warped and scarves woven off.  

Yes, I did have a 16” RH loom for a short time, then sold it – it was too large for scarves, but not large enough for towels.  The 10” loom is perfect – I should never have tortured myself about buying the 16” loom, but, like many other weavers, I was trying to only buy one loom to make too wide a variety of fabrics.  

The weft-faced rugs are slower to weave than my usual rag rugs, but the effect is worth the time.  The hard beat that rugs need does mean it’s noisier than weaving regular fabrics, so I don’t work at the floor loom when hubby has a headache, which is quite often.  I don’t want to add to his pain.  

So, the small loom is an ideal addition to my business, as it’s quiet and very quick to warp.  And, perhaps because I have been a knitting designer for so very long, I *love* to chart weaving drafts as well!  In a short time, I’ve charted 65 drafts, just for plain weaves. I love the interplay of color.  

With stranded color pattern knitting, the secondary color(s) are held to the wrong side, so the color charts are pure for lack of a better word.  In weaving, the yarns interlace.  Two colors interlacing can give the effect of a third color, and even a simple draft can look complex when using 3 colors.  It’s magical!  And something I don’t think I’ll ever tire of doing.

In between weaving, I try to keep the bins stocked with several weights of handspun Falkland and Romney wool yarns.  I’ve spun other finer wools, like Rambouillet, Merino, and Polwarth, and many other fibers from camel down to cotton and horsehair, but I find spinning the Falkland wool to be such a pleasurable experience – it’s soft enough to be pleasant to wear, yet has a long enough staple length and excellent prep which is easy to spin.

Romney has always been a favorite, one of my first, and one day, I’d like to spin enough to weave a blanket or 2.  In the meantime, it’s wonderful for handknit socks, which I wear almost all year long.

I may be imagining it, but I find the socks knit from Romney, or other long wools, seem to breathe better than, or resist retaining moisture better than, socks knit with softer wools.  I love Lamb’s Pride, both the worsted and bulky versions, but I find that they can feel damp during the day, requiring changing.  This doesn’t happen with the Romney pairs.

The change in activity from weaving to spinning is surely better for the body than making the same motions every day, and I do love to spin.  It allows my mind to relax and wander a bit, where if I did that when weaving, the patterning would go wrong, requiring un-weaving, which no weaver wants to have to do.  So, weaving requires much more concentration, which can be tiring.  I could probably spin all day long, but weaving is best kept to about 3 hrs.

I’ll post pics soon of what I’ve been making, with links to my Etsy shop.  I’m working up a small pile of scarves at a time, which I will wet block and lay flat to dry en masse, then sew on labels.

May all your work go smoothly and may you still find time to relax during this busy season!
Happy Autumn!
Dawn

A Summer of Socks

My sock WIPs have multiplied this summer, like bunnies!  It began as one pair, as a distraction from the cardigan I’m knitting, but then they quickly took over

Many sock knitters will likely have a drawer full of hand knit socks, and I am no exception, although I almost exclusively knit socks in DK to super bulky weight, instead of fingering or sport weight, and prefer non-superwash wool yarns, which I find to be warmer.  I’ve knit hubby several pairs of fingering and sport weight socks, but as he tends to be warmer than me, his socks last much longer, simply from lack of use!

I wear hand knit wool socks all year long – nothing is as comfortable and breathable, but I don’t have to tell sock knitters that!

The wide range of yarn weights I use covers all the seasons, with the bulky to super bulky socks knit larger, to be worn over a thinner pair, in the winter.  

One of my favorite yarns for socks (and sweaters and afghans) is Lamb’s Pride, worsted and bulky weights.  The mohair in the blend adds to warmth and wear, even though they’re single ply yarns, and they just feel cozy!  

I’ve loved other wools for socks, like Lopi, the defunct Woolpak Perendale, yarn I spun from a blend of 44% Mohair, 28% Romney, and 28% Leicester wools, which is also no longer available, but which lasted several years and were so warm, and the single skein of British BFL (Bluefaced Leicester, for non-knitters) I bought from Iriss of Penzance in Cornwall, England many years ago. 

