A good friend of mine is taking a class this weekend by bead maker Jeff Barber. It made me check out his web site and he sure does make lovely beads. He even has a tutorial for a bead he calls the Talisman Bead which I’m sharing a link to here. It incorporates a number of techniques and is a great bead for someone with some experience. You’ll make silvered latticino, a striped murrini and use them on a slender tube bead. Give it a try. I think I will too.
Have you read?
Play with Color in the Pixel Tweed Pullover
A lot of times when I share knitting patterns that are meant to be colorful I will say something about how they would be good stash busters because you can change colors as often as you like or need to as you run out of yarn.
I’m not going to make that recommendation when it comes to the Pixel Tweed Pullover by James N. Watt.
That’s because for this pattern to work it really does best as three distinct, repeating colors throughout the project.
James was inspired by the red, green and blue pixels on vintage TVs to create their color palette, but of course you can use any three colors you like. This is another pattern where looking through the finished projects on Ravelry is super helpful because you can see how different color combinations work. Sometimes if the colors are too close in value one of them almost disappears, but that’s also an interesting look.
Whatever colors you choose, this is a bottom-up crewneck is worked flat in pieces, with all over color patterning worked with slip stitches on a garter stitch base. The cuffs, neckline and bottom hem, as well as seams on the sleeves, are worked in one of the colors.
It’s available in nine sizes and ranges from a chest measurement of 36.5 to 68.5 inches, or 76 to 174 cm. It is meant to be worn with 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm) of positive ease.
I love how this tweed pattern almost looks like crochet from a distance, and I think it would be a lot of fun to knit. This is one way to get some practice working with multiple colors if you haven’t done so before without having to pay too much attention to following a pattern or reading a chart.
The pattern is available on Ravelry.
[Photo: James N. Watt]