An enjoyable knit, a quick and enjoyable process, beautiful yarns. I have to say, not in my colour comfort zone, but hey, I sometimes like to move one step aside !
I like these smaller sized shawls that do complement my huge Steven West’s ones. The pattern is very clear and easy to follow, Meiju designed it with Treliz yarns, it jumped at me when I was browsing around for ideas to use Treliz 2021 Christmas Mystery Box. So, all is good in my little world and we shall see how much I wear it 😺
In my recent YouTube episode My Knitting Plans And Fantasies, I talked about my plans for using Treliz Myth Birthday mystery box that I ordered last April. I realise that I did not write a blog post about it and just mentioned it in my April Checking for my Yarn No-Buy Year.. I guess a lot was going on at that time with my father’s health up to this summer, and it slipped through. Oh well !
Anyway, here is a pic of the package I took when I received it :
The Ares base in Myth (the lighter yellower noe) is 85% Merino and 15% Nylon / Polyamide and the Yama base in Orion’s Belt (the darker greener one) is 70% Merino, 20% Yak and 10% Nylon / Polyamide. A pleasure to knit.
I kind of procrastinated over choosing a pattern, and the Aglea Shawl by Meiju K-P kinda pushed itself forward. Meiji had designed the free pattern for two Treliz skeins, one dark and one light. Could have it been more perfect ?
I have to say green and yellow are not in my comfort zone. Now that I have reached the darker colour block, I like it much. There was a bit too much of yellow so far, but the green is going to balance it out. It is my main knitting project right now, my Sorrel being too dark to work on at night. Waiting on the week-ends 🙂
I waited I finished the Slipstravaganza to use the Deep End colour (the brown one) and I am left with 7g of the Mystical Path Mohair lace. I did not include the Ice Sky bright blue merino because I thought the colour would be clashing with the others. I’ll find a way to use it !
A light, warm and very soft cowl to keep for colder days (that do not really seem to be coming here in France..).
So I finally made the time to clip the ends and block my shawl I had finished for a week or so.
The Slipstravaganza from Stephen West is massive, yet very light and pleasant to wear. Not that I really wore it in the middle of the heat wave here in France, with raging fires in three critical places. I’m thinking much of all the people involved in these battles and the people that had to relocate in the middle of the night.
The yarn and some other details are on my cast-on post and on my WIP post, so I won’t repeat it here. Just to say it was a problem for me to block it out of my cats reach and I sort of need to buy another blocking mat set .. Anyway, all done and finished, a pleasure to report on and to watch in my shelf, in front of all my other knits.
I do recommend the pattern, as all of the other Stephen West ones. Well written, videos that will answer any question, and you end up with a remarkable piece.
The Slipstravaganza from Stephen West has been a pleasant knit in sections 2, 3 and 4, and sort of a struggle knit in section 1, 5 and the current section 6. Section 1 yarn management was painful for me, the small triangular short rows were a bit boring and weaving ends as I went was not easy (I forgot one of them I think). The only pleasure was to knit with Treliz’s blue yarn.. he last section, the chevron border, is just a long one, and I need a an hour to finish a row. I do not like to stop in the middle so it’s been banished in its bag because it’s been difficult to find one hour long stretch of knitting.
Now that the Madeleine Sweater and the V-Neck Tee-Shirt are finished, I took it out of its exile and started working on it again. The last section is not difficult, just quite long and I understand other people’s comments on it, and I see why some persons have decided to knit the small border. I’m going for the long one, fingers crossed !
My calculations is I will need another 30 hours or so before it is finished, so no rush ! I’m trying to enjoy my time 😺💛
She had an announcement on Instagram with a code to use on Ravelry and I took advantage of it ! I bought 4 patterns from her in addition to 5 patterns from Natasja Hornby. Natasja had a code for a day only. So for today, I am not recommending any pattern from Rachel in particular, if you are interested you can use her code (she’s published it on Instagram) and get the ones you like 🙂
florence spurling new Flynn Shawl
You know I love what she creates and have knitted her Elvan Shawl my sons gifted me for Christmas 2020. She has released a few other patterns since then, and Flynn Shawl one is so simple and stunning !
A combination of stitch patterns, simple colour blocks and a particular construction using short rows to shape the body of the shawl after knitting the border. The final shape is a crescent, so easy to wear. I am very tempted bu the apparent simplicity and clean design, in my favorites for sure. I won’t buy it for now as I have on big shawl on my needles and I have already spent a lot this month !
