Pantone's Color Of The Year

According to Pantone, it is Radiant Orchid for 2014.

What do you think? I happen to love it!

The nail polish companies can react the quickest. Orly already had their polishes on their Facebook page today. 

This is a color swatch of my Pro WF Deep Orchid 826 from Pro Chemical and Dye. I think it is a pretty good match. 

 I will have to try it out on my merino/alpaca fiber that I I had processed from Shepherd's Mill.

My Paris Sweater From Ralvery

It's getting to be cold again. I decided to republish my blog post on the Paris sweater. 

I finally finished the Paris Sweater. This is a free pattern on Ralvery and is designed by Sarah Keller. If you can knit and purl, you can knit this pattern. 

The sweater is created from a 22" x 66" rectangle. I would pick a yarn no heavier than a DK. I used a silk sport weight cone yarn that I purchased on DNBY a few years ago. I am pretty sure it's name was Olive Grove, but don't remember the maker. Did anyone else get this yarn? It really bugs me that I can't remember who made it. 

This pattern has a draped asymmetrical tunic look, so make sure you are confortable wearing this type of style. I did add some black corded elastic around the neck area. The neckline tends to do the "Flashdance" thing and I didn't want to wear a tank under it. That was just me, you may want that look. 

I like this sweater and it does get complements. I am not a beginner knitter, but enjoy the pleasure of just knitting with beautiful yarn and not worrying about what I have to do for each row. If you are a Ralvery member, click here to view the pattern. 

A Close Up View Of The Elastic

The Yarn

"Take The Pain Out Of Counterpane" Shawl

Here is the shawl laid flat. Thee counterpane squares 
are sewn together. The lace is knitted separately 
(a great small take
it with you project) and then crocheted 
or sewn to the shawl.

I finally finished my “Take The Pain Out Of Counterpane” shawl using lace weight 2 ply yarn that I handspun. This is a project that evolved from my class, which I developed and teach mentioned above. 

Unfortunately, I didn't keep records on the yarn. I think it is Merino, Mohair, and silk. I'm glad I had enough because it would have been a problem to reproduce it. This is why is is always smart to keep records, even if you think you will never need any more of what you are making. This has to be one of the few times that I didn't take down very specific notes on a yarn. And hopefully, it will be the last time. I think I learned my lesson. I was getting very worried at the end of this knitting project because it looked like I was not going to have enough yarn to finish with. 

For anyone not familiar with this class, here is my class description”.

“Explore a historical (Counterpane can be found as far back as the 15^th century) technique with new twists. I have created a system that combines classic Counterpane patterns to make very modern designs.  After this class, students will be able to combine patterns learned to create hats, scarfs, shawls and more. Students will also learn or review knitting simple lace patterns.  The Counterpane squares will be knitted on double-point needles and lace on straight needles. Participants will leave with a booklet of the patterns covered in the class to further their experimentation to create their own original designs. “

The front as it naturally lies. I don't know why, 
but the edges just naturally overlap 
(tad good thing).
I can also see a cool pin down there

The back of a counterpane garment is always
 the more dramatic, I think

The side sits short right at the arm. 
This is great. It helps the shawl to 
stay in place and does not 
interfere with activities. 

A close up of the single crochet that I used to
connect the square panels.

A close up of the lace edging. this is
a 9 stitch-6 row pattern and very
easy to memorize.

Just for the fun of it, I added some Angora around the neckline for some
extra softness.

And of course, there are always more then one
way to wear this
shawl.

I did consider color.
However, after dying
 these three
 steps of blue violet,
 I decided that I just wanted white.
 But, I now have some beautiful
Periwinkle yarn!

This is my second larger project. The first was “The Beast”, a jacket, which can be found here.

As usual, if will be a while before I have anything else for this blog. I am working on a pair of socks, a “Change Of Row”(another technique that I developed) lap blanket and want to finish another counterpane project that I started about four years ago.