Tag Archives: Air Marle

Welcome fall with a cocoknits KAL

Do you feel it? Not the coolness in the air or craving for pumpkin spiced everything but that symptom of impending fall that only knitters know. That ITCH, to cast on and create a fabulous wardrobe of lush turtlenecks, sweeping cardigans, accessories to go with everything you own. You name it, you’ve already mentally cast-on.

cozi2

The problem of course is that by the time this urge hits, it’s a bit too late to tackle the torrent of ideas and actually materialize a closetful of fresh FOs. Enter the Everyday Wrap by Julie Weisenberger of cocoknits. We’re happy to say that for the next few weeks, we’ll be running a KAL for this adorable free pattern. Follow our Facebook page for updates.

cozi1

This little piece is slightly bigger than a cowl, but smaller than a poncho. The pattern calls for working a double knitting, sport or lace weight yarn on a slightly larger needle than usual, meaning you have a lightweight, perhaps lacy fabric without the fuss of following charts row by row directions. There are two options, one ruffled and one plain, and finishing is minimal and manageable even for beginners.

There are a number of our yarns that will work for this pattern, but we’ve shown two here. The striped version uses COZI, our new sock yarn. To make a similar version, you’ll need 2 balls each of 2 different colors (you will have leftovers). We paired natural C01 Sugar with juicy C02 Currant.

airmarle5

We’ve gone the hyperluxe route for our ruffled version, using marled, multistrand sport weight Air Marle, a true indulgence.  You’ll need 4 balls in A899 Grotto to replicate the Wrap shown here.

airmarle4

There are of course many other options in the Zealana range. We’ve done the math for you and figured out how many balls you’ll need to knit the wrap either with or without the optional ruffle. If you have any questions, just comment below.

YARN NO RUFFLE (400 YDS) W/ RUFFLE (500 YDS)
Air Lace 3 balls 3 balls
Air Marle 4 4
Rimu Fingering 3 3
Kiwi Lace 2 3
Kiwi Fingering 3 4
Kauri Fingering 3 3
​Cozi ​2 ​3

Watch this space for more posts as the KAL progresses, and remember, you’ll always find the most up the minute information from us on Facebook.  Let’s make those fall knitting daydreams a reality and kick-off a long knitting season.

Ria

NZ Inspired: Piupiu Fringe

One of the things I love most about textiles is that every culture on the planet has something to contribute to the conversation. When I visit a new place I make it a point to seek out examples of indigenous textiles, and I especially love finding commonalities across cultures, and ideas that I can incorporate into my own design vocabulary, after a bit of research of course.

piupiu skirts

When I visited Te Papa, New Zealand’s national museum, I was drawn to the simple black, white and red palette. While New Zealand  doesn’t have a particularly long history with hand knitting, I was really inspired by the fringe found on Māori piupiu skirts. They’re made with harakeke, or common flax, and they’re dyed with an incredible mix of manuka bark and mangrove mud (is there nothing manuka can’t do?!!). Watch this video to see how the real deal is made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlbO1KJqvgs

I’m working on the next issue of Passport and have been thinking about a yarn homage to this distinctly NZ art form. I’ve swatched some Air Marle and have tried a few things. My first thought was i-cord (right). I knew I wanted to incorporate black, but this meant weaving in a lot of ends (in i-cord–not easy). It looked far too bulky, and too labor intensive to be reasonable. Next, I tried a crochet chain (left), which I liked, but again, hiding all those ends was going to get really old, really fast:

fringedraft

Flipping the swatch over, I tried two rows of traditional fringe, staggered for a full, slightly randomized effect. It was lovely!

fringe

Light, fluffy and best of all, easy to execute. Still, I missed the contrast of the black ends, but then I thought–beads! Beads would add weight, both real and visual, and it would hopefully evoke the piupiu.

I headed over to my local bead shop and admired all the gorgeous gemstones that I passed on my way to what I actually needed–plain glass beads in matte black, size E/6.0  (and a few metallic variations).

labradorite

I also picked up some collapsible eye wire needles and an empty glass jar from the health food store around the corner.

jar

I added 3 beads to the bottom of each piece of untrimmed fringe and knotted it securely. I think I’ve found my winning fringe, no mud required!

winningfringe

Have you ever fringed?

CR