Picot Loops Lace Ribbon (and lace cast on)

Posted on November 9, 2012 by jackiees

In response to last month’s Bit-size tutorial More Ideas for Using Elements of Lace Edgings in New Ways, Rita wrote:

Your design process is fascinating reading. There’s so much work that goes into designing, which one might not realize unless they have the chance to read about it or unless they’ve given it a try themselves. Thanks for sharing.

This month’s Knitted Ribbons project offers yet another idea for using elements of lace edgings in new ways. To discover how you can design your own ribbons as a jumping off point from other lace edging patterns, let’s start with the Picot Loops version that is included in the Knitted Ribbons pattern.

Picot Loops Lace Knitted Ribbon

Picot Loops Lace Knitted Ribbon in chained metallic gold yarn

If you feel déjà vu when knitting the Picot Loops ribbon, then you might remember that we used that same 2-stitch sequence in the heading portion of the lace edging for Quick Lace-edged Baby Socks way back at the beginning of this year.

Thus, you can think of Picot Loops as a very stripped-down lace edging pattern that actually is just the straight heading portion. If you need a review of what we mean by a lace edging heading, click over for a moment to Knitted Lace Edgings: a working definition and basic characteristics.

Picot Loops ribbon gives you lots of practice working a yarn over at beginning of row. For this pattern, the yarn over is followed by a p2tog, just like in the baby socks edging. The difference is that the ribbon pattern is just those 2 stitches, repeated over and over ad infinitum! Eventually the hands “know” what to do, and you’ll never be confused when you encounter a yarn over at the beginning of a row again. I hope you will find it as relaxingly repetitive as do I.

Tip: Picot Loops makes a lovely lace cast on. Work twice the number of rows as you need for cast on stitches. Then pick up and knit into each yarn over hole along either of the straight edges. Example: If your pattern calls for casting on 45 stitches, work 90 rows. You really don’t need to count rows; just count the number of yarn over holes along one edge.

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Knitted Ribbons

Posted on November 1, 2012 by jackiees

When I originally announced the tentative schedule to do Knitted Ribbons for December’s project, I had several requests from enthusiastic members to move the project up one month so there would be ample time to knit ribbons to dress up holiday gifts for mailing.

So here ya’ go … the Bits of Lace Knitted Ribbons pattern is now available free for a limited time to KnitHeartStrings.com members. As usual, just login and click under the menu item for Free Membership Pattern. This offer is only good for November, so don’t wait too long!

Knitted Ribbon in chained metallic gold yarn

Knitted Lace Ribbon in chained metallic gold yarn

The Knitted Ribbons monthly project focus will continue to explore elements of lace edgings. In October, we took the main shaped area of a simple lace edging and turned it back on itself to create an Oak Leaf. This month, we dissect headings used in earlier months’ projects, and will create lace ribbons to distinctively dress-up your holiday gifts and even become a gift in themselves.

Don’t worry if you missed the projects earlier this year in which the techniques were covered. I’ll be discussing them in tips & techniques posts throughout the month so that the Knitted Ribbons project will be easy learning and practice for both those who are new and those who want to benefit from a bit of review.

And besides that, Knitted Ribbons are a great stash buster to use up leftovers of sparkly, festive yarns. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Are you ready to have some more fun? There were 1622 member downloads of the Bits of Lace Oak Leaf pattern in October month. Let’s make November an even bigger month. Invite your knitting friends to join our group! (and remember to tell them it is still free)

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Turning a Lace Edging into a Leaf

Posted on October 31, 2012 by jackiees

This month we have been turning a lace edging into a leaf. Now we are at month-end and will be moving onto a new project to entice and inspire you to look at elements of lace in new ways.

But first, I want to wrap-up the month with some shared comments and project highlights that will add to the ideas of “now, what are you going to do with it?”

From Helen:

They make great book marks – much more attractive than the usual ribbon style.

From Janet M:

I think doing these in 2 or 3 different weights of Autumn-colored cotton yarn (so they are different sizes), soaking them in fabric stiffener or starch, and stringing them across my fireplace mantel would be a nice touch.

