If you’re like many knitters, during the height of summer you may find yourself impatient for the brisk days of fall and even winter, when you can pull out those woollen items created with long hours of pleasant labor.  And yet-- human nature being what it is-- during those wintry periods, even knitters may find themselves remembering with longing those lazy hours on the beach in July or August:  the penetrating heat of the sand, the glints of light off the water, the cooling salt spray flying off the crests of the waves.  That’s why these gloves are a perfect anytime project:  during the warmer months, they’ll augur frosty days to come, and once those days arrive, the wavy stitches, deep ocean teal and crystal bead droplets will remind you of those carefree seaside afternoons. SizesWomen’s S-M (M-L)Circumference (unstretched):  7”/18 cm (8”/20.5 cm); to fit hand circumference of 7-8”/18-20.5 cm (8-9”/20.5-23 cm)Length:  10”/25.5 cm (11”/28 cm)DifficultyIntermediate knitter/beginning beader; skills required include reading chart and working in the round. MaterialsAlchemy Yarns Synchronicity (50% silk, 50% wool; 118 yds/108 m per 50 g skein); 30W: Spruce; 2 (2) skeins.Size S-M:  1 set US #5/3.75 mm double-point needles OR size to obtain gaugeSize M-L:  1 set US #7/4.5 mm double-point needles OR size to obtain gaugetapestry needle; waste yarn or stitch holdersbead needle for threading beads (I used The Big “Eye”) Clear glass beads, size 6/0 (4 mm), 52Suggested Yarn SubstitutesBrown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Superwash or Karabella Aurora 8 GaugeSize S-M:  24 sts/ 32 rows measured over 10cm (4 inches) in stockinette stitch (st st)Size M-L:  21 sts/ 28 rows measured over 10cm (4 inches) in st st Pattern NotesSee attached charts.  The original stitch pattern (“Seaweed” from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns) is used for the left glove only, while the pattern for the right glove is its mirror image. Both left and right gloves are fully charted to show the position of beads and construction of thumb gusset and fingers.  Directions are the same for S-M and M-L; altering gauge by using different size needles results in two finished sizes.  Follow written directions as well as charts!  Picked up and knit on stitches for upper hand and fingers are not shown on charts, but are worked following chart for stitches adjacent to each part.    Thread beads onto yarn before casting on, pushing beads down along yarn until they are needed.  Beads actually sit between 2 purl stitches; to place bead, purl first stitch, push bead into place, and purl second stitch.Click here to purchase pattern pdf ($3.50)!  Includes written directions, photos and full charts for both hands.  By the way, if your fingertips prefer to be covered, instead of binding off each glove finger, just continue the stitch pattern as established until each finger is slightly longer than your own, and then do not bind off:  instead break the yarn, thread it through all stitches, pull to close, and then fasten on the inside of the finger. 

I'm really quite fond of these gloves...but no, I don't normally wear them to the beach.  I dug up this photo from my archives of almost exactly two years ago, when I was planning to submit Seaside to Magknits for publication.<

Sadly, the Magknits site has been abruptly shut down; I will always be grateful to them for the chance to showcase several of my early designs to a wide web audience, and it's unfortunate that the same opportu

Well, not me; but it appears that one of my two patterns included in the upcoming book Expectant Little Knits will grace the cover!  (At left:  the Cover Girl pre-blocking.)  That's a first for print media for me, although I did go three for three in my patterns for Magknits last year.  (Unfortunately, my pattern for a child's wrap sweater in the upcoming Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts did not make the cover, and alas, perhaps did not even find a flesh-and-blood model). Allora, non io; pero', sembra che uno di' miei due modelli inclusi nel libro Expectant Little Knits sara' sulla copertina!  (A sinistra:  la Cover Girl prima era bloccato.)  Ecco un primo per pubblicazione sulla carta, benche ho fatto "tre per tre" nei miei modelli per Magknits l'anno scorso.  (Purtroppo, il mio modello per un golf per bambini nel Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 non e' sulla copertina, e (che peccato!) forse non ha nemmeno trovato un' indossatore con corpo humano.) P.S.  Go Red Sox!! Forza Red Sox!

Hey, even lichen-locked cherubs need to stay warm.  Click the link below to download the Cinnabar Scarf pattern in Adobe Acrobat format.

