Lace, lace, LACE! I am completely hooked. Like I-created-a-Pinterest-Board-of-100-shawls-I-want-to-knit hooked. My addiction was born designing and knitting Hojas y Bayas. After that, just a little bit of lace edging was not enough to feed the Lace Monster.
So I knit my first Haruni by the awesome Emily Ross. So. Much. Fun. And so satisfying to use just a few yards shy of my skein of Knit Picks Stroll Tonal! It was so surprisingly quick and used so little yarn I decided it was a perfect offering for The Circle School's Spring Fundraising Silent Auction.
While my first all-lace baby was on the blocking board, I cast on for shawl #2. Less than 2 weeks later, my second baby was born! She is also heading to the auction block.
Hojas y Bayas is a perfect all-year-round, crescent-shaped shawl. It’s name means “Leaves and Berries” and the elegant lace repeat reminds you of outdoor goodness. It uses less than 260 yards of fingering-weight yarn, has short rows with no wraps or turns, and is big enough to keep you warm yet small enough to stash in your purse for a restaurant or movie theater chill. It is the perfect showcase for Knit Picks Chroma Fingering or any delicious luxury yarn.
I recently have been charmed by crescent-shaped shawls. They use almost no yarn at all yet serve as a substantial accessory. My first love was Annis by the fabulous Susanna IC. It was my first shawl in this brilliant shape, and my first time playing with beads and tiny crochet hooks. Super-fun! This was my first time really writing lace charts. It was interesting to draw a picture in the charting software and then knit a swatch to see how it actually looked. I know I have a lot more to learn, but the experimentation was fun. I'm pretty tickled that if you squint a little it actually looks like leaves and berries! I also want to shout out to the fabulous knitters from around the globe who have helped me test knit this pattern. You are an amazing bunch of mujeres! So here it is. I hope you like it. Happy Knitting! And don't forget to check out the Useful Goodies for your Hojas y Bayas! And of course, check out the handy-dandy button there for the clickin'!
Here are some helpful tutorials and tips for knitting your
fabulous and fun Hojas y Bayas Shawlette.
I-Cord Bind off
This is an excellent trick for your bag of
them. I love the way an i-cord bind-off looks, especially in finer yarns. I am
including a written and video tutorial. The written instructor uses ssk and the
video instructor uses k2tbl – you can decide which you prefer.I used ssk and
think my shawlette looks pretty snazzy. For a 2-stitch i-cord, you'll have to adjust the tutorials.
Crochet Bind Off There are many bind offs that use a crochet hook, but only one that USES NO YARN! It is a firm bind off (as you can imagine), but that is just fine for the top edge of a crescent shawl.
“Nupps” rhymes with “hoops”. There are many ways to loop your nupp, but I
will focus on 2. The first is the traditional Estonian way to do it, shown by
Nancy Bush in this video. (If you are impatient like me you might fast forward
about half-way through. But you might be more virtuous than I.)
Knitting Daily Nupp Video Tutorial
This is my chosen method, but I have a
little tip to add. When you are about to purl your 7 nupp loops together on the
wrong side, pull your left-hand needle to the right until it is hanging limply
and those stitches about to be worked are sitting on the cord of your circular
needle instead of on the needle tip itself. You now have vastly more space to
slip that right needle through all of those loops and seal the deal on your
nupp. You will of course have more distance to travel to get those 7 stitches
off the left-hand needle, but it is worth it!
After watching this tutorial, I am anxious
to give this technique a whirl next time I am knitting nupps. It requires extra
equipment (a crochet hook) but looks quick and dirty!
One of the perks of knitting a
crescent-shaped shawl is the beauty of short rows without the hassle or
wrapping and turning! One of the fabulous knitters who graciously tested this
pattern told me her tip for short rows. (I still have to work out all the
details, but it is worth sharing nonetheless.) The niftiness of this tip is it
encourages reckless knitting! You don’t have to pay attention while you’re
knitting your short rows because those markers are like little alarms that
remind you to do what you’ve got to do. Thanks to Roberta for this one: After you
turn your work, place a marker on the right-hand needle. Now you don’t have to
pay attention to when you are arriving at your gap to close. On the knit side
it is super-handy, because you knit up to the final stitch before the marker, slip
the next stitch knit-wise, remove the marker, then slip the next stitch
knit-wise and complete your ssk! How cool is that?
If you seek more guidance or goodies, or have a nifty tip
you think I could have shared here, please let me know in the comments! Thanks!
And Happy Knitting!
.1.jpg)