Oh how I wish I could have bought a kilo (or 2, or 10!) of that beautiful yarn – it was heaven to knit and wear.  British BFL yarns these days all seem to be superwashed, unfortunately.  To my mind, and after many years of wearing wool socks, nothing beats long wools for socks.

These 2 most recent pairs are in a simple pattern, which has quickly become a favorite!  They fill a thickness gap in my sock drawer between the plain all stockinette LPW socks and the bulky wt. socks, as the pattern has two rounds of stockinette followed by one round of stranded color work, so it’s not as thick as an all color work pattern, but thicker than all stockinette. 

I mistakenly worked the first pair with the same 42 sts I would normally use for stockinette LPW socks.  They fit, but they are a bit snug, so I used 46 sts for the 2nd pair.  Stranding, even on occasional rounds, does take the fabric in a bit more than stockinette.  The summer heat must have made me forget this fact! 

Here is the 42-st pair, with slightly shorter leg than I usually knit. After knitting them, I decided the heel flap didn't look organic.  It didn't *flow* from the sock patterning, so I changed it in the 2nd pair, below.

     

 

This 2nd pair is on 46 sts, and I worked a few more rounds in the leg, so that when working the heel flap in the darkest color, the color flowed from the center of the stripe panel. A 1/2 repeat was needed just before the toe shaping, to give the desired foot length. This, too, flows into the dark toe color, and will be how I knit this pattern hereon in!

It’s a simple 2 stitch by 12 round pattern, which works well with hue/shade changes within a color family.  A 2 stitch repeat means the design can be easily adjusted smaller or larger as needed, and will work with any weight of yarn. 

Such designs are also ideal for using up bits of stash.  I used just 5 colors, but each color panel could be knit using a different set of colors, depending on your stash, or each panel could use the same 2 colors with a 3rd color as the background.

The other socks I’ve knit this summer (shown in the 1st photo above) are:
a 2-ply handspun Romney worsted wt. pair,
a super bulky handspun Romney pair (still in progress),
a Lamb’s Pride Bulky pair,
a re-knitting of the heels and feet of both a LPW pair and a Cascade 220 pair, and
a palindrome striped pair just begun.

I’ve knit many hundreds of socks since the very early ’90’s, and they’re still one of my favorite things to knit.

I love how they’re lightweight in the hands, so they don’t tend to stress joints, they’re small and portable, so they’re finished must faster than a sweater, they don’t use much yarn, and one can play with all manner of patterning or just enjoy plain knitting around. And who doesn’t like warm feet!

Onward!
Dawn

Floor Loom Warping Tip

It's been a summer of sock knitting (which I'll expound on, in another post), as the dining room, where my floor loom is, gets too warm for weaving in the summer.  This problem will be addressed as soon as I can move all my studio equipment and supplies upstairs to a room that will have AC.

But as the temps are finally cooling a bit, I’m *finally* getting to warp the loom, after a year or more of it sitting producing nothing!  The warp is just doubled 8/4 cotton warp, for a series of t-shirt yarn weft-faced rugs. 

I’m using a tip I’m sure I read about on Warped Weavers, but I cannot remember who posted it, and cannot find it again – my apologies to the original poster.  

It involves using double-sided tape on a bar of some sort held across the loom, behind the harnesses, to hold the warp ends in place, for threading.

I don’t know why I never thought of this, as it works wonderfully with sectional warping!  I used to have to keep jumping up to go to the back of the loom and spread out another couple sections of warp ends, so to pick them up to thread in the correct order.  This made threading take twice as long, and was tiring.  

I had saved several firm cardboard inner tubes from bolts of fabric, as I never throw out anything until I’m quite sure I can’t reuse it somehow.  Some weren’t long enough, but one does easily straddle the 45” loom. 

I couldn't find the roll of double-sided tape, so I just used a length of packing tape folded into thirds and flattened.  I secured the tube’s ends to the side rails with short scrap lengths of stretchy t-shirt yarn, to keep the tube from moving. 

