Nymphalidea Shawl... what yarns will you make yours in?

Everyone here at Kaleidoscope Yarns knits a lot. But we're all different people. We like different things, different fibers and different types of knitting, so it's rare that we ever make the same thing as someone else who works here.

But when Barb and I were looking at Knitty Issue 45 last week, we both fell in love with the Nymphalidea Shawl. It's a pretty simple pattern, and easy to memorize, so that mindless kind of knitting certainly appeals to us, since it's always good to have at least one mindless project in the works. 

photo courtesy of Knitty.com

And we just love combining a solid yarn with a variegated yarn. Like my recently finished Dreambird shawl...

Dreambird Shawl in Ella Rae Lace Merino (solid) and Noro Silk Garden Sock

And who doesn't love a long semi-triangular shawl shape that can be worn draped around (and around) your neck, adding style to your outfit while being comfortable and warm to wear? The Nymphalidea is more than appealing.

So we immediately began the yarn selection process. For solids, we looked at all available fingering weight yarns in the shop, but narrowed it down to the Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine and the Frog Tree Pediboo. For the multi colored yarn, we agreed that this shawl would be best with a yarn that had some sort of repeat (like stripes) as opposed to just a hand dyed variegated. Our top choices were Lang Mille Colori Socks & Lace, Skacel Zauberball, and Lang Magic.

There were so many options! Barb chose a black Ultra Alpaca Fine and a Mille Colori Socks & Lace and got started on hers right away. It's going to be beautiful!

I picked a gorgeous brown shade of Pediboo and also went with the Mille Colori Socks & Lace. I was finishing up my Remix sweater last week so didn't get started on mine until last night. I'm going to love it, I can already tell.

What yarn (and in what colors!) will you make yours in?

Graduation!

Lots of people are attending graduation ceremonies today and here in Vermont it's going to be a gorgeous day! The temperatures are going to be in the upper 70s, but in order to get a good seat, you may have to show up to the ceremony a bit early, when it's still a bit cooler. A little shawl is a perfect addition to any dress. Don't forget yours!

This one is the Be Sweet Capelette, and it looks perfect over any dress.

Manic-In Monday

Are you seeing red this time of the year? It's certainly a stressful period of time for many folks, but we hope you can all just take a moment and relax and focus on what's really important in your life...

like looking GOOD! I don't know if our gal is seeing red, but she's definitely WEARING red, and wearing it well! She's all set for a pre-holiday shopping trip - she still needs to pick up a few stocking stuffers, and her parcels are sure to fit in her stylish bag. We're not sure exactly where she's going, but if you see a flash of red & black ruffles, then you've spotted her... she's hard to miss!Shawl: This ruffled shawl is a free pattern on the Tahki/Stacy Charles website, using 2 great Filatura di Crosa yarns: Superior and XX yarn and Filatura di Crosa Opera d'Arte.
Bag: Zuma bag from Namaste

Free on Friday

This week's free pattern is a new favorite of ours. One day a couple of months ago, I ran next door to the warehouse to grab some yarn for a customer. While I was there, a skein of Ella Rae Lace Merino caught my eye. I already knew I loved this yarn, but this one particular color made me swoon (Teal, Lime & Maroon). It just BEGGED to come back over to the shop with me and find its rightful place in a finished object of some sort.

But what would that be? This gorgeous skein of yarn sat next to me on my desk for weeks and weeks. We wanted to make a one skein project with it, but which one? Socks? Fingerless mitts? A lightweight hat? No, no and no. We were stumped, and the skein was sad.

Barb was looking on Ravelry one day, and came across this free pattern for the Deirdre Shawl. It's your basic triangular shawl, but it incorporates different stitch patterns which make it really interesting to knit, and beautiful to wear. So she took the skein home, and look at it now? WOW. Now it's a happy skein! It has become a great shoulder wrap for under a coat, or a lightweight cover for those chilly restaurants.

And remember, a good blocking is important for lace knitting!

Color combos

As a follow up to the Monday's post with the Mixed Fiber Shawl, here are some color combos that we put together.

Our customers have fallen in love with this shawl. It's really so gorgeous in person, I'm not sure it translates in a photo!

Another hot item here at the shop is our Kochoran Cable and Rib Hat. We had this several years ago in Berroco Foliage and Frog Tree Sportweight Alpaca. But the Foliage was discontinued, so we are using Noro Kochoran in its place. The color combos for this hat are awesome! I'm definitely getting in on this one... I've already set aside some yarn to make a few of these.

A "must have" for your wardrobe

We had the Mystique shawl knit up for the shop recently. We sell a TON of these patterns, so we figured we'd make a sample. When the completed sample was brought back to the shop, we fell in love.

This shawl is so pretty (and so amazingly simple!) The size of it is perfect and the yarn is heavenly. Tilli Tomas Voile de la Mer is a blend of silk and seacell (kelp.) This would be perfect with a dress or even with a tank top and jeans. We're all thinking we have to make ourselves one!

The pattern is just $4 and 2 skeins of the yarn is $36, so $40 for an amazing addition to your wardrobe! And look at these colors...

A shawl fit for Graduation Day

Several weeks ago, I purchased a new dress for Andrew’s graduation. The graduation is this Sunday. The dress is sleeveless, and you never know what the weather will be like in Vermont in June, so I thought it would be nice to knit a shawl to go with it.

So about two weeks ago, on my day off, I made a special trip to the shop to look for the perfect yarn. And I found it! In the basket on the front table we had one skein of Tilli Tomas Rock Star in the color Novea Melon. It matched perfectly with the dress, and the beads on it were a spectacular color! I figured I'd need one or two more skeins, so I went upstairs to check the back stock.

Bad news. It was the last skein we had. Barb called Tilli Tomas, and got even more bad news. That color had been discontinued! So I had to figure out how to use just one skein, mix in something else that worked... and then what kind of pattern would be suited to two colors, and still work with my dress?

I had lots of help from Barb and Jill and we came up with a solution - I added a skein of Pure & Simple in a complimentary color. As you can see, the finished shawl is gorgeous.

And believe me, it was quick! I was pressed for time, and easily finished this in time for the big event. I’m not one for lace work and I did make a couple of mistakes. But I brought it into work, and Barb helped me get back on track.

And since we've already had several customers asking about it, the pattern is now ready!

TIP

Barb also gave me a great tip for lace knitting! Run some dental floss through your row every 10 rows or so. If you drop a stitch, you can easily pull your work back to the dental floss, without worrying about royally messing up!