Knit Tip: Two Halves -- and a Scale

Last week I took this photo to document the halfway point of my newest Paper Lanterns shawlette.

Paper Lanterns WIP in Frabjous Fibers Mad Hatter

Paper Lanterns is a rather simple, sideways knit, shawlette.  For the first half of the project you have increase rows.  For the second half, decrease rows take their place.

If you think that you might not have enough yarn to knit a two-halves type of pattern as written, but you know that you probably have enough...

Or, if you are using a treasured skein of yarn, and you desire to use as much of the yarn as possible... by making the first half as long and as wide as you can with a minimal amount of wasted yarn...

You will need a scale.

A small kitchen scale like the one that I bought from Amazon in 2010 (still available here) will work quite well.

You should weigh your yarn before you start (as I mentioned in this post).  My yarn weighed 113g.  When I got to the halfway point of the shawlette last week, I weighed the remaining yarn and shot the photo above.  The remaining yarn weighed 58g.  Half of 113 would be 56.5.  This showed me that I did have enough yarn to finish because what remained was more than what was used.  It also showed me that for this particular project, there could be no extra pattern repeats to make a larger shawlette.

Your scale will come in handy whenever you knit a project that has two halves.

I use mine every time I make toe up socks.  Before I start, I take my initial ball of yarn and wind a ball off of it, weighing both, until I get two equal balls.  Mr K likes tall socks.  My scale allows me make them as tall as I like but no taller than the yarn allows.

Fingering Weight TATU Socks FO in Cascade Yarns Heritage Paints

This FO photo of a pair that I knit for him last spring, shows what remains of the two balls that I started out with.  These are the tallest socks that I ever knit.

I currently am knitting Mr K a new pair of TATU socks and I was also at the halfway point with these earlier this month.  Now I am quite far beyond that.

Fingering Weight TATU Socks WIP in Austermann Step 6

I use my scale to check how much yarn I have used (or how much yarn I have remaining) in many of my projects especially when I design new patterns.  It has been a very worthwhile tool in my knitting tool box.

An Invitation (Up Close & Personal)

Paper Lanterns Detail, © Gosh Yarn It!

Ann at Gosh Yarn It! does take the best knitting photos!  This detail shot is my absolute favorite of the photos she took of my Paper Lanterns shawlette while it is (temporarily) a GYI! resident sample.

As part of GYI's Summer Camp 2015, for the month of August, I will be hosting a KAL at the shop & in this Ravelry thread.  I will be in the shop this Saturday, August 1, at 1:00 PM to cast on my newest Paper Lanterns.  The pattern begins "CO 14"...  How easy is that?

My chosen yarn is the lovely Wonderland Yarns "Mad Hatter" sport weight - 344 yds - 4 oz - 100% superwash merino in the 'Crimson Fury' colorway.  [The actual weight of this balled skein is 3.95 oz or 113 g.  This might be helpful to know when I get near the halfway mark.]  It will be interesting to see Paper Lanterns knit up in a semi-solid kettle-dyed yarn.

Paper Lanterns is a great summer knit!  You may use any sock yarn -- sport weight or fingering -- wildly variegated or semi-solid.  My sample (there are many photos on the pattern page) was made with 360 yds of sport weight sock yarn.  The pattern is fairly easy to memorize and the garter stitch body of the shawl moves along quickly.

Please join me in this KAL!  You can start at anytime after the 1st, but the goal is to finish by the end of the month.  Follow the thread and visit with me at GYI! this Saturday.  I look forward to knitting with you!  Happy almost August!

Design Release: Paper Lanterns

Design: Paper Lanterns

Sample Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts®, Socks That Rock®, mediumweight

Yarn Required: 350-400 yd of any sport or fingering weight sock yarn

On its one year anniversary, the rights to my Paper Lanterns design reverted back to me.  This evening, I released a newly formatted version on Ravelry.

The regular price for the pattern will be $5.00.  In order to (belatedly) celebrate its first anniversary, and to jointly celebrate the upcoming fourth anniversary of my blog, you can purchase it now through June 12, 2105, for 25% off using the coupon code, "happyanniversary".

Paper Lanterns is a great pattern to use with any high-contrast, seriously variegated skein of sock yarn, as well as a solid or lightly variegated one.  The edging of the Paper Lanterns shawlette incorporates eyelet holes and wrapped-and-dropped stitches to create a string of circular lanterns.

This is a really FUN to knit pattern!  And you don't have to take my word for it...  Some of the 2014 Rockin' Sock Club members have given me permission to quote their comments from their Ravelry project pages.

