Asilomar pattern is now avaible.

The vest "Asilomar" is my second design for Lotus Yarns. Original post about this design with more pictures can be found here. The pattern is now available on Ravelry and my blog as a free download. The vest is seamless and knitted topdown.
For this vest you will need  Lotus Tibetan Yak Laceweight 3 skeins = 1476.4 yards (1350.0m). The vest is knitted with yarn  held double on US3.

Thank you all for supporting my patterns and design adventures :-)

Happy knitting,

Diana

New Design: "Asilomar"

Word Asilomar, derived from the Spanish words “asilo” meaning retreat or refuge, and “mar,” meaning sea, hence “refuge-by-the-sea.”. Asilomar conference grounds and Asilomar state beach are located on the Monterey Peninsula in California. Pictures were taken there while on vacation in Northern California.

 The vest is my second design for Lotus Yarns. This is my first time working with Yak fiber. It is lovely. The yarn is soft and strong and shows lace patterns and texture very well. It works well knitted single stranded or double stranded. I choose to knit yarn held double for this particular design.
The construction of the vest is seamless topdown with an exception of a little seam where collar attaches to the back.

Yarn: Lotus Tibetan Yak Laceweight
3 skeins = 1476.4 yards (1350.0m) knitted double on US3
Colorway #11 Mariana

Project on Ravelry.
Pattern is in the works and will be available at the end of September.

Happy knitting,

Diana

"Norka" shawl pattern is now avaible :-)

"Norka" shawl pattern is now available on Ravelry , my blog and Lotus Yarns website.
Thank you so much to all readers of my blog and my Ravelry friends for your support and kind comments about this project :-))
Original post about this pattern can be found here.

New Shawl Design: "Norka".

Today I would like to share with you my shawl design for Lotus Yarns and their new yarn Mimi. This yarn is 100% mink and is just unbelievably soft. It is softer then cashmere I think. The yarn has slight fuzziness, but the fuzz stays put :-)). No animals were harmed in the process of making this yarn. They are brushed for fiber. I truly enjoyed working with this yarn. It is luxurious to knit with and such a pleasure to wear the finished shawl.

I named this shawl “Norka” which means mink in Russian :-) The lace stitch used for the shawl body has long been one of my favorites and I have been wanting to use it in a shawl design for a while. Mimi yarn seems perfect for it. I love how the lace looks in it. The border you see in the pictures was the second border I tried and I am so happy I decided to re-knit my original border. The lace stitch used in the border is also one of my favorite patterns.  I love how it all (yarn, lace and design) came together in this shawl :-)

The pattern will be released at the end of the week or so on Ravelry, my blog and Lotus Yarns website.

 

The pictures of this shawl have been taken in my backyard. The bench that  photographs have been taken on came with the house. There is a writing on the bench.

 I did not know were the verse came from, but found out recently that these are words from a poem by Dorothy Frances Gurney " God's Garden":

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on Earth.

• "God's Garden" lines 13–16, Poems, by Dorothy Frances Gurney (London: Country Life, 1913)

Happy knitting,

Diana