You may remember, I have yarn for the Chubasco Sweater from Kate Barrios. I really like the cable pattern that reminds me of my beloved Sotabosc Shawl. As soon as I saw the sweater I new I wanted to knit it. It has been pushed twice so far, once by the Zenzi Pullover, and a second time by the Madeleine Sweater. Well, next time after the Sorrel Sweater maybe 😺
A beautiful pattern, I am not to knit blankets but I may change my mind with this one. You can buy the PDF file on Ravelry.
Trends
embriodery STITCH patterns
Okay, this one may be a bit risqué. I bought and started the Madeleine Sweater as soon as it was released. A round and soft look with these delicate stitches.
Natasja Hornby, once again, has a project that looks very much like Soumine Kim’s one to me. She calls it embroidery stitches and I do like the look of it very much too :
If this is a trend, I am all for it ! Natasja swatch looks fabulous. If you look around, you do not find many examples of embroidery knitted as you go, there are a lot of after-hand duplicate stitches though. For example, you can visit Mari-Liis Hirv’s website for a tutorials.
Let’s see if we will see more of these special stitches in the future 🌞
One of my favorite yarn store is releasing a new yarn 100% Merino base, Bouclé from La Bien Aimée with the usual lot of beautiful colours. The yarn is dyed to order, so you will need two to three weeks to have your yarn dyed before it is shipped A beautiful fluffy yarn that will knit as a DK or worsted weight even if it technically is fingering weight. It comes in both solid or with speckles, another temptation !
There is a new yarn bundle for the Foxthoughts sweater : Aimée’s yoke. Of course, completely out of my price range, or if I really get into a big bog treat to myself ! An impressive and magnificent sweater, you can check other’s projects on Ravelry, that I have been drooling over for al long time. I think the Fluo Pom Pom is still my favorite.
yarnz.eu is now closed
The announcement was made on April 21st. The domain name and blog are still up though. I got the Kokon yarn for my first Lawrenson Sweater from Michèle, and so did my kids when they gifted me the Kokon kit for the Elvan Shawl. I am sad, all my best brainwaves over to her, her family and employees. I still have 6 skeins from Aran Kokon in blue from two different dye lots that I need to find a project for. I will be thinking of her when I get to them 💙
A few days ago, Treliz opened the pre-orders for her next mystery box that will be out in July for her birthday. I already got the first one for the Fresh Peonies Shawl, and the Christmas Mystical Path hat and wrist warmers. I enjoy her yarns, her universe and followed her twice outside of my comfort zone for colours. So why not another time ! I did preorder the Birthday Mythos box, you can also do so up to June 1st. Let’s impatiently wait for it, she said there would not be patterns in the box this time, but suggestions.
She just released a video on the box and the giveaway she was running :
Books, Magazines, Articles And Creators
quick mentions – already discussed in previous issues
Laine Magazine has announced a new edition of la Bien Aimée Worsted book both in English and French and soon in Japanese.
They also announced the opening of preorders for “Traditions Revisited: Modern Estonian Knits” from Aleks Byrd
Events
filature fonty is opening to public
If you happen to be near Felletin in France, there will be three days when Filature Fonty will welcome public visits : April 28 and 29, July 21 and 22, October 28 and 29. Unfortunately, I won’t be on vacation for the first two events, not sure about October .. If I ever happen to drive by, I’ll give them a call anyway, even if they are not hosting events 😺
This one has been waiting for a long while, since last Summer when I decided to buy the yarns in these particular colour ways. Several events had me decide to knit it.
First, the blue Ice Sky in Treliz‘s Psyche base was really appealing to me as soon as I saw it. I waited, and waited and waited, and one day there were only 2 skeins left. All of her series are one time only and I knew I would miss it, so I ordered it.
Second, and when I was procrastinating over buying that one mediterranean blue skein or not, I came across Milli’s (from Tribe Yarns) interpretation of Stephen West‘s Slipstravaganza. At the time, it was the latest KnitAlong he had organised at the end of 2020.
These two collided and I decided 1- to order the skein and 2- to knit the Slipstravaganza. After that, I had to decide on the other colours. On TreLiz’s site, I also got Deep End in the same base, a very cold brown that even has some purplish hues.
I looked around for the two other ones and found this warm caramel colour at Zakami Yarns (Cinnamon Store) and a perfect grey with black speckles (Persepolis).
