Knitting Dragonflies

A manly scarf, sometimes in our yarny world of color and exotic patterns. Always trying something new and different. We just need a plain scarf. I’m looking for a pattern for a manly scarf, and somewhere about 1.5 hours later, after looking through books, trolling blogs and Ravelry, I was still looking. I’m not sure what I wanted, maybe that was the problem. What was on my “must have” list? Well…..I think all one color. A classic style, something a man could wear to a winter wedding, church, I guess I wanted a simple but stylish scarf. I looked at ribbed styles (no), cable (high contender), seed stitch (closer), basket weave (too much pattern), and finally decided on moss stitch (just right). (see bottom of post for links to the other free knitted men's scarf patterns I considered) Moss stitch, it has some pattern, but not too busy, nice texture, lays flat, looks the same on the front and the back. Not too complicated, I can knit it while my mind is busy elsewhere.   What is St...

From everyone at my house to yours, have a Happy New Year and may it include lots of knitting!

I’m knitting a Bone Yard Shawl by Stephen West . Using some of my handspun fiber. A Persimmon color Blue Faced Leicester fiber that I added a strand of Sulky bendable thread to it to give it some dimension. It looked so “flat” spun alone. I skein I had overspun, Ugh, overspun yarn is spun too tightly, when I hold it out flat it immediately winds up on itself and kink. The “fix” for this is to run it back through the spinning wheel the other direction and then I soaked it and dried it, to ‘'reset” the twist. That came out find, and didn’t take as long as I thought it would. So now, I just have a bit more to go before I’m done. I must have been stressed when I spun this! Read more on spinning yarn with the correct twist and balance, plus other helpful tips in Knitty article This was going to be a gift for a girlfriend who is going through tuff times, but when complications set in (with my knitting, not her), I ended up gifting her my Citron shawl Steve and Penny at the local ...

This is my Citron Shawl, done! I have been working on it for a long time. But had I knitted this all at once, it wouldn’t have taken too long. Love this easy, swingy pattern. Thanks Knitty! Free pattern here made by Hilary Callis . Knitty is a great online knitting and spinning magazine . Plenty of great articles and free patterns. This Winter Knitty 13 has a wonderful article about Ethnic Knitting Adventures by Donna Druchunas , it is about Designing A Norwegian Ski Sweater. Check it out, along with the other features they have. The pattern is a  semi circular shawl/cap (depending on the size yarn used and the length you knit it), It is all in stockinette stitch, with increases and decreases to form the gather/ruffle areas. Easy knitting, good for beginning knitter. Great item to watch TV, movies, or anything that you want to be on auto pilot. I was worried about the bind off, as I tend to bind off tightly. This pattern had so many stitches and they were at the full point of ...

I had  been thinking about sewing a fleece vest for my husband. Problem was I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. Of course. I couldn’t find a suitable pattern. So I decided I would draft a pattern for it myself. Inspired by the series “ Project Runway ”, which I am a long-time fan of. I found the confidence to give it a go. I used muslin and pinned it to him and then cut the pieces out. This did take 3 tries to get it acceptable. A lot of laughter and a couple of pin pricks. I used fleece on the out side and the lining, with batting in-between. My husband wanted the pockets to be a specific way. I settled on a simple pattern idea of a small stand up collar, basic front and back, zipper, and the most complicated part were the pockets! He wanted to be able to slip his hands in, and have a separate compartment with a secure flap. I had bought these lovely gunmetal grey snaps to apply to the flaps, but the fleece was so thick I had to default to using Velcro. I also decided to ...

I saw a link to this Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West and thought it was beautiful. Digging around in my stash I found some of my handspun that I have never used. I started knitting it up, it is a fast mindless knit, and I love how the yarn looks in this pattern. Notice anything? Yes, I took it “on the go” to knit and didn’t notice until several inches after the first “bone” that I had left it out. Sigh, so I decided to just keep going. Take a look at all of the Ravely shawls in this pattern, it can look so different with each knitter. I suppose this is my boneless shawl! I’m planning on gifting this to a girlfriend who has persimmon trees and makes everyone persimmon bread, cookies etc.…for everyone during the holidays. Love the color and I hope she likes it. While searching for this pattern I also came across the Quaker Yarn Stretcher Shawl/wrap . I love that one so much, it is not a free pattern, but I’m going to have to buy it and start that one next. It looks like the perfect...

I finished my Dummy Clap Shawl during my stay with my Dad back in March, when he had colon cancer surgery. But then didn’t knit again until just recently.   I would recommend this pattern, I originally picked it because I was always attracted to the Clapotis shawl in the Knitty Fall 04 . I never knitted it, but found this pattern and decided to try it. I will say, love the pattern, knitted it with Brown Sheep single ply yarn. Love this yarn, but I knitted this over a long period of time and it started to felt, due to all the packing around I did. The night before my Dad’s surgery, I decided to unravel the laddering, it took me 8 hours to individually unpick them, but that kept me busy and my mind off of other things. I’m pleased with how it turn out, length, width, it is easy to wrap around and small enough to use as a scarf. I only used about 2/3 of the cone of the Brown Sheep yarn, I would buy it again. (although it seems hard to find, I bought it in a spinning shop) BTW, ...