Saturday, June 27, 2015

Carolina Bell Shawlette...free pattern


I am happy today to celebrate my wonderful state of South Carolina, and the wonderful diversity here, not the least of which is expressed in alpaca genetics!

My brother lives near an alpaca farm in upstate SC, in Inman. When I visited two years ago I was happy to discover that the owner had a shop. The shop was HUGE with a vast supply of commercial yarn, but what I zoomed in on was the yarn from their own alpacas.  Here is the creative result:


Carolina Bell Shawlette

Have you found yourself in a yarn store picking up…say 3 skeins of yarn, one of a contrasting color to the other two, that you thought were beautiful with no plan in mind?  Well…here’s the plan…




This is a shawlette with vertical garter stripes and a lace border.  My finished shawlette is 60 inches in width and in 13 inches in length at the longest point.

Yarn Requirements: 3 skeins of yarn, two of the same color (color A), and one of a second color (color B). I used 3 skeins of alpaca from a local (in state) alpaca farm.  For me, this was Northwoods Farm in Inman, SC.  I had 2 skeins of 183 yards each in Carolina Bell (neutral)  and 1 skein from Guyson,  210 yards(chocolate brown).  Each skein was 4 ounces.

I used half of color B for half the striped section of the shawl.

My shawlette is very heavy and warm in the yarn I used, however you could use a lighter weight yarn and looser stitch at the same gauge and produce a lighter, more summery shawlette.

Gauge: Knit a gauge swatch with your yarn and find a fabric drape using garter stitch with the size needle that pleases you.  My gauge in garter stitch for the body of the shawl is 5 stitches per inch. I used a size 3 circular needle. Be warned however: if you stray from my yardage, gauge, and yarn halving technique, you may need more or less yarn, so be sure to use the technique here:

Yarn halving technique for Color B: take your skein of color B.  You can do this by weighing it and wind two balls of half the whole weight. If you have a yarn measuring tool, you can use that.  

Directions:

Cast on 10 stitches in color A.

1)   Knit 1 row Color A
2)   Knit 1 row Color A
3)   Knit 1 row Color B
4)   With color B, k1, increase 1 by loop method, finish row in knit.

Continue in this way until you have 52 stitches. Continue knitting straight: 2 rows color A and 2 rows color B. When you have used half of color B, or perhaps a little less to be on the safe side, begin decreasing:

1)   Knit 1 row Color A
2)   Knit 1 row Color A
3)   Knit 1 row Color B
4)   With Color B, decrease one stitch by psso method (slip one, knit one, passed slipped stitch over knitted stitch) and finish row with Color B.

When you have returned to 10 stitches on the needle, bind off loosely.

Lace border:  at this point you should have a serious amount of Color A left for the lace border, which is done in garter lace.  Proceed with the lace border this way:

 With the shawl on your left, right side up and lower edge in your lap, with the same size needle that you used for the body of the shawl:  Cast on 4 stitches onto left needle.

Row 1: S1, k1, yo, k1, pickup stitch from in between the garter ribs, knit that stitch together with the 5th cast on stitch. With all odd rows, continue picking up a stitch between knit “ribs”  and knitting 2 together for the final stitch.

Row 2 and all even rows through row 16: turn and knit.

Row 3: S1, k1, yo, k2, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 5: S1, k1, yo, k3, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 7: S1, k1, yo, k4, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 9: S1, k2 tog, yo, k2 tog, k2, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 11: S1, k2 tog, yo, k2 tog, k1, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Row 13: S1, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border

Row 15: S1, k2tog, k1, knit last stitch together with stitch picked up from shawl border.

Here is a graph if you prefer:






You may need to “fudge” a bit to add or subtract stitches that you pick up to end the lace at the end of the shawl.









Saturday, June 20, 2015

Vikings in the Attic

So some years ago I read a book called  Confederates in the Attic


I pretty much came up with the idea that these reenactor people, while yes they are having fun, learning history, and channeling their ancestors, are by and large a  wee bit off.  (The book however is great and I recommend it). 

Recently however I found this video which helped to explain another aspect of why one might wish to be a reenactor...and a Viking.  Self realization without the violance...   





Actually the preceding video popped up when I was watching   Lois Swales's videos on youtube






I have been reading Helene's blog for a long time...she and her family do Viking Reenacting in Norway

Of course, I am interested in how fibers were made into yarn and fabric before the Industrial Revolution  so I'm off to find a Viking Spindle on Etsy, perhaps here