Friday Inspiration - Miyuki Sakai

I've been doing a little bit of thread sketching this week, which led me to looking at thread artists - which led me to Miyuki Sakai!  Amazing!  With the over 200 spools of thread in her studio, she creates sketches from everyday life in freestyle machine embroidery, some of them in such detail that you can even read the writing.

Miyuki outlines her methods in a photo montage on her website here (under the Studio link).  Be sure to check it out, as there are also many, many more works shown!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Still Knitting Cables!

I'm having too much fun with cables!  And I still can't believe how easy it is to make them!

This hat for my husband is Robyn Devine's Travel Hat in Madeleinetosh Chunky in the El Greco colorway.  The yarn is a bit bulkier than the one called for, so this made a larger adult hat.

I've had some Malabrigo Mecha in Solis hanging around for awhile waiting for the perfect project and that turned out to be Jennifer Tallapeneni's Ropes and Ladders Scarf.  One skein made a shorter, neck warmer scarf.  I also added a mesh edging on both ends:  1 double crochet, 1 chain all the way across.

And I was just little too late finding Malabrigo's Hollyhock colorway ... it was discontinued.  I did however find a skein of Chunky in that gorgeous color and knitted a cable beanie (the pattern is from Knitting Bee in Portland, Oregon).  Unfortunately, it turned out a wee bit short for how I like to wear hats and I didn't have enough left for another row - yeah for crochet!!  I added a couple of rows of single crochet to the bottom and now it fits perfectly.  The size of hook I used did make it flare out a little when the hat is off, but when on my head there's no flare.  A smaller hook would take care of this, but then the crochet stitch size won't match the knitting stitch size.

If I can pull myself away from cables, the next step in my goal of stretching my knitting skills is colorwork - I have a fair isle tam pattern that's been calling to me!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Marsala

By now you've probably heard that Pantone's color of the year is Marsala, described as an earthy red wine color.  I think it looks like a maroon with a bit of brownish edge.  For some reason, this is not a color I own much of - I really do like it, though!  It reminds me of autumn, cider, and crisp morning air.

So where does it show up around me?  It's currently on my knitting needles - Tanis Green Label Aran Yarn in Garnet.

My favorite placemats ....

and my favorite baseball shirt.

And my favorite jacket to wear on those cool autumn days!

I'm thinking a hat and scarf/shawl in marsala would be perfect, so I went looking for yarns.

Malabrigo's Cherrywood colorway ...

... and Cascade 220's Red Wine Heather are the front runners so far.

And it's pretty much time for new dish cloths in my kitchen and KnitPick's Cotlin in Pomegranate would look great!

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Knitting Cables

A few years ago when I started learning how to knit, I imagined being happy for the rest of my life with washcloths, scarves, blankets, and maybe hats.  Techniques like cables and colorwork seemed way beyond any skill level I would ever be able to attain! 

I was happy with this for awhile .... until I started noticing all those patterns with gorgeous cables.  And wondering just how hard they could be.  So I got brave, found some good instructions and videos online, dug in, and in one of the most anti-climatic events ever, found out that cables are beyond easy.  Yep, easy easy!  If you can knit, purl, and move stitches from one needle to another, you too can knit cables!

After practicing for about 15 minutes, I started making a long band that turned into this cabled headband that's wide enough to be a good ear warmer.

Materials:
*worsted weight yarn - I used Lion Brand Wool Ease
*cable needle - these usually have either a deep indentation or hook to hold the stitches
*size 10 or 10 1/2 knitting needles

1.  Cast on 26 stitches.  Work the first row:  knit straight across, 26 stitches.  Work the second row:  knit 4, purl 18, knit 4.

2.  Row 3:  knit 4, slip the next 6 stitches from the left needle to the cable needle and put in front of your work.  Knit 6, then change your hold to the cable needle and knit the six stitches on it.  Knit the last 4 stitches.

3.  Row 4:  knit 4, purl 18, knit 4.

4.  Row 5:  knit straight across, 26 stitches.

5.  Row 6:  knit 4, purl 18, knit 4.

6.  Row 7:  knit 4, slip 6 from left needle to cable needle and put in the back of your work.  Knit 6, then change your hold to the cable needle and knit the 6 stitches on it.  Knit the last 4 stitches.

7.  Row 8:  Knit 4, purl 18, knit 4.

8.  Repeat this pattern until the band is long enough to fit around your head.

9.  Fold over the ends, see photo below, and sew together.

Now I'm totally pumped up about cables!  So I jumped right into a larger project, the Ropes and Ladders Scarf by Jennifer Tallapaneni, available free here on Ravelry.

I used Malabrigo Mecha in the Solis colorway and made it a little shorter than called for so it would be more of a neckwarmer than long scarf.  I also added a row of crochet mesh (1 doublecrochet, chain 1 all the way across) on each end to finish it a bit more.

I'm off to search out more cable patterns!

Happy Creating!  Deborah