Monette's Shawl with a TUTORIAL

This is the third time I knit a shawl with the pattern I created five years ago. I love this pattern because it is so simple and the shawl turns out to be so comfy and beautiful!

I offered the two previous ones : the brown and The green, but I'll try to keep this one for myself... It is ideal to throw on my shoulders when I go outside to fill my basket with logs for the fireplace. As well I feel so warm and comfortable wrapped up in it, reading or watching tv on the sofa!

If you wish to knit such a shawl, you will find the TUTORIAL here : CLICK

Knitting Project Bag

After seeing many such bags on Pinterest and Instagram I decided to sew my own knitting bag.

I chose this lovely printed canvas from Elanbach which has a good firmness required for this kind of project. Very pleased with this first bag I will sew some others using plain canvas from my stash.

Until now I did not buy any new material. The purpose is : using all the stuff I have at home and decluttering.

On the last picture I displayed my new knitting bag next to a shawl I knitted and a cross stitch embroidery I achieved in 2012.

Country Knitted Large Shawl

Hi everyone, sorry for being absent for so long from the blog. The fact is that since my accident last February I could not yet sew or quilt because of back pains. The only thing I could do was knitting a little, sitting straight in my armchair. Thus my shawl is the only thing I have to show lately. I already posted before a green shawl the same style, and a tutorial.

For this last shawl I decided not to crochet the border, to give it a more rural style, and I am very pleased with its final look. The result is exactly as expected. (It doesn't often happen!).

I used a wonderful natural and soft yarn : Fonty Fado 662 (9 skeins for the shawl and 1 for the fringes), that I knitted with needles no 5 (French).

I hope that my next post will be relative to quilting as since a long time I have in mind a project that I am so eager to start!...

Green Shawl

Loving the pattern of this shawl, I knitted a second one. Here is THE TUTORIAL.

I did this one larger than the first one, I needed then 12 balls of the wool shawn HERE.

The crochet border is slightly different.

This is the easiest pattern possible : garstitch all along starting from one side corner, increasing every row and when the middle is reached, decreasing every row. The crochet border and the fringes are  optional.

So pleasant to knit watching TV!!!

Recovery!

After my last February misadventure, two months in bed, then wearing an orthopedic corset, here I am again going out for the first time. What a pleasure for this first going out to enjoy this wonderful bazaar that our friend Eleni was attending with many new items, great personal creations...! On the first picture I am having one of her lovely bags and I am wearing the green jacket I knitted last winter.

During my convalescence, little by little, I started knitting and sewing for my six months' old grand daughter.

With the green yarn I knitted a large shawl.

As regards the Log Cabin baby quilt I went on hand quilting.

Bohemian Shawl Fringes

My daughter wished to have fringes to this shawl. I had to order more yarn as fringes need many yards of wool. They need as well many hours work, almost as many hours as to knit the shawl! 

For how to make fringes, you can find the tutorial HERE.

On the pictures you can see a bag I had sewn with a lovely fabric designed by Anna Maria Horner.

When knitting I like to store my yarns in a color matching bag!

Bohemian Crochet Shawl Finished

I thought the shawl was finished, but my daughter who took those pictures wants it for herself and wants fringes. So there will be another post showing it with fringes. Therefore I have to make another one for myself! It is becoming "shawl mania" in this house! Meanwhile I am still working on extending my Gypsy quilt top. Not only "shawl mania" but as well "gypsy mania"...

Bohemian Crochet Shawl Progress

This job was absolutely addictive, I finished my shawl in five days! After doing one row, I could not 

resist to crochet a second one to see what would be the effect of the new color... and so on and so forth!

I am so rewarded by the result, I love it. The problem is that I have not enough yarn for all the 

fringes. I am not sure yet if I will order some more yarns or I leave it as it is without the fringes.

The style would be completely different : more "bohemian" style with the fringes...

Bohemian Crochet Shawl

When I sew this picture on Facebook I "fell in love" at first sight with this shawl. It inspired me to make my own one with the many leftover yarns I keep in my stash. I just had to buy some blue turquoise wool to be complete. Without pattern, I thought of starting my shawl by using the Half Granny Square method that is very easy, and then I tried to create new stitches when changing the color yarn. Like for quilting when I enjoy so much sewing scraps, and my favorite quilts are the scrappy ones, for knitting I love to use and mix various colors. It is very creative and a way not to be bored by using the same color all the time. And I find the result always very personal and joyful.

I followed this French video tutorial for the Half Granny Square method :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmHAeZzD4Kg

I used mainly Alpaca yarns with double thread and crochet 6 mm.

Knitted Shawl Instructions

My daughter thought in the end that the shawl was looking better on me than on her... lucky me... I keep it!

As a photographer, she took nice pictures of me wearing it.

After my last post about this shawl, several persons asked me the pattern. As I said, I had no pattern, but I will try to write the instructions on how I knitted it :

You need 8 skeins of 50g each (6 if you don't do the crochet border and the fringes).

I used a mixed merinos cashmere and silk yarn.
Needles US 8 - 5.0 mm

The shawl is knitted from one side to the other in garter stitch.

1. Cast on 2 stitches,
2. Knit in garter stitch,
3. Increase 1 stitch every end of the left side,
4. On the right side always knit straight, taking the first stitch twisted, without knitting it,
5. When you have finished knitting 3 skeins, start to decrease until you reach 2 stitches. Cast off.

If you know to crochet, make the border as you wish, I did it the simplest way, with basic double crochet stitches.

If you wish to make the fringes : cut 146 pieces of wool of 23.5" each, fold them in 2, and then make a knot as shown on the photo : 

I love shawls and have knitted many of them in the past. There are plenty of patterns of the web, but always so complicated that I thought of a way to make one simple, easy, but nevertheless beautiful and cozy. I am so happy with the result that I will make some others. It could be a good idea for a Christmas present... we all like shawls, don't we?

Shawl Almost Finished

I had found near my sister's house in Paris a small shop selling half price luxury yarns and thus I bought 8 yarns of a fine wool mixed with cashmere and silk. Coming back home I started quickly to use it to knit a shawl. I had no pattern, just seen on a lady wearing it in France. I regretted I did not think of taking a picture... it would have helped me a lot. But I must have photographed it mentally quite well as I believe that the finished result is very similar to the original.

Yesterday my daughter with her baby M. came for a visit, just as I was finishing putting the 146 fringes.
I thought I could keep this shawl for myself for once, but I am not sure if this will be possible. To understand, you just have to see how she took it and wrapped herself inside together with her baby!

I baked a French Bourdaloue Tart : poached pears on an almond cream. We had it with a cup of tea in the afternoon and I must say it was delicious.

In other words, we had a wonderful day!