Kirsten Kapur Designs

through the loops

Beach (and Ferry) Knitting

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This past spring NYC began running ferries from Manhattan to locations all over Brooklyn and Queens. (An Astoria line is scheduled to start running later this month.) For the same price as the subway you can take a lovely ferry ride. Sorry, you can’t use your metro card, but try the app, its super convenient.

IJK and I enjoying the ferry on our way to Rockaway Beach

One of the many locations the ferry will take you is to Rockaway Beach. Most people probably think of Coney Island when they think of NYC beaches. I’m game for a bit of Coney Island kitsch every now and then, but sometimes I want a more low-key beach experience. Rockaway Beach is definitely more low-key, especially on a weekday.

Rockaway Beach on a Monday afternoon

This past Monday IJK and I made an impromptu decision to take the ferry to the beach. The ferry ride is delightful. I can’t decide if I like getting or being there better. It takes about an hour each way. On the trip you pass most of South Brooklyn, go under the Verrazano Bridge, and see Coney Island in the distance. You’ll pass all kinds of boats: cruise ships,  tour boats, barges, tug boats, container ships, the Staten Island Ferry, and sail boats, to name a few.

Being the sorts who can’t just sit on the beach doing nothing, we came prepared. IJK had her sketch book, and I had my knitting. I’d brought two projects. (I can’t be the only one who over packs knitting, even for day trips). There were the sleeves of a very woolly colorwork sweater, and a cowl in a not-so-woolly yarn, baby yak/silk yarn from Myak. It’s pretty obvious which I worked on the most while sitting in the sand staring at the waves. Some yarns are just not meant for the beach. As lovely as that green is, other than a few moments in the sun for the photo, it stayed in my bag. The baby yak/silk however was out all day.

The woolly vs the not-so woolly

This got me thinking about one of the chapters in Drop Dead Easy Knits, called No Sheep at the Shore. Gale Zucker lives near the beach. When she, Mary Lou Egan and I were brainstorming chapter ideas and talking about the places we knit, Gale said she likes to knit by the ocean, but only certain yarns work at the beach. Mary Lou and I both agreed that water-side knitting was a favorite, but yarn choice was critical. We decided that a chapter dedicated to non-wool yarns would be something a lot of other knitters might appreciate. The projects in this chapter are designed in silk, linen, or cotton — all fibers that work well for summertime knitting by the pool, lake, or ocean. One of my favorites in the chapter, is the Kiawah V-Neck.

knitting, book, hand knit, models
photo by Gale Zucker

This one is on my must-knit list. I love that it dips lower in the back, the three-quarter sleeves, and the sweet eyelet details at cuffs and hem. The Quince & Co Sparrow that Mary Lou used for the design comes in a gorgeous range of colors. I’d like mine in Moon or Mica — both pretty shades of grey that I know I would wear a lot. But then there’s the mYak in baby yak and silk that I mentioned earlier. I’ve also been tossing around the idea of using it. The mYak would make a fantastic transitional sweater since it could take me from cool late summer evenings well into fall.

knitting, book, hand knit, models
photo by Gale Zucker

And check out these lovely mYak colors. I’m leaning toward the grey-blue, or maybe the salmon-y color, or the green, or…

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photo from mYak, used with permission

I’m sure I’ll make a decision eventually. For now I’ll finish that colorwork sweater in my air conditioned apartment and I’ll save the cowl for the beach and the ferry.

It’s time for the TTL Summer Shawl Knitalong Care to Join Us?

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It’s time for the Through the Loops Summer Shawl KAL! Please join us!!

Are you ready for this year’s TTL Summer Shawl Knitalong? This is a KAL we do each year as the Mystery Shawl ends. To participate in the Summer Shawl KAL you may knit any of my shawl patterns and chat about your knitting in the KAL thread on Ravelry.

Have a peek at my shawl patterns. In honor of the KAL I’m offering them for buy 2 get one free for the next week — sale ends next Saturday, July 29 at midnight. The only exceptions are my newly released Amalgamation, Avian Melody, and the TTL Mystery Shawl 2017. Too may people have payed full price for these recently. Stop by the KAL and let me know which you’ve picked and I’ll add you to our KAL list.

To get you started, I’ve made some TTL Summer Shawl Images for you to swipe. I made a bunch because I was having much to much fun going through old photos of my parents when they were newlyweds (they’re mostly of my mom since my dad was usually behind the camera). It was a lovely way to spend my morning since today would have been my dad’s 88th birthday. Happy birthday Dad!

