Worked from the top down, House of the Rising Sun is a dynamic triangular shawl that will keep you on your toes with a variety of techniques and color changes. Ripples of color end in lacy points reminiscent of sun beams. The cut out neck and central panel will keep this shawl perfectly poised on your shoulders all day.

Perfect for pairing a variegated and solid yarn, this shawl uses a beautiful combination of ripples and elongated slip stitch cables. These elongated cables create a splendid embossed effect in three bold panels. The color changes in this pattern have you working from different directions sometimes working two right sides or two wrong sides in a row.

So pick out your favorite skein of variegated fingering weight yarn and a coordinating solid, preferably in a color that is in the variegated, and cast on.

You will be able to see the shawl in person in the Knitting Rose booth at Stitches South, April 11-14, booth 524, and at Yellow Rose Fiber Producers, April 19-21. You should totally check our Lise’s yarn if you haven’t used it before. Her colors are gorgeous and the yarn is fabulous. And Lise is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. She’ll help you pick the perfect yarn combo for  your shawl.

Here is a photo tutorial on how to do the elongated slip stitch cables that create the embossed panels.

The set up row for the cabled panels has 4 k1els which are: k1 elongated – k1, wrapping yarn around needle 4 times. Drop extra loops on next row.

Here’s how that looks when you work it.

At the end of the first contrast color row, both yarns will be at the same end of the work, like this. So you’ll then need to push the knitting to the other end of the needle in order to work the next row in the main color.

When you get to the 4 wraps of the elongated stitches, you will slip the stitch purlwise and drop the extra loops. When working from the wrong side, slip the stitch with the yarn in front. When working from the right side, slip the stitch with the yarn in back.

On the next two rows, slip the elongated stitches purlwise, again with yarn in front when on a WS and with yarn in back when working on the RS. Notice that the stitches next to the elongated stitch are also very loose. Don’t worry, they will tighten up by the time the elongated stitches are finished and all the slack is pulled out.

Before working a contrast color (CC) row from the WS. The two yarns are at different ends of the work.

The first cable that you’re going to work is an ELCP – Elongated Left Cross Purl – Slip 5 sts purlwise from left to right needle,

drop first elongated st from left needle toward back of work, slip 3 sts purlwise from left to right needle, drop second elongated st from left needle toward back of work.

Slip 8 sts back to left needle without twisting. Replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting, p3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting,

p1el, p3, p1el. p1el = p1 elongated – p1, wrapping yarn around needle 4 times. Drop extra loops on next row.

The next cable is an ERCP – Elongated Right Cross Purl – Drop first elongated st from left needle toward back of work,

p1el,

p2, drop second elongated st from left needle toward back of work,

p1, p1el, replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting,

p3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting.

On the next row, working with the main color (MC), knit into the elongated stitches that have been slipped for 4 rows.

Slip the new elongated stitches purlwise and drop the extra loops.

For the next two rows, slip the elongated stitches and work the rest of the stitches as they appear. Here’s how the work will look before a CC row worked from the RS.

The next cable worked is an ERC – Elongated Right Cross – Slip 5 sts purlwise from left to right needle, drop first elongated st from left needle toward front of work, slip 3 sts purlwise from left to right needle, drop second elongated st from left needle toward front of work.

Slip 8 sts back to left needle without twisting. Replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting, k3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting, k1el, k3, k1el.

The next cable is an ELC – Elongated Left Cross- Drop first elongated st from left needle toward front of work, k1el, k2, drop second elongated st from left needle toward front of work, k1, k1el,

replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting, k3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting.

On the next MC row, purl the old elongated stitches that have been slipped for 4 rows.

Slip the new elongated stitches purlwise, dropping the extra loops.

To finish off the cabled panels you will work a RC – Right Cross – Slip 5 sts purlwise from left to right needle, drop first elongated st from left needle toward front of work, slip 3 sts purlwise from left to right needle, drop second elongated st from left needle toward front of work. Slip 8 sts back to left needle without twisting. Replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting,

k3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting, k5.

Next up is a LC – Left Cross – Drop first elongated st from left needle toward front of work, k3, drop second elongated st from left needle toward front of work, k2, replace the first dropped st on the right needle without twisting, k3, replace the second dropped st on the right needle without twisting.

Finished panel.

So what’s happened since last August?

I haven’t published any new designs, but I have been busy designing and knitting. I spent a lot of time working on designs for a magazine (should be out this Spring) and a book by Cooperative Press as well as a few self published designs that will hopefully be released really soon. Keep an eye out for a new shawlette pattern from me this weekend.

Here are some sneak peeks of the shawlette that’s coming out in a few days.

In addition to design work, I’ve been busy chasing after my two toddlers and preparing for a new baby boy who’s coming at the end of July. A new baby means that both boys needed to graduate to bigger beds. So I spent a lot of time turning my husband’s “office” that was in reality a junk room into a bedroom for the 3 yo. He is so excited to have his own room and to get to help Daddy put his big boy bed together.

The are a lot of colors in this skein. You can’t see much of it, but there is also some blue and green in addition to the yellow, cream, and pink. That’s a lot of different colors all in one skein. If you’ve ever tried to knit a lace shawl with a variegated yarn, you know that it needs a special pattern.

