Knitionary: Marie Wallin

Marie Wallin's blanket extraordinaire KAL

KAL

What are you doing for the next 10 months? If you have some spare knitting time, and you love to knit fairisle, or would like a supportive forum in which to hone your fairisle skills, why not join my friends Marie Wallin (knitter and designer) and Cindi Brumpton (knitter and blogger) in this new blanket knit-along. There can be no doubt this blanket will become a treasured heirloom--plus it looks like great fun with a dedicated Ravelry page that Cindi will moderate and in which Marie will participate. Ravelry is the perfect forum for a KAL--it's where you'll meet like-minded people, get support, share triumphs, all the while making virtual friends from all over the world and have the joy of creating one gorgeous blanket.

The blanket, designed by Marie Wallin, is inspired by Nordic and Scandinavian fairisle design and uses just 11 colors of the very beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed. The blanket is made up of 10 sections, each worked off the other except for sections 1 and 2. These sections are knitted separately and are sewn together, then section 3 is knitted off the joined sections. This means that the only sewing up is the seam between sections 1 and 2.

Being Nordic inspired, the fairisle patterns are more graphic. Contrasting colors makes this blanket easier to knit than Marie's Fairisle Club 1 blanket and has easier repeats to follow. It's quite spectacular, isn't it?

DETAILS: Booking is now live and the club will be limited to 500 members only. The knit-along will start on the 1st November and will run for 10 months. (Please note, as of this posting, the email and printed options are now sold out. There are still places available for the DIGITAL membership only.)

Digital membership - £87. The Digital membership is for the 10 digital patterns and the digital version of the HOW TO booklet, including a link to the HOW TO fairisle video.

FINISHED SIZE: The blanket measures 148cm wide x 170cm long.

YARN USAGE: The blanket uses Rowan Felted Tweed. The quantities below include an extra 10%.

Carbon 159 2 x 50g balls (73g)

Barn Red 196 4 x 50g balls (195g)

Stone 190 6 x 50g balls (263g)

Celadon 184 2 x 50g balls (61g)

Ancient 172 4 x 50g balls (175g)

Avocado 161 1 x 50g ball (22g)

Phantom 153 5 x 50g balls (211g)

Ginger 154 1 x 50g ball (20g)

Camel 157 4 x 50g balls (198g)

Cinnamon 175 3 x 50g balls (125g)

Boulder 195 1 x 50g ball (32g)

Due to the difficulty in getting Rowan Felted Tweed in some areas, Marie recommends Jamieson's of Shetland Spindrift in the following colors as an alternative.

Slate 125 3 x 25g balls (sub for FT Carbon 159)

Moorland 195              8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Barn Red 196)
Lichen 1130               11 x 25g balls (sub for FT Stone 190)
Laurel 329                    3 x 25g balls (sub for FT Celadon 184)
Woodgreen 318            8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Ancient 172)
Granny Smith 1140      1 x 25g ball (sub for FT Avocado 161)
Birch 252                     9 x 25g balls (sub for FT Phantom 153)
Paprika 261                  1 x 25g ball (sub for FT Ginger 154)
Camel 141                    8 x 25g balls (sub for FT Camel 157)
Burnt Umber 1190       4 x 25g balls (sub for FT Cinnamon 175)
Steel 320                      2 x 25g balls (sub for FT Boulder 195)

Now, even with the beautiful color option, I imagine more than a few knitters will go rogue and change the colors up. I'll be looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with!

I'd love to know if any of my readers have joined or are considering joining this KAL. Please, let me know!

Helpful Links

Club info on Marie's website is here.

Purchase the digital club version here.

Join the moderated Ravelry KAL forum here.

Please post your comment here.

xoxo from me, and as always, happy knitting!

October 27, 2016
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Once Upon A Time

knitting

Once Upon A Time is a new inspirational book by the talented knitwear designer, Marie Wallin. Take a minute and scroll down to view some of the prettiest sweaters ever designed for young folk. The book will be for sale Friday, May 1st from her website. I imagine you'll start finding the book in the shops in the next few months, just in time for back-to-school knitting. Any one of these sweaters is destined to become a treasured heirloom. Enjoy! Links are at the end.

Ingenious use of stripes and cables in Albert, knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.

This young beauty wears Alice, knit in Rowan Cocoon.

Archie is a clean fair isle design knit in Rowan Felted Tweed Aran.

Siena is the girl's jacket version of Archie with crochet trim on the sleeves.

Charlotte, a cabled tunic, is knit in Rowan Felted Tweed Aran.

Cozy Hat and Scarf, one for the boys above, with the girl's version below embroidered with lazy daisies. Both knit in Rowan Cocoon.

Elise Cowl and Tam below, both knit in the round with Rowan Felted Tweed.

This lovely little girl wears Eva, a classic fair isle pullover knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.

Freddie, simply beautiful in Rowan Felted Tweed.

Feminine and elegant, Grace has oodles of knitted and crocheted texture with Rowan Felted Tweed.

Cute little lacy, cabled swing coat. Isabel is also knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.

Two beautiful examples of traditional round yoked fairisle sweaters. Laila above and Isaac below, both knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.

Lucy is perhaps the prettiest in the collection? What do you think? Knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.

Lastly, a teddy with his own built in fairisle sweater! Simply knit in two pieces, then sewn up!

Links!

Marie Wallin's website

Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Rowan Felted Tweed Aran

Rowan Cocoon

I've used all the above yarns and can vouch that they are fantastic. Felted Tweed seems to be on everyone's list of favorite yarns. It's very easy to knit and easy to achieve even stitches. If you haven't tried it yet, give yourself a treat and find out why it's so popular. Designers like it so much because of the extensive color range and because it showcases lace, cables and colorwork so beautifully, but also makes a fantastic stockinette fabric. This fall I'll be knitting a long car coat with the Felted Tweed Aran, and I have some yellow Felted Tweed DK to make some sort of cardigan. But right now it's mostly summer knitting here at Knitionary. What are you up to, knitting wise? And how many of you are going to buy this book for some fab fall knitting?

April 29, 2015
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Marie Wallin's blanket extraordinaire KAL

Once Upon A Time