Knitting

Traveling Home

October 28, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

2015 has been an amazing year for me. I’m fortunate to be asked to teach all over the world – and I just can’t seem to say no – the result being, 165 days away from home. My home is a relatively new one for me, so even it doesn’t feel quite real … I’m beginning to accept that I just might be a nomad.

You can catch up with some of my adventures on Instagram, and I’ll be using this space to tell bits and pieces of my stories from the year and share new things I’m exploring.

TheModerNaturalDyer — Image: Sara Remington from The Modern Natural Dyer

Check back on Friday for a THRILLING give-away!!!
I’ll be reviewing Kristine Vejar’s new book, and sharing my experiment with natural dyeing!

Top image: Double Rainbow, Burrastow House, Shetland, September 2015

Weston Beanie

September 18, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

Weston Beanie is my new hat pattern. I designed it a while back, for my nephew who was off to college in Montana. I made a few more, but they were always disappearing – popular I think. So now you can knit your own. You can find it in my Ravelry shop.

The sample is made with Dale of Norway Heilo, which is 100% Norwegian wool, that I had left over from knitting my Scandinavian book, 150 Scandinavian Motifs (called 150 Scandinavian Knitting Designs outside of North America). With a gauge of 5½ stitches to the inch over the fair isle pattern, I used almost an entire ball of the main color (1.76 oz [50g] balls, 109 yds [100 m]).

Estimated Yarn Amounts are about 106 yards (97 meters) for the Main Color and 30½ yards (27.9 meters) for the Contrast Color. You could mix things up here and even use a third or fourth color if you wanted to. I’ve made it with a variety of different yarns with great success getting a gauge of anywhere between 5 – 6 stitches to the inch, just remember, different gauges will use different amounts of yarn and the hats will be slightly different in size. Sadly I don’t have any of those beanies to show you…those were the ones that walked off to different parts of the world…even the sample pictured has been worn for a winter. I was lucky to get it back!

Kathy Cadigan took these wonderful photographs of my Weston Beanie modeled by her beautiful daughter Morgan (also an artist). They were both such troopers. It had to have been the hottest day of the summer, absolutely sweltering, and you would never know to look at these images. They did it all with good cheer and I can not thank them enough.

So please take a look at the pattern details on Ravelry, and check out the other projects that are starting to appear. One of my friends has already made four Weston Beanies using different yarns and they look great.

Stopover KAL Countdown and Colors

September 15, 2015 by Mary Jane Leave a Comment

Countdown to the Stopover KAL! It begins just after midnight tonight – wherever you are!
If you sign up in my Ravelry group on the ••Stopover KAL – signups thread, by 11:59 pm Eastern time, which is just before midnight here in Portland Maine, you’ll be included in the drawing for the very first prize – 3 skeins of Léttlopi! That is also the time the special KAL promotion, of 10% off ends…so join up!

This is my very first KAL, so I’m not well versed in the art. Some people started the moment I posted Stopover, which is GRAND! I’m so happy, and they are NOT excluded from any of the fun. You can figure out time zones here. If you look at the ••Stopover – Talk About It thread, you can see some of the in-progress Stopovers, and the colors people have chosen. You’ll also see the trio of natural colors that are the prize for the first drawing. Winner announced tomorrow!

Which brings me to choosing colors! I get lots of questions…I suggest choosing a color you absolutely LOVE for the main color. Then grab another color you like, and decide which position you’d like it in. I’ve put the MC at the top, followed by CC1 for the Cuffs and Neckline, CC2, for the first color in the “peacock feather” motif on the yoke, and finally the accent color, CC3 on the bottom.

A friend of mine really loves the mossy green #9421, which I just happen to own a ball of, so I started trying out possible combinations with what I also had on hand. The combination on the left looks a like spring in Maine to me, the dead grass starting to turn green,the first pale yellow wildflowers and the little red buds on the maple trees…if I swap out the clear colors for heathered versions the look veers to autumn.

Pretending I don’t like fall colors had me swap out the yellow for grey, which made me think of lightening up the whole sweater, and have blue as an accent…And then I got to thinking about Grey Heather as the MC, with blue and red as the accents, inspired by the first finished Stopover. The black dot seems nice and graphic.

Maybe too graphic. Soften the transition and include a really pretty slate blue, and perk it up with glacier blue and a bright clear yellow, like an alpine wildflower. Too sweet? Use the dark blue as MC, but choose some unusual colors to go with, you can’t see very well in the image on the right, but the dark color #9417 is a gorgeous eggplant. I’m currently smitten with #9427 a rust heather and the red will glow like a jewel!

Ok so be bold and choose bright red for the MC, the cast on and neckline will be my current love rust heather, and then let’s continue being kind of weird and bring in that gold color, and now I’m back to that black dot for graphic punctuation. I can’t stop thinking of the eggplant color now, so how does it go with the rust heather, the weird gold and old favorite garnet heather…kind of pretty. Really rich. Much nicer in person.

