Tag Archives: scarves

New Favorites: Simple little stockinette wraps

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knitting patterns for simple stockinette wraps

We all know how important it is to have a simple little stockinette project on the needles, for those times when you want something mindless to knit. Or when you’ve screwed up a row of your slightly lacy cardigan and aren’t ready to face fixing it …

LEFT: Cabinfour’s Nordic Wind is a super simple little triangle shawl with wide stripes — shown in four shades of grey, from dark to light, for a little bit of ombré effect.

RIGHT: The Purl Bee’s Beautiful Spring Scarf is nothing but a stockinette rectangle with fringe. But ooh la la, how curious am I about that cashmere-linen blend yarn it’s designed for. And the idea of nylon cord for the fringe is pretty genius.

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Shirt/dress and a scarf, my summer wardrobe fantasy

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shirt, dress and scarf by carrie hoge and primoeza

The thing these days is, I need some new clothes. Badly. And for various reasons, I both want and need to sew them. I’m fantasizing about smock dresses and shirt dresses and smockish shirtdresses, particularly this one. Things that are as easy to wear as they are to make. To keep from freezing in a light dress and bare legs, though, I’d need a nice little bit of wool around my shoulders and some funky ankle boots on my feet. (Ideally with wool socks in there.) So I’ve had a sort of vague image rolling around in the back of my mind, until I ran across these two photos in close proximity on Sunday afternoon. Together, they’re exactly the vibe I’m after — a softer version of my all-denim wardrobe.

On the left is Carrie Bostick Hoge’s newly sewn tank dress, from Jenny Gordy’s Wiksten Tank pattern, paired with her Imogen cowl, which has been on my to-knit list since, well, a few minutes after I learned to knit. I’m still in love with my denim Wiksten Tank and have wanted to make others, and Carrie’s deep-blue dress version gets my synapses firing.

On the right is the shop image for Elizabeth Yong of Primoeza’s Colour Edge Scarf, which has the most wonderful subtle stitch pattern, along with the contrast edge, and which looks amazing with that perfectly rumpled, blue-striped linen shirt. Ugh, want! (If you haven’t seen the latest batch of Primoeza scarves, you have to go look. Really brilliant work.)

So Carrie and Elizabeth have jointly snapped me into focus. Now all I need is a new pattern or two, some fabric, some yarn and … oh yeah, time. Sweet, precious, impossible time.

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Of course, there’s also the notion of throwing a sweater around your neck, as demonstrated by A.L.C. in this week’s ICYMI: Next of the best of Resort 2013.

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New Favorites: Two surprising Quince scarves

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picks from the Quince and Co Scarves 2013 collection

The new Quince and Co. Scarves Etc. 2013 collection released on Tuesday (here’s the lookbook), and there’s lots of great, timeless stuff in there to love and knit. See especially Falmouth and Ebb. But to my great surprise, my favorites at first glance were the two with closures!, which I normally despise. I don’t know why, and this is a totally subjective personal thing, but I just do not like shawl pins — especially when they’re holding cardigans closed — and I don’t want to see buttons or toggles or anything else on a scarf. And yet somehow these two designs work for me. On the left is Greta by Elisa Cantolini, my very favorite. On the right is Grasshopper by Annie Gullion, the texture of which I love. (I confess to disliking the actual buttons used on the sample, which is part of my problem with closures: Good ones are hard to find.) Of course, it doesn’t hurt that both scarves are styled right up my alley — that jacket on the left could have come directly out of my closet, and the grey yarn diffuses the potential cutesiness of the ties. So hooray for simple styling. My compliments to everyone involved.

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New Favorites: A wrap too dear

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amazing seed stitch wrap knitting pattern from the purl bee

Ever since this Amazing Seed Stitch Wrap pattern appeared on The Purl Bee the other day, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. I’m going to venture a guess that Joelle Hoverson herself is behind this one, and in a lot of ways it’s the embodiment of what I love about The Purl Bee: their dedication to simple, unfussy patterns that are within reach, skill-wise, of the average knitter or crocheter. But while they keep the silhouettes and skills simple, the projects are far from boring. They demonstrate how brilliant it is to choose great materials and then not get in their way. (In all my years as a print designer, I was always more concerned with the choice of paper than what I was going to obscure it with.) This wrap, like I said, is perhaps the ultimate example of that — it’s just a seed-stitch rectangle! But the most stunning seed-stitch rectangle imaginable.

Unfortunately, the flip side of this particular coin is that, in this case, they’ve chosen the materials so well that it’s way out of reach, financially, for … well, certainly for me. They’ve put together a kit of the 11 premium yarns involved, and it can be yours for just $407.40 (plus tax/shipping). So … sad Karen, jealous of (and happy for!) the lucky Purl Soho customers who can actually afford to knit this. I’d say my new mission is to find yarn substitutions that would lower the price tag without compromising the result, but I’m not sure it can be done. It’s just so lusciously perfect exactly as it is.