After recently finishing a few of my projects I sorta considered casting on a more easy one as my mind is quite occupied and worried right now. But hey ! This one had been waiting for too long so I embraced the idea of a mindful knit 🧶
I have already talked about this upcoming pattern (it is not released yet) by Meret Buetzberger. Any pictures she posts about it have me being in aw and my eye being all amazed. What a beautiful cowl, I am waiting for the pattern. More lace, and I can already imagine wearing it. In the mean time, please follow the #skragli hashtag on Instagram, there are already several finished objects to be drooling over, in different colours and textures. Meret keeps adding more. She kindly gave me an explanation for the name :
So a cute small collar that it ! I kinda think I will use this golden cotton I still have three balls left untouched, depending on the gauge that she’s been working at. One additional dream project 🙂
Olga Buraya-Kefelian (olgajazzyknits) new upcoming slip stiches PLUS shawl
Another beautiful colour work pattern, that will most probably be quite easy as it is uses the slip stitches technique. The Plus shawl from Olga Buraya-Kefelian has caught my eyes once I saw it coming across my feed page. Olga’s colours are stunning, and I think you can have much fun with colours and the pattern if you ever decide to knit it when it comes out. I can even envision using a self long colour changing yarn, would not that be so beautiful ? Another pattern from Olga that is most probably become a favorite.
This is not my style and I probably will never knit it. But can we just stop here for a minute and admire this so beautiful Folly Skirt pattern from Espace Tricot ? A busy traditional Fair Isle colour work knitted in La Bien Aimée Corrie Worsted, that should at least grow a bit faster than knitting with fingering ! They presented it in their last YouTube Episode if you want to see it in action. Definitely a spectacular piece.
All of Denise Bartels patterns have this aerial and light look due to her use of lace yarns and lace patterns (as much as I have looked into a random sample of her patterns). And they are free ! Most certainly one pattern you should cast on if you want something to prevent your mind from wandering. It does not look difficult, but will require attention.
With warmers days coming to the Northern Hemisphere, a lighter weight shawl could be a good idea. Sorry to our friends on the other side of the Equator, Olga’s shawl may fit you better for your upcoming winter. Please have a look at Denise’s other patterns, they are all beautiful 😻
The Bonneyard Shawl I have knitted and can recommend, for any yarn weight and any gauge. The pattern is very easy, the one you can work on doing other things, such as watching my videos ! A simple triangle construction, a simple garter row in between stockinette rows, increases in the middle and at the ends, you can choose the one technique you prefer.
A perfect pattern to improvise with colours, yarn weight, length and even stitch patterns in between the garter rows. I used the Bonneyard Shawl construction for my Mother’s present last Christmas.
Oh, that one is my favorite so far. I did like the yellow (Ochre) and the grey (Greybow) Corrie Confetti editions, but blue being my black, I really am drawn towards the Nightfall edition, a dark blue base with all the speckles from yarns that would otherwise go to waste. It is based on the Winterfell colour way, I have mohair in this colour for my upcoming Sorrel Sweater. A deep blue with lighter subtle hues, so lovely to my eyes. Each batch is different, even if they do second editions for the same base colour. A way to contribute to sustainability and reduce wastes.
This is my first yarn buying temptation since I started my yarn no-buy year. Would I have bought a skein or two or a sweater quantity ? Most probably not because the cost is high and that would be a special treat, not a casual buy. If it is still available around Christmas, or a second batch gets released later on, I may save for a sweater quantity. A very appealing creation, well done, as always. I will be following the beautiful creations that La Bien Aimée comes up with or posts on her Instagram feed.
treliz new studio and youtube video
Lise has recently posted about her new studio on her YouTube channel. If you are not subscribed, please have a look at this episode :
Her code for moving (15% off) was up until the end of March, I hope you could take advantage of it. She shows the Fresh and Peonies yarn releases (the yarns from her Birthday Mystery Box that I knitted last year) and other yarns she sells, a nice and pleasant episode full of colours !
Books, Magazines, Articles And Creators
making stories issue 7 is out – de rerum natura swatches
Another YouTube video you can watch if you are not subscribed to the Making Stories mailing list. This episode is all about showing the samples knitted for issue number 7, and it is so pleasant to have a look at the pieces other than on a flat picture that does not always serves the finished piece.
Along the way, you will have a look at vey beautiful swatches with De Rerum Natura Gilliatt for the Sakae pattern from Marianne Munier that is features in this issue. A reason good enough all by itself to get the issue.
Making Stories will be hosting a KAL between April 1st and May 31st with the hashtag #MakingStoriesJoyKAL on Instagram. All you have to do is knit a pattern from Issue 7 and they will draw prizes Avery other week for participating.
These are just amazing – and so is their price tag… Not discussing as hand made artwork is not made out of thin air and free time, but totally out of my reach ! You can browse through here : https://www.altheacrome.com/shop
As a knitter, colour work and cables on such a tiny scale are totally out of this world and just incredible realisations. An awesome artist you can follow on Instagram for more original pictures on your timeline.
