Why WPI and ply?

Technically the ply of a yarn is about how its made, the number of plies (spun singles) that are plied (twisted or spun) together to make the yarn not how thick it is.

But here in Australia and in some other countries we are used to talking about ply as thickness. When I was a kid it wasn't problem as the available yarns were all made up of a certain number of similar strands and the 5 ply was made of 5 singles plied, the 8 ply was made of 8 plies and so on, and then thickness increased as the number of plies increased, making it easy for the two concepts to become one.

But in the US and more commonly now in Australia yarn thickness is specified by a category such as fingering or worsted and by a measure of thickness called WPI or Wraps Per Inch. You can buy little tools to measure the wraps per inch or you can just use a ruler or piece of dowel etc, (remembering that an inch is 2.5cm in metric), you can find more details on this page from About.com.

This can be quite confusing for people who are used to the 8ply 12ply etc system when they come across a 3 ply chunky weight like my favourite Malabrigo Chunky for example.

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Raverly has to translate yarn weights across all the different systems so they have put together a standard system as shown here.

Knit a Free pattern to earn Salvation Jane for free!

Sorry I've been missing, very busy with all my Malabrigo March KALs and CALS!

I'm offering a different type of special this month, if its successful I will offer more similar ones in the future, you can

KNIT A FREE PATTERN GET A PAID PATTERN FOR FREE!

The first pairing is Winglette Cowl (free) and Salvation Jane and the deadline for completed Winglette Cowls is 30 April 2013.

You will need a Raverly account to participate. You can download the Winglette Cowl pattern for free and if you knit one and fill out a ravelry project page for it, I will send you a Ravelry code for a free copy of Salvation Jane. Your project page must be linked to the pattern and must include at least one photo of your finished cowl, and be done by the end of 30 April 2013 in  your timezone. I will send codes via Ravelry personal message in the first week of May and you will have all of May 2013 to use your code to download Salvation Jane! Once you have Salvation Jane you will get any updates even after the end of May, just as you would if you had paid for it.

This is Winglette Cowl:-

and these are Salvation Jane:-

Salvation Jane is fast becoming my go-to pattern for quick one-skein gifts!

New Pattern Release Salvation Jane neckwarmer

Finally had a small photo shoot this week and now Salvation Jane is released:

Its joining Jelly Beanie and Affogato in my Malabrigo March sale, 50% off with code "malafy".

Malabrigo March begins

Sorry that I've been missing in action for a couple of weeks but I've been busy with life and planning for the wonderful month-long celebration that is Malabrigo March in the Malabrigo Junkies forum on ravelry.

As part of the Malabrigo March 2013 celebrations, Jelly Beanie and Affogato are both 50% off, you will need the discount code "malafy".

I'm still trying to find time to get good photos for my new pattern Salvation Jane, but at least I've started the "malafy" process by knitting it up in a mal base, here it is in Twist, uses three-quarters of a skein:-

I've also knitted up a lovely hat in one of the MM13 KALS, its called Piccola Dolce by the wonderful Nina Machlin Dayton. Its in Silky Merino (my first malabrigo love) in Velvet grapes, Plum Blossom and Arlene's Purples. Here's a quick pic:-

I'll post better pics as we move through the month.

New pattern release - Affogato hat

I've released a new pattern today, its called Affogato after the coffee that's made from a scoop of ice-cream with a shot of expresso poured over it. The colours in the yarn I used really reminded me of the delicious coffee ice creams swirls.

My sample is made in Cleckheaton Perfect Day 8ply but its suitable for any worsted weight or heavy DK yarn. It uses three colours, small amounts of two colours for the striped band and approx 100-120 yards of the main colour.

I had a heap of great testers in the Free Pattern Testers group who found lots of my errors and all made lovely projects. I hope you enjoy Affogto too!

Getting ready for Mal March

A lot has been going on this week with some new etsy purchases and progress on my L1 shawl but I'm a bit pushed for time tonight so just a quick one.

The Malabrigo Junkies on raverly have started planning for the Malabrigo March celebrations and have opened a thread to propose KALs and CALs. I've been wanting to make this gorgeous lace shawl called rosebud from tincan knits:-

I have some malabrigo finito in the lovely reddish Cereza to make it with and it will be my first all-over lace project and only my second triangular shawl.

So I posted to the thread suggesting it and pointing out that so far there aren't any completed projects (at least none with pics) in any of the malabrigo yarns.

Surprise surprise, next morning my raverly messages included a free copy of the pattern!
Thanks so much tincanknits!!!

I really can't wait to get started but we're not allowed to cast on until 1st March.

I hope that lots of people will vote for this as one of the KALs, we have until 17th Feb to propose patterns and until 19th Feb to vote (by clicking love) in this raverlry thread. Please come and have a look, so many lovely patterns have been proposed.

Free pattern - drop stitch scarf in Noro Taiyo

When I knitted this scarf I added a comment to my raverly project page that I would write up the pattern "when I get time". Well its taken three-and-a-half years, but better late than never, right?

Sunlight Scarf by Sygneture Designs

Measurements: Approx 22cm (9 inches) wide and 170cm (5 feet 6 inches) long

Materials and equipment: 2 Balls of Noro Taiyo (actually uses about 1.5 balls), 40% Cotton 30% Silk 15% Nylon (Polyamide) 15% Wool. Pair of 5.5mm US 9 knitting needles.

Instructions:
Cast on 32 stitches.
Rows 1- 6: Knit.
Row 7: Knit, wrapping yarn around needle twice on each stitch.
Row 8: Knit, dropping extra loop of yarn.
Tip: you will now have elongated stitches under the needle. If you are new to this technique check that you still have 32 stitches.
Rows 9-12: Knit.
Repeat rows 7-12 until scarf measures the desired length. Cast off, run in ends and block gently.

There is enough length in two balls of Taiyo for a wider or longer scarf but Noro yarns are hand spun and are notorius for not keeping the colour sequence in order. I had to chop and rejoin a bit but didn't have too much trouble getting my colour sequence to repeat and making sure that I used all the pretty pink sections in my yarn.