hey everybody,
Since returning from the On Higher Ground retreat in Taos, NM, my focus has been kind of all over the place. I’m seeing my projects in progress with fresh eyes, with ideas about altering some of them. And, of course, there are so many new ideas to put into new projects. It’s been hard not to start all the things I want to start with all the ideas jumping around in my head. One way I manage this “jumpy brain” is to make lists. Once ideas are recorded in list form, I find that they don’t buzz around in my head quite as loudly. Making a list helped me get focused on this variation of the Vacation Favorite wrap long enough to finally finish it.
I’m calling it The Italian Favorite because the yarn a hand dyed fingering weight merino from Dark Omen Yarns in Italy. It’s based on the Vacation Favorite pattern, but I also added in a lot of additional stitch patterns for the fun of it. Here’s a list of the techniques and stitch patterns I used, in order, from the garter stitch starting point (in the upper right corner) to the feather and fan border on the bind off edge (the wavy section on the left side).
Garter stitch, one color
Garter, 2 color alternating
Fairy Lights, irregular spacing, from Vacation Favorite pattern
Tunisian Simple Stitch
Garter, one color
Canvas stitch from Noshi Shawl by Beatrice Mase
Seed stitch
Little Boxes, from Vacation Favorite pattern
Garter, 2 color
Tunisian Simple Stitch
Crocheted linen stitch from Crochet Favorite pattern
Granny stitch (2 dc only), two rows
Garter, 2 color
Granny stitch (2 dc only), two rows of first color, two rows of second color
Two color Daisy stitch from Japanese Wonder Knitting book
Garter, 2 color
Fairy lights, irregular spacing, from Vacation Favorite
Tunisian Simple Stitch with 2 colors, changing colors on the return passes
Feather and fan stitch
Bind off edge with picots
This project stayed at home while I was in Taos. When I came back to it and looked at it with fresh eyes from the retreat, I wanted to see some curvy lines against the mostly straight rows of knitting and crocheting already worked. The feather and fan stitch border provided the contrast I was looking for.
organic freeform wrap
I’m also back to work on this Organic Freeform Wrap started back in June. It’s the first 100% freeform piece I’ve made in a while, and I’m working towards making it with a balance of motif-based scrumbles, borders that swirl and connect the motifs, and lots of great texture.
I’ll be teaching this project at the 2024 Carolina Fiber Fest in March.
one new project
I’m completely addicted to knitting the River Run Shawl.
Working from a pattern might seem like an odd choice for a post-creative-fiber-retreat project, but River Run is really more like a recipe. The designer, Christie Furber, writes out the first section row by row as an example. Then, she gives instructions for how to proceed, but leaves the specific details up to the knitter. Since I love combining knitting and crochet, this knitter will be adding some crochet elements. I’ve admired this design for a long time; after meeting Christie in Taos, I was excited to jump in and cast on using the yarns from Debra Lambert in the photo above. The large cake main colors are Debra’s hand dyed yarns, the others are stash yarns that mix well with the mains.
art glass in New Mexico
I thought this chandelier in the airport in Albuquerque might be a Chihuly, but it’s actually made by Jezebel, a local artist. The chandelier, named Illumination Tree, can be found in the main terminal of the airport.
I wonder if it’s inspired by Chihuly’s Fiori di Como at the Bellagio in Las Vegas?
something to try
In freeform crochet, it’s easy to get curvy lines and organic shapes. Crochet really lends itself to that sort of look. In knitting, it can be more difficult to stray from the straight lines of working in rows. Inserting random feather and fan stitch is a great way to get some good organic waves into knitted fabric. If you look at the photo of my River Run in progress, you can see that designer Christie Furber has done just that.
Traditionally, feather and fan projects are worked with a consistent number of stitches so that the curves of the stitch pattern stack and line up with each other. In random feather and fan, however, no effort is made to make that happen. So, it starts and ends anytime, and random ripple effects are the result.
You can see other examples of random feather and fan in a number of Jane Thornley’s patterns/recipes, such as her Color Stream Wrap:
Typically, the feather and fan stitch pattern is worked as follows:
CO a multiple of 18 stitches + 1
Row 1: K all stitches
Row 2: P all stitches
Row 3: K1, *(yo, k1) 3 times, k2tog 6 times, (yo, k1) 3x,*
Row 4: K all stitches.
Working with those instructions will give you the neat and orderly feather and fan stitch pattern used so often in afghans and baby blankets. But, if you vary your starting point in Row 3, the wavy elements get mixed up. The only thing to be careful of is to make sure that you balance your increases with the decreases in that pattern row to keep your stitch count consistent if that matters in your project. If it doesn’t, then be as free and random as you like.
You can go rogue and insert some feather and fan into any simple knitting pattern to add some excitement. The timeless Easy Folded Poncho design from Churchmouse would be a wonderful canvas for these random waves. To experiment on a smaller scale, try it in a dishcloth, casting on 55 stitches.
My sample would make a poor dishcloth knitted in wool, but it does show how feather and fan creates interest with variegated Secretos yarn from Laneras.
a few more things you might like
Recently I updated my Substack website to include information about classes I teach, links to social media and my Ravelry Store, and tutorials that used to live on my WordPress blog site. If you’re interested in checking it out, click here to go to the home page and click through the headings on the navigation bar at the top of the page to see what’s there.
I’m studying Italian with Duolingo, but I’m supplementing with Language Transfer. No writing or reading is involved in these engaging lessons, just listening, thinking, and speaking.
Chris Roberts-Antieau is a fiber artist who makes amazing large scale, detailed thread paintings. Visit the Antieau Gallery in Santa Fe if you can, or visit the gallery’s website from home.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading!
Lisa
PS: For the last couple of days of the New Mexico trip, we stayed in Albuquerque, home of the Balloon Fiesta. We were able to see lots of balloons even though we didn’t go to the Fiesta itself.
Thanks so much for sharing how to create more free form in knitting. From your images Crochet really does lend itself so beautifully to free form and adding those elements to your current project no doubt will be amazing! Your River Run Shawl is glorious!