Let’s have some fun. Dig out your own old family photos (these can be of your pets, kids, parents, grandparents, yourself, family vacations…) and make your own Through the Loops Summer Shawl KAL image, post them in the KAL thread on Ravelry, or on Instagram with the tag #ttlsummershawlkal17 and I’ll select a winner next Saturday (July 29) to win 5 free patterns of the winners choice.

TTL_SSKAL1 TTL_SSKAL2 TTL_SSKAL3 TTL_SSKAL4 TTL_SSKAL5

Parley Cardigan Choices and a Giveaway

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Another pattern from Drop Dead Easy Knits that is on my must-knit list, is the Parley Cardigan. Designed by Mary Lou Egan, it is the sister sweater to her Keynote Pullover.

Parley is the sort of knit that will become a wardrobe staple.  Its simple design has just the right amount of details without being fussy. I adore the gently rolled neck band and the narrow plackets.

The yoke is oh-so-perfect with its sweet and easy stitch pattern. Below another look at the yoke in a version Mary Lou made in Neighborhood Fiber Company’s Studio DK. The stitches add a wonderful texture that really highlight a hand dyed yarn like this.

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I can see myself turning to Parley again and again to pair with a skirt, tights, and boots. I’ve been on a little sewing bender lately, cranking out skirts as if I had nothing else in my closet. Now that I’ve made a bunch I’m having the best time dreaming about tops and sweaters to wear with them. A quick look through my stash revealed several options for Parley.

Just imagine how soft Parley would be knit in this Fibre Company Knightsbridge (the yarn is a decadent blend of llama, merino, and silk), and these skeins of Barley are perfect with the skirt I cut out yesterday.

Or what about the perfect fall sweater made with Jill Draper’s Mohonk in Deerskin Jacket? I love it with this pretty bark cloth fabric. I haven’t started this skirt yet, but it’s next up after I finish that blue skirt I cut out yesterday .

And then there are my dreams of a dreamy Parley knit in Woolfolk Tynd, Color No 4, to wear with my current favorite skirt. I am a fool for mod prints on bark cloth and this mustardy color is just so perfectly 70’s. The medium grey Tynd would make a wonderful all around cardigan that I could wear with just about anything.

I’m not sure which of these I’ll choose for my Parley. And that’s where I could use your help, let me know which of the three combos pictured above is your favorite and you’ll be entered to win 4 skeins of Briggs and Little Sport, in the color that was used for the version of Parley shown in Drop Dead Easy Knits.

Post your comments by midnight on Wednesday June 14 to be entered in the contest.

Comments are now close. I used a random number generator to select a winner, an email has been sent to the winner.

The winner is Kathryn who commented: “Definitely #2–such a gorgeous color, and I think the variegation in the yarn is just right for the pattern” on July 13.

PS. Have you gotten your TTL Mystery Shawl 2017 pattern yet? It’s only $4 until the KAL starts on the 15th. Now’s the time to start thinking about yarn — there are a bunch of pretty choices of the yarn I used over on the Yarn Carnival website.

The top two photos in this post are copyright Gale Zucker. Used with permission.

Sonora and Barrett Wool Co

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I am a huge fan of Susan B Anderson’s work. When Mary Lou, Gale, and I were planning our book, Drop Dead Easy Knits, she was one of the first designers who came to mind to create a pattern for us. And she did not disappoint. Her Bear in a Bunny Suit is one of my favorite patterns in the book. So imagine my joy when Susan wrote and asked me to design for her wonderful yarn brand, Barrett Wool Co.

Susan and I chatted about design ideas and color choices. A few days later a box of beautiful yarn arrived. With yarn in hand it was an easy thing to create a design in this delightfully squishy American wool. Barrett Wool Co’s Home seemed to demand that I create a design that takes advantage of its lovely, cozy feel. It whispered in my ear that a combination of garter stitch and mosaic would be just the thing. Sonora is the result, and Susan released the pattern yesterday. (If you click through, that link will take you to the Ravelry page where you can see Susan’s gorgeous photos taken at the Grand Canyon. They will take your breath away.)

Before I shipped the sample off to Susan, I bribed my daughter IJK to venture out to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, on a cold but sunny February day, to take some photos. IJK was a sport and modeled the shawl despite the cold. The giant wool shawl and an offer of a delicious lunch played no small part in convincing her to tough it out.

Susan is offering the pattern at the discounted price of $4.00 until tomorrow, April 30th with the coupon code SONORA. You can read more about the design and see Susan’s suggestions for additional color combos on the Barrett Wool Co blog.