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Hommage to the Ultimate Dandy!

29/12/2014

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BeauB Cardigan by La Maison Rililie Designs
There is a new cardigan pattern out and about - The BeauB, an ample piece which showcases subtle and understated features with it’s textured striping where the material itself becomes the focus, a simple stitch pattern on neckband, hem and pockets and lots of small decorative finishing details.
Maybe you have heard of it's inspiration, the famous fashion hero and ultimate dandy, Mr. Beau Brummell? 

He was the one to bring the stylish, minimalistic attire to new heights during Regency England and to focus on material, fit and understated elegance instead of overdone ornaments and frills, that were en vogue before this guy came along.

Especially the elaborately knotted neckpiece, that every gentleman of his time eagerly copied, was his statement piece - but Beau was generally concerned about discreet design elements and subtle details that made his clothes stand out without being flashy.
Beau Brummell, the ultimate dandy
isn't he cute?
Although he is more of a men's wear fashion icon, he still fascinates me in regards to attitude and design-philosophy (and also because of his wit, but that's a totally different subject), so that I wanted to make him "my" hero for one of my own designs.
BeauB Cardigan by La Maison Rililie Designs
BeauB Cardigan by La Maison Rililie Designs
In my cardigan, the sloped raglan shoulder was meant to give a natural looking and well fitting shape to the yoke, while a neckband with a fuller volume at the top allows for generous draping at the patterned, reversible neckline and thus following Beau's spirit of enhancing this area. The subtle stitch pattern is repeated at hem, pockets and cuffs, which feature a twisted i-cord edging that is easy to make but with more visual interest than a simple edging.
BeauB Cardigan by La Maison Rililie Designs
The extra long sleeves gradually become transparent and flow into a delicate repetition of the stitch pattern in their lower part. As the neckband, they can be worn folded up too, to show the reverse side of the simple knit/purl stitch pattern.
The whole cardigan is worked seamlessly from the top down in subtle striping, by knitting with two strands of yarn (held together or alone) in sequence to form the stripes, so that we get more of a discreet textured striping than a coloured one. This can of course be worked with a bigger visual impact, if the thinner yarn is knitted in a contrasting colour and not in the same as in my own project shown here.
MissBrummell Cowl by La Maison Rililie Designs


To celebrate the last days of 2014, I thought that a small present would be quite appropriate... so I thought that a contemporary version of Beau's neckpiece would be in order to accompany the launch of the BeauB cardigan. 

The MissBrummell Cowl will be offered for the last 3 days of the year as a gift when you buy the Cardigan. (To make the promotion work you'd need to put both patterns into the shopping cart before purchasing).
This simple cowl has an elongated front piece to keep the décolleté warm and cozy without adding bulk to the back side of the neck. It is a perfect accessory for collarless jackets and open front cardigans: like a turtle neck that can be taken off indoors.

You can buy both the BeauB and MissBrummell here on this site, or go over to ravelry to check them out and take a look at the lovely projects of other knitters.

I hope you like them and I wish you all a wonderful and inspiring New Year!!!

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Neat & Simple I-cord Grafting

20/12/2014

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Tutorial: i-cord Grafting; How to invisibly connect the ends of an i-cord together, by La Maison Rililie
About two weeks ago I showed you a method of working a stretchy applied i-cord (or i-cord bind off) which doesn't involve going up a needle size or change the look of your stitches. 
That technique can also be used to work with finer yarn than the one of the main project. 
I called it the "spaced-out" applied i-cord and I am glad that so many of you liked it!

So, let's imagine that you finished up your i-cord bind off on your neckline, hem or cuff - and it thankfully looks great and doesn't pucker - and now you want to close it up to finally be able to try your garment on and admire your hard work...
What do you do? Don't say that you are going to sew the ends together like that, hoping that nobody will notice the harsh line or bump right in the middle of your perfect, smooth, round and even i-cord edge??!!??

Well, as the title already gave away, in this post you can find the answer about how to graft the two ends of an i-cord invisibly together. 
For the ones that aren't already familiar with this technique, I prepared the following photo-tutorial to round up on the i-cord subject (for now): 

(Click on the pictures below to read the high-resolution PDF and download it for further reference if you like and find more tutorials here)
Tutorial: i-cord Grafting; How to invisibly connect the ends of an i-cord together, by La Maison Rililie
Tutorial: i-cord Grafting; How to invisibly connect the ends of an i-cord together, by La Maison Rililie
So... no more unsightly sewing lines, gaps or bulky connections in our i-cord universe anymore! 
And no need to avoid i-cords in general. This method might take much more time than a simple bind off, but it is so much more beautiful, isn't it?


