NEW FIBER CLASSES A leap into lace! Fiber friends, Spring is just around the corner and that is the PERFECT time to cast on for a light & lovely lace shawl to wrap around your shoulders and give you a gentle woolen hug. Join us in March! All month long, I’ll be teaching lace classes virtually with Six Dutchess Farm and their ever-so-lovable flock of Swedish Gotland sheep, to usher in spring! We’ll take you and your knitting needles on a virtual lace-filled journey, from the fundamentals of lace knitting to lace repair to knitting your very own gorgeous Gotland-Merino Lace Shawl, all while learning about small fiber farms and flocks from the source.
Whether you are a novice knitter or experienced, a newbie to lace or a lace-loving devotee looking for some inspiration and an introduction to small-batch, breed-specific farm yarn, we have something for you!
? An Introduction to Lace Knitting (Saturday March 5 & 12, 2pm – 4pm EST) to get you started, if you are Beginner Level or if you need a refresh.
?? Lace Repair & Knitting a Gotland Lace Shawl (Saturday, March 26 & April 2, 2pm – 4pm EST) an Intermediate-Level, project-based class that will involve knitting your very own shawl, designed for this class.
Through one, or both, of these classes:
?? You will gain loads of confidence in lacework, walk away with a new knitting toolbox ?, become a lace problem solver by learning to read your work and fix mistakes ?, learn to “rock the block” through the magic of blocking (key to any and all lacework!) ?. Plus, you’ll cast on your very own circular Gotland lace shawl (yay!!) for spring and learn what makes Gotland yarn so special.
Classes are live, interactive and virtual, via Zoom. The Six Dutchess Farm limited-edition laceweight Gotland-Merino yarn is available for purchase, or you can use any lace yarn you like (but theirs is divine)! For signups and more info, head over to Six Dutchess Farm ?
I’m teaching a live, interactive Zoom class on Introduction to Lace Knitting with Gotland Yarn
Here’s your chance to ask me anything you’ve ever wanted to know about lace knitting!
DATES: Saturday, March 5 & Saturday, March 12, 2pm – 4pm EST (2022)
CLASS DESCRIPTION:
What is lace? How do I select my yarn and needles? And how do I read lace charts?
In this class, we will learn all about the fundamentals of lace knitting. The class will cover a variety of topics, such as suitable lace cast-ons and bind-offs, how to join yarn, sew in ends, and how to use lifelines. We’ll also learn how to read our knitting and fix mistakes without having to rip out the entire project. And of course we’ll learn all about blocking – the magic that makes any lace project shine. In the process, we’ll discover the special qualities and nuances of breed-specific, natural yarn.
SIGN-UPS and MORE INFO: here
The class is hosted by Six Dutchess Farm and I will be using their fabulous brand new laceweight yarn. It’s a natural coloured blend of Gotland and merino which is such a treat to work with. Fabulously soft with a slight natural halo. Heavenly!
The Advent KALendar is a shawl knitalong will be published in 24 daily clues, from Dec 1-24, 2020. Each day you will get a piece of the pattern to enjoy, and by Christmas you will have a completed shawl.
This year the shawl design is inspired by the Northern Crown, which was worn by princess Ariadne of Crete upon her wedding to the god Dionysus.
Princess Ariadne helped Theseus to defeat the Minotaur, the monster of Crete that had the body of a man and the head of a bull and lived in a labyrinth. Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and gave him a ball of yarn to take with him into the labyrinth if he promised to take her with him once he escaped. Theseus agreed. Once he killed the Minotaur with his bare hands, Theseus followed the yarn trail and found his way out of the labyrinth.
Ariadne and Theseus sailed away together, but he soon abandoned her. Dionysus found Ariadne weeping on the island where Theseus had left her, fell in love, and the two were soon married. Ariadne wore a crown made by Hephaestus at the wedding and, once the ceremony was over, she tossed it into the sky. The jewels turned into stars and the crown became the constellation Corona Borealis, aka the Northern Crown.
The pattern is available as a PDF download for $6.00 USD
Yarn requirements:
Two contrasting colours of fingering weight yarn.
Colour 1: 430 yds/393 m, 100 g
Colour 2: 430 yds/393 m, 100 g
(or approx 400 yards of each colour).
December brings my favourite knitalong of the year. The Advent KALendar is a shawl knitalong published in 24 daily clues, from Dec 1-24, 2019. At this point we’re about halfway through.
Each day a small piece of the pattern is released, and I make sure to take a little bit of time each day to sit down and knit my daily few rows. It’s such a pleasure to sit down and knit a little bit, just for fun, each day leading up to Christmas. It’s usually such a busy season, but the Advent KALendar makes me remember to slow down a little bit. And of course on top of that, by Christmas you will have a completed shawl.
This year, th shawl design is inspired by Vecernica, the Evening Star in Slavic mythology. Vecernica is one of the the Zorya sisters (who inspired the 2015 Advent KALendar).
