Pattern Spotlight: Blackstar Cowl by Andi Smith

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I have to admit to being a huge FanGirl of Anzula yarns, and when I was designing for the book, I’d planned on creating this cowl in Dreamy, but fate had plans.

I’d found this obscure star cable that intrigued me, and was somewhat obsessed with designing something very graphic with it. I grabbed my yarns, caked, and swatched like a crazy person! I think this motif broke my record for number of swatches to make it perfect!

I was so happy with it though; sometimes, the yarn, the color, and the pattern just gel to create the perfect trifecta. This was one of those times.

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When you’re working with two colors, and a tricksy cable motif, having an uninterrupted field of purl bumps in the background can be hard to achieve. A stitch that was one color became a different color on the next round, and that differently colored purl bump became all- encompassing problem for me for longer than I care to admit!

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After much playing around, and experimentation, and frogging, fixing that issue on the round before solved was the solution, and I was crazy happy with the results.

I sat down to write the pattern, and that is when disaster struck! In my mad rush to knit-all-the-things, I’d inadvertently picked up a skein of Cricket for the cables, not Dreamy! What’s worse, is that I didn’t have another skein of Dreamy in the One Red Shoe colorway!

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I know the amazing ladies at Anzula would have sent one out to me right away, but I wanted to knit this cowl NOW! Waiting was NOT an option! Do you ever have a project like that? I know I do.

So, I broke my must use the same weight for the cables and background rules, and went with what I had.

I’m so glad I did! Using a DK for that red pop of deliciousness was such a great choice. I’m thrilled that my impatience paid off! I love how the star pops out majestically, how graphic and understated it is; how just a few cables makes such a big impact!

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If you want to knit Blackstar, you’ll find it in my new Color Cables book, (©Cooperative Press 2018), which also includes full color tutorials for all the techniques featured in the book.

Stay up to date on all things Andi:

ravelry - https://www.ravelry.com/designers/andi-smith

Pattern Spotlight: It’s Fall Ya’ll Poncho Cowl by Lois Weaver

My name is Lois Weaver and I love weaving. The past several years, I have shifted from weaving fabric on large floor looms and designing garments to sell, to encouraging knitters and crocheters to learn to weave using small looms. And little looms are perfect for using yarn you can find at your local yarn store.

I now design and publish patterns for garments that can be easily woven on these small looms and are a perfect next step for new weavers who are bored with weaving simple scarves and rectangles and ready for more of a challenge.

When I first met the Anzula team at last year’s, TNNA, I was delighted to see that they also included woven samples in their booth. And I knew I wanted to create something with their wonderful yarn.

The yarn I chose was the Cricket yarn, a blend of 80% merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon in a DK weight. This yarn is perfect for weaving; not too stretchy, with lots of strength for tensioning on the loom and the woven fabric is oh so soft!

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I love the Dark Matter yarn with it’s splashes of color in golds, browns, greens and rust that reminded me of fall and fall is my favorite season. I used it for the warp

To coordinate with the Dark Matter, I chose the Saffron colorway to weave across in the weft. I mixed it up a bit, by adding an asymmetric stripe with the Saffron in the warp and wove a weft stripe with the Dark Matter.

Since variety is always a priority, I designed this piece to be worn several ways;

as a traditional poncho,

thrown off to the side or even off the shoulder,

or as a dramatic cowl!

It’s the perfect little piece for fall; not too heavy but warm on the shoulders when that autumn nip is in the air. So now that “It’s Fall, Ya’ll”, it’s the perfect time for a weaving project with this great yarn!

You can find the It’s Fall, Ya’ll pattern in my Etsy Shop.

Stay up to date on all things Lois:

Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ZoZoFiberArts

Website: https://www.zozofiberarts.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zozofiberarts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zozofiberarts

Supporting our Yarn Friends in North Carolina

Now through October 15th 100% of funds we receive from ravelry sales of our Camille Scarf pattern will be donated to two of our yarn friends who lost nearly everything in the storms in North Carolina.

Mary Beth Temple lost her home and nearly everything she owns. We want to help Mary Beth get back to normal as quickly as possible. You can also purchase any patterns from Mary Beth’s ravelry shop as a way to support her financially.

Peggy, owner of The Salty Sheep, lost both her home and her yarn shop. She and her family are working hard to get up and running again. She has already found a new location for the shop, that’s how determined she is to rebuild.

The best way to help is to provide financial support so the receivers are completely free to get the things they need most in each moment. Thank you for for joining us in support of these awesome people.

Camille Scarf is designed to use one skein of Anzula Cricket or Lucero and is shown here in our Veiled Alice colorway. You can use 250 yards of any DK yarn to make this pattern.

It’s also very easy to modify for other yarn weights. Using 2 skeins of For Better or Worsted, or another worsted weight yarn, will make a larger scarf. If you have lighter yarn, like a fingering or sport, you can cast on extra stitches in multiples of 4 to make it the width you like and then knit until you like the length or almost run out, just leave enough to bind off!

You can purchase the Camille Scarf and help wonderful yarn-y people here - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/camille-scarf-2

You can find our Veiled Alice colorway in these shops:

The Knitted Purl - Oyster Bay, NY
Knit One Purl Two - Rockford, IL
The Stitch Niche - Lexington, KY
Knitique - Elk Grove, CA
The Nifty Knitter - Issaquah, MI
Avenue Yarns - Berkley, CA
Spun - Ann Arbor, MI
The Yarn Queens - Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand