Sunday, May 24, 2009
In the Garden
I have been wanting to experiment with circular designs and so began with this light and lacy capelet, In the Garden, part of my new collection, Summer in the City.
By working a capelet, rather than a full circular chawl, I avoided the tricky problem of starting the shawl. Although there are a number of techniques available for easing the process, none of them are truly easy. And there is always a certain amount of fumbling with double pointed needles with too few stitches on them to make them manageable.
So why not a capelet instead, shown in too lengths? The green version above uses two 100-g. skeins of Celestial Merino in "Meadow" ( 550 m./600 yds.). The yellow version below uses only one 100-g. skein of Celestial Merino in "Sunbeam" (280 m./306 yds.)
The capelet is constructed in the classical manner, from the top down, using a series of regular increases, embedded in the stitch pattern itself, so that the design flows from one segment to the next. It is similar to knitting a large doily, with the centre omitted.
The lower border comes out to a very generous circumference as a result. The lacy pattern then is able to fall into graceful folds. I inserted some Garter Stitch into the design in the final section, to add interest and create a leafy border.
This lightest of garments is just the ticket for summer knitting and summer wearing.
Stephanie Varner Watt knit the yellow capelet and it is one of the Featured Patterns on Ravelry this month.
Thanks for the beautiful job, Stephanie!
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