New Knitting Pattern - Lesia Loop

After much positive feedback and interest from blog readers and Ravelry members, I'm happy to announce the publication of my latest pattern, Lesia Loop.

The light, soft Brushed Suri yarn from Frog Tree creates a lovely halo similar to that of mohair and the resulting scarf is equally light and soft with a lot of drape.  

Although Brushed Suri is listed as a fingering weight yarn, the fiber halo allows it to be knit up in a variety of gauges, depending on your needle size. I think another fantastic yarn choice for this pattern would be a mohair or mohair blend.

I love the simple, beautiful stitch pattern that looks pretty from both sides, 

allowing this wrap to be worn in a variety of ways, including doubled as a cowl, 

buttoned along one side through the eyelets in the stitch,

or given a half-twist, Moebius-style, and re-buttoned as a shoulder wrap as shown in the photo at the top of this post.  

The pattern stitch is presented in both charted and written form, and the design's garter stitch selvages, button and buttonhole bands lend a clean, modern look. Lightweight shell buttons add a little shine and don't weigh the piece down.

I named this pattern in honor of a very sweet friend I made while traveling in the Ukraine some years ago.  Lesia is a name meaning "of noble kind."  What a beautiful thought.

Some of you may recall this design from earlier posts, and I wasn't certain I would actually publish this as a pattern since I already published a chunky-weight version,  Lingonberry Loop, in December.  

But after many folks said they prefer to just purchase a pattern that gives exact details rather than modify it to suit their preferred yarn, I decided to go ahead with it. Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm and great input!

I currently have two introductory promotions running for this pattern, both through the end of March.

For all Ravelry members, when you purchase the Lingonberry Loop pattern, you will receive the Lesia Loop pattern for just $1 when you add them both to your Ravelry shopping cart.   Anyone who has previously purchased the Lingonberry Loop will also be eligible to receive the special price.

But...  I also want to offer a little something extra special to my blog readers.  After trying unsuccessfully to navigate the murky waters of adding multiple promotions to my Ravelry Pro account for this pattern, I've decided to offer you a free copy of Lesia Loop with the purchase of any of my other Ravelry patterns.

If you purchase any of my patterns through Ravelry, just drop me a Ravelry PM or post a comment to me here in the blog, and I will send the free pattern to your Ravelry library.  I apologize to anyone who tried to use the faulty promotion link previously posted here!

Thanks again everyone, and peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!

Living in Scarfland

I've been in a frenzy of scarf knitting lately, what with Christmas and work on my Lingonberry Loop (LL) pattern, not to mention my Thanksgiving scarf (still a WIP). I love scarves as a fashion accent, as an on-the-go project, and as a warm winter layer.  It's amazing how wearing one around our chilly house warms me up.

I pretty much always have one or two on the needles and over the years I've made plenty, some better than others, LOL.  

 

 

 

This week I finally bound off an aran-weight LL in Berroco Peruvia, and also sewed very light shell buttons on the very first version, knit in fingering weight Frog Tree Brushed Suri alpaca.

This yarn has a gorgeous halo that looks a little like mohair, but has more drape/ less spring, and a matte finish with less luster.  In the hand it is very soft, but reminds me more of wool than mohair.

 

I'd forgotten how much I loved knitting this, since I designed it in August 2010, and now I can't wait to wear it.  

When finalizing the pattern, I actually had two versions written up, one for fingering and one for chunky, both of which I liked.  

The deciding factor at the time was to go with chunky since it is much faster to knit, very warm for deep winter, and also more trend-current.  But boy do I love the light weight one!  

It's shorter and wider than the published version, allowing it to be worn many ways, but perhaps not a width that would be comfortable in a much heavier yarn.  It might feel too much like a blanket.  But then, just look at some of the ginormous (as my niece likes to say) scarves and cowls out there right now and who knows?

I like how the lacy pattern stitch is equally beautiful on both sides so you can wear it as a moebius with a half-twist before buttoning (as shown in top photo above), and how it allows buttons to go through along the sides for a shawl/ wrap style.

I'm considering publishing a second version of the LL pattern in the lighter weight.  Or will people adapt and modify the current one and it would be a waste of time?  Hmmm....

The grey one is still lacking buttons, so I'll save the FO shots for later.  Lots to think about.  

On the Needles

Despite the warm weather, I've been working on ideas for the coming fall and winter cold-weather seasons.  Swatching lace stitches, cables and even a little color work has been a lot of fun, but I realized that despite the record-setting heat this year, summer is in it's final stages and it will be time to make and wear these things soon.

Last week some of the trees in our area were already showing signs of turning from green to gold, and today I saw both my first school bus of this new school year, and the first fallen maple leaf.   The high temperatures and lack of rain have stressed many plants and trees, so it will be interesting to see how this affects our usually spectacular show of autumn foliage color.

The project you see in the photo at the top of this post is a simple, airy lace knit in  fingering-weight, Suri alpaca yarn from Frog Tree.  The yarn is extremely soft and does shed a bit, but not more so than other fluffy yarns such as mohair.  It blocks very nicely, and the combination of alpaca's lovely drape and the halo from the long Suri fibers, gives the knitted fabric a light, warm coziness without bulk. 

Although this pattern is planned for fingering weight, I am knitting it on US #6/ 4mm needles to allow for some openness in the stitches, so it remains light and should be a fairly quick knit.  Hopefully this pattern will be done test knitting and available as a PDF in the next couple of weeks.  I'll have it up for download here and on my Ravelry page.

I've finished the Misti alpaca shawl and will try to get those pics up this week.  Otherwise, still tinkering with my cardigan shrug and casting on for more hats and a little pullover.  More details when I get some more time this week.

My crocheting friend Cheryl (Chercher on Ravelry) and I like to get together to stitch every week or so, when we can.  Yesterday as I was leaving her home, I stopped to admire her water garden, including these lilies just beginning to close in the late afternoon light.  

I think this is another good image to use in my inspiration for a project I have in mind, mentioned in this post.

 

The Koi look so serene gliding just below the surface of the water.  A beautiful way to end a pleasant time.