Palette Ripple

A new ripple has been a long time in the conceiving stage. I'd wanted to make one as interesting and fabulous as my Rowan Ripple, but couldn't find just the right yarn. Along came Knitpicks Palette, originally purchased for a finicky colorwork purse. At around 2 dollars a substantial skein, this fingering weight yarn comes in an insane range of saturated colors and is a fabulous bargain. I'm using a size E Clover crochet hook with ergonomic handle, and the whole experience is delightful--the yarn isn't splitty, but moves along the hook with speed and ease and shows the swoops and peaks of the ripple pattern very nicely. I'm in deep like with Palette, I can tell you. And I'm really happy with the crazy color combo of this blanket. All in all, a satisfying project.

Heart Dishcloth

I really enjoy the clever simplicity of the knit-purl pattern dish cloth. So easy to do, if you just keep track of rows--easy stitching, alternating knit and purl, and a picture emerges! I did this dish cloth in plain old Peaches & Creme--followed this pattern for a knit-and-purl heart, omitting the garter stitch border. This type of border is always used to prevent a piece from curling, but I already knew I wanted to add my own crochet border when I was done, so I suffered the curling (and curl it did!). I picked up stitches with my crochet hook and pink cotton, and did two rounds of half double crochet. I then added the scalloped edging for an extra fancy embellishment.

The last step was to embroider backstitch in pink over the outline of the purl heart, just to get it to stand out as much as I wanted. I was oddly pleased with the girly-frilly-silly effect of this. I love saturated colors, but, honestly, I don't mind pastels either, in moderation.

This one is going out tomorrow in a dishcloth swap.