Tag Archives: shawls

New Favorites: Clever garter colorwork

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New Favorites: Clever garter-stitch colorwork knitting patterns

I’ve basically been asleep for four straight days (even when my eyes are open), since getting back from Portugal — I can’t get enough shut-eye or enough water, for some reason. Which means I don’t yet have my arms around the first round of Summer of Basics prize selections or how to even begin to tell you about the trip. But this is a rare summer in which, so far, the flow of droolworthy knitting patterns is uninterrupted. So can we talk about these clever garter-stitch beauties for a minute?

TOP: Picket Fence Afghan by Julia Farwell-Clay (from the new MDK Field Guide: Ease) is made up of 3-color garter-stitch blocks which somehow magically eliminate the weaving of ends and create a magnificent tapestry, which I think would be great at wrap proportions

BOTTOM: Ellsworth by Scott Rohr takes garter stitch, two colors of yarn, and short rows to a new level of magnificence

(Side note: If I owe you an email, I’m trying!)

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Dianna’s dream sweaters

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New Favorites: Summer stripes

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New Favorites: Summer stripes

The Summer issue of Pom Pom is all about stripes, and it’s astonishing how many distinctly different ways the designers have managed to deploy them, even though the majority of the patterns are simple little summer sweaters! My favorite details among them:

TOP: Anna Maltz’s swingy little Tarmac tank with it’s striped edging!

MIDDLE LEFT: Tina Tse’s simple little Deauville with it’s perpendicularly striped hem

MIDDLE RIGHT: Gina Rockenwagner’s deft plaid Anni

BOTTOM: Amy Christoffer’s log-cabin inspired Riley (I am obsessed with this photo!)

BELOW: And the cross-hatching on Julie Knits in Paris’s Vasarely wrap

New Favorites: Summer stripes

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Thea Colman on a roll

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New Favorites: Colorwork for minimalists

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New Favorites: Colorwork for minimalists

In addition to the fact that the whole color palette for this photo shoot is KILLING ME (her hair, that wall, that foliage …), I am swooning hard over these two new patterns by Whitney Hayward that use the tiniest bit of colorwork to such major effect. In both cases, it’s just a few well-placed rows of 1×1 stranding, and while I obviously love the neutrals here, you can imagine how totally different the effect would be if knitted in three colors instead of three nons. The shawl is Ural and the little transitional-season sweater is Fukuro. Gorgeous on every level.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites:  from Rowan 62

New Favorites: Veronika

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New Favorites: Veronika

Last month, Shannon Cook posted a pic on Instagram that made my eyes pop out of my head. It’s basically the shawl-collared-blanket-with-arm-slits of my dreams, and the finished pattern, Veronika, went live yesterday. I’m imagining myself curled up in the corner of the couch someday, wrapped in one of these — oblivious to the godforsaken air vent behind the couch, thanks to the voluminous shawl collar — while knitting another one.

New Favorites: Veronika

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Quick mitts

New Favorites: Bits to borrow

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New Favorites: Bits to borrow

You know that feeling when you see a stitch pattern and your fingers start twitching with the urge to knit it? But sometimes it’s on a garment or accessory that doesn’t quite suit you. So what’s a knitter to do?

TOP: Salt by Sylvia McFadden
I’m obsessed with stitch patterns like this one — especially this one — but not much of a shawl wearer (or knitter), so here I am pondering borrowing it for a little hat or somesuch.

BOTTOM: Split Stone by Clare Mountain
I really love what’s happening on the lower part of this sweater — I’m just not personally a fan of drop-shoulder sweaters. So I can’t help daydreaming about knitting this one from hem to underarm and then just changing what happens from there up.

(In both cases, obviously, I would buy the pattern!)

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Marmor

New Favorites: Spring shawls

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New Favorites: Spring shawls

March! That time of the year when we all start to ditch our coats and knitters replace them with shawls instead of jackets—

TOP: With Ease by Sylvia McFadden looks to me like it’s knitted from the left edge to the right tip, which is as tempting as that gorgeous stitch pattern

MIDDLE LEFT: Black River Blanket Shawl by Sam Lamb is a basic top-down triangle shawl with the visual punch of a trio of stripes

MIDDLE RIGHT: Flindra by Libby Jonson is an elongated triangle with intriguing construction plus slip-stitch colorwork

BOTTOM: Goderich Blanket by Tara-Lynn Morrison is a small rectangle worn as a wrap — love that “diagonal rib” stitch (free pattern)

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Bohème big and small

A shawl for Fall

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A shawl for Fall

IT’S SEPTEMBER! And you know what that means: Fall is on its way. Time to think about the beautiful reality of those slightly cool evenings when you just want to wrap yourself up in a little something cozy, before jacket and coat weather kick in. Here are some gems to consider:

1. Tensdale by Patricia Shapiro is such great garter geometry it actually has me itching to knit a triangle shawl again

2. Crosshatch by Jared Flood — from his gorgeous book Woolens — has succeeded in making me want to knit brioche

3. Florence by Bristol Ivy — from the autumn issue of Pom Pom — would be a ton of fun to knit, and to pick yarn for!

4. Ingwer by Melanie Berg is an enticing combination of textures, love to see it even bigger

5. Metronome by Julia Farwell-Clay is just so striking, and I love the shape

6. Meet Me at the Ryman by my beloved Jo Strong is a Nashville tribute that’s also just a really great lace pattern

7. Bittersweet by Amy Christoffers has a sweet allover cable pattern and just makes you want to cozy up in it (free pattern)

For more shawls I’ve loved lately, see my Ravelry favorites.

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