Only Variegated - Part 2

I'm close to finished with the variegated prayer shawl. This is maybe the easiest kind of patterning you can do. The colors create the design.

You can do a completely random color arrangement if you want to, but I have one trick that organizes the colors just a little.

I like to start in the middle with variegated yarn. Then I cut a number of strands. You'll notice that one side of the yarn is mostly greens and turquoises. The other side is mostly purples and blues. I weave the strand on whichever side the end most closely matches.

The colors on the strands don't match exactly along the way, but you end up with pools of color that blend into each other. To me, that makes a more pleasant design.

That's my only hint for working with variegated yarn.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Joining Two Pieces of Mesh

Let's say that you've done a few projects and you have some end pieces left over. You don't want to throw them away, but they just aren't big enough to do you much good.

Well, you can make placemats, coasters, or something smaller.

Or you can join two or more pieces to make a larger canvas.

Overlap the edges. You don't have to trim them if you don't want to, but make sure that you start with the narrow part and work to the part with the larger overlap. Be careful to match the holes in the rows. Edges sometimes get stretched out and you can easily miss your row.

You may want to plan to work a side-to-side pattern for this or else baste the overlap and remove it some at a time as you work over that section.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz


 

How Many Rows?

Back in the day, a couple of companies used to have specific patterns for exactly how many rows to do of each color and how long each strand of yarn should be cut. The way they could effectively do that was because they sold everything as a kit with a given length of mesh and a specific amount of yarn.

I can't tell you everything about working your pattern because I'm not selling you a kit. You get to choose how large a piece you want to make. You get to choose the color, the length of fringe, and how you want to make the best use of the information I'm sharing with you.

Some people will be frustrated not having a specific pattern. I hope you can make something you enjoy from your own imagination. If you give it a shot and you don't like some part of it, it's pretty easy to pull out that section and redo it a different way.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Squares - The Math

I'm an inveterate crocheter turned weaver, so you'll have to forgive me if I turn some of my favorite crochet patterns into weaving.

This is going to be my rendition of a woven granny square lap robe.

The math got all weird when I had to factor in the difference in the width of the rows up and down as opposed to across. The up and down rows are a bit narrower than the ones going across. That means you can't count the same number of rows in both directions if you want to make a square.

I made my up and down borders 7 rows wide. When I started going across, I realized that 7 rows would be out of proportion with the up and down rows. It turned out that the right numbers would be 7 rows worked up and down and 5 rows worked across.

That meant I also had to refigure the numbers inside of the squares. I started with a plan for 7x5 squares in the lap robe - with 46 rows in each square in each direction. I got out a ruler and counted both ways. Now my numbers are 46 by 39.  So the number of squares actually increased by a whole row of 7. Now I'll be working 42 squares instead of 35.

I don't know if you want to call this one a "plaid" but the pattern does cross itself.

I was hoping that all of the visible mesh would be covered once I went in both directions. It doesn't seem to happen that way. When I next work a plaid, I will have to take that into account.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Patterns for the Length of the Mesh

Here are some of the basic patterns for weaving the length of the mesh.

These four are made by choosing to weaving up or down in the first hole of the row and then weaving up and down in each hole of the row going up.

I will be writing these patterns working from right to left.

 

 

The red downward diagonal (working from right to left) is made like this:

 

Work down in the first hole of the first row.

Work up in the first hole of the second row.

Work up in the first hole of the third row.

Work down in the first hole of the fourth row.

Work down in the first hole of the fifth row.

 

Repeat 2 ups and 2 downs to form the pattern.

 

The green chevron (working from right to left) is made like this:

 



Work down in the first hole of the first row.

Work down in the first hole of the second row.

Work up in the first hole of the third row.

Work up in the first hole of the fourth row.

Work up in the first hole of the fifth row.

Work down in the first hole of the sixth row.

Work down in the first hole of the seventh row.

Work down in the first hole of the eighth row.

Work up in the first hole of the ninth row.

Work up in the first hole of the tenth row.

Work up in the first hole of the eleventh row.

Work down in the first hole of the twelfth row.

 

Alternate 3 ups and 3 downs to form the pattern.

 

 

 

The red upward diagonal  (working from right to left) is made like this:

 



Work down in the first hole of the first row.

Work down in the first hole of the second row.

Work up in the first hole of the third row.

Work up in the first hole of the fourth row.

Work down in the first hole of the fifth row.

Work down in the first hole of the sixth row.

 

Repeat 2 downs and 2 ups to form this pattern.

 

The blue zig-zag (working from either direction) is made like this:

 

Go down in the first hole of every row.

 

These are the basics. There are a few special patterns that we can play with, but most of the old patterns and probably the ones you are likely to use the most will have one or a combination of these basics.

 

Thanks for visiting with me.

 

Kathi Linz

Patterns Side-to-Side

Weaving side-to-side on the mesh.

These two ways to weave make a stacked brick pattern:

Blue - Go down in first hole of each row.
Red - Go down in the first hole of the first row.
          Go up in the first hole of the next row. Alternate.
It makes no difference in the pattern which one you choose for this pattern.

Close up of stacked bricks - start of rows

Diagonal weaving
Go down in the first hole of each row. Turn the corner at any point you choose, but make sure that the following rows turn the corner at the same point.

