The days leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas can be stressful. All the shopping, cooking, co-ordinating with family makes the end of the year the perfect time to haul out easy projects and at least one "No Brainer" project. The Vinca Shawl by Miriam Felton is a nice little project that has interesting construction, lovely drape and looks good in many different types of yarn. This pattern can purchased as a single project on Ravelry and is also published along with other patterns in a book called Twist & Knit (also available as a digital publication). While it is not difficult to knit, it looks really unique. Knit on a good sized US 4 needle the knitting goes quickly. I used 2 skeins of Gaia Lace by the Sanguine Gryphon in the "Little Round Top" colorway (420 yds/skein) . It's a soft and warm 40/60 Cashmere/Silk and is more green than my pictures show. While I had heard of the Sanguine Gryphon, I had never seen any in person before. It's not usually a weight of yarn I would consider but when I saw it at Verb I decided to give it a try. This is my second project with the Gaia and I really like how it looks and feels. Just a mention that the folks at A Verb For Keeping Warm have moved to a wonderful new store space.
A Verb For Keeping Warm
6328 San Pablo Ave x Alcatraz
Oakland, 94608
510.595.VERB
6328 San Pablo Ave x Alcatraz
Oakland, 94608
510.595.VERB
The shop is large, has lots of space for classes or for people to just sit to knit, spin or work on other projects. They now have fabric as well as carrying a few other fiber/yarn lines. They will continue their usual classes in spinning, knitting, dyeing, weaving etc. but will also have classes on Quilting.
The second project is called the Helix Scarf. It's a simple pattern that is a free download off of the Spin-Off Magazine Web site. It's a very simple project that is easy to tote around and the knitting sequence is easy to remember. I used less than half of my ball of hand spun yarn made from the Verb Essential Luxury fiber club selection, "Tour de Fleece 1010 The Pyrenees 50/50 Cashmere /Merino. Two ounces spun into a 2 ply lace weight yarn. I got 818.4 yards from that. I knit the scarf on US 0 needles and I have enough for a second scarf :-) For those who are interested, Spin-Off is asking people to spin/knit the scarf as a project and to submit specs and samples in order for them to include it in a future magazine. I'm not going to do that but others may still be interested.
I'm doing a little spinning now and some other odds and ends of projects as the year comes to a close. I hope everyone out there is healthy, safe and happy! Good Knitting!
8 comments:
Both are sweet, and, of course, beautifully knitted. I have two simple ones I am spinning for too :)
They're both lovely and inspiring. I've been wondering what to do with 380 yards of laceweight cashmere and thanks to your post, I've decided to knit the Helix scarf with it (BTW using fleegle's short row technique). The Vinca shawl is tempting for the future.
both are lovely and very different - as you say the vinca shawl looks a very interesting construction and might just ahve to favourite it!
Dear fleegle,
Thank you :-) I'm just not up to knitting anything to complicated right now though I have plans for a few projects for next year.
Dear Katie,
It's those small amounts of yarn that are a challenge to use. I'm sure your Helix will look wonderful and you can't go wrong with fleegle's short row technique:-)
Dear LittleBerry,
Though not difficult, these recent projects were fun and interesting to knit so perhaps you will be tempted as I was :-)
I am so impressed by your work. I've always crocheted doiles and lace. I wanted to learn to knit so I could make lace. It's been 5 years and I am still making dishcloths, which are my easy "unwinding" needlework activity. One day... I will improve. Thanks for providing knitting inspirations.
Dear panavia999,
Thank you for your kind message! It took me many years to finally "get" lace knitting and I'm sure you will get to where you want to be with lace in your own time. Like you, I'm knitting simple projects and actually sewing to "wind" down. Nice and relaxing for the Holidays!
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