Friday, September 30

Today on my needles


I'm working on 2 new shawls currently - an airy and super soft mohair/silk stole and yummy purple/pink semi-circular shawl. Can't decide which one is my favorite. I absolutely love working with mohair lace yarn (but HATE unraveling it) but I like how the 2nd yarn creates beautiful striped pattern. 


I've also listed one of my last shawls - a beautiful brown triangular shawl knitted with Crazy Zauberball yarn.  You can find it in my Etsy shop.


Sunday, September 25

Madelines Lace Scarf - new Ravelry pattern


I just published on Ravelry a new pattern for this gorgeous lacy scarf .

You’ll need:
  • pair of straight needles or circular needles – 4mm (US 6)
  • lace weight yarn (the grey shawl was knitted with Cashwool by Ice Yarns, 50g/250m per skein, 2.5 skeins used)

The pattern includes:
  • written description row-by-row
  • 2 charts

Stitches & techniques:
  • knit, purl, k2tog, skk, yo, sl1-k2tog-psso
  • pick stitches up along an edge

Madelines Lace Scarf Knitting PDF Pattern

Friday, September 16

Waiting in line


I just realized I have a huge collection of shawls I've finished within last month and never listed! I need an assistant :-) Here you can see 6 new shawls, one is currently blocked and I have 20-30 rows left to knit of another.... Wow - sometimes I amaze myself!

I'm still waiting for my new mannequin to be delivered, so I think I'll use my good old hanger this week and retake the photos later using the mannequin....

What you can see behind the shawls is one of my all time favourite film poster by a great Polish artist - Wieslaw Walkuski. I'm a huge fan of his works!


Thursday, September 15

There's no such thing as too much yarn



I got these beauties yesterday - the white one is for a custom ordered wedding shawl and the other colors are for new shawls. Can't wait to start working with them!

Tuesday, September 13

New lace shawl in Shetland style


I really like experimenting with different styles and techniques of knitting and maybe that's why most of my shawls are one and only. I have to remember to start writing down the patterns for my shawls as most of them are designed by me.....

This one is a variation of a shawl I've found in one of my knitting books. The shawl is inspired by traditional Shetland shawls. It's worked in garter stitch from the bottom to top, with center panel. I have to say I was slightly terrified after casting over 400 stitches on and the first 20+ rows where a huge pita. I'm half done now and the works goes faster with every finished row.

As I rarely work with stitch markers, this time they were a must! Otherwise I'd have given up after first 5-10 rows.... The tiny stitch markers you can see below where made by my Plurk friend, Selana and I have to say that I absolutely love them as they are very light and perfect for lace knitting! You should definitely check her Artfire shop out!




Monday, September 12

Playing with dyes.... again


Here's a new batch of yarn I hand dyed with food colourings over the weekend. I'm still stunned with how well the yarn catches colours. I have to say that I get better results with the food colourings than with the normal, quite toxic dyes.

The first two from the right side are merino/silk yarn and I dyed them for new shawls I have in plans. The other two are nice and soft angora yarn, this time for cute stripped mittens and a matching hat, maybe there will be enough for a cowl as well.


I wish I could spare more time for knitting, dyeing and other crafts but it's quite difficult to do with my day job (which I really like). Can't wait to be retired and to have all days for my hobbies only.... but that will probably happen in 40+ years so all I can do now is to cut one more hour of sleep and spend
it on things I love.