Instructional Video for my design VOLAN

A few people started to encourage me to start to put up instructional videos to show unique techniques I use in my designs. 

One of them is: 

How to add stitches for a second ruffle, pouch or pocket without having to pick them up at a seam or in the back of a stitch. This is what I used in my design VOLAN for the 3rd and 4th ruffle.

Watch how it is done:

Under The Wings

I just released my new pattern Under The Wings.

Eagles are bold, beautiful and majestic and this is echoed in the shawl. Beginning at the right wing this piece is worked without seaming using join-as-you-go and very simple short row techniques. Garter stitch and stockinette stitch are combined to balance and add texture..

This pattern is test knitted

Material:

• Approx 500 yards in Col1 and 250 yards Col2, fingering weight yarns (Yarn used in the picture Kauni Effektgarn, black solid as Col1 and EME as Col2)
• Size US 2, 32” circular needle, size US 1, 24” circular needle or needle size which creates desired fabric

To create a bigger shawl use a dk or worsted weight yarn. (Yardage will change)

Gauge: Gauge is not important (you have to like the density of the fabric you create)

Hats, Hats, Hats

Samedan, a village in the Swiss Alps with gorgeous historic houses, is a place I loved to visit and enjoy winter sports. With this stylish hat you surely will feel warm and cozy to enjoy the crisp and cold winter air at your favorite place.

Worked in bulky yarn this trapper hat knits up like a breeze. Another One skein wonder with the little extra…

buy now

Since I'm a person who can not throw away the smallest left over of yarn, I used my all my bits and pieces of Lambs Pride bulky to knit my pattern Basil.

New

After some hectic weeks with illness and surgery in the family, life got back to normal.

I added a few new colors of my yarn to my Etsy shop:

So far I have 3 different fingering weight yarn lines:

• Ascona  63% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Silk, 15% Nylon, 2% Silver. Approximately 420 yards (384 m); 100 grams (3.5 oz.) Needle size recommended US 1 – 3. Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch. (the 3 skeins in the top row are Ascona)

• Bern 100% Superwash Merino Wool
  Approximately 400 yards; 100 grams(3.5 oz.)
  Needle size recommended US 0 – 2. 
  Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch  (bottom right  skein)

• Basel 75% Superwash Merino Wool
  Fingering Weight, 4ply
  Approximately 437yards (400 m); 100 grams (3.5 oz.)
  Needle size recommended US 1 – 3. 
  Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch

Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool 2011 - impressions from a different angle

Do you think this hair style would fit me?

Somebody likes her food.......

......and I like chocolate. I got to try the sweet dreams of Samuel's of Rhinebeck. They were so delicious that I had to go back and get more. For my family, of course.

Some people walk their alpacas......

........and some carry their sheep.

This model has fun. 

Sorted by color.....

...or not.

As usual I got home inspired and tired dreaming of having a booth there too....

Oh I forgot to mention it: I fell in love with one skein of yarn. It's fingering weight, as some of you might have guessed. I found a alpaca-wool mix I want to dye from a CT  small spinnery. We will see how this will turn out......

Vermont

Once a year we go for a hike in Vermont. This time we chose the Lowell Lake Trail. What a perfect day, summer temperatures, gorgeous foliage, beautiful nature and Maple Creamies (maple soft serve ice cream).

The yarn I recently dyed reflects the fall colors perfectly. Find it in my Etsy shop 

Driving up further North we saw the shocking contrast to this nature perfection.

The aftermath of tropical storm Irene. Vermont still looks like a big construction site. They lost approx. 700 bridges not to talk about destroyed or damaged, houses, farms, roads, trees..... Compared to this our 5 day loss of power and water seems ridiculously insignificant.

New colors and mushrooms

Recently it only seems to rain here. Together with the warm air the mushroom population of the woods behind our house seem to explode rapidly. I wish I would know which ones are edible. 

Inspired by New England foliage I added this color to my Etsy shop. It's Fall

This color is called Blackberry.

Ta da!!!

Here is the yarn I dyed last week end using acid dyes.
I can't tell you how much fun I had. 

My daughter already claimed the socks I'm making from one color.  You will find the yarns in my Etsy shop. I can't wait to dye more...

What a great week end!

After the last few weeks with broken down cars, house full of workers, the aftermath of   tropical storm Irene, beginning of  the new school year and health problems of my youngest I got to go to a knitting retreat on the Pocono Plateau in Pennsylvannia,  hosted by 

Kraemer Yarns, a yarn company which is located in Nazareth, PA.

 

I met so many nice people at this retreat. The location, Pocono Plataeau Camp & Retreat Center was the right place to get the creative juice flowing. Hiking, classes, game night are only a few things out of many we were able to do. Almost every meal we found a little surprise on our table:
Clara made embroidered project bags for each one of us. One evening I found one of 
Kate Lemmers pattern on my bed with one skein of Kraemer, Perfection. Clara made fridge magnets from a group photo she took in the afternoon. Even the name tags were embroidered by her...... I felt so pampered.  Many thanks  to everyone from Kraemers who made this week end possible.
Hand dyeing was one of my highlights of this week end. It was so much fun to see the colors people came up with and I could have gone on and on creating new color ways. I dyed up several skeins of Lesley, one of Kraemer's fingering weight  natural colored yarns with a nice twist. This yarn seems a great base yarn for hand dyeing and I can't wait to knit with it.
You will see my dye results tomorrow....... stay tuned.

Ravensburg

This summer I got the chance to be at one of the places I love:

Ravensburg Germany, one of my favorite cities to visit. Beside the historic buildings it's a great place to shop and visit the huge farmers market. Of course I know every yarn shop in this area and I got some beautiful Opal Hundertwasser sock yarn and some Lana Grossa Lace Merino, which I'm already using for my new design with the name Market Street, named  after and inspired by the farmers market in Marktstrasse in Ravensburg. I'll keep you posted......

Roxbury Pond - A New Design

Since Roxbury Pond always brings up precious memories, I decided to make this the name of my new design.

Simple elegance, intriguing texture, detail and shape make this piece a must have. This semi-circular shawl uses a short row technique that is easy for less experienced knitters too. The decorative picot edging is worked as you go.

You can find more information here.

 

Sizes
Small (large):
Width approx. 34 (60)”, 86 (127) cm
Length approx. 19 (30)”, 48 (76) cm
Material
Approx. 650 (1300) yards fingering weight yarn
It’s easy to change the size of the shawl by using a heavier weight yarn. (Heavier yarn will require more yardage)