"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the shawl, amazing yarn! The pattern is very well written, easy to follow and the little lanterns are so pretty. Can’t wait to block it and wear it."  ~ mamayaga"

Enjoyed it much more once Nine Maidens was finished, then did 3/4 of this shawlette in a couple of days. Interesting pattern with a fun edging."  ~ catmama

"I loved making this - the pattern knit up quickly and the stitch sequence was easy to remember."  ~ Amelie31
 
In a personal message Amielie31 wrote, "That scarf is one of my Blue Moon favorites. In fact, just this week I was looking through my stash for yarn to make it again. I gave the original one to my mom and now I want one to keep! Version #2 is in my queue for later this summer…" 

"I loved this project! I was finally able to memorize it when I was on the last half of the decreases. I think it looks good even un-blocked. It drapes nicely like a scarf."  ~ spaznurse

Round Two (& Three) FO's

FO photos...

Detail Petite Double Dutch

Petite Double Dutch

My Petite Double Dutch was knit with Isager Alpaca Merino 2 on US size 3 needles.  This yarn is finer than the yarn that I used for my pattern sample and I liked my swatch with the Isager knit on smaller needles.  The finished shawl is approximately 43" long and 9.5" wide.  This was my second Double Dutch.

Another Rosebud

My latest Rosebud was knit with baa ram ewe Titus , the same yarn that I used for the swatch that I sent to Interweave as a part of my design proposal.  This was my second Rosebud.

(Perhaps you will view this last photo with eyes that are kinder than my own.)  My sister shot this with her phone during our last meal (a very late lunch) in NYC.  I was wearing my third Paper Lanterns shawlette.

I did make all three from the same yarn and on the same needles.  Blue Moon Fiber Arts owns the original sample.  My sister was gifted with my second one for Christmas, and I finally finished one for me to wear in March.

In January, the rights to this design came back to me.  But as in most cases with third party publishers, I am not allowed to sell the Blue Moon Fiber Arts version of the pattern.  I am currently in the process of writing a version using my own template and with my own photography.  (Mr K took several dozen photos of me wearing the shawl last weekend.)  (I kept thinking that only a fool would use me as a model... but the good news is that I am getting better at photo editing.)

I will let you know when the pattern becomes available.  As always, thanks for reading and happy knitting! 

Paper Lanterns

I am very pleased to introduce you to a very happy little shawlette (that I designed, and) which I named "Paper Lanterns"...

© Blue Moon Fiber Arts

This is a very fun and fast knit!  And when knit with this most amazingly round and lofty, and smooth and drapey, and vibrantly colorful yarn called "Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight", you will love every minute of you knitting!  I have not yet ever enjoyed the "work" of sample knitting more!

More photos from Blue Moon Fiber Arts...

© Blue Moon Fiber Arts

© Blue Moon Fiber Arts

This pattern, released in January 2014, will be available only to Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club members for one year.  It is still possible to become a 2014 club member, but only until the end of March.  The pattern will become available to everyone else in January 2015.

Happy knitting, and thanks for reading!

Really Rockin'

Rockin' Sock Club® Spoiler Alert--

This post includes some details about the January 2014 yarn club kit.

I really cannot wait any longer to start talking about my latest design!  I am very proud of this one.  It was one of those designs that happened effortlessly... like it was meant to be...

First, some background on the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club®... This is a sock yarn club that is going strong in its 9th year.  I learned from a Blue Moon Fiber post (by Tina Newton who is the creative spirit that founded and runs BMFA) that the current membership number is in the thousands.  Members in the club receive six shipments each year which include one 405 yd skein of Socks that Rock® lightweight or mediumweight yarn in a unique club colorway, along with two patterns commissioned exclusively for the club.  In the early years of the club, only a sock pattern came with each kit.  Beginning a few years back, a second non-sock accessory pattern was also included.

I learned from a March 2011 Knitter's Review post by Clara Parkes, that, in that particular year, she was one of the designers along with Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Mary Scott Huff, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

I learned from this October 2013 Call for Submissions thread in the Designer's Group Discussion Board on Ravelry that in 2014, for the very first time, Blue Moon Fiber Arts would be sourcing designs for their sock yarn club through an open call.  The submissions call for January included a link to this inspiration board.

"Designer Inspiration Board - January 2014 Sock Club Shipment

We're taking our inspiration from the Chinese Zodiac. 2014 is the year of the wooden horse. Since wood is about trees, it is also considered the year of the green horse. Which makes it the Year of the Green Wooden Horse.

  Lanterns. Wood. Green. Horse. New Year. Luck. Hope. Number 7."

Do you see that little bit of an image of paper lanterns all-in-a-row on the right?  It totally reminded me of "The Queen's Edging" from Babara G. Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns that I had been swatching.  And that, along with some recent design exploration in a sideways-knit shawlette, clicked in my mind... I quickly put a submissions proposal together.

Not so very long later... my design was selected as the RSC non-sock pattern for January!  This makes me one of the very first "open call" designers, and I am both proud and exceedingly humble to join the ranks of other RSC designers such as those named above!

I am sharing my design "spark" before the design itself.  Let's just say that I am putting my green-wooden-horse in front of my cart until the end of the spoiler period.  I am looking forward to next time (in just about a week) when I will introduce you to my "Paper Lanterns".