Sundarastitches.com

Knitting with the Cherry Blossom Collection

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:38:03 -0800

Many of you have asked to see the Cherry Blossom Collection yarn knit up. You also declare that you want pattern suggestions. Here we go.

That is a baby hat pattern I'm working on, that, fingers crossed, will be available next week. The yarn is "New Leaves of Spring" sport merino. And hopefully it will give you an idea as to how these three colorways look when knit.

As for what to knit with the Cherry Blossom Collection, here is my list of projects I think would look smashing in this yarn.

Melody's Shawl in FSM

Jaywalker Socks in sock (Ravelry link)

Baby Surprise Jacket in any yarn you'd like

Magic Slippers in sock

Round Ripple Baby Afghan in sport merino, DK merino or worsted merino (Ravelry link)

Lacy Baktus in sock

Clapotis in ASM or FSM

Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf in ASM (Ravelry link)

Bellatrix Socks in sock yarn (Ravelry link)

Northern Lights Shawl in sock or FSM (Ravelry link)

Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl in DK merino or ASM

The three Cherry Blossom colorways are perfect for baby knits, especially the "New Leaves of Spring", which will work if you don't know if the baby is going to be a boy or a girl. I'm going to keep several skeins of all the colors to have on hand whenever an I need to knit a baby gift. You might want to stock up while the colors are available!

The Cherry Blossom Collection

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:30:57 -0800

For the last few months, I have been watching the bare branches against the pale winter sky and waiting in anticipation as they began to engorge with flower buds and leaves just ready to sprout. I especially loved seeing the cherry blossom branches as they went from dark brown to a deep maroon, a dark red and finally, bit by bit, blossomed into the pale pink of the blossoms. We've had an early spring in Seattle, so many of the cherry trees are already blossoming and the earliest leaves, in all their pale green glory are popping out, creating little sparkles of green on all the dark branches.

The transition, while not as riotous as the changing autumn leaves, is just as breathtaking if one pays close attention to the small details and slow, incremental changes. I was inspired to bring back my "Cherry Blossom" colorway from years ago and create two additional colorways influenced by the transition from winter to spring. "Branches on Winter Sky" is the bare, brown bones of the trees set against the sky of pale blues. "New Leaves of Spring" is the pale early leaves with the brown branches.

Celebrate spring with us and enjoy these three colors that will only be available for the month of March.

Pattern: Garter Stitch Chevron Scarf

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:04:16 -0800

This scarf is my ode to the Chevron Scarf in Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, except I knit it in garter stitch, as I enjoy the squishiness of Sock Yarn in garter stitch better than stockinette. It gives the scarf a bit more heft and structure and it is the perfect project to use up 2 skeins of sock yarn.

Since I modified the original pattern, I thought I'd tell you how I knit mine, in case you want to knit yourself one as well.

On US 5/3.75mm needles using Color 1, cast on 48 stitches.

Knit 4 rows.

With Color 2:

Row 1: K2tog 4 times, KF&B 8 times, K2tog 8 times, KF&B 8 times, K2tog 4 times

Row 2: Knit all stitches

With Color 1:

Row 3 and 4: Knit all Stitches

Repeat Rows 1-4 until the scarf measures 60" or until desired length, ending with Row 2. Knit four more rows with Color 1. Cast off.

For the 60" scarf, I used about 3/4 each of the two skeins of sock yarn.

KF&B = knit into the front and back loop

I choose two of my favorite colorways, "Dahlia" and "Daffodil" sock yarn and I happen to have 1 skein of both these colors. I thought I'd give them to someone who wanted to knit a scarf just like mine, so if you do, leave a comment by 5pm Friday, February 26, Seattle time, and I'll pick a winner at random.

And, if you haven't already bought Last Minute Knitted Gifts, you most certainly should.

Update! The random number generator gave me #26, which is Kathleen. Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone for your lovely, lovely comments. You've all made my week! We are going to try to dye up some of the Dahlia and Daffodil colorways so if you really want to knit the scarf in these colors, and you don't mind waiting, we'll do what we can!

Peek of Things to Come

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:37:39 -0800

We are working on getting a bunch of hand-made goods together to launch sometime in the next month and one of the items we are extremely excited about are some hand-carved shawl pins. I'll have more about these later, but I was so inspired by the beauty of these pins, that I'm working on a little scarf design out of FSM to wear with them.

I'll probably have the pattern available as a pdf download and also as a kit. The pins come in a variety of light and dark woods, some with lovely rose-toned hues and I'm excited to match colorways with the pins.

(the colorway of the FSM is something I dyed only 1 skein of just for me. in case you were wondering.)

Project: Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:10:10 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Jocelyn

Pattern: Shetland Triangle lace shawl

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino "Caramel Apple"

Needles: US 6/4mm

Finished size: 48" tip to tip, 18.5" down the center

Pattern Modifications: added 2 more pattern repeats of the main body chart for a larger size shawl

Notes: used only half a skein!

Project: True Love socks

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:01:24 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Thayer

Pattern: True Love socks

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sock Yarn "Spun Sugar"

Needles: US 1.5/2.5mm

Finished Size: women's 8

Project: Ostrich Plumes Scarf

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:30:04 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Kate

Pattern: Ostrich Plumes Scarf by Anne Hanson

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino in "Caramel Apple"

Needles: US 6/4mm

Finished Size: in between scarf and stole

Pattern Modifications: Knit 4 repeats of the lace pattern instead of 3 or 5.