Vecernica is the protector of lost travellers. She helps them find the right path to travel straight to their destinations. At dusk she closes the gates to the sun gods palace as he returns home from travelling across the sky. Vercernica is also the mother of the stars, and they act as guiding lights for travellers.
Yarn requirements:
Two contrasting colours of fingering weight yarn.
Colour 1: 430 yds/393 m, 100 g
Colour 2: 430 yds/393 m, 100 g
(or approx 400 yards of each colour).
As always, the pattern is available on Ravelry. It’s $6 for the PDF version.
Hello everyone! It’s been a while. This year has flown by without much knitting, but I’m finally back!!!! To kick things off, I thought it would be fun to knit one of my absolute favourite Fairy Tales – Rumplestiltskin.
Now, for those of you who know me, I really like the original versions of fairy tales…. deep, dark, and not always so very nice. You’re all familiar with the story of Rumplestiltskin, I’m sure, in which a miller wants to impress the king and brags that his daughter can spin straw into gold. The king is intrigued, and locks the girl into a room overnight with a spinning wheel and straw, and says that if she does not spin all the straw into gold by the morning, she will die. While the poor girl was all alone frightened about her future and not knowing what to do, a small man appeared and asked why she was crying. When she explained the situation, he offered to spin the straw to gold for her in exchange for her necklace. He did, and the next morning the king was impressed. He took the miller’s daughter to an even larger room filled with straw and told her to spin this too into gold if she valued her life. Again the little man appeared and helped her in exchanged for the ring on her finger.
Of course the king had not yet satisfied his hunger of gold, but had the miller’s daughter taken into an even larger room full of straw and said “You’ll have to spin this into gold tonight, but if you succeed, you shall be my wife.” Again the girl was locked in the room and the little man appeared and offered to spin the straw into gold, but this time she had nothing more to give him in return. The man said “Then promise to give me your first child if you get to be queen.” The girl had no choice and gave the required promise, and again the man spun all the straw into gold. The king married her and she became queen.
A year later, she had a beautiful child and had forgotten all about the little man. Suddenly he appeared in her room and asked her to give him what she promised. The queen was horrified and offered him all the riches in the kingdom, if only she could keep her child, but the man refused. The queen cried so heart-rendingly that the little man took pity on her and said “I’ll give you three days’ time. If by then you know my name you can keep your child.”
The next day she went over all the names she knew, but each time the man said “That’s not my name.” The second day she sent servants near and far to ask about names, but no matter how strange or unusual, the man said “That’s not my name.” By the third day, one of her messengers returned and said “I haven’t discovered a single new name, but as I was walking along the edge of the forest, I saw a hut with a fire burning and a ridiculous little man dancing around the fire and bellowing: ‘Brew today, tomorrow bake, After that the child I’ll take, And sad the queen will be to lose it. Rumplestiltskin in my name But luckily nobody knows it.'”
You can’t imagine how happy the queen was to hear that name. When the little man turned up soon after he asked her “Well, Your Majesty, what’s my name?” She started by asking: Is it Tom? No. Is it Dick? No. Is it Harry? Could it be Rumplestiltskin?
The Devil told you that!!!! the little man screwed, and in his rage he sampled his right foot so hard that it went into the ground up to hos waist. Then in his fury he took his left foot in both hands and tore himself in two.
This story forms the basis of my new design. The pattern is available for pre-purchase on Ravelry for $6.00 USD and will be released as a Mystery KAL starting Oct 26. Clues posted every Friday for 3 consecutive weeks.
I have also teamed up with the Yarn Fairy, who has dyed yarn especially for this shawl. The yarn along with some stichmarkers and other goodies is available here. You will need two skeins of contrasting colour sock yarn (approx 430 yds of each).
It’s that time of year again! Advent is rapidly approaching, and it’s time to wind your yarn, sharpen your needles, and get ready for the knitting Advent KALendar!
The Advent KALendar is a shawl knitalong will be published in 24 daily clues, from Dec 1-24, 2017. Each day you will get a piece of the pattern to enjoy, and by Christmas you will have a completed shawl. While the kids are enjoying their chocolate calendar (or better yet – while you’re eating chocolate from your very own advent calendar), you get an even better advent treat in the form of small, daily clues that will become a finished lace shawl by Christmas.
The shawl design is inspired by Svarog (the father of Dažbog, who inspired the 2016 Advent KALendar). Svarog is the slavic god of the sun, fire guard and protector of blacksmiths. He is the creator of the sky and the master of all other gods.
According to some stories, Svarog sleeps and in his dream he created this world. He cannot act directly on the physical and material environment that he dreams, but he can affect the willingness of other gods, and his influence is enormous. His two sons are Dažbog (the sun-god and the god of fire), and Svaroži? (the god of fireplace). Svarog’s awakening will mark the end of the world.
Sign ups are now open!
If you’d like to take a look at the previous years’ Advent KALendars, here they are. In 2015 we knit Zorya. 
And in 2016 we knit Dažbog.
I’m really excited to share my new collection with you!
Reversible Lace is an e-book with seven completely reversible lace patterns. There will be patterns added over the next several months (roughly one pattern per month) with new and exciting lace shawls to knit.
