Sending festive and jolly holiday vibes to all my lovely readers!


(Image by Maya)

Hap for Georgia

Well I'm back home in New England and finally able to get together a wee blog post to document the knitting I was working on in Scotland.
I"m afraid I wasn't a very prepared auntie and did not have this anywhere near finished before I arrived to see Georgia. So in between holding my little niece and other domestic bits and bobs I worked away on this Hap shawl so that I could leave having done my Shetland duty!

I went with the "in the round" construction on this shawl. I started with the central square, picked up sts around the edge and worked outwards from there. I didn't do the traditional knitted on edging however and instead went with an I cord bind off (as Jared uses in his version of the Hap).

I did use Sharon Miller's Hap Shawl book for reference but had to change a lot of numbers as I was using a heavier yarn- Rowan Scottish Tweed DK.

As you can see I went with very Scottish landscape colours....the photo below being Georgia's immediate surroundings....so she'll blend right in!

I had a wonderful visit with my Scottish clan but it's also lovely to be back with my kids and husband in beautiful snowy New England!

We are family.....

...I've got one of my brothers and sister with me!

(and they were being very silly for this photoshoot)!

I'm back in Scotland where it is of course pissing down! However I keep telling everyone I didn't come for the weather.....I came to see the family (and some friends).....and to meet and spend time with my new wee niece (Georgia) and hopefully help out her mummy who is a little sore and sleep deprived right now!

I spent the weekend with my sister in Edinburgh which was so lovely and much needed on both our parts. She came from a lot further away than I as she now lives in New Zealand. We haven't seen each other for 2 years and haven't spent time alone in far longer than that.....of course we went shopping together, went for coffee, went to the pub, had nice food and wine and did lots of chatting. She's off up to Shetland this week to see my parents but we'll re-connect next week when she comes to meet this lovely little bundle of cuteness!

Plenty more pictures of her to come!

Naming of Kerrera

I am not responsible for naming this pattern....infact I was having a hard time coming up with the right thing (it was called "In Da Hoodie" for a while in my house).......then along came Sarah and sorted it all out for me.....I wasn't sure how much she would want me to go into details but she has disclosed all here!
I was shocked to discover the name of an island I'd never heard of on the West Coast of Scotland (I even lived on an island not too far away at one point). That alone was reason enough to honour it by naming the pattern after it!

Kerrera Hoodie

Well folks I'm about to make my trip across the Atlantic to meet my new niece........but I'll leave you with the newest Shetland Trader design:

Kerrera Hoodie (Rav link)

I re-knit this in Fiber Company Organik, which I'm very happy with. It has a little alpaca and silk to add to it's lusciousness!

Here are some more details:

This comfy hooded cardigan is worked bottom up in one piece and features a deep, ridged pattern at the hem, cuffs and bands. The pockets, hood and upper body are worked in reverse stockinette to add a small amount of texture. Short rows are used to shape the sleeve caps, pockets and hood. Kerrara is the name of a small island off the West Coast of Scotland.

There are 12 sizes available for this pattern.
The pattern comes as a PDF file and is 10 pages long. The pattern is written in a table format where you fill in the requisite numbers.

Sizes:
32.75 (34.5, 36.5, 38.25, 40, 42, 44.5, 46.25, 48, 50.5, 52.5, 54.25)”/ 82 (87.5, 92.5, 97, 101.5, 106.5, 113, 117.5, 122, 128, 133.5, 138) cm.
Shown in 34.5”/87.5cm with 2 inches of positive ease.

Needles:
US #9/5.5mm, 32 or 40 inch circular
US #9/5.5mm 16 inch circular
US #8/5mm 32 or 40 inch circular
US #8/5mm 16 inch circular
US #8/5mm set of dpn’s.

Yarn:
1250 (1350, 1400, 1450, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1750, 1800, 1900, 1950, 2000) yards of worsted weight yarn.
Suggested yarn: Fibre Company Organik (98 yrds/50g; 70%Organic Merino/15% Alpaca/15% silk) shown in Magma.

Notions:
Crochet Hook US E4/3.5mm (for button loops)
3 toggle style buttons
Tapestry needle
Row Counter
Scrap Yarn

Gauge:
18 sts and 26 rows=4 inches in Stockinette St on US #8/5mm needles.
17 sts and 17 rows=4 inches in Double Garter St on US #9/5.5mm needles.

$6.50

Tanit's Jacket

The new Twist Collective is out and yes I do indeed have a new design in there!

Tanit's Jacket is a top down raglan jacket in a stitch called Tunisian Rib. This pattern produces a nice dense texture which proves rather cozy for a Fall/Winter layer. I added some cording stitch at the collar, cuffs and hem to create some contrasting horizontal lines and to help define these areas a little.

Below are some photos of the prototype which was worked up in Classic Elite Yarn's Soft Linen. As you can see I made some changes to the pattern that ended up in Twist. The first thing was the collar. I originally envisioned a fairly big folded down collar but it didn't quite come together. So on the prototype I ended up folding it to the inside and tacking it down. In the final pattern this translated into a more rounded collar worked using short rows
I then mirrored this in the hem, removing the hard corners with the use of those magical short rows again!

I noticed in Twist that Clara Parkes has a swatch story for Tanit's Jacket and she describes some of the possible ways to go with yarn choices. I like both the Valley Yarns Northfield and CE's Soft Linen, but other yarns with some linen or silk component would work well too.

For those that care Tanit was a Phoenician lunar Goddess of Carthage. I wanted to get a Tunisian connection in there!

Wast Side Shawl

Wast Side Shawl is now available to purchase!

This shawl’s construction begins with the edging. Yarn over loops are created along the top edge and then picked up along the entire strip of edging. The shawl is then worked inwards, thus reducing the number of the stitches on the needles every row! The lace patterns featured in the edging and border are both of Shetland origin. Fern Lace is an easy to memorize and distinctive pattern.
Wast Side refers to the West Side of Shetland, where my parents live.

Charted and written instructions are included in the 5 page PDF

Sizes

Approximately 45 inches/114 cm (52 inches/132 cm wide) and 18 inches/45.5 cm (21 inches/53 cm) long.

Gauge

20 sts and 32 rows=4 inches in Stockinette st on US#6/4mm needles.

Yardage

450 (550) yards of fingering weight (4ply) or lace weight yarn. Shown here in Malabrigo lace in larger size (purple) and Cascade Heritage in smaller size (green)

$5.00