Cambio casa

Sto cambiando casa, non so se chiuderò ATKnits ma nel frattempo si stanno preparando piccole-grandi cose e ho aperto una "sede" nuova. Oltre che su Maglia-Uncinetto.it, nei prossimi mesi mi troverete su Ai ferri corti, il blog del mio nuovo progetto (cartaceo).

Supereasy accessories

Rib and roll fingerless mittens

I am currently working on a handful of supereasy accessories, which will be on sale probably in a few weeks. The issue with these accessories is that they are geared to Italian mainstream knitters, which forces me to simplify trying not to idiotify the patterns. With one exception they will be beginners' patterns, using only knit and purl stitches and very basic shapes. To make these patterns a bit more interesting I am uysing stitch patterns from the Guernsey tradition, which make everything look nicer and more visually interesting but require no special skill, only a bit of attention at what you are doing.

Infinity scarf knitted a a strip and sewn

Designing this kind of stuff is a bit difficult for the very reason that you need to get nice results from a very limited range of tecniques. Not only cables or lace may be offlimits, but also short rows, directional decreases and other shaping is beyond the graspo of some of the knitters these patterns are aimed at. It's elating and depressing at the same time. Such limited resources make one strain to devise something that looks cute (or at least decent) once worn, is attractive to the eye but at the same time will not bore you to death in 15 seconds. Not fun, but oddly fascinating.

La maglia d'estate: un corso per lavorare il cotone

Il 12 maggio si terrà il mio laboratorio "La maglia d'estate. Come lavorare al meglio il cotone e i filati estivi". Il corso si terrà a partire dalle 10, presso la KnitHouse Unfilodi (www.unfilodi.com) di Carate Brianza e fino al pomeriggio, in una sola giornata.

- Quali ferri per il cotone.
- Tecniche di base per la lavorazione del cotone: il problema della tensione regolare.
- Il pizzo e il cotone, punti semplici e tecniche di bloccaggio.
- Le trecce e il cotone, come realizzare intrecci di bell'aspetto con filati poco elastici.
- Come ottenere un drape ottimale con un filato relativamente rigido.

Il corso prevederà come materiale un gomitolo a testa di filato Paris di Dröps (compreso nel costo del corso).
Le corsiste dovranno portare dei ferri (tradizionali o circolari a scelta) da 5 mm, a cui agguingere un ferro o una punta per i circolari intercambiabili da 4,5 o 4 mm e il ferretto supplementare per le trecce. Per chi non ne fosse in possesso potrà acquistarli in Knit-House.
Per il corso è necessario avere una buona competenza nel lavoro a maglia per quanto riguarda i punti base (dritto, rovescio e coste) e sulle diminuzioni (2 dritti assieme e accavallata o PPL) per la parte sul pizzo.

Il costo del corso che dura tutta la giornata di sabato con due pause ristoro offerte da Unfilodi è di 20 euro.
Per ulteriori informazioni visitate il sito di Unfilodi. per ragguingere Carate Brianza da Milano è possibile recarsi presso il capolinea di Sesto FS della linea 1 della metropolitana e lì prendere l'autobus per Carate (stallo Z221). La fermata Bianchi Ospedale (la prima di Carate) è a circa 200 metri dalla KnitHouse.

Socks and more socks

paradox Socks, photo ©EFN

These past few days have been sock-filled. First came the easy ribbed socks that I have published in Italian only on Maglia-Uncinetto.it, a supereasy pattern that I do not aim to translate. Then came the Paradox Socks, for the moment being only in English (but I will translate them a little later on to Italian) that went on sale as a part of the European Fiber Network KALendar. Hope you like them!

Finished and worn

It got so freezing cold that I decided to wear the new vest right away. It's knitted at 3 sts to the inch in pure wool, so it should keep me warm enough. For the rest it's a basic top-down raglan in stockinette with YO increases, thin garter borders and some waist shaping. With a bit of leftovers I made an I-cord to lace the front decoratively. Nothing fancy but warm.

A vest is (almost) born

Some knitting of my own that I can share, at last. This is a top-down raglan vest knitted on 6.5 (10 1/2) needles. Uberfast, all stockinette with garter borders. It took me lots of pondering to decide a way to make it look lighter, since the wool is rather bulky, and ended up doing all shaping with YOs. Decreases included. More about it once it's done.

Diamond Border Shawl, the English version

This shawl is knitted top-down with 4 increases on each RS row. The central part of the shawl is worked in stockimette stitch for maximum warmth and easyness, while the edge is woorked in a simple lace stitch that creartes large diamonds.
The original shawl was knittied with three balls of a nondescript cheap merino stash yarn from a market stall, a fingering chainette witha  delicately heathered coloring and a velvety feel, which unfortunately didn't block well. To work the shawl you will need about 600 meters or 660 yards of fingering or sock yarn in a single color or in two colors (at least 400 meters/440 yards in one color and 200 meters/220 yards in the other). If you have more yarn you can make the shawl bigger by widening the lace border by working more repetitions of the A chart.
Pay attention to the way you work the fist stitch in every row: it muust be kitted, not slipped, to grant maximum elasticity to the shawl and an easy blocking.
Continue reading the post for the pattern.