Pattern: Castaway Shawlette

Castaway shawlette by Kathleen Dames

I have a new shawlette pattern to share with you: Castaway. Worked from a tab start at the neck down to a ruffled edge, this is perfect for that skein of Malabrigo Lace that you couldn't resist. The stickiness of the yarn works to your advantage to keep the ladders from pulling at their neighbor stitches.

Castaway shawlette by Kathleen Dames

If you can cast on, bind off, knit, purl, and work basic increases and decreases, you can create this lovely, soft shawlette. This is a "wide" triangle shawl, which means you increase at four points on the front and two on the back. A friend of mine, who also is an LYSO, thought this was cashmere when I showed it to her.

Castaway shawlette by Kathleen Dames

One skein of yarn, one circular needle, and one pattern are all you need to make your own Castaway - perfect for desert island knitting (or when you want to get away from it all!).

Materials

One skein of Malabrigo Lace (or 470yds/430m of a similar laceweight yarn)

One US4/3.5mm 29" circular needle (or size needed to obtain gauge)

stitch markers

tapestry needle

Skills Needed

Casting on

Binding off

Knitting

Purling

Increasing

Decreasing

Thanks!

Technical editing by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud

Test knitting by Elizabeth Hutchison and Annie Rota

Photographed on the bank of the Kennebec River, Bath, Maine, by Nicholas Dames

Pattern available for $6 on Craftsy, Etsy, and Ravelry or by using the button below.

Deckhand: Annie's Alternative Version

Almost forgot to show you Annie's version! She wanted to do red and white, an we agreed that it would be good to have a version where the hems and collar are in the MC. You have choices!

Annie's Deckhand

Pattern: Deckhand - Women's

Deckhand - Women's by Kathleen Dames

Now that your little scallywags have their own Deckhand sweaters, it’s time to get yours. But how about a bit of shaping for a woman’s curves, ¾ sleeves, and a raglan yoke with button detail? This one is also just right for cool summer evenings on deck. And working it up in Cascade’s Ultra Pima makes it a bit more refined. Let those little scallywags climb the rigging—you’re going to loll on the deck!

Jogless stripes allow you to work this sweater in the round without your stripes spiraling out of control. A double-knitting trick keeps your placket happening all at once. Just sew on your buttons and weave your underarms, and you’ll be ready to set sail.

Sizes 
Women’s XS [S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X] sample shown in size M) 
Chest: 31 [34, 38, 41, 45, 48, 51] inches

Materials 
Traditional version 
Natural (MC) 3 [4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7] skeins; 
Indigo Blue (CC) 1 [1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3] skeins

Annie’s alternative version 
Wine (MC) 3 [4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8] skeins; 
Natural (CC) 1 [1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2] skeins

US6/4.0mm 29-inch circular needle and set of five DPNs (or longer circular needle if using Magic Loop for sleeves) Cable needle or spare DPN 
Stitch holders or waste yarn 
Stitch markers 
Coil-less safety pins 
Three 1-inch Buttons 
Matching thread, if yarn will not fit through buttonholes

Skills Needed 
Casting on 
Binding off 
Knitting 
Purling 
Increasing 
Decreasing 
Working flat 
Working in the round

Technical editing by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud. 
Sample knitting by Annie Rota.

Pattern available on Ravelry, Etsy, and Craftsy, or by using the button below.

Pattern: Hap-py

Hap-py shawl by Kathleen Dames

A new-world homage to the Shetland Hap shawls of old. Worked all in one piece with one needle and one skein of yarn, this makes a perfect travel project, whether you’re waiting on a park bench, soaring above the clouds, or sailing the high seas. Plus, the Crest of the Wave pattern (written out and charted), an interesting variant on the traditional Feather and Fan, is easy to master with spectacular results. What are you waiting for? It’s time to get Hap-py!

Instructions are given for a swatch, which will make a perfect little shawl for an 18” doll, plus the full-size shawl, which measures 32” square. Swatch and shawl do use all of the skein of Madeline Tosh Prairie, so be aware that not achieving gauge may lead to your needing more yarn.

Hap-py shawl by Kathleen Dames

Materials 

Madeline Tosh Prairie 100% Superwash Merino; 840 yards/768 meters per 114 gram skein; color: Plaid Blanket; 1 skein 
Note: With swatch, entire skein was used. 
One US6/4.0mm 40-inch circular needle 
Stitch markers, including one different to mark end-of-round 
Tapestry needle

Skills Needed 
Casting on 
Binding off 
Knitting 
Purling 
Increasing 
Decreasing 
Picking up stitches 
Working in the round

Technical editing by Ruth Garcia-Alcantud.

Pattern available on Ravelry, Etsy, and Craftsy, or by using the button below.

Test Knit: Castaway

Castaway by Kathleen Dames

In case you didn't see the post on Ravelry, I'm looking for one or two test knitters for my latest design. Please check it out and let me know via PM if you would like to try it out. I have one lovely test knitter and am working up a copy myself right now but would be excited to have another set of needles take this on. It is a wide triangle (four increases on the public side, two on the private) worked in Malabrigo Lace and involves dropped stitches. I have been wearing mine non-stop since the weather started to cool, and the fabric is like cashmere.

Ghosts giveaway winner

Drumroll please....

The winner is Michelle and her scary story of almost being run over. Congratulations! Michelle, send me an email at kathleendames at gmail dot com or PM me on Ravelry, where I am Purly.

My ghost story isn't scary: When my now-ex-husband and I were first together in 1998, we flew to the Midwest for a summer vacation with my family. On the way up to Wisconsin we detoured to visit my grandmother in Western Illinois. She lived alone; my grandfather had passed away in 1989. In her hospitality, she let us sleep in her bed, and she slept in the next room. That night, laying in bed, I sensed my grandfather's presence in the room. I don't know if he normally visited Grandma, or if he stopped by to check on me and the future father of his first great-grandchild. Whatever the reason, I definitely felt his presence and in a way that I'd never sensed in the nine years I had visited my grandmother after he passed away.

Thanks to everyone else for participating. This certainly is the right time of year for ghost stories.

It also, it turned out, was the right time of year for a hurricane. We live in Manhattan but up near Columbia University, so we were spared the disaster that is lower Manhattan, the Rockaways, Long and Staten Islands, and so much of New Jersey. We had frightening levels of wind and some rain - the wind was so strong that it pushed rain under our closed and locked East-facing bedroom window. This wasn't my first hurricane. In 1996 I got to "enjoy" two hurricanes, Bertha while I was in Boston (mostly rain there but an oddly tropical feel, even for July) and Edouard down on Cape Cod. The latter was the real deal with power outages and concern that boats from the harbor might end up in the back yard. We all put on bathing suits and windbreakers and went down to the beach to experience the wind, rain, and sand. The ocean was amazing, even in the relatively protected beach by Barnstable Harbor.

I hope you and yours are well and that Mother Nature was kind to you. We feel very fortunate. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the sweater I knit, most of it over the past three days (!).

Giveaway delay (Sorry!)

I will figure out the giveaway soon, but I'm bogged down in some school stuff, kind of ever since I made the last post about Teresa's book. So, so tired. I can't even think straight.

In addition to the Giveaway, I've got a brief Rhinebeck report and finishing work on a few patterns. I was so close! And now it's going to take me at least a day, once I get past the stuff I'm working on, to get my head back in that zone. Sigh.

Plus, today is Nick's and my anniversary.

I will be back. Soon. And I will share my (benign) ghost story. Promise!