What's On Our Needles: August 5

Here's a peek at what we've been working on lately...

Becky has been in a flurry of finishing projects. This week she worked hard on finishing Mara, a triangular shawl. She found the pattern on Ravelry. It's a Madelinetosh pattern, but as Becky had been itching to knit with some Lorna's Laces Swirl DK that had been hanging around on the shelves for a little while she switched it up. As you can see from the photo, it is a beautiful finished product. She used five skeins of the Swirl DK (150 yards each, 85% merino wool, 15% silk) . A few modifications to the pattern: the garter stitch section wingspan measured 40" when she started the edging section. And the K2P2 rib was supposed to be 4" long, but as she was rapidly running out of yarn she cut it off at 3". Nevertheless, it's a beautiful piece!

You will probably think you've seen Sherry's project before. You have! Sort of. She saw Helen's wrap that will be debuted at Christmas in July...Oops August on the 16th and went directly to the shelves for the yarn. The pattern is called Rain. It's a wrap that stays put! Sherry is knitting it out of Shaefer Yarn's Laurel in the same colorway that Helen used. Laurel is a beautiful 100% cotton yarn that knits up at 4.5 stitches per inch on a US8.

Karen has become obsessed with Ann Budd's Knitting Green. The book is chock-full of patterns for the eco-conscious knitter. Karen's first project from the book is the Commuter Knapsack. She's using Nashua's Creative Focus Cotton for it. As you can see from the photo, it has lovely lace panels with a leaf motif that run up the sides, and decorated straps. Karen has taken some liberties with the pattern (or as we say around here, she's knitting off the reservation). The straps are supposed to be cinched and added at the end of the finishing. But we all felt like if they were sewn to the bottom corners before all of the other pieces were knit and attached they'd be more sturdy and able to handle some weight in the knapsack. So with her great sewing skills she figured out how to do that and is now working on the front lace panels.

Helen is at work designing a prayer shawl. It is knit holding two strands of yarn together. She's working with Schoeller + Stahl's Savanna from her stash and Filatura di Crosa's Superior. The Superior is a super-soft cashmere and silk blend laceweight yarn. It's a gorgeous touch for many different types of projects!