So since I think I like rust heather so much, how about feature it as MC…and add some of those fall colors, with deep blue like a mountain lake. Can’t commit to the rust? Try the blue again as the MC…You see? ENDLESS opportunities for fun! You may not even have to knit Stopover because you could just do this till the end of time. But I do hope you decide to knit it.

Can’t decide? There is no shame in knitting it exactly as the sample…that is still my favorite one!

But to sum it up:

Choose your favorite color for MC.
Choose two harmonious colors for CC1 and CC2.
CC1 will be the cast-on, cuffs and neckline.
CC2 is next to the MC at the end of the ribbing and cuff. It also forms the base of the “peacock feather” and the radiating quill in the yoke pattern.
Choose something unexpected for CC3, the single dot – you want to make sure it will hold it’s own against the MC, so make sure there is a difference in value with the MC, or that it is super-saturated and bright.
Have fun with it!

Find my Stopover pattern on Ravelry!

Stopover in French!

September 8, 2015 by Mary Jane 1 Comment

My new Lopapeysa pattern Stopover is now available in French! Many thanks to Christine of the online yarn shop Triscote for her hard work translating. She’s offering kits for making Stopover which includes the yarn and pattern.

While I’ve got your attention, a friend in knitting test-knit her sample in a different colorway!

Shown on our same gorgeous model, but the blue one is size XLarge. For beauty’s sake we’ve scrunched up the sleeves, and her arms are holding back some of the excess fabric. The original green version is size Small and you’ll notice how much more closely it fits.

Go check out Stopover on Ravelry for deets!

Buyers will get both the French and English translations – but you only have to download the language you prefer.

Stay tuned…a little birdie told me there might be a Stopover KAL.

Stopover

September 4, 2015 by Mary Jane 6 Comments

Stopover! My new pattern inspired by quick trips to Iceland! The perfect lightweight sweater for people on the go. Packs down to absolutely nothing and seems virtually weightless perfect for world travelers or weekend loungers. Knit entirely in the round from the bottom up with subtle waist shaping.

I whipped this up for a summer trip to Shetland and ended up wearing it every day, sometimes with a T shirt, sometimes with a couple of wool under layers and once with a wet bathing suit after a plunge into the North Sea. I chose to make mine with cropped sleeves, because it was summer…or so I thought. The pattern offers a standard long sleeved version too.

Using Léttlopi at a rather loose gauge is the secret to the incredible lightness. I bet you’d get nice results from any light springy aran weight wool or wool blend yarn.

You can find the Stopover pattern on Ravelry. There is soon to be a French translation and I’ll also show you another color way.

Right now I’m about to take off on my Labor Day adventure! Hiking Tuckerman Ravine, up Mt. Washington in NH!!! Woo hoo!!!

Yarn
Shown in Ístex Létt Lopi (100% Icelandic wool, 109yds / 100m, 1.76oz / 50g).
I have a preference for airy light icleandic wool, but other springy Aran weight wool or wool blend yarn would be suitable.

Finished Size S (M, L, XL) Bust 37 (40½, 44, 48) in, 94 (103, 112, 122)
Sleeves are offered cropped as shown or Traditional Long.

Needles US 10½ (6.5mm) 16 and 32 inch (40cm, 80cm) circular needles, US 9 (5.5mm) 32in (80cm) circular and 1 set US 9 (5.5mm) double pointed needles – or size necessary to get gauge.

all photos by Kathy Cadigan

Tigre!

May 26, 2015 by Mary Jane 2 Comments

One of my favorite outings was visiting Tigre, a town just outside Buenos Aires situated on the Paraná Delta, the world’s only river delta that does not empty into the sea but into another river, the Rio de la Plata. The Paraná river system is the second largest in South America after the Amazon, and the third largest in the Western Hemisphere after the Mississippi.

Tigre, named for jaguars that once prowled the area, is a hot tourist destination on the weekends. Joji, her mom Virginia, Ale and I were fortunate to visit mid-week and had the place to ourselves!

A nearly private boat or laucha, was our transportation – there were only two other guests, and one of them was napping!

A perfect way to idle the day away enjoying lunch at the wee onboard restaurant and knitting on top in the sun.

We traveled a labyrinth of waterways, among several of the thousands of little islands that make up the delta. The islands closest to the mainland are dotted with beautiful little holiday homes, each one cuter than the last.

Virginia lived there at one point; looking at the map, she could pick out where, and Ale remembered her grandfather’s swimming route.

Further out the islands get wilder and less inhabited. If you live way upstream you can buy vegetables and other goods from boats that serve as shops.

It looked to me like a place to return to and stay a while. I always imagine which little house on stilts I’d choose. I’d have a fine time painting and knitting, and kayaking around the network of streams. I’m so sad I can’t find the map we got, with guest houses listed, where I will stay next time!

The mainland town of Tigre was originally organized as a port for fruit and timber exports. In the 20th-century belle époque it became an elite tourist destination. We visited the stunning, “are we in Disneyland?” Museo de Arte Tigre which is located in a former society social club built in 1912.