Download cinnabar_scarf_complete.pdf

A confession:  When I was working on the Cinnabar Scarf for the December 2006 issue of Magknits, I ran out of time, so when I judged the length to be long enough to photograph, I bound off, weaving the tail in very loosely, and took my pictures, figuring I would undo the bindoff and finish the last couple of repeats when I had more time.  So what?  So nothing...until I undid the bindoff a few days ago, started knitting, looked at what I had just completed, and said, "Hmmm, that doesn't look quite right."   I had printed my own pattern from Magknits to refresh my memory, and was following the directions there....  Uh oh. The photo at left shows the correct version, and the one at right shows the error.  Can you see it?  No?  Oh, well never mind, then. Okay, I have to admit it's not a glaring error, but it IS there.  If you examine the "Seafoam" stitch portion of the scarf--the horizontal waves-- you will note that two purl ridges separate the dropped stitch sections from each other, and for the sake of symmetry, I wanted two purl ridges to separate the entire "Seafoam" section from the "Double Ribbed Mock Cable" section, both top and bottom.  And that's how my sample scarf looks--except for the first section I knit following my WRONG instructions.  In that section, the top of the "Seafoam" section is separated from the "DRMC" section by only one purl ridge. I haven't heard from anyone who knitted the scarf and noticed anything amiss, which is why I was tempted to just leave well enough alone; ignorance is bliss, right?  (Feel free to toss in your own favorite cliche here.)  If it were me, even if I was pleased with the scarf before I found out it wasn't quite right, it would be hard to look at it in quite the same light after I had realized the STUPID designer goofed when she wrote up the pattern. At left is Cinnabar's backside, with the section with the error  near the bottom of the photo.  You can also see the backside (sans errors) in the top photo here; you can tell back from front because there are two knit stitch ribs forming the "spine" of each Mock Cable, instead of three; also, there are three purl ridges at the bottom of each "Seafoam" section, instead of two--I couldn't figure out how to avoid that.  So now it is also clear what I meant when I said the scarf is "very nearly" reversible. This has been a long-winded mea culpa, but if you're still reading, I want to make an offer to all who have completed (or partly completed) this scarf, and in their newly non-ignorant state are now less than happy with the result:  send me an email, and I will send you free of charge any one of the patterns available on this site, along with the corrected Cinnabar Scarf pattern.  ( I've already notified Kerrie at Magknits, so hopefully the pattern there has already been updated.)    Edited to add:  I checked Magknits today and the pattern has not yet been corrected, so also email me if you would just like the updated pattern.   

Pattern now available!  The rich detail and color of carved cinnabar were the inspiration for this hat (for the coordinating scarf pattern, see the December 2006 issue of Magknits).  I used a

Have you seen the December Magknits yet?  I finished this hat too late to include in the Cinnabar pattern on Magknits, and I'm still working on the hat pattern, but I hope to finish it soon.

to get eye-catching photos!  Last April, while we were in Florida, I recruited the husband to play photographer, donned bathing suit and gloves, grabbed my hapless toddler's hand, and posed like an idiot on the beach, all in hopes of increasing the chances that my pattern for "Seaside," now in Magknits, would be accepted for publication.&nbs

This cute raspberry number was knitted by Thiire from Finland.  She e-mailed me before starting the hat crown decreases:  I am knitting the smallest size, and am about to start the crown shape. Crown shaping:  Rnd 1: *K1, YO, k2, SSK, (k2tog) twice, YO. Rep from * to end of rnd. 64(72, 80) sts.Rnds 2, 4, 6, 8: K.Rnd 3: *YO, (SSK) twice, k2tog, k1, YO, k1. Rep from * to end of rnd. 56(63, 70) sts. I do not understand the parts which I colored red above. Am I meant to do k2tog twice (or not at all) in the round 1?Am I meant to do SSK twice or not at all in the round three? At first I didn't understand her confusion--and then I realized that she was wondering if the fact that the k2tog and the SSK were in parentheses meant that they should only be worked for the medium and large sizes.  I was trying to avoid confusion by using those parentheses, but I think they are really unnecessary. Thanks for your question, Thiire!  This pattern-writing is certainly a learning process.