Pattern without a Name

I'm knitting up a new design in a delicious colorway of Periwinkle Sheep merino/silk called Chai. All of the names I'm considering for the pattern relate to baked goods. Wonder why?

If you'd like to weigh in on a name, head over to the Blue Peninsula Ravelry group. I'll choose one person at random to win a free copy of the pattern when I publish it later this month.

Have a great weekend!

Upcycling

Ever since I lost a lot of weight a couple of years ago, I've been using linen pants and skirts that no longer fit me to make things like sashiko sachets and project bags.





For my latest upcycled linen project, I followed the directions for the Story Scarf in Reinvention: Sewing with Rescued Materials, a new book by Squam Art Workshops teacher Maya Donenfeld. Reinvention is a thoughtful treasury of ideas for reusing wool, linen, burlap, T-shirts, denim, and even mailing envelopes. It covers the history, manufacture, and environmental impact of each fabric and gives step-by-step instructions for making bags, notebooks, trivets, sacks, pillows, scarves, throws, blouses, and many other practical, beautiful things.



You don't need advanced sewing skills to make the projects in Reinvention, and in fact the book begins with chapters on sewing and fabric printing basics.



Linen pants make a great fabric for scarves. If they've been washed many times they'll be soft and supple, and the legs offer long lengths of fabric that's easy to cut.



I used four different pairs of pants for this scarf, plus what was left of the lavender linen skirt that I used for a shoulder bag a couple of years ago.



This was a birthday gift for a friend who likes scarves and also wears a lot of blue. One nice thing about an upcycled fabric scarf: if it's too hot or you don't want to wear it as a scarf, you can use it as a table or bookshelf runner instead!

I won't be taking Maya's class at Squam Art Workshops this June, but I'll be there and hope I get to meet her. In addition to taking yoga, Heirloom Boats with Ann Wood, and Embroidered Memories with Rebecca Ringquist, I'll be a vendor at the Squam Art Fair on Saturday, June 9.



If you're in the area, please come by and say hello! I'll be selling my knitting patterns as well as embroidered lavender sachets and journals. It's a fun evening of free beer, cake, and all kinds of lovely handcrafted items.



I can't wait to be back at Squam Lake again ... loons and mosquitoes, here I come!

Spring FOs

I blocked a second Shallows this weekend, knit in a delicious raspberry color that made me think of sorbet the whole time I was working on it:


Pattern: Shallows, by Bonnie Sennott
Yarn: Swans Island Organic Merino, fingering weight
Needles: US4/3.5mm





This is the scarf version of my Shallows pattern, which can be made either as an infinity cowl or a scarf. I made this one wider by adding an extra repeat of the lace stitch pattern.  (If you want to do the same, cast on 55 stitches; you'll need 136 beads.)





This was one of those projects that you're kind of sorry to finish, because the yarn was so pleasant to knit. I would love to knit a sweater in this Swans Island merino. It's so soft, cozy, luxurious.

Speaking of sweaters, my other FO makes me very happy, so much so I've already worn it twice since casting off.


Pattern: Petra, by Pam Allen
Yarn: Quince and Co. Lark in the Bark colorway
Needles: US4, US5

Petra is an easy top-down design; both body and sleeves are knit in the round. I customized the fit by adding two inches of length and adjusting the shaping—details on my Ravelry project page.



Petra is the kind of sweater I like best—the perfect marriage of an attractive stitch pattern and just the right amount of stockinette. I hope the cool weather we've had recently continues, so I can wear it a few more times this spring.

Wholeheartedly Happy

The two yarns I'm using for my Wholehearted Shawl seem like they were destined to be together:


Pattern: Wholehearted, by Erika Flory
Yarns: Quince and Co. Finch in Kumlien's Gull and String Theory Caper Sock in Sandy River
Needle: US4 Hiya Hiya circular

I find I am picking up this project often. It's easily memorized—which makes it a good travel project. But mostly I just want to see what will happen next with the dusty blues and greys and tans.





