If you missed it then, you can still get a (free) shawl pattern, by purchasing a skein of banana yarn from the Boutique, in the next week. (Offer ends 8/1)

The pattern is mostly the wrap-stitch (did I make this up? I don’t know!) and it’s a little hard to explain verbally, although it’s super-simple to perform.

Here’s how you do it!

And the bind-off is basically a crochet bind-off…but with your knitting needles. Here’s what I mean:

(behind the scenes note: I am wearing the same skirt in the photoshoot for the patterns and in the tutorials. Different days, same skirt.)

If you have any questions or comments (would you like to see more videos?), leave them in the comments!

I love Crochet By Faye‘s idea for celebrating National Craft Month – adopt a designer!

You can read all the details in her post. The general idea is to pick a designer every day for the rest of the month and do something to help them succeed: blog about them, recommend them, buy a pattern!

I love this idea and will be incorporating here my already-planned National Craft Month blogging. I’m also going to spend the month looking for more designers to feature in my bricks+mortar shop, A Novel Yarn.

If you know of a designer (especially one that works with handspun or handdyed yarn), let me know in the comments!

Here are some ideas that take just a skein or two handspun yarn:

1. Capelets! I particularly love the Anthropology-Inspired Capelet – for the stylish mom
2. Shawls! There’s nothing better than theSimple Yet Effective Shawl - a great project to use several different skeins of handspun yarn, like I did in mine.
3. Cowls! There are a thousand great patterns and most only use a single skein. Here are my favorites:

• Sherbrooke (PDF)
• Gloria
• Envy

Are you making anyting for Mother’s Day?

Last night, I gave up on a sweater. My beautiful handspun sweater just isn’t working out. After completing the body and 1 sleeve, I realized I need more yarn. And the yoke isn’t right (too much fabric at the shoulders). And the whole thing is too stiff, not drapey enough. Most of these issues could have been solved by following a pattern (well, except for the drape, I just needed to use a bigger needle and knit it at a different gauge), but because I’m designing it myself, all these little things have to be figured out. If I had chosen a pattern suited for handspun, many of these mistakes might have been avoided.

• Gauge with handspun is variable. One skein might be heavy worsted, while the next is bulky. Knit for the bigger yarn, or else your work will be stiff in areas. Of course, it maybe be a little thin in some areas, but that’s usually preferable.
• Handspun yarn usually has a lot of texture. Play this up with a simple textured stitch or St st.
• Along with texture, handspun yarn can be quite colorful. Cables and pictoral lace are easilyobscured by all the color going on, so avoid “overkill”.

I had a time of mourning as I folded the sweater and put it away (I’m not ready to rip it out yet). But I’ll come back to it. I’ll probably cast on for a sweater using that same handspun in a few weeks. If I use a pattern next time, these are a few I’d consider:

1. Cathode (Rav link) – top downs are the easiest to adjust for gauge & Cathode is excellent since you can use just a bit of handspun for the body and trimm it in commercial yarn.
2. Cavern (Rav Link) – Tingel’s Cavern really won me over to this simple top down cardigan.
3. February Lady Sweater (Rav link) – this uber-popular sweater (over 2000 projects in Ravelry) is simple to adjust, especially if you want it big and roomy.
4. Incredible, Custom Fit Raglan – this is first customizable pattern I ever found. Not really a pattern, as much as a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure.
5. Top-Down Calculator (Rav link)- Not even a pattern. Plug in your gauge and your measurements and out pops customized directions! Amazing!