1. uncountable noun
Ribbing is friendly teasing. [informal]
I got quite a lot of ribbing from my team-mates.
2. uncountable noun
Ribbing is a method of knitting that makes a raised pattern of parallel lines. You use ribbing, for example, round the edge of sweaters so that the material can stretch without losing its shape.
1. uncountable (and never-ending) noun
Ribbing is the bit at the beginning of your knitting that is designed to suck all of the joy out of starting a new project.
Definition from Kelly’s Dictionary of Knitting Terms
I have no knitting to report this week, but do have some lovely new yarn. So here is a drive-by post with pretty yarn photos.
Above is Eden Cottage Titus Lace, a silk and merino blend in the colour Black Magic Rose. This is intended to be knit up into a birthday gift for Emma, but I am not sure about the colour. Since I haven’t been able to get into the shop, I ordered it online, and now think it may have a bit too much of a brown-ish tone and not enough purple. It also has a bit more variation than I had hoped for. I love the yarn, however, so will likely try again with a different colour. Emma, what do you think?
Below are mini-skeins of fingering weight British Hampshire yarn from The Little Grey Sheep, in 15 gorgeous shades:
These are intended for another gift, about which my lips are sealed. I am so in love with these. I can’t wait to start swatching.
I hope that your weekend was sunny and full of yarn!
Today seems like a good day for another Pattern Radar post. The sun is shining here in my little corner of England, and everyone is smiling. I had planned to head into London today to go yarn shopping, but the sunshine changed my mind and instead I am sitting in my back garden soaking up the sun. Writing this post is my alternative to buying yarn. (Much cheaper, too!)
Here are six new-ish patterns that have caught my eye.
Marzena writes a beautiful blog. It is in Polish, but never let a little language problem stop you from enjoying an excellent knitting blog! You can be content with the photos, or use Google translate, or even try to learn a new language through knitting. Her photos are gorgeous, she has a great sense of style, and is a talented knitter. I just love this sweater. It is so subtle, and the juxtaposition of the twill and the stockinette is very classic and chic. I also love the neckline; it has just the right proportions.
This one made me do a double take. It really deseves a second and a third look. I love my Neon cardigan, blogged here, designed by Joji, and I have long wanted to try another of her patterns. I love the geometry of this one. It manages to look both casual and tailored. You can’t see it in this photo, but the patterning is on front and back and it cascades to the sides in a very beautiful and organic way. I usually don’t like bobbles or reverse stockinette very much, but this sweater may make me re-think.
First of all, how can you not like a cardigan named after Rocket, my favorite of the Guardians of the Galaxy? In fact, the whole idea of this series is genius: Cardigans of the Galaxy, each design inspired by one of the characters. And she calls them Guardigans! I am so there. Why is this one Rocket? Mary says: “He gets a top-down cardi that’s the color of money (golden green!) with a diamond lace-and-cable motif that weaves in and out of a broken rib pattern. And hey, who isn’t a little broken?” Of course no cute gimmik will get me to like a cardigan that doesn’t have good design. This one does, and I trust Mary to deliver on all of the details and fit that make up a great cardigan.
Love! I love this design which has fantastic, chunky colourwork, and strikes both traditional and modern notes. To me, it combines the colours of Turkish pottery with the fabrics and motifs of Kilim tapestries. This design was published last year but has only recently come to my attention. I have never heard of this designer before but he has definitely caught my eye with this piece, and I will be watching him to see what he comes up with next.
Julie Hoover is the queen of simple, understated, but absolutely chic design. I drool over all of her patterns, which manage to look both fashionable and totally comfortable. This one, with its beautiful rippling cables and great proportions, is very appealing indeed. It is a grown-up and luxurious version of the standard cabled pullover. I love the line of the shoulder and armscythe, the long ribbing at the hips, and the fantastic way the ribbing transitions into the cables.
Today is the first day that feels like spring, and all of the cherry trees in our neighbourhood have just burst into bloom. Cherry blossoms are such a short-lived luxury; what could be better than a cherry blossom hat? This hat has delicate pink beads for the blossoms and looks just like the branches of a cherry tree against the brilliant blue sky. It is designed by Susan Rainey, one half of the fabulous blog-writing duo, The Rainey Sisters! I have been reading their knitting blog for over ten years, since before I even heard of Ravelry.
I hope that you enjoy these patterns. I am going to stop writing now and start being lazy!
I’ve got three projects on my needles; all of them blue!
1 – Sunbird Top, designed by Quenna Lee:
I blogged about this top last week and have made good progress, especially since I had to do some frogging. I was trying to decide between two sizes – one which would give me 1.5″ of ease and the other would give me 5″ of ease. I went for the larger size and got about this much knitted before trying it on and deciding it had too much ease. Instead of pulling the whole thing out and starting over with the smaller size, I frogged back to where the pieces were joined in the round. Here, instead of adding 18 stitches under each arm (12 for the lace panel and 3 stitches each side), I added 14 stitches (12 for the lace and 1 stitch each side). This means I was able to cut out 8 stitches which made for a much better fit. I’ve now caught back up and am zipping along with the body; it is a pleasing, intuitive knit.
2 – Sofi, a jacket designed by Hanne Flakenberg:
I haven’t posted about this one in a while; regular readers are commended for their restraint in not asking me about its disappearance. The truth is that I have been slowly working on it, and have made some progress. I love this to pieces but am content to have it be background knitting for now.
3 – The one that shall remain nameless for the moment, designed by me:
This one is an experiment, and is mostly me fooling around with a bunch of ideas, and frogging a lot. I will post all about it sometime soon. I don’t know if it will work out, but the colours are beautiful.
Three projects; many shades of blue. Maybe I am channeling Picasso and have entered my Blue Period.
Last August, I bought seven skeins of Carol Feller’s new yarn, Nua. I didn’t have a project in mind, but was curious about the yarn, mostly because of its interesting composition: it is 60% merino wool, 20% yak, and 20% linen. It is also sportweight, a weight which I really enjoy knitting with. This is the shade called Unexpected Macaw:
The wool, yak, and linen fibres take up the dye differently, which gives an interesting richness to the yarn. This particular shade reminds me of well-worn denim. There is a very natural, rough kind of look to it, likely from the linen, but it is incredibly soft, which I imagine is from the yak fibre.
I have been keeping my eye out for a pattern to use with this yarn. And then, last week, this one popped up in my pattern feed:
This is the Sunbird Top by Quenna Lee, published by Interweave Press. (A note to Ravellers: you can’t buy this pattern from Ravelry; you need to go to the Interweave site, set up an account and purchase a download. This means that you can’t store it in your Ravelry library.) I thought it would be lovely in the Nua. Here you can see the top back of the tee:
I was a bit worried about whether the knit-purl stitch pattern would show up in the Nua; it would certainly be crisper in a plump cotton yarn. However, I find the resulting fabric very pretty and subtle. The Nua feels lovely and I think it will result in a very breathable, soft fabric that feels great on the skin. Here is my progress as of this morning:
For the first week of spring, it is feeling decidedly un-springlike here. Having a sweet little tee on my needles is a good antidote and, hopefully, a precursor of beautiful weather to come.
