Patterns available on Ravelry
Accessories available on Etsy

Add a blast (or a few blasts) of color to your look with this reversible hand knit bandana. Knit in lace weight, pure merino wool the accessory is light enough to wear even in the warmer months.

The bandana features a few rows of knit eyelets and a frilly bottom picot edge.

It measures 43×14 inches (109×35.5cm).

This is based on one of my original patterns, and was hand knit by me. It’s available for purchase on Etsy.

I had an extra ball of self-striping La Doro 2-ply superwash merino (50g; 328 yards/300 meters) and thought that might be a good choice to make a lighter-weight version of my Silk Garden Bandana.

Other than the yarn weight and needle size the only other real change was that I finished with a picot bind-off instead of the row of beads.

The bandana is a variation on a pattern available on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting!
MikeH

Patterns available on Ravelry
Accessories available on Etsy

I just got back from an enjoyable 12-day break in Europe. It’s the hottest time of the year here in Thailand and it was a pleasure to trade the 38C/100+F heat and humidity for the cool spring weather in northeastern Spain and southwestern France.

As you can see from the photos above, spring was definitely in the air and the leaves were just beginning to appear on the trees.

Montserrat (Spain) selfie

I was quite restrained and only went yarn shopping twice, buying enough for a couple of projects (as yet to be decided).

Both of these purchases were made in Zaragoza, Spain: one at the popular El Corte Ingles department store, which has quite an extensive selection of yarns and knitting supplies and equipment; and the other at a small boutique called El Sindrome Lanar.

More next week.

Happy Knitting!
MikeH

Patterns available on Ravelry
Accessories available on Etsy

This is the first time I’ve designed a shawl using cables and wanted to combine this traditional element with lace stitches. In this Cables and Lace Shawlette pattern you’ll find 5 cable columns surrounded by an openwork design of lace stitches – on each half of the shawlette.

It’s a relatively simple pattern to follow and shouldn’t present any problems to knitters who have learned how to knit cables and have learned the basics of lace: yarn overs and decreases.

I used a bit less than 1 full skein of this fingering weight merino yarn and it yielded an accessory that measures 47×22 inches/119×55.75 cm) after blocking.

You’ll find that wet blocking is essential to open up the lace and even out the shape.

Did you know…?

The bind off you choose for a lace stitch pattern is important. You want to be able to stretch the piece to open up the lace pattern when blocking, allowing the beauty of the design to appear.

One of my favorite bind off techniques to accomplish this is a variation of the Russian bind off. Here’s a link to  the instructions for this, that works from the right side of your work, but using purl stitches.

Happy Knitting!
MikeH