24h of knitting seems to be the new trend, this event could also have fitted into the trend section. I personally watched Kutovakika, Annijuuti Knits and of course Pia’s first edition at FiftyFabulous Strick. She just hosted a Spring edition last Saturday, and I could attend two of her lives. She placed all the videos in a dedicated playlist easy to browse through. Some of the videos are in Danish (along with other people hosting the 24h challenge with her). What a fun way to change seasons, entering Spring for the Northern Hemisphere. I did knit along and had a good time watching the lives when I could, but should I admit I slept the whole night and missed the night shift ?
I any case, a pleasant series I was looking forward to. I hope she will host another one next Equinoxe (or may be each Equinoxe in March and September ?), that could be an idea.
She also is a fabulous (ahah) designer and yarn dyer, you can browse her creations on her website or on Ravelry.
Lots of creators, designers and editors are having donation operations for Ukraine, either to main organisations as Unicef and Red Cross (that I support too), to local chapters of these organisations or to local operations. There are too many to cite them all, I will just link to the ones that I already have recommended : the Red Cross or Unicef. If you are interested, you can check your favorite creators, websites or LYS, they most probably will have projects or links.
You may recall me knitting the Fresh Peonies Shawl when it was released as a mystery box by TreLiz for her birthday last July. This was when I just started my channel ! A very enjoyable knit and one of the shawls I wear most as it is very light and very warm. The shawl was knitted with a strand of fingering merino and a strand of lace mohair. Some parts are with the merino alone, some others with the lace mohair alone, creating an unusual texture.
The pattern has just been release on Ravelry so you can buy it individually. It was not possible before as the pattern had been release by email on TreLiz Birthday, to people who had bought the box.
I had the intension to highlight the Warm-up Sweater from Espace Tricot last time but settled on a 3D Purl Soho Wrap. As we say in French “ce n’est que partie remise” – it was only a postponement. Not sure of the translation or the use of this sentence.. The Warm-up Sweater is a very basic one, with a nice sweatshirt and relaxed feeling. It is knitted with Aran weight yarn, but I am sure we can adjust for a wide variety of yarns as they are 12 sizes. You can crop and adjust it or choose a more boxy fit, which I like.
To say, I have already knitted Espace Tricot patterns and they are very well written and edited, a professional work at no charge. What else ?
Tutorials
Not quite a tutorial, an information. Making Stories have a nice ressource page on their website that you may want to keep in your bookmarks. If you are subscribed to their mailing list, you should have received a link to a text document where additional resources are linked. A keeper
Trends
gansey type sweaters
At least two “main” designers are releasing sweater patterns with a lot of different textured stitch motifs that could be quite engaging : Stephen West’s Dustland Sweater and Petite Knit’s Ingrid Sweater. To some extend, these sweaters show, at least to me, a lineage with Gansey type sweaters, one good example would be a pattern that has been released last year in a book from Di Gilpin & Sheila Greenwell in The Gansey Knitting Sourcebook. (Di Gilpin is currently donating all pattern sales to the Red Cross).
If you look for Gansey patterns, you will find many, even free ones, for any type of yarn and gauge. I do have several books on the history of Gansey sweaters, early patterns, and I never decided myself to dive into them other than for daydreams. Maybe now is the time.
Yarn Companies and Stores
Aimée from La Bien Aimée is continuing her USA tour with her Worsted Hello Book. You can follow her adventures, encounters, events and friendly meetings on Instagram. When you cannot travel, and if it makes you happy, you can use a proxy ! I am most interested in people and places she visited because I know it will fuel her creativity, and then mine in return. I also get to have glimpses of places in the USA that a lot of people talk about on a regular basis. Nice.
Another book, and there is still one more 🙀 How to handle my temptation ! At least this one is on pre-order, so no rush. Meiju K-P is a designer from Finland who’s sweet spot lays with lace, lots of lace. You can have a preview of the different patterns on the Laine Magazine dedicated page for the pre-order. Beautiful designs in a beautiful book, I like Laine Publications, the texture of the books, the smell of their pages, the fact they are study and reliable books. My only remark would be to be able to get a download code to a PDF that would suit my ageing eyes better 🙂
After knitting the Mystical Path Hat and Mittens, I decided I was going to use up all of Treliz yarn leftovers into a cowl with the same stitch pattern than the hat and mittens. So I completely used the green Merino, using both the mohair from Mystical Path and from the Fresh Peonies, then I switched to the pinkish merino from Fresh Peonies with its mohair.
I completely used both the green and pink merino and the pink mohair. I still have some of that browny green yellowy mohair from Mystical Path that I intend to use with what will be left of the Deep End colour way that I will eventually use in a future Slipstravaganza.
So it is on hold for now until I have more of Treliz yarn leftover to use ! This is part of my #YarnNoBuyYear.
Knit Now 