I’ve been working on this project for several years – researching reversible lace patterns, and putting them together in new and exciting designs. These shawls are meant to be worn, and you will never have to worry that the “wrong” side is showing, since there is no wrong side.
The first pattern in the collection is Cosmonita. It uses old Shetland motifs to create an airy shawl with various diamond patterns on the body of the shawl, and a delicate edging with clusters of stars. Cosmonita is worked in several different directions. It starts with a provisional cast-on for the body. Then stitches are picked up for the diamond border, and the shawl is finished with a knit on edging. The shawl is garter based and there are no purl stitches used.
The shawl uses approx 140 g (500 yds) of yarn.
The collection is published as an ebook containing 7 shawl patterns. The subsequent patterns will be added over time, during the period August 2017-March 2018. You will receive an email notice each time an update is available. Please click on the link and download the latest version of the ebook. Each update will include all the patterns released to date.
The Reversible Lace collection is available as an e-book for $20.
Patterns are also available to purchase individually.
Cosmonita is available as a PDF download for $6.00
New Mystery KAL!
Mystic Mist was inspired by a crisp fall morning in Rhinebeck, NY. I was driving across the Rhinecliff Bridge to get to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival as the mist rose over the Hudson River. After a while the sun broke through the mist, and I could see the spectacular golds and browns of the fall colours, and I knew I had to knit a tribute. At the festival, I found the perfect yarn from Fiber Optic Yarns to capture the feeling.
Mystic Mist is a circular shawl, published in mystery KAL format. You will need approx. 1300 yards of fingering weight yarn (2 paintboxes + 1 matching skein). There is also a semicircular version of the shawl, which uses approx. 650 yards (1 paintbox + 0.5 matching skeins).
The shawl is designed for the paintbox gradient kits from Fiber Optic Yarns with a matching solid skein (see below for details), but can also be knit in one solid colour, or full gradient.
The pattern is available for $6 until the release of the first clue.
KAL START DATE: Aug 23, 2017
Clues posted every Wednesday for 6 consecutive weeks.
Note: The pattern has been discounted from the regular pattern price. Once the first clue is posted on Aug 23, the pattern price will increase to $8.00.
Mystic Mist is a circular shawl, published in mystery KAL format. You will need approx. 1300 yards of fingering weight yarn (2 paintboxes + 1 matching skein). There is also a semicircular version of the shawl, which uses approx. 650 yards (1 paintbox + 0.5 matching skeins).
The shawl is designed for the paintbox gradient kits from Fiber Optic Yarns with a matching solid skein (see below for details), but can also be knit in one solid colour, or full gradient.
MATERIALS
1 skein Fiber Optics Yarn Foot Notes in Sterling
2 boxes Fiber Optics Yarn Foot Notes Paintbox Gradient in Steampunk
4.5 mm (US 7) circular needles
4.5 mm (US 7) double-pointed needles (optional)
4.5 mm (US 7) crochet hook (optional)
Stitch markers
Large-eyed, blunt needle
New Mystery KAL for the summer of 2016.
The golden yellow sun grows heavy after a long day and sinks lower and lower. It lingers on the horizon and then dips below, leaving the sky a brilliant cascade of colours – orange to red, fading to pink and into a deep purple night sky.
Mystic Sunset pairs a tangerine to ultraviolet gradient set with a solid colour to create a spectacular sunset shawl in which to wrap yourself.
The pattern is available for $6 until the release of the first clue.
KAL INFO
The KAL is broken into 3 pieces – swatch, and two clues of the pattern
Swatch pattern available immediately.
First clue posted on Friday, July 15, 2016.
Second clue posted on Friday, July 29, 2016.
Note: The pattern has been discounted from the regular pattern price. Once the first clue is posted on July 15, the pattern price will increase to $8.00.
MATERIALS
1 skein Fiber Optics Yarn Foot Notes in sterling (Colour 1)
1 box Fiber Optics Yarn Foot Notes Paintbox Gradient in Tangerine-Ultraviolet (Colour 2)
FINISHED (BLOCKED) SIZE
Adjustable in pattern. As shown, with 1 solid skein of Fiber Optics Yarn Foot Notes and 1 Paintbox gradient, you can get a shawl of the following dimensions:
Wingspan: 80 in (202 cm)
Height: 24 in (61 cm)
We need more love in the world. After one more mass shooting, one more senseless display of hate – this time in Orlando, FL – I’d like to make this pattern available to spread the love and in show of support for the LGBT community.
This glove-design is inspired by the Aroha hat by Kelly Brooker of Pekapeka. If you want to knit a matching hat, make sure to check out her pattern.
MATERIALS
1 skein of Classic Wool DK Superwash from Paton (100% wool – 125 yds/114 m per 50 g) or similar yarn
approx 10 m each of 6 different colours of fingering weight yarn for the hearts
4.0 mm (US 6) needles
stitchmarker
tapestry needle
The More Love pattern is available here for $3.00.
Note: This pattern is available for free with the coupon code MORELOVE until July 4, 2016.
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