The tube is also long enough to hold the beater’s uprights, instead of letting them lie on the floor, so I could trip over them!

I used to use a wooden chair while threading, but hubby’s bath chair works well, with a spare piece of foam as a cushion.  One day I’ll make myself a proper cushion, as I also use the bath chair for spinning, as it’s the perfect height.

 My floor loom is a Hammett.  The beater rails unscrew easily, and the breast beam pulls right off, so a chair can get into the loom for threading the heddles.  It's a good thing, as otherwise it would be a stretch to reach over the breast beam and beater to do the threading!

Onward!

Made In The Shade

I’m always looking for ways to tweak our decor.  Knit afghans and pillow covers are the usual ways to add color and texture to a room, but I’ve also turned my attention to many of the plain (and inexpensive) off-white lampshades on our small table lamps and vintage floor lamps.

Plain white store bought shades are rather boring and add no character to a space.  They also tend to allow the light to be too bright.

Now, we’re not ones to use 75 watt or larger bulbs. Most of our lamps are fitted with 25 or 40 watt bulbs, a few have 60 watt bulbs, but with even the lower wattage bulbs, I prefer the light to be a bit softer.

Years ago, I achieved this softness by wrapping the shade with wool yarn – it may well have been an idea I saw on a Martha Stewart episode, or in her magazine.

Years later I decided that I would improve on this idea by knitting shade covers.  Of course I could sew them, and I may well get to that one day.  I’ve had these 2 Katrin Cargill books a long time, waiting on me to utilize some of the ideas.

Knitters, though, can create anything they wish while comfortably planted on the sofa or in a comfy chair, where sewing always seems to require standing to measure, cut, pin, and iron.  I don’t mind the process so long as I’m sewing en masse!  I tend to not want to deal with the process just to sew one thing.  Hence, knitting.

I knit these lampshade covers years ago, but never got around to finishing the pattern!  I am offering it here for free.

 

 

I particularly like that the shade covers can easily pop on and off, as needed, to swap out for another color cover, or just when more light is needed.

My favorite is the pale yellow one, which covers the shade on the floor lamp in my bedroom/office.  It softens the light *just enough*, and complements the yellow of the counterpane afghan on my bed.

The striped shades came next and show how the shaping within the shade can be highlighted with color.

I used heavy worsted/aran wt. wool yarn for all 3 shades, as it is the weight of yarn I always have on hand.  Naturally, one can knit the shades in a lighter or heavier wt. yarn – just do a gauge swatch and apply it to the size of the shade needed, to get your CO stitch count.

About The Design
The shades are knit flat and shaped with short rows. The CO and BO edges are seamed or grafted, then the top and bottom edges are finished with I-cord.

Measure the top and bottom circumferences of the shade you wish to cover, then determine the ratio of increases needed (via short rows).

It is easiest to measure the top and bottom diameters, then use an online calculator to find the circumferences, such as this one.

The next step is to work a garter stitch swatch.  Garter stitch *tends* to have twice the # of rows for the stitch count, or said another way, it tends to have the same # of *ridges* as sts per inch.  (If your swatch fabric appeals to you and the # of ridges is slightly less, as mine is, don’t fret – it is not critical.)

Then multiply your sts per inch by the depth of your desired shade.  

It is best to err on the side of an extra st or two, rather than less sts.  Even though the I-cord trim at the top and bottom adds a smidge of depth, and despite that knitting IS stretchy and malleable, a couple extra sts will help maintain the needed depth if a bit of width-wise stretching is needed to fit your lampshade.

Shade Style: Empire

Sizes and Yarn Amounts
Sample 1: The yellow cover has approx. a 15” top circ. a 28” bottom circ., and is 7.3” deep.  The shade it fits has a 4” diam. at the top and a 10” diam. at the bottom.

It was knit with Kraemer Yarns Naturally Nazareth Aran wt. (184 yds/100 gr.) in Y1323 Sunshine, and took 85 gr. (3 ozs. yarn.  (This yarn is now discontinued, but some colors can still be found in Ravelry stashes.)

