Category: ravelry

Dash-it All! Cowl

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, ravelry, yarn2 Comments
A white knit cowl with bursts of rainbow. The stitch pattern creates lines of dashes every couple of rows.

This one is going to be a little shorter than the last few because it’s being snuck in during a nap. Definitely feel a little bit like we spend a lot of money on daycare just to introduce our daughter to all the germs, poor thing has been sick on and off since early November. My husband and I seem to be on a rotating schedule of who gets which bug worse. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we’re building strong immune systems. Rome, after all, wasn’t built in a day. Also, it’s hard to see your kiddo sick! It’s a humbling reminder that you can’t fix everything.

I bring this up because even though the Dash-it All! Cowl was completed before this string of bugs, I think it would have been a good project to have on my needles at any point during the last few months. The pattern is easy enough to memorize while being simple enough to be able to work on for 5 minutes at a wack without getting lost. My last few projects have been of the squishy variety (think lots of garter stitch), but I can’t help but think back to this one and wonder what it would look like in different colors.

The tricky thing about beautifully dyed yarn is that you need a project that allows the yarn to do the talking. Sometimes this means working simple patterns with lots of garter or stockinette stitch, sometimes it means adding texture that gives the colors more depth. This can be made tricker by the placement of the colors themselves. For my Dash-it All! I used one of Wonderland Yarn’s color burst yarns thinking the color would be slashed about the cowl a bit more, I think for my next one I’ll opt for something more speckled or variegated.

Hope everyone is feeling mostly healthy this winter season! I think it’s safe to say we’re all looking forward to being able to open the windows in a few months.

Want to make one of your own? Use the discount YARNVIP for 15% off your total purchase from Wonderland Yarns (discount not eligible on sale items, with other discounts, or on yarn clubs). No kickbacks for me, just discounts for you :]

Longma’s Cowl in Coal & Scuttles

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelry, yarnLeave a comment
Close up of the whale tail lace pattern of Longma's Cowl.

I’ve spent the last few months on a bit of a gradient binge, making up for years of not knowing how to work with the slow transitions. Other than being easier for the dyer, two of the rhetorical questions that have always been floating across my mind are: Why are gradients sold as mini skeins? What power does this hold for the knitter/crocheter?

The “easy” answers that comes to mind has to do with projects such as the So Faded sweater, where having the colors separate makes it easier to divide for the sleeves while setting colors aside to mirror the gradient later. It wasn’t until I was winding yarn for Longma’s Cowl that I realized the other benefit: you don’t have to work the colors in order.

Part of this realization came to me specifically because of the colorway I was working with, Coal & Scuttles by Wonderland Yarns is one of their choppier gradients and isn’t packaged in color order (it’s like they were trying to help me along to this realization). Since the gradient was going to cause some striping anyway, I found myself knitting the gradient out of order just to see what would happen.

I’m a huge fan of the final result and am absolutely going to attempt to push myself out of my comfort zone the next time I work with one of their gradient packs.

The cowl itself was a fun knit, I found working the lace pattern required a little bit of focus but not enough that I needed to pour over the pattern at the start of every row. In fact, I think I had the repeat memorized after working through the entire chart once. Definitely need to figure out a way to create a simple shawl version of this one!

Use the discount YARNVIP for 15% off your total purchase from Wonderland Yarns (discount not eligible on sale items, with other discounts, or on yarn clubs) :]

A young woman wearing Longma's Cowl, the oversized cowl drapes down past her chest and the grey gradient stacks on top of itself.

Mistborn Fingerless Mitts

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelry, yarnLeave a comment
Two mistborn mitts laid on top of one another next to a copy of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. On top of the paper back book lies a skein of Metalico in Grey.

Admittedly, I’m always on a fantasy book kick. In my mind, there is nothing better than getting lost in an unrecognizable world and observing unknowing (and sometimes unwilling) heroes begin their quest. Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, is one of my favorite worlds to think about. Imagine a world where there were people who had superpowers as long as they had access to metal. More specifically, access to metal that could be ingested. Suddenly gold takes on a new value, especially for those who don’t have a lot of it.

