Free Pattern Friday: Cabled Beret (there's a contest, too)

The talented Veronik Avery's new book Knitting 24/7 is out now, and there's a pretty little beret pattern to celebrate. Be sure to check out Twist Collective's page for details on entering the contest. [Twist blog | PDF]

WIP Wednesday: I've got nothing

Hard to believe, but I've hardly knit a stitch since finishing Aphros last week. My allergies have been awful. Now they're under control, but the aftermath is ugly (the skin around my eyes is so irritated, since I seem to rub them in my sleep - ugh). So, I've been avoiding the outside world except to visit the doctor on Monday, and Mother's Day was decidedly low-key this year.

But the postal worker helped. In an overflow bin (oops - we hadn't checked the mail in a few days) were a package from the talented Leslie Wind with one of her beatiful, silver C-pins (based on the Celtic penannular brooch), which I may feature in the Aphros photos, as well as a set of Briggs & Little sample cards from the lovely Elizabeth. So many lovely colors in a number of different yarns. Oh, the possibilities!

More on Leslie in another post, as I actually got to meet her at the Gore Place Sheep Shearing Festival a few weeks ago. But now I have lots of work to catch up on (when you wake up itchy throughout the night, it's difficult to focus during the day).

Free Pattern Friday: Raspberry Bed Socks

Mother's Day is just a couple of days away. If you're quick, you could knit mom a pair of Mel Clark's Raspberry Bed Socks with pretty little bobbles and i-cord drawstrings. [Ravelry link | Pattern link]

And my face is finally calming down from the horrible allergies (apparently, I rub my eyes in my sleep, and it looked like I'd been in a brawl or something), so there should be an Aphros photo shoot soon, followed by a pattern release!

WIP Wednesday: Aphros is complete

I even blocked the additional portion of the stole this afternoon, but the tree pollen is conspiring to make me as un-photogenic as possible, so you will have to wait a few days before Aphros and I smile for the camera.

This time I worked the edging from my chart, rather than the original written instructions, and it went much faster. I do love charts; however, I know not everyone likes charts (and some people look at them and just get gobbledeygook in their minds), so the edging will also be written out in the pattern.

In the picture below you can see the difference blocking makes. We have egg carton on the right and smooth, blocked out waves of seafoam on the left.

Tonight and tomorrow I have "real work" to do, but I hope to have the Aphros pattern ready to go on Friday.

WIP Wednesday (Thursday edition): The stole has a name

Henceforth the stole will be called Aphros. And for those of you not winding up your Spring Semester of Ancient Greek today, aphros means "sea foam" in Greek. I kept thinking about the notion of Aphrodite (the goddess who arose from the foam of the sea), but this stole isn't really about a goddess, even if you feel like one wrapped up in it. More about the tracks left in the sand by those little waves near the shore and the delicate, trailing seaweed; the beauty found at the water's edge, if you will.

Right now the stole is blocking with only one edge knitted on. I wanted to make sure I liked the edging (I do!) before knitting on the second. The Seafoam pattern is so lovely I was tempted to make the stole just one giant seafoam swatch, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to include something a little lacier at the short edges, to have something more than just a rectangle. There's nothing wrong with those purely rectangular stoles, just this isn't one of them.

As you will see when I release the pattern, the body stitch is amazingly simple, so this will be a perfect summer travel project (in July a little pile of lace in your lap is bearable, a sweater's worth of wool is not). And the lace edging, while more complex, is something you can do if you know how to increase (and at the end of the body of this stole you will be a yarnover champ), decrease (you know you can k2tog!), and cast off (just for a few stitches every eight rows).

Here are a few blocking shots of what I have now. Hopefully, I'll have time to write up the pattern and get the edging done on the other end in the next few days, so that when Nick returns from his shmancy conference we can get some good snaps.

Aphros blocking (note the action figures supervising)

Aphros edging - sorry for the blurry shot

Aphros body

WIP Wednesday: Seafoam stole (in search of better name)

Until now I've preferred blogging finished projects and not covering things so much in process; however, this one is taking a long time. It's a stole shape in the brilliant (and brilliantly simple) Seafoam pattern. Though much further along than in these snaps, it's pretty much the same thing. I'm working with Madeline Tosh's Superwash Merino Lace yarn (Kelp colorway from Knitty City). I have a swatch all done up in this pattern with an edging that I like, so I know exactly where I'm going; I'm just not sure I've gotten there yet (as far as knitting the body goes), though I think I'm close. And then this lovely is going to need a name...

Perhaps I'll block it "as is" before heading up to Boston for the weekend and assess upon return.

But that would mean getting something else on the needles... While Miss Charlotte and her lovely sister Henrietta deserve some knitterly gifties for hosting me and Isobel this weekend, I've run out of time for working anything up before the weekend (Isobel and I are going to the Bronx Zoo with her classroom tomorrow - lions will make an appearance here, or at the very least on my Flickr, soon), though I am pretty sure I know what I'm going to work up for them (hmm, what pattern have I created that's perfect for little ones?).

Well, as you know knitters spend more time making yarn decisions than clothing ones when packing for a trip. I'll let you know what I decide to pack tomorrow night. And maybe I'll see you at Gore Place Saturday?

Pattern: On the High Seas

Sometimes it’s a little chilly at the helm of your ship. Or perhaps you want to drape a little something across your shoulders (for modesty?) to greet that boarding party. A shawlette is just the thing. This one uses your favorite sock yarn and the beautiful Crest of the Wave lace pattern, which has enough “lace action” to keep you interested without being so complex that you can’t keep an eye on the horizon. Pattern includes chart and written-out instructions for lace.  

The pattern is available here on Ravelry or you can purchase it directly using the button below.