Don't you think Sandy River is the perfect name for the String Theory Caper Sock colorway?

Fabric Disk Tutorial

For Mother's Day, I thought I'd share a hand-sewing project that I learned recently from my mother, Anita Sennott, who learned it from her mother, Anna Kruse (nee Koestner).



When I visited my mother in Florida during March, I asked her where she got the cover on one of her living room chairs. I was really taken with those little circles.



She said she made it. So then I asked about the pattern, but she said there was no pattern. She learned to make these fabric disks from her mother, who stitched them together to make pillow covers and other household items. I was touched to see this tangible connection to the grandmother I never knew (she died when my mom was only 14).

Mom offered to show me how to make them. She didn't have any fabric on hand, so we planned to go to Jo-Ann Fabrics later in the week. Unfortunately, we never made it due to a medical procedure being delayed (not a fun story, though it had a good outcome). I had to return to Massachusetts without learning to make the fabric disks.

A week or so later, an envelope arrived in the mail. Inside was a disk and instructions typed up by my mother. With her permission, I'm sharing them here:



It was brilliant of her to leave the disk unfinished, so that I could open it up and see how it was made.





I found her instructions easy to follow. To make one, I used a cereal bowl and a disappearing ink pen to mark the circle.



You can make the disks any size. My bowl, which was about 5 1/4 inches in diameter, produced a disk about 2 1/4 inches in diameter.

After cutting the fabric, you simply thread a needle, knot the thread, fold over 1/4 inch or less of fabric, and start stitching. I found it easiest to gather the fabric as I went, rather than wait to gather it at the end.





When you're back where you started, pull the thread tight tight and tie a knot. The photo below shows the difference in size between the cut fabric and the finished disk.



Join them together with a few small stitches to make whatever you like: garlands, pillow covers, chair covers, book covers ...

 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thank you for letting me share your creativity on my blog.

Giveaway Winners

Thank you all for leaving so many comments here on the blog and for joining the new Blue Peninsula group on Ravelry in the past week. The names selected by the random number generator were: Fleurtje-Eliza, greyowl, and knitknucklehead.  Congrats to each of you!  I'll contact you on Ravelry to get your mailing information.

We knitters are known for our generosity and willingness to help each other and larger causes (Knitters without Borders is just one example). Recently I read on Jody's blog about a knitter/designer whose daughter has suffered a serious house fire. From now through the end of May, Erika Flory is donating proceeds from the sale of her Wholehearted Shawl pattern to help her daughter rebuild her life.


Pattern: Wholehearted by Erika Flory
Yarns: Quince and Co. Finch in Kumlien's Gull; String Theory Caper Sock in Sandy River
Needle: US4

Wholehearted is a heart-shaped shawl knit with solid color and variegated sock yarns. It's a great way to use those partial skeins of sock yarns in your stash. The end result can be subtle and subdued or bright and dazzling, depending on your color choices.



I hope you'll consider helping Erika and her daughter out. If the shawl isn't something you'd knit for yourself, considering gifting the pattern to a friend on Ravelry. I myself have never had to live through a house fire—I can't even imagine how hard that would be.

Thanks again, everyone, for participating in the Triple Giveaway.  Happy Sunday!

Pattern Release: Goodnough

My newest design, Goodnough (pronounced "good-no"), is now available on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop.

 

Pattern: Goodnough, by Bonnie Sennott

Yarn: Fiberphile Super Squish DK [100% superwash merino wool; 230 yd/210 m per 100g skein]; color: Mithril

Needles: US6/4.00mm and US4/3.5mm 

 

Goodnough is an open front cardigan featuring a mirrored cable pattern on its two front bands. With 3/4-length sleeves and A-line shaping, it's a perfect layering piece for spring, summer, and fall.

