Mantilla

This headscarf has been finished for a couple of weeks but I haven't had any decent photographs to show.

Actually I don't event think these photos are any great shakes, apart from number one, the shadow one.

This is the lovely Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits, fall 2006.

This is not the first time I have made this pattern but it is the first time I have done the Lily of the Valley section with the nupps.

It's made with Patons 100% Cotton 4-ply left over from this headscarf from last year.

I really enjoyed making it and I will doubtless enjoy wearing it. Hope you are having

a good crafty week. x K

Well-Dressed Head Part Two

Here's a swatch-style headscarf of Gail aka Nightsongs shawl.
It's in Patons 4 ply cotton and I love it love it love it.
The leaf motif is gorgeous and those big massive double yarn over holes down the centre look cool.

Any issues with the pattern?
More issues than TIME magazine.

If I knew you in real life and you said you were going to try this shawl as your first lace project I would fling myself to the floor and hook my arms round your legs.
The instructions are confusing, the charts are laid out in an unusual way, the symbols mean different things from what they usually mean, there are typos and there is so much advice on the internet about how to interpret the pattern, some of it entirely conflicting.

If you know your way around a lace pattern, are prepared to suspend what you know while still knowing what you know, are good at "reading" your knitting and are not afraid to rip back from time to time, I'd say, go for it, you'll love it.

I love my beautiful black lace heid bunnet. x K

Well-Dressed Head Part One

Here's a headscarf I've made from King Cole Bamboo Cotton blend DK.

Ravelry link

The main part is knitted in stocking stitch from the wide end down, the five last stitches being left live.
Then the edging was added afterwards to the diagonal sides. It is the lovely edging from Brooklyn Tweed's Girasole. Thank-you Jared Flood.

I only have one ball of this yarn, bought from Drop in for a Yarn in Dumfries just to play with. I would very happily use this yarn again.
Considering it is made up of a dozen thin strands of the bamboo and cotton mix I didn't find it splitty, but I would say that it shows up inconsistencies in tension. If I was making a garment out of this I would also watch out for creasing- it basically stays the way you put it so if you lay it away nicely it comes out pristine and if you stuff it in a bag it comes out crumpled. Give it few pats and it starts to smooth out for you.

It's funny, I wouldn't walk the streets of Glasgow wearing headscarves, but being down here amid fields and cows and sheep and horses and llamas it seems fairly natural, even if you have absolutely no dealings whatsoever with the cows, sheep, horses and llamas! x K

Final headscarf of the season

No, it's not some lingerie I've been running up in my spare time, it's my latest (and probably last of the year) headscarf.
This time it has been done in crochet. Man, crochet eats up your yarn! This took 1.5 balls of Adriafil Swing which is 100% mercerised cotton.
To be honest, it's a little bit boardy because I hooked it on a 3mm hook which was maybe a little small, but I have good dense, substantial fabric now. Not the world's drapiest, but it does mould to the shape of head at least, it's not THAT firm.
I'm chuffed with this for a number of reasons. I love the yarn, I figured out how to make it all by myself and then I looked it up on the interwebs and I have been doing the increases at each end properly.
However, I have only been doing 2 turning chain at the beginning of each row when convention dictates it's 3 turning chain for British trebles. Live and learn.
Last time I posted something similar I was recommended to say "ties" for the little strings which hold it on. If you remember I couldn't work out how to spell tie-er (which sounds like tyre, nothing like tier of a wedding cake). Ties is good, but I'm still holding out a glimmer of hope one of you brainy folk can give me a variation. Happy crafting, K x

Tip of crochet headscarf

Learned to increase during the course of this project.
Chain edging; looks neater when teased into shape!

Close-up of crochet fabric

Hello sailor!

When stylist Gok Wan said the sailor look was going to be big this summer and every summer, I doubt this is what he had in mind!

This is my latest headscarf. (I know, I don't what the addiction is, I'm also hooking one at the moment.)

It's made from white, tomato and navy Patons 100% 4ply coton, which is the same stuff as the Adamas.

There's a little crochet shell border which isn't too well-seen in the pictures.

