Category Archives: lace

Try a little luxury

With the holidays just around the corner, it's a great time to whip up quick, simple, luxurious items for yourself or your favorite people! The Luxe Accessories kit contains one ball each of some of our most luxurious yarns: Capra, Aloft, Andean Treasure and City Tweed HW, and patterns for three quick accessories!

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The Lonely Tree Shawl

One of the projects on my "someday" list has been a worsted weight shawl. I've always wanted to have a a touch of Kirsten Larson and Laura Ingalls in my life... even if the weather isn't always quite right and I'm not about to be tossing one over my shoulders before I head out to milk some sassy milk cows in the dead of winter. At least not any time soon. Sylvia Bo Bilvia's Lonely Tree Shawl has been in my Ravelry queue forever, just waiting for the perfect yarn to cast on with.

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Technidream Shawl

Looking for a lightweight project to work on this summer? We are so excited to offer the fantastically talented Cassie Castillo's wonderful pattern as a kit!

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Enjoy the starry night with the Starry Stole – now in kits!

Nothing quite captures the human imagination like the brilliant night sky. There's something magical about those glittering lights against the inky veil of night. Bring that magic into your knitting with the Starry Stole! Beads transform this otherwise soft and simple stole into a field of twinkling stars. The simplicity of the pattern makes the Starry Stole a wonderful first beaded knitting project. The best part is that as a kit, the beads come included, so you can get going on the pattern right away or package the kit as a gift for a new-to-beads knitter.

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Beautiful Baltic Lace is back!

If you're looking for a lovely, Estonian-inspired project, try the Baltic Lace Shawl kit! This shawl is influenced by the incredible lace knitting of Estonia. Complete with the traditional 'Greta Garbo' border pattern and plenty of nupps, the Karukell Shawl is worked as one rectangular piece, with an edging knit on.

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Feather and Fan Crochet

So, as I've mentioned before that I have an incredible amount of lace weight yarn just lurking around in the shadows of my yarn stash. Everyone else in the office seems to have learned their lesson (aka that they just won't ever get around to knitting with lace weight yarn) so they steer well clear of it whenever a stray skein winds up in the office. I, on the other hand am more than happy to snap each and every one of them up and take them home with me. Well... almost anything, and by anything I mean just the blues! This means that I'm always prowling Ravelry, our own pattern section and all the available books in the office for lace weight patterns. ANYTHING to put this lovely, light yarn to good use. Eventually I found A. Westbrook's free crochet Lacy Feather and Fan pattern on Ravelry. I loved how open the pattern was, the simple two-row repeat and that I could really easily turn this into a cowl. SOLD!

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Ballerinas in Pink

Michelle Miller has been part of the IDP program from the very beginning - her Knitting Project Bag has been one of our most popular patterns! I've known Michelle for several years now and last summer we discussed doing a collection of her beautiful lace work. She came up with a gorgeous proposal and the result is the stunning Ballerinas in Pink collection! Michelle was inspired by the artist Degas's series of impressionistic paintings from the turn of the century. (see some of the artwork here). Using a similar color palette, all of Michelle's designers are stunningly beautiful and a wonderful addition to any lace lover's pattern collection.

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Learning to Knit Lace

Light and airy lace - the epitome of summer knitting! Although it can look intimidating, the basics of lace lie in the added yarn overs to create an open fabric. Throughout the main body of the lace pattern, you'll often find these extra increases paired with decreases in order to keep the stitch count the same. However, yarn overs can also be used to create the shaping found in shawls. Shadow Lace If you have dabbled in lace or are new to the world of shawls, Kerin’s How to Knit Lace video class is sure to be your go-to guide for creating elegant lace wraps and shawls. This 12-part video class begins with a brief overview of lace knitting, then moving into the basics of how to determine the right yarn, fiber type, and color that will make your shawl shine! Next, you'll follow along with Kerin as she shows you how to cast on and make the yarn overs that will create your lace motif.

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