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New Acquaintances

13/12/2014

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First of all: since we are talking New, we need to talk new yarn a bit!
I think it is always a happy moment to introduce the new friends we recently brought home to live with us... So, meet my new pals:
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
This one on the left is a good old acquaintance of mine (and probably your's too) I always have at least one Zauberball in my stash, because when a quick and fun striping effect is needed they never let me down: either in socks, shawls or on my funky grandpa! 
So, when I checked the website of Zauberball's maker, Schoppel-Wolle, and saw that they have a new similar make out there (this one is even 100% wool), I had to have it!! It is called XL Kleckse and is very soft (much more than the original Zauberball). It doesn't really have colour changes per se, but one colour in different intensity, an ombre effect of some sort. I can't wait to try it out in some stripes!
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
These guys up here are from Schoppel's Cat Print Hand Dye Collection: 6 Karat (80% wool and 20% silk) and have a lovely sheen that must look really gorgeous when knitted up! 
I especially love the green with the blue hues (colourway: Froschkönig - King of Frogs!!!). 
Well, it definitely feels and looks like it is something a royal amphibian would be happy to be clad in.
And I got some summery yarn, too: Leinen Los (70% wool & 30% linen) is a sport weight yarn that knits up with a nice hand and will be gorgeous in a draped garment. One can feel the linen much more in the grey yarn, which has more of a papery feel than the cream one. 
As you can see in the swatch I am thinking of mixing those two to make a high contrast striped "thing"... hopefully ready to wear in spring!
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
The last I got was this different, natural sock yarn called Alb Socke. The wool is locally sourced from Swabian Jura in Germany and it also has 15% linen in it - So there is no synthetic fibre in this sock yarn: The main reason I wanted to try it out, since I was keen on finding an alternative to the nylon that is usually mixed into sock yarn, to give it durability and longevity.
It's true that the linen gives this sock yarn a very different feel - my ordinary sock yarn feels much more "plasticky" than this one, which is soft but firm!
And I knitted my little swatch of Alb Socke with my new, tiny, short circular needles!
After hearing so much about the merits of knitting socks with 9inch circulars, I had to try them out myself and bought a bunch of them...
Short circulars on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
I can't really say that I am convinced, though.... they are so tiny that one needs to hold them very differently. After knitting about 20 minutes with these little fellows I felt a slight pain in my fingers, for the first time ever since I knit! Either I am getting old or It might very well be that I am not at all used to holding the needles like that and that my hands are not relaxed at all while knitting...  I definitely need to give them a chance though and see how it goes.
Up to this point, I am still quicker with my DPNs and working with them feels much more natural and easy on my hands. The good thing with the small circulars is that one doesn't get any laddering at all (since the knitting goes round and round). Bad thing is that I need stitch markers to mark the beginning of the round and to differentiate the insole from the top part of the sock... something that my DPNs were showing me at one glance before.
Short circulars on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
Besides the HiyaHiya sharps I have bought the Addi Premium (with the golden cord) and the stainless steel HiyaHiya (with the bend needle, which by the way I am not sure about either at the moment), in different needle sizes and 9 inch and 12 inch cords...

So, which are the short circulars you like best (if you are liking them at all)? 
And if so, why do you prefer them to DPNs?
I think that I am still on the fence with these...
Short circulars vs DPNs on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
But they definitely gain a big, important point because of their cuteness-factor!!!!!
(especially the HiyaHiya sharps with their teal coloured cord)
Short circulars on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie

Schoppel-Wolle on knittingtherapy blog, by La Maison Rililie
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Spacing Out....

7/12/2014

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...an i-cord edging!
I don't know if you ever had this problem of working either an i-cord bind off or an applied i-cord all around your magnificent, wonderful project just to find out (after 3 hours of uninterrupted labour) that it was worked too tightly and that instead of providing the most professional finishing for your hand knitted marvel, it is now sitting tensely on the edge, puckering and firmly drawing the fabric in.
This is not a nice experience, believe me (especially not when one ruins perfectly well fitting necklines like this)! 
After talking (and lamenting) about it numerous times with knitting friends I thought about a way to counteract this tight i-cord edging phenomena:
Tutorial: The applied spaced out i-cord, by La Maison Rililie
So... another tutorial was in order and here it is: Say hi to the spaced out, applied i-cord!
As always you can click on the pictures below to go to the high resolution document and actually be able to read this thing (or download it as a PDF).
Tutorial: The spaced out applied i-cord, by La Maison Rililie
Tutorial: The spaced out applied i-cord, by La Maison Rililie
This method to space out an added edging and to provide length and therefore more stretch can be used for all i-cord edges (not only the applied kind that is showed here on the sides of a knitted fabric, but also for binding off live stitches at the end of one's work).

One could even use a totally different, lighter weight yarn for the i-cord and cast off a project worked in DK with fingering or lace weight in this way...
...just play around to find out!

I do hope that now there are even more possibilities out there for you to stash bust, since you get more options to combine yarns and use your luxurious one skein of sock yarn only for the neckline and cuffs, for a really professional finishing this time.
Even if you'd need to work quite a lot of i-cords to diminish your stash, I am sure...
;)

Oh... and if you haven't seen my other tutorials you can always find all of them here.

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