Sauterelle lace shawl

I am now head first in with my series of accessories adorned with ruffles, started with Winter Berries, then Calumet, Millepertuis, and now Sauterelle.

Now, this shawl has been a new experience for me in design. Normally, I plan my design first, and then choose a yarn that will suit it. This time around, I made the reverse: I had a single skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light, in the 'grasshopper' colorway, and I had it for a long time in my huge yarn stash. I wanted so much to use this scrumptious yarn, and this color appealed so much to me, but I never got around to use it, partially because I liked it so much that I really wanted to make something special out of it.

Photo from Madelinetosh

It looks like you have spring in your hands! it made me feel like a little girl chasing grasshopper in the high grass behind school! And this is also why I named this shawl ''Sauterelle'', which is the French name for Grasshopper, and don't it look just like it?

Photo from Arbrealettre

So, all in all, I decided it was springtime, I was no longer a little girl, and I had to make something to put over my shoulders while I watched my very own little grasshopper chaser run in the backyard! I flipped trough the pages of my endless pile of stitchionnary (yes, I have too many, and I have them in both French and English!), decided on a variety of simple lace stitch that particularly appealed to me, made a swatch, and voilà! Sauterelle was born!

As you may see in the pictures, this pattern is using a Vikkel Braid to make the transition from the last lace portion to the ruffles. Some may find it hard to follow the written directions from the pattern, but I will compile a video tutorial for you and post it in my blog before the pattern is released. In the meantime, you can follow these links:

The Daily skein: a photo tutorial, a bit small and in the round, but totally accurate!
Sunset cat design: a written explanation from a good and experience designer, very nice as well.
The Proverbial Knitter: and excellent video, large and clear, in the round but easily converted.
Jodi's Weblog: another photo tutorial, very nice and clear!

The pattern also uses the KRL increase to make the straight line you can see in the pictures. This site has an excellent number of free videos:



Pattern released!

Millepertuis lace shawl

After having made Winter Berries and Calumet, I was so in love with the idea of ruffles that I decided to create a collection of patterns on this theme. I am like that most of the time: I can obsess on a precise idea for a while, mentally looking for all possible venues to exploit a theme. I realized that my current goal to go on an extreme yarn diet would allow me to do just this with my new obsession: ruffles. I can do as many ruffly designs I want, I have all the yarn I need to do so right in my office! So I decided to create a collection of at least 6 designs, and I named it ''It's so FLUFFY!'', after watching the movie Despicable me for about 100 times with my son (when he likes a movie, he can seriously ask for it 3 times a day...). I will include both Calumet and Winter Berries in the collection, so this is officially number 3 out of 6! Yay!

 This shawl has a classic top down construction and a triangular shape, and the ruffles are worked from the body, evolving naturally from the lace. Here are the first pictures of it:

I have to admit that this yarn is in fact a cheating on my yarn reduction mission: it was given to me by the very nice owner of Biscotte&Cie, an independant dyer from my Quebec homeland. The yarn is Felix, and the color is 'Sorbet'. It is absolutely marvelous, the color variation just interesting enough to let the simple lace stand out and is very soft. I would recommend the yarn to anyone, try it! The stitch pattern is very interesting and very easy. It comes from an old French stitchionary my mother gave to me and that she bought when she first learned to knit. You can have a better look at it in this picture:

My favorite thing about this design? The ruffles that grow out of the lace with large, round eyelets:

This will surely be a must in my spring wardrobe! Or maybe a gift to someone special?