Knitting Under the Radar

Me&MagicCakeShawl

During the entire Art Show preparation time, from beginning of January to last week, I have been knitting. A lot. It always surprises me, every year, when busy full times hit, that I keep on knitting unaware of how the few rows here, some stitches there are adding up. I’ll be sharing just a few of the begun-and-completed projects from the last two months. This first one comes with many links for those of you who love to knit. Or, if you’re wanting to learn, perhaps it might inspire you to take up some needles and yarn. 🙂

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(On the yarn winder is the scrumptious Noro red I used for the ruffle on the edge. Surely every artist has a yarn winder attached to their drawing table?)

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I first saw/heard about this shawl on the blog of a favorite knit designer, Susan B. Anderson. She made one for herself, showed her pics of it in progress, and I drooled. The cool thing was that it used leftover sock yarns, wound into a “cake” using a yarn winder, joining the leftover bits using a very cool “Double Knot” technique. Susan directed us to Paula Emmons-Fuessle, the designer of this shawl, her pattern, and website too. I purchased the pattern, received a yarn winder for Christmas, learned the double knot technique from this video (Paula directs you to this one), and off I went. Paula’s pattern gives you a terrific way of remembering this technique and is worth the price of the pattern just for this! This is a very easy pattern! It’s your basic triangular shawl in stockinette, switching it up to garter whenever you like, adding any variation of “ruffle” you would like. (Paula’s pattern gives you several options for the ruffle.)

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I also discovered that Paula, known as Prairie Piper on Ravelry, has a podcast. I am new to the whole world of knitting podcasts. These are really awesome listening (or watching) segments, perfect for listening to whilst knitting! I’ve listened to several different ones, and thus far, Paula’s is my favorite! She is a bagpipist (is that a word?), she loves to walk and observe nature, and of course, is an awesome knitter and designer. I’ve actually knitted designs of hers before without really knowing who she was. I’m glad I’ve discovered her podcast! Here’s a link to her podcast/blog, and to her spot on Ravelry. You’ll enjoy getting to know her and her designs.

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The shawl was addictive to knit! It was much like reading a book whose chapters end with a hook: I just couldn’t wait to begin the next leftover yarn color, to see how it would look! I think I made mine a bit bigger than Paula’s, due to having so many leftovers. But then I stopped and realized I could hang onto the rest for my next Magic Cake Ruffle Shawl! I will surely knit this one again, and soon!

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Of course, I love drawing the finished knitted pieces. The reference photo was a bit of a funny pic as I purposely didn’t get my entire head in the photo. Two reasons: one, it was taken early morning before showering and “fixing” my hair! Two, I wanted the photo to concentrate on the SHAWL and not on me so much. And I do not particularly like photos/drawings of people with their whole heads chopped off.

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This morning I woke with the added image of the balls of yarn coming out of my head. I liked how the knitting needles looked like either antennae or chopsticks seen in hair sometimes. Just for fun. Knit. Then draw the knitting. Now THAT is fun!

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0 thoughts on “Knitting Under the Radar

  1. Wendy says:

    Beautiful!! I hope you post a picture of the shawl spread out so we can get a good look at it. It looks like it was a blast to knit. Always love those projects that keep me inspired to “just knit another row!” 🙂

    • jenpedwards says:

      Hi Wendy! Thank you for commenting! I am notorious for not blocking many of my pieces and thus I have yet to take a pic of it all spread out. As soon as I do, I will post a pic or two. You will love this pattern, if you haven’t already made it! Cheers and happy knitting!

  2. Timaree says:

    Lol, that yarn as the top of your head is just plain funny and cute! Love your shawl and your painting of it. I haven’t started mine yet as I am too backed up on other things.

    I have looked up some recipes and googled salt equivalents ( did I ever say I like challenges?) and the artisan type bread does call for 1 1/2 tablespoons salt to 6 1/2 cups flour but it is kosher salt and according to what I googled you should use half that amount if using regular salt. That should settle this matter lol.

    Thanks for dropping by my blog. Glad to have you visit.

    • jenpedwards says:

      Oh thank you for this info on the salt issue Timaree! I saw Kosher salt today at the store and almost bought some, but decided to try the lowered amount of what I already have first. I’ll try it both ways and see how it turns out. Thanks a bunch! Enjoyed visiting your blog today!

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