My first item of business was to find a strongly defined lace pattern. I found the waterlilies stitch pattern in my Haapsalu Shawl book and decided that the simple bold shape would work well when paired with large amounts of stockinette. I like working with diamond shaped stitch motifs because they fit together flat and along the increase lines.

Remember my previous post about shawl shapes? Like I said then, I like shawl shapes other than the traditional triangle. I made this shawl with three triangular wedges so it wraps around further to the front and stays on the shoulders easily. This also gives a flat edge to the back edge. No pointing at your rear end in this shawl. This shape has two increase line that I wanted to disguise in the stockinette, so I added in the nupp edged diamonds along the increase lines. This was my first time working with nupps. I had fun working on them and I love the way they create little colored beads in the variegated yarn.

The shawl finishes off with a more diamonds and a lacy edging.

And oh yeah, there are beads too. Is anyone surprised?

We tried to get some pictures with the fountain in the middle of the lake in the background, but it was way too bright outside. If you look really hard, you can kind of see it in the background of this picture.

We did get other good pictures though.

Fountain of Diamonds uses

• 900 yds/825m Laceweight. Sample shown in Fiber Lady Chiku, 100% bamboo; 4 oz, 1000 yds, in After Dinner Mints
• US sz 3/3.25mm, or size needed to obtain gauge, circular needle
• 754 sz 8/0 beads
• US sz 14/.75mm crochet hook for adding beads
• 12 stitch markers
• yarn needle for weaving in ends

You can purchase Fountain of Diamonds on Ravelry or directly from The Fiber Lady if you see her at a show.

Thus, I have now been designing for over a year. This calls for celebration.

Of course, I didn’t realize that the one year anniversary was coming up until the very end of June. Then I asked on Twitter and in my Ravelry group how we should celebrate. Karen suggested that I design a special pattern. At first I scoffed at the idea of designing, knitting, and releasing a shawl pattern in two weeks. But then the crazy side of my brain took over and started making suggestions.

Crazy Brain (CB): You know, it would be pretty cool to have a special anniversary pattern.

Logical Brain (LB): Yes, but two weeks isn’t much time and I need to still take care of the house and kids. How do I make something that fits with my design aesthetic that I can finish in two weeks? Remember, I’m a slow knitter.

CB: Aww, who needs sleep? Do you remember those purple and green beads that you’ve had for a year now that you’ve been wanting to use? Oh, and that gorgeous dark brown Baruffa Cashwool? They would all look so pretty together.

LB: But I don’t have time. I have other patterns that I’m working on.

CB: You can do it! Beads. Lace. You know you want to…

LB: Well, maybe if I make it a stole… Shaping is the trickiest part.

CB: Now you’re talking! It should have a party theme! Streamers!

LB: Fine, you win. Where’s my graph paper and needles?

And that folks is how I ended up not sleeping for two weeks while I cranked out Merrymaking.

Merrymaking is a stole with pointed ends. Each half is worked from the point to the center, then they are grafted together.

The beaded streamers allow for a lot of customization based on your bead color choices. You can do all the streamers in the same color, use two colors like I did, or even go all out and use four different colors.

I don’t know if you can tell, but we had a lot of fun setting up this photoshoot. Do you know what the best part of having a party themed photoshoot that has a cake as a prop? You get to eat cake afterwards. And if you’ve set up a tea party with crystal and china you should eat the cake on the crystal and china. Yes, these things do come to mind when planning photoshoots. I have to make it worthwhile to my lovely family members who model for me and take the pictures.

I hope you choose Merrymaking to help you celebrate your life soon. Merrymaking is 25% off until August 18th when purchased from Ravelry or my website, no coupon code needed. It is also available on Craftsy.

Obviously, different knitters want different shape shawls. This is because they want different things from their shawls. Some want warmth, some want frothy lace, some just want a colorful neck accessory like a scarf. For me, I want a lightweight shawl to cover my arms to keep cold air from fans and A/C from hitting my skin. Thus, I’m going to be looking for different shaped shawls than other knitters.

A lot of knitters say that they don’t like triangular shawls because they don’t want an arrow pointing at their rear end. Others don’t like them because the straight upper edge makes it hard to keep on. I personally don’t like them because I want a shawl to cover my arms and they have to be HUGE before that will happen.

Rectangular shawls or stoles don’t cover very much unless they are very wide and they don’t stay on easily. I’ve never been able to wear one where it actually stayed where I wanted it. It either rode up and looked like a scarf or rode down and was just a ribbon draped between my elbows.

My favorite shapes are crescents (also called heart shaped or triangles with wings). This is the shape of my Silver Bells and Cockle Shells. The wings at the front edge help keep it situated on your shoulders and provide more depth at the sides over your arms. Close contenders are the 3/4 square made of three triangles instead of two and the more than half circle. These also stay on well because they don’t have a straight upper edge  and cover my arms. Additional plus is that these shapes don’t have a point above the rear end.

