It’s so easy to be inspired by Paris. Over the years I’ve been taken in by the city’s landmarks,  the architecture, and the ever-present sense of style.

In particular, I’ve formed a mental image of how the Seine River links the landmarks, and thought that would be the perfect theme for my newest project.

Parisian Links: des liens étroits

The design is for a top-down, heart-shaped, oversized bandana/shawl. The top and bottom sections will be knit in lace patterns that evoke the architectural similarities of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Pyramids. The middle area will be a section of lace stitching representing the Seine River and its bridges (with beads interspersed in the borders).  The beads include 3-4mm, 3-sided sterling silver beads and 8mm translucent cathedral crystal beads with gold and blue/green highlights.
In addition, I’ll be inserting a narrow transition area, in the third stitch pattern (in the first color, Emerald, bordered with the second color, Emerald Blue).

The yarn is a luxury Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino, and the design will require 1 skein of Emerald and 1 skein of Emerald Blue. The architectural elements and transition will be knit in Emerald and the river and bridges in Emerald Blue.

Overall dimensions of the finished accessory are anticipated to be approximately 65 inches (165cm) across top; 55 inches (140cm) wide at widest point; 28 inches (70cm) from top edge to bottom point]

Follow this blog for progress on my Paris project.

Happy knitting!
MikeH
http://www.ravelry.com/designers/michael-harrigan

I’ve been traveling in Italy and Croatia for a couple of weeks and away from knitting for that amount of time as well. As you can see from the photo, I’m trying to make up for that now!

In the middle is a work-in-progress that’s based on my Blossoms and Vines Lace Scarf pattern. The yarn is a lace-weight silk and merino blend and the color is marsala (the color of the year).

On the right is a new design in progress in an emerald blue  – Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino – a wonderfully soft yarn to work with. And on the left is the first few rows of a variation on a design in a yarn I love – a Bordeaux gradient, also in merino wool.

I’m looking through my trip photos for inspiration for new designs. In the meantime, if you’re looking for scarf and shawl patterns for spring and summer, get your needles out and take a look at my designs on Ravelry.

For any Game of Thrones fans out there, here’s a photo of me standing by Neptune’s Fountain in the Trsteno Arboretum, near Dubrovnik, Croatia. This is one of the locations featured in an episode of the popular series.

Happy knitting,
MikeH

For this half-circle shawl I chose a color range that made me think of spring, and I created a design to go with the yarn that’s simple but casually elegant.

You’ll find rows of quatrefoil eyelets at regularly-spaced intervals, and at the bottom of the shawl, a knit-on edging with a single eyelet in each row.

I love knitting with this luxurious fine merino yarn, Araucania Botany Lace, because it’s a bit heavier than lace and a bit lighter than fingering, and produces such great stitch definition.

It also produces a finished accessory that’s lightweight yet maintains its shape.

It’s knit from the top down on 3.25mm US 3) needles, and the interior increases are done with M1L and M1R to keep them nearly invisible. I used almost all of the 100g skein.

There are rows of quatrefoil eyelets at regularly-spaced intervals. At the bottom of the shawl, you’ll add a knit-on edging that’s a simple garter edging with a single eyelet worked in each right-side row.

The dimensions after blocking are: 43 x 19 inches (109 x 48.5 cm)

You can purchase the pattern on Ravelry.  This accessory and others are available in my Etsy store as well.

I’ll be traveling in Italy and Croatia during the first half of April, so I probably won’t be posting patterns or knitting tips for the next two weeks.

I will probably post some photos of monuments, architectural details, and natural wonders that will hopefully inspire future patterns!

Happy knitting!
MikeH

This bandana is a fun knit, watching the color bands appear with the yarn I chose for the project. It’s a variation on my Buds and Flowers Shawlette pattern.

I knit this accessory using 1 50-gram ball of La Doro 2-ply, lace weight, 100% superwash wool yarn (300 meters/328 yards) – hand-dyed (colorway 6). You could easily dip into your stash and pick a few colors you’d like to combine.

The bandana measures 40 inches (101.5 cm) across the top; 15 inches (38 cm) from top midline to tip of bottom point.

I knit the top-down bandana with 2.75mm needles, knitting from the outside of the ball: the colors develop as you knit. I did make sure that the new color began at the beginning of a row (with the right side facing me) and this meant cutting the yarn a few times.

Adjusting the pattern to make this bandana is quite straightforward. Continue according to the pattern through Row 107, and knit Row 108 as a normal wrong-side row.

