norahsknits

This Thistle Leaf pattern is from the Barbara Walker Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It's very botanical and I think it's beautiful. I finished a cream-colored silk scarf using the pattern (Purl Soho Cattail Silk, 1 skein), pictured here, after doing a swatch (dark green) which I turned into a doily-type item with several rows of crochet added around the edge. Now I am working on a bigger rectangular shawl using the same lace pattern, out of Purl Soho's Sweetgrass (undyed organic cotton and alpaca) in a light beige-tinged gray. I love the pattern but at 28 rows (14 right-side pattern rows), I'm finding it to be too complicated to memorize. So I have to work with the pattern right in front of me. 

Universal brand yarn - all cotton  Berroco Fuji brand yarn - crocheted - silk, cotton, rayon, nylon Berroco Folio yarn - Ostrich plume pattern - alpaca and rayon Some recent items I've been working on. The denimy-blue item is a scarf for my sister. The crocheted item in the windowpane pattern is a fairly large wrap. The rose-colored item is also a wrap. All of these were completed recently, but my intentions for posting kept falling through. By the way, in reading the Portuguese Knitting book, I realized why I have a preference for doing garter stitch in purl instead of knit - several of the patterns in this book are done in purl garter. My mother and grandmother both knitted in this style (Portuguese style). My usual method of working garter stitch side borders in purl garter (instead of knit stitch) means that the back (non-stockinette) side can be purled all the way across, instead of knitting the border stitches and purling the center on the back. When my gr...

I'm working on my last skein of yarn from Purl Soho, a yarn called Cattail Silk . I used this for the scarf/wrap I posted about previously , and am using the same lace pattern stitch, called Ostrich Plume. The color is a dark blue-green, with lighter-colored silk flecks. The skeins have a lot of yardage (600+ yards). Here is a pic from this morning: The lace pattern is worked over a multiple of 16 stitches plus 1 stitch, and I added 4 stitches on each side as a selvedge. This has three pattern repeats, with 57 stitches total. I'm using size 7 needles. I worked two rows of purl garter after casting on, to give a more stable bottom edge, but will probably work some rows of crochet around the whole garment after the knitting is finished too. The advantage of this pattern over the Old Shale pattern , which I use a lot, is that the top edge can be finished after the second set of repeats so that the bottom and top edges match. Another pic:

I've been working with three colors of Noro Nishiki yarn to make three different variations on a design with a border in one color and body in another. I was going to reverse the colors on the second shawl, but ended up not doing that and using the darker color for the bottom border again. (I'll post pics of all three when I block them.) Here are some progress pics of the third shawl, worked from the bottom up in "purl garter," which is my default stitch for garter. Rough instructions follow at the bottom of the post. I'm using two skeins of Noro Nishiki, two different colors, 240 meters per skein, worsted to heavy worsted weight. See prior post for yarn label. Starting at the bottom of the shawl, cast on 206 stitches using the long-tail method. Purl two rows plain. Begin bottom border pattern - work "Old Shale" pattern in purl garter. This pattern is worked over 18 stitches, as follows: purl 4 (for side border), (purl 2 together) 3 times, (y...

First - a knitted crescent shawl - Noro Nishiki. I have more of both colors, and am thinking of making a second shawl with the colors reversed. Once the shawl is blocked, I'll post another picture.  Next - adding linings, decorative buttons and flowers, and magnetic snaps to some crocheted bags. Last - I was searching for clay-working tools, and found a box of my mother's - darning eggs, tatting and hand-made lace (which was purchased) - she tatted, but didn't make lace. 

After reading Clara Parkes' book ( Vanishing Fleece , which was recommended at a recent Weavers Guild of St. Louis meeting), I ordered some lace-weight, single-ply merino yarn from the farm that was the source of Parkes' bale of wool. The farm is Catskill Merino  and they sell various weights of the yarn from their sheep. (It is processed into yarn at a small New England processor and dyed back at the farm). Here are photos of the scarf I am working on, with the first ball of yarn: I'll use at least half of the second ball of this color to add to the length, and will then finish the scarf with a crocheted edge. The lace pattern is from the Butternut Scarf   pattern by Anne Hanson, which I modified somewhat, using fewer repeats and adding 4 rows of garter at the starting edge (will repeat at the top edge too). The yarn has a very nubby appearance, appearing sort of over-spun, but it is knitting up perfectly nicely and has an interesting texture. The yarn is also ...

I bought a bag of this yarn (Noro Ginga - a super bulky weight yarn), and then had to put my thinking cap on to figure out how to use it. It has a lot of orange, which is not my favorite color. Here's what I made from one skein of it - this will look nice with a black teapot set): And here is a picture of a scarf I finished this week - knitted from handspun silk yarn purchased at the Weavers Guild of St. Louis' annual sale in October (I set a few faded ginkgo leaves on it for color contrast):