Quick Cowled Tunic

The Quick Cowled Tunic can be found in the January 2009 issue of "Creative Knitting" on pages 54-55. It is knit in Caron Simply Soft Shadows and is quite easy to knit. It is a flattering oversized tunic, knit from side-to-side. The cowl is worked separately and may be kept detachable or sewn on. As with many of my designs, it does not require much finishing. Just the side seams, and if you care to sew on the cowl, then that as well.

This was a bit of a surprise to me, as I had done this design for Caron quite some time ago (I would say over a year) and was never quite sure what became of it. It was only by happenstance that I ran across it online.

L-Shaped Designs

Like many knitters, I do not like to do finishing. I am embarrassed to admit how many UFOs (unfinished objects) I have sitting around just waiting to have a few seams sewn! Because of this, often when I design I like to come up with a concept that requires little or no finishing.

The two shawls shown here were born out of this concept. I thought an L-shape would make a nice wrap which would stay well on the shoulders, but I did not want to knit it in two pieces. Both garments start with a large number of stitches knit flat on circular needles and then decrease down to the more narrow side of the "L". The self striping yarn used in both create different directionality when the the shawl is draped over the shoulders--that is one side has horizontal stripes and the other vertical (not necessarily evident in the styling shown in the pictures here). Also, the stripes on the long side are narrower than the stripes on the short side.

The "Self-Striping Shawl" is the easier of the two. It has a seed stitch border which is knit as you go along. It is knit in Artful Yarns Broadway and the pattern can be found in the book Vogue Knitting on the Go: Shawls.

The "Wooly Stripes Wrap" is only slightly more complicated (depending on whether you think intarsia is complicated :-) It is knit in a similar method to the other shawl, however the seed stitch border is applied with the intarsia method. This makes the colors in the self striping yarn creep slowly along the edge, in contrast to the thinner stripes on the interior. It is knit in Nashua Handknits Wooly Stipes yarn. The pattern is available in Nashua Handknits North American Lifestyles: Stripes.

Mock Fair Isle Vest

Believe it or not, this is also half linen stitch. When you alternate colors every 2 rows you get a pattern that looks very much like fair isle. The nice thing about this technique is you only use one color at a time across each row, so there is no need to carry along more than one color as in fair isle. The only downside is the look of the color pattern is limited. But if you like the look of fair isle knitting, and have difficulty carrying colors, aka stranding, across the back or have tension problems, this technique could work for you.

The "Mock Fair Isle Vest" appeared in Knit Simple Magazine, Fall 2006. It is knit in South West Trading Company Karaoke in one main color and three contrasting colors. Confession: This was meant to be a woman's vest, but the magazine decided to make it a man's vest. So I would say it is really unisex.

Half Linen Stitch Purse

The next design is a cousin of the last sweater. The "Lipstick Bag" is so named because it is meant to be a small dressy bag just big enough for a lipstick and a few other essentials. It is knitted with Nashua Handknits Grand Opera along with Creative Focus Ribbon. The same half linen stitch ribbing used in the sweater is at the top of the bag, with an extension of the middle ribs on one side forming a flap closure. The closure ends with a large bead the weight of which keeps the bag closed. The body of the bag is a variation of half linen stitch with Grand Opera and the ribbon yarn alternated every 2 rows.

This pattern is available in the Nashua Handknits North American Designer Bags pattern book.

Half Linen Stitch Sweater

This sweater design was inspired by a ribbing I discovered that incorporates half linen stitch. The "Ruffled V-Neck Pullover" starts with a ruffle, then changes to half linen stitch to the waist, then the nifty half linen ribbing to define the waist, and finally stockinette stitch up to the neck and shoulders. The sleeves start with the half linen ribbing, change to half linen stitch and then to stockinette stitch. Stitches are then picked up at one neck edge for the ruffle.

This sweater has some nice features, I believe, from a knitter's point of view. The body shaping is simple. Because of the ribbing at the waist, there are no increases or decreases required in the body to attain the defined waist of the sweater. Also, stitch patterns frequently change through out the body and sleeves, making it a more interesting sweater to knit than just plain stockinette stitch.

The "Ruffled V-Neck Pullover" is knit in Nashua Handknits Grand Opera. The pattern is in the Nashua Handknits Theater pattern book.

Half Linen Stitch

Some might say I have an unnatural obsession with half linen stitch. While I was aware of half linen stitch, it 1st caught my fancy after a class I took with Sally Melville. The topic was colorwork, half linen stitch was only a small section of the class, but afterward I started playing with it.

There are a number of things which appeal to me about this stitch. I like the somewhat woven appearance, the texture and that it is flatter than stockinette stitch. It looks different if you do it all with one color vs. alternating colors every 2 rows. If you use a larger knitting needle than required for a yarn, it can also look lacy.

My 1st professional design which featured half linen stitch was for Artful Yarns. It is a poncho knitted as one rectangle, folded in half and then seamed along one shoulder. Both ends of the knitted piece start with a furry yarn, so when it is folded the fur ends up on only one side of the poncho. The body of the poncho is knit in Artful Yarns Cinema and the fur yarn is Galaxy. I think ribbon yarns are well suited to half linen stitch because you get a nice flat float across the front, which is why I used Cinema for this design.

Basketweave Intarsia Halter Top

This is the last (for the moment) of the basketweave intarsia garments. I particularly love this one because I think the design is ingenious (if I do say so myself). I developed it because I thought the squares could lend themselves to a halter top shape and by noodling I figured out a configuration that would work.

Like the original scarf, this top is knit on the bias, starting in this case with two squares and then adding and subtracting squares as needed to obtain the shape. However, like the preceding wraps, I used two different yarns for the garter and stockinette squares, in this case Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Ribbon (alas discontinued) and Cilantro. These yarns give it a nice drape.

This pattern can be found in the Nashua Handknits North American Lifestyles: Seashore pattern book.