Day at the Beach

The kids were wonderful last weekend, patiently waiting for me to be done with the work on the Liesl Kerchief pattern, bringing me lunch and dinner and sending me "I love you" notes.

Today was a vacation day, so we went to visit my parents in Rockport. We spent a great day at the beach.

...Little Miss SockPixie enjoying some chips after her swim... Looking quite serious... Maybe she was wondering how she could get back at her siblings for splashing her...

Young Mr SockPixie tired after a lot of snorkling... Looking more grown up every day...

And Little Mr SockPixie, a frozen but happy snorkler! Don't you love the hair!

I got to rest, and hang out with my parents. It was a great day!

The Liesl Kerchief Pattern is ready

The Liesl Kerchief pattern is ready. After a few technical problems, everything is now working perfectly.

The Liesl Kerchief is a great project for hot summer knitting. It uses only one ball of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena, under 153 yards, and is so quick to knit. With its delicate lace edging inspired by a 40's vintage doily, Liesl, which can be worn both as a or as a scarflet, has a timeless feminine beauty. The pattern has both written instructions and charted instructions for the lace edging, as well as beautiful pictures and a companion video series explaining all stitches and techniques used in tha pattern. I hope you will enjoy knitting Liesl as much as I have... Click on the Buy Now Button to purchase the pattern and download it easily.  (You do not need to be a Ravelry member, nor do you need to have a Paypal account.)

                                                                     

For the first time, Mr SockPixie and I worked on a series of companion videos to the pattern. The videos cover all the important stitches and techniques in the pattern in order to make it as simple and enjoyable as possible for you to knit Liesl.  Here is part 1 for you to see. To view them full size, click on the title link under each video.

 

                          

              Liesl Kerchief - Part 1 - Starting the Kerchief from SockPixie on Vimeo.


                          
                           Liesl Kerchief - Part 2 - Increases from SockPixie on Vimeo.

                          
                           Liesl Kerchief - Part 3 - Decreases from SockPixie on Vimeo.

                          
                          Liesl Kerchief - Part 4 - Picot Edging Bind Off from SockPixie on Vimeo.

I look forward to getting your feedback, and to seeing all your beautiful Liesls.
Have a great evening!

The "Lace Kerchief" Has a Name and the Winning Comment Is...

Tonight, before I tell you the name I have chosen for the kerchief, and before I announce the randomely picked winning comment, I want to thank you all for your comments, for your creativity, your imagination, and for all the inspiration you gave me. So many times as I was reading your comments I would exclaim "Oh, I love this name!"
So the first thing I want to do tonight is give you a virtual bouquet of flowers to thank you, a bouquet of flowers from my beloved JP pond at sunset.

Inspired by all your comments I decided to name the pattern Liesl, the Liesl Kerchief: a little Vermeer, a little bit of France, a little bit of old Europe, a touch of medieval, a pinch of timelessness, a dash of romance, a hint of vintage, a summery night, simplicity...This is what Liesl evokes for me and much more...

I kept the best for last, the winner of the giveaway. I picked a comment at random using the Random Number Generator. I accounted for any double posts and used the order in which your comments appeared as they were posted to the blog and in my email to ensure they would be counted in the correct order.
And... the winner tonight is... Rachel!

rachel said...


going with a 40s glamour idea how about myrna kerchief for myrna loy


Congratulations Rachel! Use the Contact Me link in the upper right hand corner of the blog to give me the email address you would like the pdf e-mailed to, and your physical address for the yarn to be mailed to.

The pattern will be available Sunday July 18 at around 7 p.m. East Coast time. It is getting its last tech editing, and the videos are ready!

I wish you all a great evening!

"Lace Kerchief": A favorite detail

There is one particular detail I love in the "Lace Kerchief". The little i-cord ties are finished each with a single  delicate Japanese seed bead. If the hair is slighty shorter, they highlight the beauty of neck, looking almost like dewdrops.

Remember that this lace kerchief does not have a name yet. I would love it if you could help me find a name for it. Regardless of which name I select, I will pick a comment at random  to receive a gift copy of the pattern and its video as well as a ball of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena cotton. Be sure to leave your comment by Saturday July 17 at 8 p.m. East Coast time. Click on the link to read about the "lace kerchief" pattern and to leave a comment for the giveaway and to help me find a name: Name Me! . 

"Lace Kerchief" Photoshoot

I wanted to share with you this picture from today's photoshoot of the "lace kerchief". The sun was shining gently, it was almost sunset on JP pond with an antique boat house in the background. My two daughters were loving their new kerchiefs... It was a beautiful moment...

Remember that this lace kerchief does not have a name yet. I would love it if you could help me find a name for it. Regardless of which name I select, I will pick a comment at random  to receive a gift copy of the pattern and its video as well as a ball of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena cotton. Click on the link to read about the "lace kerchief" pattern and to leave a comment for the giveaway and to help me find a name: Name Me! .

Knitting in hot weather and giveaway

If you live on the East Coast, you know that it has been horribly hot and muggy here for at least 2 weeks. I actually call this type of weather "sit and sweat". It is practically too hot to knit, but I cannot live without knitting. So I had to think of something. I set out to design something small, yet fun and made with cotton yarn.

I had a couple balls of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena, one red, and one blue. My project needed to require no more than 153 yards. The red project would go to Miss SockPixie, and the blue one to Little Miss SockPixie.

I have a fondness for simple summer kerchiefs, that you can either wear on you head, or around your neck. I am endlessly making some out of fabric, but thought what if I made some knitted ones?

I opted for a simple triangular center, and a lace border. The lace pattern is actually based on a vintage 40's doily. I adapted the stitch pattern to fit my purpose. The little picot edging adds to the vintage feel of this charming romantic project. It also gives an informal, innocent touch to the kerchief. I am particularly fond of the sun like pattern in the center of the kerchief.

The project is small, light, cotton and super fast to knit,and only uses 1 ball of Siena, perfect for that odd ball left in your stash. The ideal kind of summer knitting!

I am testing the pattern right now. The photoshoot will happen tomorrow. I love taking pictures, so this should a lot of fun.  Hopefully there will be a little sun for us! I should have the pattern ready by this Sunday. I will be offering it as a pdf for $3.00, and am creating a video companion to guide you through the knitting steps. I often feel when knitting myself, or when answering your questions that things would be so much easier if we could just see it. I hope you will let me know what you think of this idea of video support.

Oh, one last thing. This lace kerchief does not have a name yet. I would love it if you could help me find a name for it. Regardless of which name I select, I will pick a comment at random  to receive a gift copy of the pattern and its video as well as a ball of Rowan Classic Yarns Siena cotton.

Just leave a comment with your suggestion by Saturday July 17, 8 p.m. East Coast time.

Back to testing...

I could not resist any more...

All this spinning, and playing with colorful rovings made me want to get my dyes out of the cupboard.

Here is the result of today's color play...

Like a sunset in the sky of Normandie in Trouville when the clouds look like they are on fire against the blue grey ocean... This is going to be so nice to spin...  I love to spin so much... I am even thinking about selling my handspun... Not a lot of it, just a little of it...What do you think?