You could even go for a mobile.

From Kim Marie:

I crochet leaves like this too for my thanksgiving table which I give as presents to my guests.

From Linda:

Thank you sooooo much for sharing your patterns and tips. I have learned so much since you started this site for all of us.  I love the leaf, made the leaf out of cotton and it has made the best coaster ever. Thinking about knitting some of these up for little Christmas gifts.  Thanks again and God Bless.

From Margaret H:

Thought you might like to see how I used your oak leaf pattern. It’s the top of an Acorn hat I made for my grandson’s first birthday. Thanks for the pattern!

And a big thank you to Margaret for permission to share her photo with all of you. Isn’t it fantastic? This also gives you an idea of how knitting the Bits of Lace Oak Leaf in variegated yarn can look.

Oak Leaf and Acorn Hat Top

Oak Leaf and Acorn Hat Top by Margaret Hendrickson

Also, check out the wonderful project diary for Autumn Oak Leaves that sjanova posted on Ravelry. She’s photographed several leaves she’s made throughout the month in different yarns and threads, and she has documented all of them. If you haven’t already been inspired to check your stash and pick up your needles, this will certainly do it.

Here is my little contribution to give you an additional idea:

Knitted Lace Edging Oak Leaf

Bits of Lace Oak Leaf with contrast stem and vein

To get the contrast color leaf vein, I used intarsia-style to work the stitches extending from the I-cord stem in the darker red yarn, and the remainder of the row in the brighter red.

Did I miss anyone? Feel free to add to the list of ideas by posting your comments.

I hope you have been having fun with the little Oak Leaf and will continue to think of ways to knit and use it with pleasure.

Stay tuned for the November Bits of Lace project. I’ll have it ready for you as soon as possible!

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More Ideas for Using Elements of Lace Edgings in New Ways

Posted on October 26, 2012 by jackiees

Reflections on designing the 1998 oak leaf

I hope the bit-size tutorial earlier this month, Designing with Elements of Lace Edging Patterns, has been inspiring you to look at the elements of lace edgings in totally new ways. To help you along even further, I have another example to share.

The Bits of Lace Oak Leaf pattern we are doing this month is actually part of a long-awaited second installment of designs for shaped leaves in lace that I first began in 1998 with this knit lace Oak Leaf medallion.

knit lace Oak Leaf medallion

1998 Oak Leaf Medallion

For the Oak Leaf Medallion, my design strategy was similar to that of Bits of Lace Oak Leaf, in that a lace edging pattern was the jumping-off point. But thereafter, the approach to designing the shaped leaf was quite different. I’ll outline that here to help you grow even more ideas to use the elements of lace edgings in new ways.

My jumping-off point for the 1998 Oak Leaf was the Barbara Anne Lace edging in Furze Hewitt’s book Knit One, Make One.

Barbara Anne Lace Edging

Barbara Anne Lace Edging

This is from page 90 of the hard-copy edition in case you have the book with this cover. There was also a paperback edition published. Unfortunately, the books are pretty rare to find these days. The discussion here is not dependent on you having the book, but I did want to be clear about my source.

Knit One Make One in Classic Knitted Cotten by Furze Hewitt - book cover

Don’t you think the visual detail of the Barbara Anne Lace is lovely? That undoubtedly is what originally drew me to looking at this edging.

The design for the 1998 Oak Leaf didn’t just happen without any work, though. It involved working many “what if” samples before I was pleased with the results and could chart the instructions clearly enough for others to follow.

What I ended up doing was entirely eliminating the header section along the straight edge, thus using these two elements only of the Barbara Anne edging (refer to the picture above to identify these for yourself):

  • the outer section of the edging with the shaped lobes
  • the interior “leaf spray” section

I then flip-mirrored the shaped lobe section on the other side of the leaf spray section. This shifts one side of the shaped lobes a row higher than the other, but it is hardly obvious except at the bind off near the stem. Since leaves are not absolutely perfect and symmetrical in nature, I actually think this adds some charm to the design.