Then,
Row 109: (K1, YO) twice; K158, YO, K1, YO, K158, (YO, K1) twice (327 stitches)
Rows 111-119 following the formula for Row 109, substituting the number of K stitches shown for each of the rows:
Row 111: K161 (333 stitches)
Row 113: K164 (339)
Row 115: K167 (345)
Row 117: K170 (351)
Row 119: K173 (357)
Row 120 same as 108
The rose color then appears as if by magic, and it’s time to BO using a picot bind off technique.

So, now if you have this pattern, there are 3 accessories you can knit  with it!

The colorful bandana is also available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Happy knitting!
MikeH

This scarf is knit with alternating horizontal lace and tweed stitch panels. If you have a moderate amount of experience with lace knitting you’ll likely find this an enjoyable knit.

There’s enough variation to keep you from getting bored, yet the repeats of the pattern keep you from having to concentrate too intensely!

I love working with Araucania Botany Lace (Colorway: 3006, rainbow), and used most of a 100g skein for this scarf that measures 57 x 7 inches (145 x 20.25 cm) after blocking.

Most any type of yarn would be fine as long as the stitches are well defined. I’m trying a solid color sport-weight alpaca yarn now as you can see in this work-in-progress below (before blocking, which is important to open up the lace design):

You can download the free pattern from my Ravelry page or Craftsy pattern shop.

If you’d like to modify the width or length of the scarf and need help, let me know.

Happy knitting!
MikeH

This top-down triangular knit lace shawl incorporates a few of the ideas that I’ve written about over the last few weeks.

You’ll find a combination of visible and invisible center spine increases and a pattern based on a particular yarn – in this case the colors in particular.

The colors in this yarn took me back a few decades to Janis Joplin and her Kozmic Blues. No serene night sky here, but this accessory will keep you warm on a cool starry night!

I hand knit this accessory from my original design, using Araucania Botany Lace 100% extra-fine merino yarn (color: 1795, blues), using nearly all of a 100g skein.

The top-down triangular shawl measures 49 x 20 inches (124.5 x 51 cm). This yarn is such a delight to work with, and I’m so glad I bought a few other colorways for upcoming projects.

While the yarn for Cosmic Blues is called a lace yarn, it is a bit more substantial than traditional lace and creates both a fabric with body and stitches that are clearly defined.

Note that the bottom section of the shawl is knit in rows of garter, with a more invisible type of increase along the center spine.

If you have a moderate amount of lace knitting experience you should find this an interesting knitting project.

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

The shawl is available for purchase on Etsy; and the pattern (written instructions) is available on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting!
MikeH

When you’re knitting a triangular top-down shawl you have a choice whether to make the increases along the central spine visible or (nearly) invisible. [If you’re knitting in garter stitch, refer to last week’s post on this topic.]

If your design includes some eyelet or lace stitches, you might want to make the spine increases visible to add to the overall open or lace effect. If your pattern doesn’t incorporate lace you might want to make these increases less visible, creating a less interrupted fabric.

Here’s a way to construct a simple triangular, top-down shawl. Whether you’re looking to make the central spine increases visible or invisible, start out like this (abbreviation key at end of instructions):

CO 3 stitches
Row 1: K1, YO, K1, YO, K1 (5 stitches)
Row 2: Purl across
Row 3: K1, YO, K1, YO, PM, K1, PM, YO, K1, YO, K1 (9 stitches)
Row 4: Purl across

For visible central spine increases, continue as follows:

Row 5: K1, YO, K3, YO, (PM) K1, (PM) YO, K3, YO, K1 (13 stitches)
Row 6: Purl across
Row 7: K1, YO, K5, YO, (SM) K1, (SM) YO, K5, YO, K1 (17 stitches)
Row 8: Purl across
Row 9: K1, YO, K7, YO, (SM) K1, (SM) YO, K7, YO, K1 (21 stitches)
and so on…
As you can see, for each odd-numbered row you start with K1, YO, and knit across to the center K stitch, and do a YO on each side of it, slipping the markers to keep them on each side of the central K stitch. YO before the last stitch, K1 (on each right-side row you’ll increase 4 stitches).

You continue this way until the shawl reaches the dimensions you want, and then bind off loosely.

