May Yarn Bingo!!

Hello and welcome to May, Yarnophiles! :-) 
I hope this finds you well and looking to experiment with new knitting techniques.

Our Yarn BINGO for May is to knit/crochet a cable or lace pattern.

You may have lusted over those beautiful Aran knit sweaters with their cables and bobbles and thought you could never knit something as beautiful. But, cable knitting isn't as difficult as it may look. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to take a class in Ireland with Irish knit designer,   Carol Feller ,who incorporates cables in her beautiful, modern designs.  She has tutorials on her website or you can go directly to Stolen Stitches for cable tutorials.  You can also find her patterns on Ravelry.  

Some easy cable projects on Ravelry are:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bobble-cable-ascot 

 https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/owl-dishcloth---blanket-patch

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ruben-cowl  

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alicia-ear-warmer (crochet)

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cabled-fingerless-gloves-20 (crochet) 

Of course, you'll need a cable needle to hold your stitches when you are working a cable pattern. Wild and Wooly has an assortment of needles in different sizes, to match the size of your yarn.

While we think of Ireland's Aran Islands for cables, we think of Scotland's Shetland Islands for lace knitting. Lace knitting is fun and lovely to wear here in Charleston all year round. Perhaps you've seen the picture going around on social media of the woman who knit herself a lace fence?  Or perhaps you've heard about those lovely Shetland lace wedding scarves?

Of course, you don't have to knit a fence. Lace knitting is simply a pattern combining decrease or regular stitches and yarn overs into an overall decorative pattern over several rows. We have several books with lace knitting patterns and instructions here or YouTube has many good lace knitting tutorials.  It's always a good idea to separate your repetitions of lace patterns across a row with stitch markers.  The best way to keep track where you are in a pattern or chart is to use removable highlighter tape markers.

 
Some easy lace projects on Ravelry are: 

Crochet:

 https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/0-867-star-for-christmas

Knit:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/borderless-feather-fan-cloth 

I hope you'll try these techniques and enjoy them! It's always good to broaden our skill set! 

Stay healthy and remember, we are only a phone call or click away!  

Hugs,

Corinne