Asilomar cardigan.

Those of you who follow my blog and Ravelry adventures might remember a vest I designed last summer called "Asilomar". At the time I made that vest I wanted to make a cardigan, but did not have enough of the yarn I was using.  I finally got around to re-knit “Asilomar” as a cardigan and in lighter color yarn. I modified the pattern for the fitted sleeves. I just love this way (seamless, set-in and knitted topdown) to knit sleeves. I am becoming addicted. This is my second design with this type of sleeve construction. First time I used this method in my own design was in this cardi. I do not know why I was afraid of this type of sleeve before. They are so easy and no sewing!!!
I love how everything worked out in this cardigan, especially the sleeve detail. I am glad I decided to re-knit the vest as a cardigan.

 You can find my project on Ravelry here.
Also, "Asilomar" cardigan version is my entry into  ColourMart Spring 2013 knitting contest.
Design competition here
Sweater competition here
"Asilomar" pattern is available as a free download on my blog or Ravelry.
I might publish this modified version of the vest as a separate pattern for a cardigan…not sure yet…still deciding…;-)

About the yarn. I have used ColourMart Cashmere/Cotton 12/50NM fingering wt. It is soft and lightweight. The yarn is also impossible to break by hand. I had to cut it always. The gauge did not change with blocking. The water was barely tinted with color. I just washed cardi once and rinsed few times.

 

Happy knitting,

Diana

"Variations on a Theme" e-book

 "Variations on a Theme" e-book is now available on Ravelry and my blog.

The idea for “Variations on a Theme” e-book was born while I was working on another design. I was inspired by the slipped stitch pattern I was using and wondered how will it look in a shawl. However, I was not done exploring the pattern. I designed another shawl with a different construction that uses the same slipped stitch pattern and latter I added two more designs to the collection, two cowls.
This e-book includes 3 patterns:
1. “Caprice No. 24” shawl is seamless and knitted bottom-up.
Caprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin.
The caprice has provided a rich seam of material for works by many composers. One of them is “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninoff and it gave a name to the next pattern in the collection.
2.“Rapsodiya” (which means Rhapsody in Russian) shawl is seamless and knitted sideways.
Franz Liszt composed his The Grandes études de Paganini based on the compositions of Niccolò Paganini for violin. His composition gave a name to the next pattern.
3. “Grandes études” pattern is a set of two cowls knitted in a simple slipped stitch pattern. The slight tweak to the pattern gives an option of knitting two cowls that look completely different while using same slipped stitch technique.

Happy knitting,

Diana 

Spring Flowers.

Some photographs of wildflowers that are blooming right now in Southern California.  Pictures taken at Lake Murray in San Diego. Spring is everywhere :-)) Enjoy :-))

Happy knitting,

Diana