In Mistborn, one of the main characters is a young woman named Vin who is raised on the streets and taken in by Kelsiver, the leader of an elite criminal team, to help take down the government. Vin must act as though she is a Nobel woman by day and use her allomancy (her superpowers) by night to learn about what’s happening in the city and eventually kill the “Lord Ruler”.

A hand wearing a blue mistborn fingerless mitt resting on top of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. Below the hand is a skein of metalico yarn in grey and above the hand is pothos leaves.

As I felt Blue Sky’s Metalico and tried to envision what to make, Vin came to mind. As the series progresses, she moves from disliking the formal clothing to enjoying it, making me wonder what it would look like if she had a pair of mitts to wear by day and by night. Something textured and elegant, while being warm and cozy. I love the idea of Vin slipping on a set of these mitts just before dawning her mist cloak and fading into the night.

The pattern, which can be purchased on Ravelry, offers two different styles in the form of a short cuff and a long one. The short cuff can be made using one skein of Metalico and the long can be made using two. Metalico is soft and warm, making these mitts perfect for chilly offices or winter nights.

A Mistborn fingerless mitt knit up in blue rests on a grey table cloth surrounded by a grey skein of metalico (left), a paperback copy of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (above) and pothos (right).

Peppery Cloak and Dagger Pivotal Point Shawl

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, patterns, ravelryLeave a comment
A skein of dark grey mad hatter in colorway too much pepper caked and placed next to a skein of light grey unicorn in colorway cloak and dagger.

When I think of knit shawls, I tend to have very specific shapes in mind (half circles, full circles, and triangles). The Pivotal Point Shawl is a shape very different from what I’ve worked before: an arrow >

Knit manipulating knitting front to back and knit two together with a “pivoting point” in the middle where the two switch sides, Pivotal Point Shawl rotates through two main stitch patterns. Honestly, just when you get sick of working stockinette it switches to the lace pattern and visa versa. The wear of this shawl fits its different shape – the eye seems to be drawn to the sides of the shawl that hang rather than the middle of the shawl the way it would with a half circle.

I am very excited by the skein of Unicorn that I worked with, there’s something to be said about adding a little bit of sparkle to a project. Definitely find myself bouncing between neutral projects and colorful ones these days.

Use the discount YARNVIP for 15% off your total purchase from Wonderland Yarns (discount not eligible on sale items, with other discounts, or on yarn clubs) :]

A woman in a striped dress standing in front of a mirror wearing a light and dark grey pivotal point shawl.

Beinstulpen im Trachtenlook: Translated into English

On By iswimlikeafishIn knitting, ravelryLeave a comment
Toddler legwarmers knit up in a multicolored worsted weight yarn.

Last week, I mentioned that I made leg warmers for our little one using Beinstulpen im Trachtenlook which is written in German. Google translate did a pretty good job getting me some of the way there, but I did have to rely on my own experience to finish the translation. Since the pattern is free, I thought it might be worth sharing more broadly because it’s free and fun to make!

The pattern has two sizes, SM and ML, and takes ~100-120 yards of worsted weight yarn. I knit a size SM for a sie to fit someone around the 1-year mark. In terms of length, I worked 8 cable repeats and then knit 3 knit rows before casting off (~9in). There was no special reason for picking this length other than working with the goal of the leg warmers going as high up the leg as possible.

What I did:

CO 44 (48)
R1-4: [K2, P2] across
R5: [Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2] across

I didn’t stagger the twists, but if you wanted to:
CO 44 (48)
R1-4: [K2, P2] across
R5: [Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2, K2, P2] across
R6-9: [K2, P2] across
R10: [K2, P2, Knit the second stitch, then the first stitch, P2] across

In terms of length, I worked 8 cable repeats and then knit 3 knit rows before casting off (~9in). There was no special reason for picking this length other than working with the goal of the leg warmers going as high up the leg as possible.