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For the Love of Linen Stitch

Daily Color: “Descend with the painter into the dim tangled roots of things, and rise again from them in colours, be steeped in the light of them.” –Paul Cezanne

Six months ago I sat down with a pile of Koigu. I chose 8 skeins, each a different colorway, and began playing, arranging the skeins in various ways, dreaming up a linen stitch wrap. 78,000 stitches later, it's done.

Click on photo for larger image!

In my experience, knitters react to linen stitch in one of three ways:

1. Never tried it.

2. Tried it once, loved the result but HATED working it and would rather eat glass than ever use linen stitch again.

3. OMG this is the most fantastic stitch ever I can hardly imagine ever knitting anything but linen stitch again oh the texture and what it does with colors!

I fall--hard--into the third category. Maybe it's because I love weaving but have never learned how, or because I am frustrated painter, but how could I not want to do something that results in fabric like this?

I have used linen stitch with many different kinds of yarns and fibers, solids, multicolored, tonal, fine, not so fine, and loved the results every time, but by far my favorite yarn to use with linen stitch is Koigu Premium Painters Palette Merino. The colors blend and flow like a pointilist or Impressionist painting, the fabric is soft and supple yet sturdy, the drape and hand delightful. What's not to love?

But back to this wrap. I decided to work in stripes rather than blocks of color, but I wanted the colors to evolve from one end of the wrap to the other, so I staggered and overlapped the skeins, working in alternating 16- and 8-row bands: each skein began with 16-row stripes, then shifted to 8-row stripes when I ended one colorway and introduced the next. I carried the inactive yarn loosely up the edge, intertwining it with the working color every other row. I added new skeins by spit-felting the first 4 or 5 inches of the new color with the last few inches of the old color, so there were very few ends to weave in.

The wrap is warm, soft, not too heavy, and can be worn in a variety of ways.

I will not be creating a specific pattern for this design; this is a one-of-a-kind wrap! But if any hardy souls want to try making a similar piece, here are the technical details: 1400 yards of fingering weight yarn, one color or many; US size 10 needles (I used 24" circs but long straights would work); gauge: approximately 6.5 stitches to the inch before blocking, approximately 6 stitches to the inch after blocking. Cast on 120 stitches and work in linen stitch, alternating colors as you choose, until piece measures about 5 feet or desired length. Bind off, checking tension frequently to make sure the bound-off edge is neither too loose nor too tight, but just right.

Blocking

Though it may be tempting to skip blocking, I urge you to block this piece to relax the stitches and smooth the fabric. Soak in cool water with a few drops of wool wash,  carefully wrap in a large towel and press out excess water, then gently stretch and pat into shape. You will be surprised at how much the fabric will grow! Dimensions before blocking: approximately 59" x 19"; after blocking: 66" x 20". (Note that I patted the fabric out somewhat larger than this, but it shrank back a bit as it dried. If you want it to dry even larger, use blocking wires to hold that larger dimension.)

I do love this wrap--but I'm trying not to get too attached to it, as I hope to sell it. But as I worked on it, I daydreamed about and planned the next linen stitch wrap...

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Autumn Announcements

The busy season begins... and my calendar is starting to fill up! If you live in or near northwestern Vermont, or if you will be visiting the area this fall, I'll be teaching some classes and participating in a couple of art/craft shows. Click over to my Events page for details.


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Make My Day

Daily Color: “There are certain truths knitters come to know. Knitters make love tangible. We understand the value in simple work done well. That patience pays off. That most mistakes can be corrected, if you just work hard enough. That soft and strong aren't mutually exclusive. And that love isn't just in grand gestures; it's also in innumerable little hearts you hardly notice but that surround you and keep you warm.” –Mary Mooney

I got a text this morning from a dear friend. She had just boarded a train for Boston, and wanted to show me her travel knitting: a linen stitch infinity scarf, using my recipe. The train was already moving, so the photo is a little blurry:

I admired the yarn--Boboli Lace by Berroco, a blend of wool, acrylic and viscose. But then she told me a little more about this particular scarf:

"I started this aboard the ketch in Penobscot bay, knitting into it the sunshine and winds and porpoises leaping and the joy of sailing...it is for a friend challenged by illness who needs to keep warm this fall."

It is so gratifying and humbling that this little pattern of mine, worked by the hands of my dearest friend, will bring love and warmth and comfort, "the sunshine and winds and porpoises leaping and the joy of sailing," to another friend of hers in a time of need and vulnerability. It made my day.

If you'd like to make this infinity scarf, for yourself or for someone you love, click on the photo for the free pdf download.

Infinite Colors, a cowl/infinity scarf worked in fingering weight yarn.

Infinite Colors, a cowl/infinity scarf worked in fingering weight yarn.

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September Weekend

Daily Color: “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” –Wallace Stevens

Yesterday was a warm, golden September day, perfect for a long walk along the lake. Today, the other face of September, cool and gray, portending autumn, perfect for warm wool and hot coffee.

Linen stitch wrap, in progress. Eight or so colorways of Koigu Premium Painters Palette Merino

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