Notes: This pattern was my first real lace project. I made it for my mother, since this sort of dusty rose color is her favorite. I modified the pattern because I wasn't sure I'd have enough yarn for the five repeats. Having finished the project, I think there would have been plenty, as there were 45 grams left when I made it as long as I wanted.

Project: Loppem Sweater

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:55:14 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Laura
Pattern: Loppem by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Worsted Merino "Nuances of Nature"
Needles: US 7/4.5mm
Modifications: Garter stitch border at bottom edge and sleeves; lengthened body; moved buttonholes closer to edge

Project: Drops Circular Jacket

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:18:49 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Nathalie

Pattern: Drops Circular Jacket (Drops 102-6)

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino Through Many Mists

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Finished Size: Largest pattern size (XXL-XXXL)

Pattern Modifications: My gauge was 20 stitches to 4" so I went up a size in the pattern. I normally wear a size Medium (or 36" chest). I worked all of my short rows using the wrap and turn method to avoid any holes. The pattern calls for turning and pulling tight which didn't eliminate the holes entirely. I was running very short on yarn due to the size increase so I did not flair the sleeves as described in the pattern. I also knit the sleeves in the round and increased 2 stitches every 10 rows or so based on fit, trying on as I went.

Notes: The Drops circular jacket has a really interesting construction. The body is a big circle, which is knit one slice at a time using short rows. The ASM was a perfect yarn choice. The drape and snuggle factor are outstanding!

Project: Scroll Lace

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:05:22 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Glenna

Pattern: Scroll Lace

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sport Silk Most Beautiful Eyes

Needles: US9/5.5mm

Finished Size: 83in by 10in (blocked).

Pattern Modifications: No pattern modifications.

Notes: This project used approximately 250 yards. I had 2 skeins and only had to break into the second skein for 4 rows and bind off. The pattern could easily be modified or smaller needles used, in order to accommodate just one skein of the sport silk.

Project: Elm Row

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:37:40 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: NutmegOwl

Pattern: Elm Row

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Silk Lace Landed Gentry

Needles: US 2/2.75mm

Finished Size: 13" x 59" pre-blocking / 19"x 75" after blocking with wires.

Pattern Modifications: Made stole-sized by casting on 138 stitches.

Notes: Silk Lace can easily be worked "caked" by recycling a multi-CD holder. Slide the cake onto the upside-down spindle, then pull your yarn from the outside. It will not tangle, and stays neat and tidy. This was the perfect colorway for the project. It has not been steamed, and it positively glows.

Gallery of Projects!

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:38:34 -0800

We've had an ongoing Gallery of Projects on the Sundara Yarn website where customers could submit photos of projects they knit with Sundara Yarn and we were always sad when we had to take down some of the great projects* at the end of the month. We decided to move the Gallery of Projects to this blog, so they'll be up on a more permanent basis.

We'll be putting up a few projects each week, and if you'd like to send us some photos of a project you've made out of Sundara Yarn, we'd love to see it.

Send your photos, and you can submit a few of the same project, to gallery AT sundarayarn DOT com. Please only one project per email, but feel free to email us several times with several projects.

If we decide to post your photo, we'll contact you for more information and when your project is posted, we'll send you a $50 gift certificate for Sundara Yarn.

A note on photos: Photography is the most important thing! If the project is gorgeous, but we can't tell from the photo, we can't include it. Projects must be well-photographed, and by that we mean not blurry, correctly exposed, and staged with some aesthetic sensibility.

*over the next few months, we'll be contacting some of you who had projects featured in the Gallery of Projects to see if we can include those projects here as well.

Project: Apres Surf Hoodie

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:56:44 -0800

Knit and Photographed by: Laura

Pattern: Apres Surf Hoodie

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino Alpine Algae

Needles: US 3/3.25mm

Finished Size: 39”

Pattern Modifications: None

Project: Shifting Sands

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:33:51 -0800

Knit and Photographed By: Liesl
Pattern Name: Shifting Sands scarf
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Sport Merino in Cobalt over Mediterranean
Needles: US 5/3.75mm
Finished Size: (after light blocking) 6 1/2" wide by 61" long, plus 2 1/2" fringe on each end
Pattern Modifications: none - just knit until the end of the second skein, and use a small amount (about 30 yards) of a third skein for the fringe only.
Notes: The scarf has a lot of cables, but the pattern is quite easy to memorize and if you learn to cable without a needle (which is easy for cables used in the pattern), it goes fairly quickly.

Project: Grace Lace Beret

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:05:43 -0800

Knit and Photographed By: Terry

Pattern: Grace Lace Beret

Yarn: Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino Pink Pennies, one skein

Needles: US 4/3.5mm and US 8/5mm

Finished Size: one size hat

Pattern Modifications:

1) Used German twisted cast-on (similar to long tail cast-on but stretchier) instead of tubular cast-on.

2) Knitted 1x1 twisted rib instead of standard 1x1 ribbing.

3) Added one more repeat of lace chart for a total of 4 repeats (instead of 3)

Notes: A great quick knit!