I needed it today to keep the sun from frying my hair in scorchio Galloway. xK

Contessa in Profile Wearing Heid Bunnet

Ok, here are some outdoor shots of me wearing the Adamas Headscarf.
I'm loving it and may well work up to a shawl sized one in an animal fibre.
DH took these photos, reckons his handiwork is very reminiscent of the type of composition Renaissance painters did of ladies of high birth in profile over-looking the Tuscan landscape.
Perhaps this Portrait of Battista Sforza by Piero della Francesca 1466
which we saw in the Galleria delgi Uffizi in Florence during our honeymoon will give you the idea, although I think he means a genre rather than one specific picture.
Anyway, Adamas heid bunnet; enjoy. x K

Adamas lace headscarf

Can I apologise now if the spacing on this post is weird, it's jumping about like a mad thing.

Hiya, knitting up a storm during the school holidays!
Here are the specs of my latest finished object, all being well I'll have some action shots in a couple of days' time.

So this is Miriam L. Felton's Adamas shawl pattern, done to headscarf size.

This is available as a Free Ravelry pdf download
You can get this as a free pattern on Mim Knits website as well, linky .

It's a lovely clear, well-written and charted neck-down triangular shawl, stop after as many repeats as you like, no fancy maths to make the border chart work. I did three repeats of the main chart.

My only small reservation is you knew this was coming, didn't you? ;-) that at the beginning you cast on five and start your increases from there. This is fine, but it just means you have a wee small section at the beginning where you don't get the garter ridges on the back neck (or in my case with the headscarf, front head). If you have ever knitted an Evelyn A Clark shawl design you will know what I mean. You start with k2 and do tricks with mirrors so that your wee garter ridges are consistent.

I made it with Patons 100% Cotton 4ply in shade #02708, Tomato. I enjoyed working with this yarn, it's a mercerised cotton and has a nice sheen, and it feels so much finer than Rowan 4ply cotton for example, which I used to make a Previous Headscarf . He he, very link happy tonight!

I weighed it when it was finished, and it was 33g so that means I must have used in the region of 100m to make it.

If you see some strings at the top, it's not unsecured ends, it's little I-cords I've done as straps. I've tried half a dozen times to spell tie-er, the thing you tie it on with, but I can't seem to spell it, any suggestions?

ETA: I used my new Addi Lace Needles in 3.25mm size which I bought from Outback Yarns which is the knitting department in the Gem Shop, King Street, Castle Douglas.

Loving the written patten, loving the way it knitted up, loving the yarn. Happy KEDkrafty.

Double experiment

Although my mate Midsummer Night's Knitter over at Twelfthknit has discovered the joys of swatching at the mature age of 21, I find it very difficult to discipline myself to do so.

However, wanting to experiment with a new yarn (Rowan Damask, shade 46, Lava) without investing in a whole project's worth, and wanting to try out the stitch pattern for the Swallowtail Shawl (Evelyn A. Clark of Fibertrends, Interweave Knits Fall 2006) has resulted in a lovely new summer headscarf for me. That's why it's a funny shape.

I really enjoyed this "lozenge" pattern (Swallowtail chart) because you can clearly see what you're meant to do next, and it is very instinctive, unlike the Flowerbasket Shawl I am grappling with at the moment. (Please don't regale me with tales about how easy you found FBS- I'll cry.)

If I had tons of this yarn I could be tempted to do the whole full size shawl in it, you know. Very pleasant to knit with and lovely effect.

Reservations-

#1 It is marketed as Rowan's new linen blend, but has only 22% linen in it.

#2 I did give the Lily of the Valley chart a try. (The one with the dreaded NUPPS k1 yo k1 yo k1 in one stitch then next row p5 together. Not that hard with "real" stitches, but very fiddly with raw y/o stitches. When I do the shawl for real I will use a fine cable needle to control the stitches and get some room for manoeuvre.) The main problem I encountered with that is that the yarn is a bit slubby and a bit thick/thin, which was awkward with the nupps.

I enjoyed my experiment, killed two birds with one stone, and learned a lot. x K