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New Favorites: amazing colorwork from Brooklyn Tweed

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brooklyn tweed winter 13 adara altair and kimmswick shot by jared

The latest BT collection, Winter 2013, came out this morning and it’s Brooklyn Tweed at its very best. There are eighteen designs presented in the most lavish BT lookbook yet — filled, of course, with Jared Flood’s beautiful photos. (The interlude of Hudson NY scenes is just gorgeous.) Eighteen is a lot of patterns and, while some of them are more to my personal taste than others, there’s not a clunker in the bunch. I’ll be mining this collection for weeks, but what tugged at me most on the first viewing is the colorwork at the front of the book, which isn’t ordinarily even my thing. But this is when I love Brooklyn Tweed the most — when they take classic styles and techniques and make them a little bit sharper, a little bit smarter, but without damaging the timelessness. Pieces worth the precious investment of your knitting time.

— The Adara Turtleneck by Michele Wang puts the colorwork around the waist.

— A little intarsia goes a long way on the Altair Cap by Jared Flood.

— Julie Hoover’s Kimmswick Scarf is miles beyond my skill set, but I would wear it in a heartbeat.

— And I adore both versions of Jared’s take on the lopapeysa, the Grettir Turtleneck and Crew (contained in one pattern).

grettir turtleneck and crew pattern and photos by jared flood

Knit the Look: Hanneli Mustaparta’s sweater, Kate Bogucharskaia’s wrap, and more

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The web is riddled with street-style blogs at this point, but my favorite is Vanessa Jackman’s. Not only does she have a great eye, but she makes it a cross between useful and aspirational with her “recreate the look” posts. So I’m thrilled that she’s consented to let me use her photos for a new feature here on FA which I’m calling Knit the Look — putting a DIY spin on things. I’m kicking it off with pattern and yarn recommendations for a trio of looks, but expect one rec at a time in the future! I hope you love it —

KATE BOGUCHARSKAIA’S SILK WRAP

knit the look kate bogucharskaia's black silk wrap

For a knitted version of Kate Bogucharskaia’s silky black shawl, you could knit Grace Anna Farrow’s Ferrous Wrap or Whitney Van Nes’ Whisper Wrap, using Anzula’s Mermaid silk-blend yarn in Black, (held double for the Ferrous Wrap). Or, for a heftier version of either, use Blue Sky Alpacas’ Alpaca Silk yarn in Night. See Vanessa’s recs for the rest of the ensemble.

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HANNELI MUSTAPARTA’S WINE-SOAKED SWEATER

knit the look hanneli mustaparta's wine sweater vanessa jackman

I think there’s actually some very subtle colorwork going on in Hanneli Mustaparta’s fuzzy wine-colored pullover. But you could get a similar depth of tone by knitting Julie Hoover’s Garance using Shibui Heichi silk tweed yarn in Graffiti held double with Shibui Silk Cloud mohair-silk yarn in Bordeaux. I might have to do this one. See Vanessa’s recs for the rest of the outfit.

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UNIDENTIFIED MODEL’S GIANT RIBBED SCARF

knit the look giant ribbed scarf vanessa jackman

Child’s play: Using Malabrigo Chunky in Burgundy and 6.5mm (US10.5) needles, cast on 38 stitches.

Row 1: [knit 2, purl 2] across 36 stitches, knit 2
Row 2: [purl 2, knit 2] across 36 stitches, purl 2

Repeat these two rows until scarf measures 72 inches (or your desired length). Bind off in pattern and weave in ends.

Of course, you might need 5 or 6 skeins of yarn to make it that big! See Vanessa’s recs for other elements of both looks.

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Street style photos © Vanessa Jackman; used with permission

New Favorites: Julie Hoover’s latest gems

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julie hoover knitting patterns becot garance driftwood doux

You know how everyone’s always asking what one book you’d want if stranded on a desert island? Or what you’d choose for your last meal? Well, what if you could only knit from one designer’s patterns for the rest of your days. If someone asked me that, the words “Julie Hoover” would probably be out of my mouth before the question was finished. I’ve had my eye on her for awhile — ever since dropping 9 bucks for a hard copy of Chaleur when I was at Knit Purl last winter — but lately she’s really been hitting it out of the park, releasing one gorgeous pattern after another. Her designs are understated, which of course I love, but the shapes, textures and attention to detail are superior. In a marketplace full of fussy, overworked stuff, she’s creating patterns for seriously wearable clothes and accessories that will stand the test of time — from a beautifully shaped pullover to that perfect slouchy Saturday turtleneck. Great, great stuff.

1. Bécot hat (in mink and cashmere!)

2. Garance pullover

3. Driftwood turtleneck (from Brooklyn Tweed Fall 2012)

4. Doux scarf