The pattern is written for DK or light worsted weight yarns that knit up at 5 stitches to the inch. I was very pleased with the Fiberphile Super Squish DK that I knit the sample with. It's a plump, smooth yarn that produces a beautifully even stockinette fabric. The yarn relaxes nicely after blocking, resulting in good drape and excellent stitch definition. And that Mithril colorway? It's beyond lovely.

I designed Goodnough to be worn with 0-2 inches/0-5 cm positive ease, but it can also look attractive worn with negative ease. The model in the photos is wearing it with a small amount of negative ease, and I think it looks great on her.




The sweater is worked bottom up in one piece to the armholes, then divided for back and fronts. Only a little bit of seaming is required: the shoulders are seamed, and the front bands are seamed at the back neck. The sleeves are worked top-down, in the round, using short rows to shape the sleeve caps. Stitch patterns are given in both written form and charts.

 




Goodnough is named after the Goodnough Dike at the Quabbin Reservoir, in Ware, Massachusetts. It's a beautiful place, especially in the early morning. But it can be cold up there on the dike, even in late April. (How cold? 35F!) If you look closely, you can see goosebumps on Clarity's arms in some of the pictures. This was more appropriate gear for the morning:




Thanks go to Katherine for her thorough tech editing, and to Clarity, model and videographer extraordinaire, for all her help and enthusiasm. Clarity's sense of humor and adventure made the photo shoot fun from start to finish. (Also memorable was the fantastic breakfast we had afterwards next to a toasty fireplace at the Roadhouse Cafe in Belchertown.) 

I really can never get enough of the views at the Goodnough Dike. We're landlocked in western Mass., but at least we have big expanses of water and sky at the Quabbin. When I took preliminary photos there the morning before the photo shoot, the Kinks song "This Is Where I Belong" came into my head.

Indeed. This is where I belong.

(Don't forget! The Triple Giveaway continues through midnight Saturday. Winners will be announced next week.)

Triple Giveaway

It's Friday!  Friday is always good, but to make it even better, I'm having a little giveaway. To celebrate my new Blue Peninsula logo and Ravelry Blue Peninsula group, I'm giving away three prizes of yarn, books, patterns, and other goodies.

To have a chance to win one of them just leave a comment on this post OR join the new Blue Peninsula group on Ravelry. Or, do both and double your chances of winning! The giveaway ends midnight EST, Saturday, May 5.

Prize #1:

• A copy of my Briza pattern and a skein of the yarn I knit it with, Classic Elite Classic Silk
• Two tawny skeins of Classic Elite Summer Sox
• A sweater stone for removing pills from your hand knits
• Three skeins of Berroco's Inca Gold
• A skein of Quince and Co.'s Osprey in robin's egg blue

Prize #2:

• Galina Khemeleva's Gossamer Webs Design Collection
• Three skeins of Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace in a lovely coral colorway
• a skein of Knit Picks Shadow in Campfire
• two skeins of Shadow in Oregon Coast

Prize #3:

• a Chic-a notions bag
• six skeins of tweedy Valley Yarns Williamstown in a rich burgundy
• Gail Callahan's book on hand dyeing yarn and fleece
• a skein of Sanguine Gryphon's Skinny Bugga in Boxelder Beetle (minus a tiny bit I used for swatching)

I'll use a random number generator to pick the winners and will announce the names here on the blog and in the Blue Peninsula Ravelry group sometime after May 5. Feel free to say if you prefer a particular prize.


I was up at the crack of dawn this morning taking preliminary photos at the spot where I plan to shoot the next Blue Peninsula design. The forecast for our shoot is looking perfect; sure hope it stays that way.

Sneak Peek

The new cardi pattern has gone to the tech editor ...

Here's hoping the weather cooperates for the photo shoot!

Progress

New cardigan design blocking ... model lined up ... photo shoot location chosen ... pattern almost ready to send to tech editor ...

Today is a well-earned day of rest. Hope your Sunday is beautiful!