My next post will show some weaving patterns using the up-and-down rows.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Gone to Plaid

Sorry, I couldn't help using the line from "Spaceballs".

Anyway, I worked up the first part of the pattern.

If I wanted to be really picky, I would move the two outside reds in one space. Then it would be perfectly balanced.

You'll notice that I did all of the colors except the white. When you weave a plaid pattern, you choose the main color and only work it going up and down - not across.  The other colors have to be worked across as well as up and down to get the solid color blocks and the two-color blocks. If that isn't completely clear, you'll see a little better as we go.

I chose white for the main color even though the original photo showed green. The best main colors for mesh weaving plaid are white, off-white, and tan so that the visible mesh doesn't complicate the look of the pattern.

Today, I'm going to finish the pattern going across. I'll try to get that posted tonight or tomorrow, and then we'll start weaving the pattern including the white.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

My Plaid Pattern - Sort Of

I'm planning to make this plaid except I will substitute white for the green.

1 dk blue
2 white
1 dk blue
2 white
5 dk blue
5 med blue
1 red
5 med blue
5 dk blue
2 white
1 dk blue
2 white
1 dk blue
11 white
2 red
1 white
1 red
1 white
1 red
1 white
2 red
11 white
Repeat


I'm making a good guess as to the width of each stripe basing 1 width by the single blue and red stripes.

I'm working on a lap robe which I plan to eventually donate to hospice.

I've already trimmed, basted the hems, and counted to the middle both ways. I'm going to work from the middle out so that the pattern will balance.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Plaid Patterns

Put "plaid" into your favorite search engine and choose "Images".  Pick a pattern you like and favorite it or print it out in color.



That's our next project.

We can make any plaid we choose (I'm not sure about the diagonal ones - yet) with mesh weaving.

I'll show you how starting tomorrow. Today I have to work.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

Figuring Your Yardage

Knitters and crocheters have to use the draconian measure of working a row, pulling the yarn loose, and then measuring the yarn in order to figure out how much yardage they need to complete a project.

Another possible option would be to finish the project and write down how much they used. This would help any future purchasing of yarn for doing the same project but doesn't do much to help the person who works the pattern first.

How much yarn you will need for mesh weaving is fairly easy to figure.

1. Measure the length of the mesh.
2. Add about 12-16 inches for fringe and the natural up and down of weaving.
3. Count the number of rows per color.
4. Multiply length times the number of rows. Make that into yards.

My current project is just under 400 rows wide. (Figure 8 rows per inch.)

 

I am making 9 stripes. There are 4 rows of purple per stripe. That makes 36 purple lengths.

 

Each stripe is 9 rows across. I adjusted the center row by adding an extra 2 strands. That makes 83 lengths of variegated yarn.

 

36 + 83 = 119.

 

Subtract that from 400 and I have 281 strands of lilac (or a few less).

 

Multiply by 2 1/2 yards and these are the amounts of yarn that I currently need:

 

Lilac - 702 1/2 yards

Purple - 90 yards

Variegated - 207 1/2 yards

 

The shopping then becomes easy since skeins/balls of yarn are labeled with the yardage.

 

Thanks for visiting with me,

 

Kathi Linz

 

Doing the Math P.S.

After I carefully explained how to count and divide up the length or width of the mesh in order to construct a pattern, I would like to take a little of the sweat out of the equation.

If you work from one side to the other and the last rows don't add up the way they are supposed to, you can trim a little more or fold an extra row or two under to make it come out right.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

I'll post my progress later tonight or tomorrow.

Doing the Math

If you are going to space out your stripes or whatever pattern in an even way on your mesh, you are  going to have to do at least a little counting.

I started on one edge with an idea in my mind for the rest of the panel.

Here's one way to do it. Once I determined the width of my accent stripe, I counted the rest of the panel by fifties - one side, then the other side - until I got to the center. I marked the center row since I want a stripe running up the middle. The middle row is marked in red.

Now, even though I am not likely to work the pattern in fifties, this will make the counting easier since I know how many rows are in each section. 

When you set up your design, you might want to mark it off in smaller numbers or in larger numbers depending on the image you have in your mind about how it should turn out.

If you have already worked a few rows to see how the design looks, please remember to figure that number of rows on the other side before you start to mark off the fifties.  My edge pattern was: 5 rows lilac, 2 rows dark purple, 9 rows variegated, 2 rows dark purple, making 18 rows in all. When I started on the unworked edge, I had to mark off the first 18 rows before I counted the fifties.

Also, count 50 on the left, then 50 on the right, back and forth, until you get to a small section in the middle, which you will count across and then divide in half to get the exact middle row.

I hope that made sense.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi Linz

 

Starting a Blank Canvas

I've shown you how to trim and baste the hems. 

How do you plan a blank canvas if you have an idea, but don't know the exact size of each portion yet?

Here's how I do it.

This time, I'm working the length of the canvas rather than side-to-side.  However, I learned from the baby blanket that it's much easier to work across the table instead of reaching forward to work UP the length of the blanket. So I've incorporated that into the way I'm going to weave this afghan.

I'm starting on the outside edge. I will work far enough into the pattern to like the way it looks. Then I will flip the mesh and work the other side in the same pattern. 

As I get a little farther into this piece, I will show you what I mean.

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz