"Variations on a Theme" e-book

 "Variations on a Theme" e-book is now available on Ravelry and my blog.

The idea for “Variations on a Theme” e-book was born while I was working on another design. I was inspired by the slipped stitch pattern I was using and wondered how will it look in a shawl. However, I was not done exploring the pattern. I designed another shawl with a different construction that uses the same slipped stitch pattern and latter I added two more designs to the collection, two cowls.
This e-book includes 3 patterns:
1. “Caprice No. 24” shawl is seamless and knitted bottom-up.
Caprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin.
The caprice has provided a rich seam of material for works by many composers. One of them is “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninoff and it gave a name to the next pattern in the collection.
2.“Rapsodiya” (which means Rhapsody in Russian) shawl is seamless and knitted sideways.
Franz Liszt composed his The Grandes études de Paganini based on the compositions of Niccolò Paganini for violin. His composition gave a name to the next pattern.
3. “Grandes études” pattern is a set of two cowls knitted in a simple slipped stitch pattern. The slight tweak to the pattern gives an option of knitting two cowls that look completely different while using same slipped stitch technique.

Happy knitting,

Diana 

Double take: Rapsodiya. New shawl design.

 Today I would like to show you second shawl from my planned e-book “Variations on a Theme”.
Caprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin.
The caprice has provided a rich seam of material for works by many composers. One of them is “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
“Rapsodiya” is “Rhapsody” in Russian.
Rachmaninoff plays Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

This shawl is a little sister shawl to the “Caprice No. 24” shawl. It features the same stitch patterns, but completely different construction. After I made “Caprice No. 24” I just felt that I wanted to explore these patterns more. They are highly addictive :-)

First, I knitted my new design in Lana Gatto Wool Gatto DK weight yarn. I loved how the shawl turned out. It is perfect shape to just cover the shoulders and when wrapped around the neck it drapes beautifully without any extra bulk material. I love it casual everyday look.
The project can be found on Ravelry here.

However, I was not done ;-)) I decided to test knit my pattern myself and made another Rapsodiya shawl in completely different yarn than the original.  This time I choose Lace // Baby Alpaca/Silk
by DyeForWool. This yarn is 2ply and yarn held double for this shawl to make it 4ply. This yarn is so unbelievably gorgeous :-) When I saw this colorway at DyeForWool etsy shop, I just could not resist. Love at first site :-)

My second  Rhapsody can be found on Ravelry here.
Absolutely in love with this shawl. The pattern looks so beautiful in this wonderful yarn. I love how the shawl drapes in this yarn and how the stitch pattern shows in it. The shawl come out very dressy and I cannot wait to wear it somewhere special :-)

The pattern for Rapsodiya will be available on Ravelry after test knitting is completed

Happy knitting,

Diana