Samples 2 and 3: The blue and cream covers were knit with Peace Fleece Worsted in Galooboy Blue and Antarctic White.

Sample 2 (the narrow blue and white striped cover) has approx. a 13” top circ., a 26” bottom circ., is 7.66” deep, and used 93 gr. (3.25 ozs.) yarn.  This cover also fits the specified lamp shade.

Sample 3 (the wider striped cover) has approx. a 16” top circ. a 29” bottom circ., is 8” deep, and used 113 gr. (4 ozs.) yarn.

One less pattern rep would yield approx. the same size cover as the others.

Needles
Straights, circular, or long dpns, size 8 or 9
Shorter dpns in the same size
Tapestry ndl

Gauge
Naturally Nazareth: 18 sts and 16 rows (8 ridges)/4” in garter stitch with US size 8 or 9 ndls or size to give gauge.

Peace Fleece Worsted: 18 sts and 20 rows (10 ridges)/4” in garter stitch with US size 8 or 9 ndls or size to give gauge.

(I either used a smaller ndl for the Peace Fleece covers OR the 2-ply PF knit denser rows than the Naturally Nazareth, which is a 4-ply yarn.)

Note
I am specifying wool, just for safety’s sake, as lightbulbs, at least the old style, give off quite a bit of heat, and wool is much more fire resistant than synthetics or cotton.  I am likely just being extra cautious, as commercial lampshades certainly *aren’t* made of wool, and are often made of some kind of synthetic fabric or plastic.  I also find that wool doesn’t seem to get dusty.

Special technique - Wrap and Turn (w&t)

Directions - Single Color Cover

Long Tail CO 30 sts, which counts as row 1.
Knit 3 rows = 2 ridges.

* Short Row 1: K10, w&t, k10.
Short Row 2: K20 (knitting the wrap with its st), w&t, k20.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wrap with its st on the first row.

Short Row 3: K20, w&t, k20.
Short Row 4: K10, w&t, k10.

Knit 8 rows (4 ridges), knitting the wraps with their sts, on the first row.

Rep from * 23x more.

There will be 60 ridges around the top of the cover and 108 ridges around the bottom of the cover (5 ridges at the top for every 9 ridges at the bottom – a 5/9 wedge.)

BO, then seam the CO and BO edges together (or graft the edges together).

Applied I-Cord

Using 2 shorter dpns, CO 3 sts, then slide the sts to the other end of the ndl.
* K2, slip 3rd st, and with same ndl, pick up 1 st along the edge, then ssk the slipped st with the picked up st. Slide the sts to the other end of the ndl.

Rep from * around the edge.  Graft the end of the I-cord to the beg.

Rep for the other edge.

Directions - Two Color, Narrow Stripe Cover

With blue (A), Long Tail CO 30 sts, which counts as row 1.
Knit 1 row = 1 ridge.

* Short Row 1: K10, w&t, k10.
Short Row 2: K20 (knitting the wrap with its st), w&t, k20.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wrap with its st on the first row.  Break A.

Short Row 3: With white (B), K20, w&t, k20.
Short Row 4: K10, w&t, k10.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wraps with their sts, on the first row. Break B.

Rep A and B wedges 15x more. There will be 64 ridges around the top of the cover and 128 ridges around the bottom of the cover (2 ridges at the top for every 4 ridges at the bottom – a 2/4 wedge.)

BO, then seam the CO and BO edges together (or graft the edges together), then work Applied I-cord.

Directions - Two Color, Wide Stripe Cover

With blue (A), Long Tail CO 33 sts, which counts as row 1.
Knit 1 row = 1 ridge. Don’t break A.

With B, knit 2 rows = 1 ridge. Break B.

With A, knit 2 rows = 1 ridge..

Short Row 1: K11, w&t, k11.
Short Row 2: K22 (knitting the wrap with its st), w&t, k22.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wrap with its st on the first row

Short Row 3: K22, w&t, k22.
Short Row 4: K11, w&t, k11.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wraps with their sts, on the first row. Don’t break A.

