Posts Tagged ‘secret of the stole’

Posted on November 12, 2009 - by deborahfillmer

Galadriel // Finally A New Pattern

I finally found the time to sit down and put together this pattern.  The Atlanta Knitters Guild Secret knit-a-long took place in June, 2009.  Since starting back to school I have not had time to do much designing or editing and so now it is November and the pattern, somehow, is complete and ready for sale.

I have another pattern in the queue and one in the head, so maybe I can stay motivated to get them out for you all soon.  The next Secret of the Stole Knit-A-Long will probably be next year sometime, but I have no idea when.  The two patterns that I have coming up are more narrow in theme and are really not suitable for a “world-wide” knit-a-long.  There will be another one, I just don’t know when.

Here are the links to Galadriel:

Patternfish and    

I hope you enjoy it.  Fair Winds, DK the Nautical Knitter

Posted on August 5, 2009 - by deborahfillmer

Productivity And New Challenges // What I did this week…

I have been enjoying myself so much this week I haven’t had time to stop and tell you all about it.  My classwork has slowed considerably since I am down to one class and next week is the last week of the Summer semester.    So, I have been a knitting/sewing fool the past week and a half.  Here are some things I learned how to do this week and some other things that I have either started or finished…

First up, I learned to do fair isle this week.  I have only tried this on my own once (winging it) and it turned out nice, but this time I am working from someone else’s pattern and am actually going to produce a pair of socks to boot.  The pattern is Elika, by Heatherly Walker.  The yarn I am using is knitpicks essential and kroy socks.  The pattern is bare bones and basically assumes you already know a lot about knitting socks.  It also includes instructions for a short row heel, which I have learned that I DO NOT LIKE!  The fair isle, on the other hand, is great!!  I can see more fair isle in my future!

Next up is a pair of gloves/mittens.  I have never made gloves or mittens before, so I figured I would make both at once and learn both at the same time.  The pattern is easy enough, but contains errors.  Actually, I expected better instructions in a pattern from Knitty.com, but free is free.  The concept of the fingerless glove covered by a mitten cap is great!  If you want to make a pair of these I suggest these notes as they helped me out tremendously!  So, now I give you the left hand of a pair of Broad Street Mittens by Janis Cortese.

About a week or two ago the secret knit a long that I put together for the Atlanta Knitting Guild ended.  I designed an original lace pattern for them to knit so they could enjoy the experience of a knit a long and have a pattern (free) to call their own.  The KAL was done exactly like the Secret of the Stole KAL’s, but exclusively for the guild members only.  Here is the resulting pattern.  This pattern will be for sale as soon as we get the photos done this weekend.  If you would like to be notified when the pattern is available please join the Nautical Knitter Designs Yahoo Group.

As if knitting wasn’t enough, I also did a bit of sewing this past weekend.  This top is from a Butterick pattern (#4684) and apparently I am a smaller size in Butterick than in Simplicity.  Who knew?  So, this top came out a size or two too big for me.  I do like the pattern though and the next one should fit just right.  This one is being gifted, if it fits and she likes it …

The mail held some wonderful goodies this week as well.  I received 3 new books on my newest interest, socks.  Remember the socks that I just finished that were too short?  Well, I traded them for some awesome hand dyed sock yarn which also came.  Unfortunately, the US Postal Service has not delivered the socks to her yet and I fear that all that hard work may be lost.  If so, I will have to do something to compensate for this lovely yarn she dyed for me.  Snail mail stinks!

Well, if you made it this far in the post you deserve a treat, so for those who have been patiently waiting I can officially say that I have begun test knitting the Secret of the Stole IV!  YAY!  It is probably the coolest pattern I have done to date and I can’t wait to share it with you all.  The yahoo group is not open yet, but you can join the Nautical Knitter Designs group to be notified when it is.  Until then, here is a teaser:

There you have it, my last week or so in a blog post.  I hope your week was just as productive.  Until next time, Fair Winds

Posted on October 9, 2008 - by deborahfillmer

Blocking the Secret of the Stole III

The Secret of the Stole III, like all of our previous stoles, has a very unique shape.  Sometimes, a uniquely shaped knitted piece can present quite a challenge during the blocking process.  This particular stole has rounded edges on each end so traditional blocking wires that are very stiff will not work well for this type of blocking.  Instead, we suggest the use of either thin blocking wires, thick fishing line (almost like weed whacker line), or even better, stainless steel welding rods of .30″ in thickness.  Here is how we did it:

We soaked the stole in clean warm water and a little bit of knit wash.  You can use baby shampoo, mild detergent, or even nothing but water.  Without agitation, we made sure the stole was thoroughly wet and then laid it out on towels, which we then rolled up to keep the stole moist.

Unrolling it a little at a time, we laced the welding rods through the very edges of the stole all the way around, using a new rod whenever needed.  For each rounded edge, we used only one rod per end so that the edge would not have a point or jagged look.  After “installing” all the rods in the edges of the stole, we then removed it from the towels and placed it on our blocking mats.

Working on the straight edges first, we placed pins into the boards in a way that would hold the wires apart, stretching the lace to the proper width.  This is something that can be greatly manipulated in this type of lace, so you will want to make the stole the width that looks right to you.  After the straight edges are “straight” and pinned down the proper width apart, we curved the end wires out and pinned them down as well.  This is very easy to do, provided you use one wire.

After you have the entire stole pinned out you will want to go back and adjust the pins and the width and length until it looks good to you.  Let the stole dry in this position and then, when dry, remove it from the boards and weave in any ends of yarn.

For more information on blocking lace in general, visit our previous post on blocking a stole or shawl.

Finally, wear your stole with pride and don’t put it away in a drawer.  You worked very hard on this beautiful piece of lace, show it off!  Enjoy.

Posted on July 23, 2008 - by DK

Guinevere Has Dyed

Technically, she has been dyed. Originally, I knit this stole in Dye Your Own Lace Weight Yarn from Knitpicks. I wore it in the natural color for a while and decided that the color was too beige for my skin tone. So, since my son is getting married in 10 days and the colors in the wedding are cream and chocolate, I decided to dye it a chocolate brown. The hardest part of this entire process was lowering it into the dye pot. Here are the results.

Before:

After:

Posted on July 18, 2008 - by admin

How to read a knitting chart – New Video

I finally got a video done on chart reading.  It has taken so long and it is not the most “hollywood” production, but I hope it gets the idea across on how to read a knitting chart.

If you are interested you can see the video on the Knitwith.us website.  This is the first of several that I hope to do.  Enjoy and leave me a comment, please be gentle…HAHA…