Once I had the majority of the leaf worked out and charted, I still needed to do something for the tip of the leaf. With all the practice I had with making trial samples, I sort of just ad-libbed this to retain the same lacy look and feel in the leaf tip.

The resulting 1998 Oak Leaf is a one-piece design that is knitted flat without any sewing or picking up stitches. It begins with a cast on of 4 stitches, then is knitted flat from tip to base. The base of the leaf is then bound off leaving 3 center stitches, which are then worked in I-cord for the stem.

Should you be interested in knitting the 1998 Oak Leaf, the originally published pattern is still available for sale. But I must forewarn you that it is charted only and does take mindful attention as there is little repetitiveness in the 57 rows. But otherwise the knitter familiar with basic lace knitting can expect to have a fun knit with this pattern.

Posted in Bit-size Tutorials | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Uses for Little Lacy Leaf Medallions

Posted on October 14, 2012 by jackiees

How are you coming along on the little Oak Leaf? I’m delighted to hear from so many of you excited about this month’s Bits of Lace project.

Lacy Oak Leaf Medallion

Personally, I don’t have to have an end-use in mind beforehand for everything I knit (you might have guessed that I am moreso a process knitter than a product knitter). But I sense that many people do want to have a purpose, and that is why I thought this would be a good time to get our heads together on ideas. Just in case some of your are hesitant to knit such a seemingly frivolous item of whimsy, lol.

The Lurking Question: Now, what are you going to do with it? Continue reading →

Posted in Bits of Lace | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

A reminder to those who have not yet confirmed their membership subscription …

Posted on October 11, 2012 by jackiees

I’m delighted to have so many new members register here at KnitHeartStrings.com. But all of a sudden I am seeing several signups that have not yet confirmed the invitation you are emailed  to receive HeartStrings e-news as part of your registration.

If you are not already subscribed to HeartStrings news when you first register here, the system sends an invitation to the email address you entered on your registration form. You will want to confirm the invitation ASAP so you get the benefits of member-only content here at KnitHeartStrings.com.

If you need to change your email address for any reason, let me know so that I can make sure you don’t get dropped from the group.

Knit HeartStrings Banner Collage

Some of our past projects. Help me keep more coming.

I want you to continue to enjoy Bits of Lace. Please don’t feel shy about commenting about what you like, about what you’d like to do and learn about, and any questions or suggestions.

Read more about the The Key to Keeping Your Free Membership Active.

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Lots of downloads already!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by jackiees

Wow – there have already been 592 more member downloads of the Bits of Lace Oak Leaf pattern since I sent out the postcard announcement last night. I hope everyone will have lots of fun with this pattern!

Logged in members see a Download button for the pattern

A few people wrote they are having trouble downloading. It is unclear about specifics because computers and web browsers are all set up differently. The common thread seems to be that something has changed recently in IE where their security is blocking the download from completing. I am not a Systems Administrator, so do not know all the different details and possibilities that computers could have. Perhaps you have a computer expert you can ask for help. Or google for fixes you can apply to your computer or other alternatives.

Another possibility is to use a different web browser so that you can download completely. For example, Google Chrome or Firefox. If you don’t have one of these others, they are available for free download. Just do a google search for the download file that matches your operating system.

Thanks so much to those who have written in with Comments on the Bits of Lace (October) page to help those who are having trouble using their computer to download patterns. For those using IE, Beverly kindly gave step-by-step instructions about setting up your computer for automatic prompting for downloads.

In order for me to continue to offer monthly free pattern, I need to concentrate my efforts on knitting designs and instructional articles that are in support of our membership group’s objectives: Learning, sharing and taking the art of knitting to new heights.

I will continue to do my best with offering this membership site for your benefit and enjoyment. Please help me keep on track by helping yourself and each other as much as possible when it comes to computer problems or user issues that are outside of my control. Remember that there also are HELP topics for using the site that you can refer to first if you are having trouble.

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