With B, knit 2 rows = 1 ridge. Don’t break B.
With A, knit 2 rows = 1 ridge.  Break A.

With B, knit 2 rows = 1 ridge.

Short Row 1: K11, w&t, k11.
Short Row 2: K22 (knitting the wrap with its st), w&t, k22.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wrap with its st on the first row

Short Row 3: K22, w&t, k22.
Short Row 4: K11, w&t, k11.

Knit 2 rows = 1 ridge, knitting the wraps with their sts, on the first row. Don’t break A.

Alternate the A and B wedges with the all B wedges 7x more.

There will be 80 ridges around the top of the cover and 144 ridges around the bottom of the cover (10 ridges at the top for every 18 ridges at the bottom – a 5/9 wedge.)

BO, then seam the CO and BO edges together (or graft the edges together), then work Applied I-cord.

Happy Knitting!
Dawn

The Completed Interlocking Ribs Counterpane!

The Specs

Finished Size: 60” x 77“

Which needed 8.5 lbs. of hand spun Falkland bulky weight singles and took more hours than I bothered to count!

My last post covered sewing up the center blanket units and knitting up the 4 cable and seed stitch borders.  Since then, I’ve sewn the borders on and edged the entire thing in Applied I-cord.

Here’s pics of how I decided to deal with the disparity between the seed stitch cable edges and the main body edges, which varies from knit and purl rib sections to BO knit stitch sections.

These photos were taken on my bed, atop a hand spun, indigo dyed, and handwoven blanket, and my “Golden Ferns Counterpane” design, which was in “101 Knitting-To-Go Projects”, 2001.

Now, I could have counted exactly how many stitches were along the main body sides and the lengths of cable edging, so to determine an exact ratio between the two, for sewing up, but I’m not that retentive!  

 Instead, I tried to divide the number of cable crossings into more or less even sections, and basted the 2 pieces together using a tapestry needle and a smooth (non-wool) yarn.  I found I needed to stretch the denser seed stitch edge when basting across the wide BO knit sections, but stretch the knit and purl rib sections, when basting along them.

This worked well enough.  As I pulled out the basting for each small section, I counted how many seed stitches there were and how many body stitches they would be sewn to, then adjusted the sewing-up ratio to suit.

The Applied I-cord was one of the easier parts of the entire process.  As I was using the same yarn for the I-cord as for the afghan, I didn’t need to add a yarn over on each row, which is done, when using a different color, so to avoid a color blip showing.

In all, the entire afghan was easy to work, so not only does it look modern, but once you work one repeat of the main afghan unit, you don’t need to refer to the book again.  Same goes for the cable borders, which are easy peasy.

As it’s heavy (8.5 lbs.), to block it, I laid an extra blanket on the queen bed, laid out the afghan and spritzed it with water, to dampen, but not soak it, then pulled here and there, to make the afghan square up as best it could, considering that the body patterns do ebb and flow.  

The last touch was the duplicate stitching on the 4 corner stockinette squares.  I used Lamb’s pride Worsted, held double, in Oatmeal, so that the stitching would be seen but not overwhelm.  Bride and groom’s initials on the upper 2 corners, a heart, and the year on the lower 2 corners.

I need to find a very large gift box.  Large shipping boxes we have, as I save the boxes that anything large comes in, knowing they will be useful one day.  

I *may* take a brief respite from knitting.  Then again, I may not!  More sewing for the house needs doing, and my floor loom has been sitting empty for well over a year, and I want to get this stash of t-shirt yarn woven up into small area rugs.  

Hand spinning is also an ongoing activity, at least until I send my flyer out to a woodworker sometime this summer to get it fitted with a higher speed whorl.  My wheel is a Country Craftsman, vintage, and no longer made.  It’s a wonderful wheel, but only has 10:1 and 13:1 ratios, which isn’t nearly fast enough to spin the singles for a 2-ply worsted to aran wt. yarn, without treading like the dickens for an hour, then a half hour to ply it.  It’s way too tiring!

More closeups!

Onward!

Dawn