For invisible central spine increases, continues as follows (after the first 4 rows):

Row 5: K1, YO, K3, M1R, (PM) K1, (PM) M1L, K3, YO, K1 (13 stitches)
Row 6: Purl across
Row 7: K1, YO, K5, M1R, (SM) K1, (SM) M1L, K5, YO, K1 (17 stitches)
Row 8: Purl across
Row 9: K1, YO, K7, M1R, (SM) K1, (SM) M1L, K7, YO, K1 (21 stitches)
and so on…
As you can see, for each odd-numbered row you start with K1, YO, and knit across to the stitch before the marker and M1R in that stitch, SM, K1, SM, M1L in the next stitch, knit across until you have 1 stitch left on your left needle, and then YO, K1 (on each right-side row you’ll increase 4 stitches).

Abbreviations:
CO (cast on)
K (knit)
M1(R or L)  (knit in the bar between 2 stitches, to increase 1 stitch)
YO (yarn over, to increase 1 stitch)
PM (place marker on needle)
SM (slip marker to other needle)

See my shawl patterns on Ravelry and Craftsy, and some of my hand-knit shawls on Etsy.

Happy knitting!
MikeH

When you’re knitting a garter stitch shawl, you’ll typically end up with an accessory that’s reversible and you’ll also have a choice whether to make the increases along the central spine visible or (nearly) invisible.

If your design includes some eyelet or lace stitches, you might want to make the spine increases visible to add to the overall open or lace effect. If your pattern doesn’t incorporate lace you might want to make these increases less visible, creating a less interrupted fabric.

Here’s a way to construct a simple triangular, top-down shawl. Whether you’re looking to make the central spine increases visible or invisible, start out like this (abbreviation key at end of instructions):

CO 3 stitches
Row 1: K1, YO, K1, YO, K1 (5 stitches)
Row 2: Knit across
Row 3: K1, YO, K1, YO, PM, K1, PM, YO, K1, YO, K1 (9 stitches)
Row 4: Knit across

For visible central spine increases, continue as follows:


Row 5: K1, YO, K3, YO, (PM) K1, (PM) YO, K3, YO, K1 (13 stitches)
Row 6: Knit across
Row 7: K1, YO, K5, YO, (SM) K1, (SM) YO, K5, YO, K1 (17 stitches)
Row 8: Knit across
Row 9: K1, YO, K7, YO, (SM) K1, (SM) YO, K7, YO, K1 (21 stitches)
and so on…
As you can see, for each odd-numbered row you start with K1, YO, and knit across to the center K stitch, and do a YO on each side of it, slipping the markers to keep them on each side of the central K stitch. YO before the last stitch, K1 (on each right-side row you’ll increase 4 stitches).

You continue this way until the shawl reaches the dimensions you want, and then bind off loosely.

For invisible central spine increases, continues as follows (after the first 4 rows):

Row 5: K1, YO, K2, KFB, (PM) K1, (PM) KFB, K2, YO, K1 (13 stitches)
Row 6: Knit across
Row 7: K1, YO, K4, KFB, (SM) K1, (SM) KFB, K4, YO, K1 (17 stitches)
Row 8: Knit across
Row 9: K1, YO, K6, KFB, (SM) K1, (SM) KFB, K6, YO, K1 (21 stitches)
and so on…
As you can see, for each odd-numbered row you start with K1, YO, and knit across to the stitch before the marker and KFB in that stitch, SM, K1, SM, KFB in next stitch, knit across until you have 1 stitch left on your left needle, and then YO, K1 (on each right-side row you’ll increase 4 stitches).

Next week, I’ll show you how this is done in stockinette stitch.

Abbreviations:
CO (cast on)
K (knit)
KFB (knit in the front and back of the stitch)
YO (yarn over, to increase 1 stitch)
PM (place marker on needle)
SM (slip marker to other needle)

See my shawl patterns on Ravelry and Craftsy, and some of my hand-knit shawls on Etsy.

Happy knitting!
MikeH

Sometimes the yarn comes first! I found this yarn (on Etsy!) that was too hard to resist. It reminded me of a vineyard in the rain, although I’m not sure why!

So I bought a 100-gram ball of Wollelfe merino fingering weight yarn in the Bordeaux gradient and started designing a pattern to go along with it.

At the top center of Vineyard Rain you’ll find raindrops, and then through the body of the shawl lots of vineyard leaves, beginning with the bordeaux color and finishing off with a light rose – as a result of the rain!

There’s a background of purl stitches on the right side of the shawl, with some additional raindrops at the tips of the topline.

If you have some basic lace knitting experience you should have no trouble with the pattern and end up with a lovely accessory.

The shawl measures 23 x 48 x 52 inches / 
58.5 x 122 x 132 cm.

The pattern is available on Ravelry and the shawl is for sale on Etsy.

Happy knitting!
MikeH