Kaava is Hot Right Now!

I can’t believe it! So, so happy to announce that Kaava has reached #15 on the ravelry Hot Right Now list! Out of 127,977!

Kaava is Hot Right Now
Kaava is Hot Right Now

This is a huge “designer moment” for me, I thought I was at least 20 more patterns away from making “the list”. Seriously guys, happy, happy, happy dancing going on here.

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Swept off my feet – Kaava Lace Shawlette

Kaava - swept off my feet
Kaava – swept off my feet

This light little lace shawlette is quick to start, with just enough challenge to keep you interested. It uses up as much yarn as possible from that special skein of hand-dye you’ve been saving.
Kaava features a beautiful open band of Shower Stitch, an old French lace pattern. The lacy rib section frames the shawl and a nifty crochet bind-off adds the final castellated touch.

Kaava Shawlette
Kaava Shawlette (Moody shot!)

Get it now for £3

I love the phrase “to be swept off one’s feet”. It’s been running through my head since I was at the wedding of a beautiful Irish girl (whose name I’ve jumbled up for this pattern) and a very witty man earlier this year. I couldn’t tell you who did the feet-sweeping between the pair of them, but this shawl is what I plan to be wearing when my own feet next get swept under!

A wide, crescent-shaped shawl that is ideal for showing off a skein of glorious hand-dyed 4-ply yarn. The shawl features Shower Stitch, which is a beautiful old French Lace stitch.

A wool-rich yarn is recommended as this shawl needs to be blocked aggressively to bloom to best advantage.

Size
Shape: Crescent
Wingspan: 148cm / 58in
Depth: 50cm / 20in

Yarn
Shamu Makes Hand-dyed British Blue-Faced Leicester (4-ply; 100% wool; 400m/438yds/100g skein). Colour: mauve/denim, 1 skein.

Needles and Accessories
1 set 4mm (UK 8/US 6) circular needles, 80cm / 32in long
4mm crochet hook
Blunt tapestry needle
Optional, but recommended:
Stitch markers
T-pins and blocking wires

Tension
20 sts and 36 rows to 10cm/4in over stocking stitch, relaxed after hard blocking.

Catchloops Update – And it’s also post #100!

Half the reason I don’t post as often as I should is that I feel like I must have pics every time I do. That’s another of the “golden rules” of blogging. 1) Post often, 2) Have pics 3) Be interesting. 3)’s kinda optional.

Of late, I’ve been working on a secret design for Knit Now 27; getting submissions together – can’t show you any pics of them either for much the same reason, and I have two designs in testing at the mo too. One of those (le sigh) is also secret, but the other is the Kaava Shawlette that I flashed the other day.

bottom_croppedThis is my first lace shawl and I’m going to release it just as soon as it’s tech-edited and tested. Could be as close as two weeks away or as much as a month, but either way looks like it’s going to be my next released pattern.

I’m stoked to say that the response to Kaava has been overwhelmingly good. The yarn is 100% blue-faced leicester, handdyed by a friend and member of The Harrow Knitters, Shamu Makes, who has a fab eye for colour. I made it originally to go with a purple dress, but actually, it looks gorgeous with turquoise. I blocked it really hard and it has graceful, flowing drape. The main stitch patterns in it are Stocking Stitch, Shower Stitch and Lacy Rib, and the crochet bind-off reminds me of castle crenels or cogs. Something very engineering-y, anyway :)

My next projects are lots and lots of proposals – sketching, swatching and specc’ing, but I do also has some more of my own patterns in the pipeline. I find it hard to prioritise my own patterns over everything else that needs to be done – any one out there want to be my drill sergeant?

I’m looking forward to the Summer holidays – I’ll be home in Dublin for a week in August, so I’d love to catch up with the Irish yarny world, aon sceal nua for me?

Hugs, and proud to get to post #100! (It’s the little accomplishments!)

x Elanor

 

 

 

 

 

Kaava Shawlette – Testers Needed!

Here’s a shawlette that’s a little bit of a challenge, but in manageable doses.

Moody, arty shot follows:

Kaava Shawlette
Kaava Shawlette (Moody shot!)

The Kaava shawlette is knit flat, top-down, starting with a garter st tab CO. Then there are three featured sts: st st, shower st (a double-sided lace) and Lacy Rib (which is a super simple one-sided lace). Then a crochet bind-off gives the shawl edge the appearance of a clockwork cog.

bottom_cropped

I’m looking for testers now, so drop by the Free Pattern Testers group if you’re interested! I’ll put a link here when the request is approved.