There have been a number of discussions about shawl shapes on Ravelry. In one of the recent discussions, I added a poll so readers could vote for their favorite shawl shapes. The results so far have been surprising. Triangles have very few votes. The shape with the most votes by a landslide has been shallow crescent. Reading all the reasons given has been interesting. If you haven’t voted in that poll yet, please do.

Designing a lace shawl from variegated yarn has been tricky. I tend to do complicated lace and stay away from stockinette. But intricate lace and variegated yarn just fight each other so I knew I needed to try something else. I read a lot of threads on Ravelry about what types of patterns work well with variegated yarn. The consensus has been that large leaf shapes and other simple lace patterns do well. So I found a diamond/leaf shape that I liked and found a way to tile it in an interesting way. My sketch left large blank areas that I kept trying to fill with another lace motif, but it really wanted to be left plain. I really wanted it to have something else. Eventually I realized that I was trying to make it complicated just for the sake of being complicated. I really needed to let the yarn and pattern do what they wanted to do. It’s hard because I really hate stockinette. But that is what this design needs.

I kept hearing Tim Gunn and Nina in my head telling me to take my editing eye to it and make it work.

Worse is when it’s lace.

Even worse is lace with beads because as you pull out the yarn, the beads pop off and fly all over the room. Some will never be seen again and others will show up for the next five years in the cracks of the floor, edges of the sofa, your drink, etc. 

I am currently frogging about 20 rows of beaded lace with nupps. In order to control the spray of beads, I have put the lace into a large Ziploc bag and have mostly sealed the top. 

Now, I can frog with impunity and all the beads will be nicely contained to be retrieved later and used again.

Speaking of beaded knitting, Fleegle just wrote a blog post about 4 different methods of attaching beads to knitting, including one that was new to me; guitar wire. Check it out!

If you are looking to make a beaded shawl, please consider Nouveau Beaded Capelet or Silver Bells and Cockle Shells. They are both beautiful shawls and fun knits. 

There were 19 entries and the result of the Random Number Generator is:

The first comment was from Christine aka Kallieen.

Her comment: I have a gorgeous skein of Mocha’s Fiber Designs Phoebe (Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere) in a soft pink that would look stunning in this. For beads…hmm…either a metallic pink, or clear lined with silver.

She will be receiving a copy of Silver Bells and Cockle Shells as soon as I’m done writing this post.

Congratulations Christine! I look forward to seeing your finished shawl.

With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells and merry maids in a row!

Silver Bells and Cockle Shells is my latest shawl pattern. The deep border on this crescent shaped shawl is adapted from an antique edging pattern. I love the complex flowers and fans which remind me of the nursery rhyme. An additional row of flowers are added for each size.

It comes with written and charted instructions for three sizes. This pattern is perfect for using with long striping yarns or Gradiance sets from The Unique Sheep. Instructions are provided for using a Gradiance set as well as for beading the fans of the border.

I am going to give away one copy of the pattern to a lucky winner. In order to enter, comment below with the yarn and beads you would use if you knit this pattern. You can get an additional entry by tweeting about the contest with a link to this page and then commenting to tell me that you tweeted it. Deadline is Wednesday May 23 at 7pm CST. At that time I will use a random number generator and pick the winner. The winner will receive the pattern either via Ravelry or e-mail as they prefer.

I look forward to seeing everyone’s finished shawls.

First, since the name of the pattern is Silver Bells and Cockle Shells, I really wanted the photos to be taken in a garden. But Abilene is not exactly known for it’s gardens. I couldn’t find anything. Was seriously considering asking the gardening centers if we could shoot there. I kept my eyes open as I drove around town. Then, I finally found the right place. Would you believe that it was the underpass? One of the underpasses has really pretty stone terraces with crepe myrtle, salvia, and lantana. It seems a weird place to take pictures, right next to traffic. But it ended up being perfect. Great lighting, and since it’s on an embankment, it made a great backdrop.

Second, trying to schedule a photoshoot around 5 different schedules is always crazy. We needed a time that me, my sister in law who does my photography, and 3 other friends and relatives who were going to model for me. We had to find a time that everyone was available when there would be good light and we all had someone to watch the kids. We finally found a time that would work for everyone but we would be on a tight timetable.

Then it started raining. So we cancelled. Then we tried to reschedule. It kept raining. And kept raining. This is West Texas. Having to schedule around rain is not usually a consideration.

We finally decided that I would do the modeling to simplify the scheduling. As soon as we made this decision and set a new time based on the weather forecast, I broke out in hives. I was completely covered in hives. I still have no idea what I reacted to. Head-to-toe, red, itchy welts is not exactly the most flattering look. I was still in really bad shape at noon on Thursday, but finally hit on the right medication to take to control the hives. Thankfully, my skin cleared up in time.

Emerald and I spent last night taking pictures. Then we went to a coffee house to edit pictures and pattern files without kids. On the way between the shoot and the coffee house though the kids decided to gang up on us. Lily had a meltdown due to a non-existant nap and Kelton needed to be fed.

So all that is left to do is put the pictures into the pattern and finish up the formatting. The formatting is being stubborn, but as soon as I whip it into shape, I will release the pattern.

There will be a contest here after the pattern is released so keep an eye out!