Red Pepper Quilts: A Year End Knitting Update and 2015 Quilt Favorites

Loden Shawl - A Pattern by Irina Dmitrieva | Red Pepper Quilts 2015

On this the last day of 2015 I thought it might be a good idea to update my knitting projects for the year. I have been knitting although it comes spurts and starts - frenetic knitting sometimes followed by frogging and long bouts of inactivity. Eventually a project comes off the needles and I wonder what took so long ...

The Pattern: Loden Shawl by Irina Dmitrieva

My most recent finished knit is Loden Shawl, a pattern by Irina Dmitrieva. This shawl is a relatively easy project although it looks deceptively difficult! This shawl is worked from the edge up with botanical motifs and openwork. The pattern is charted which I prefer and involves active knitting that requires attention to the pattern detail; there’s always something happening on right-side rows, while wrong-side rows let you catch your breath.

The Yarn: Debbie Bliss Fine Donegal in Snowdrift

This tweed yarn is perfect for this shawl. It is soft with subtle and complementary tweed flecks which adds a rustic feel to an otherwise delicate looking lace pattern. As always, blocking my knitted project is the secret to the amazing stitch/lace definition! I use blocking wires and blocking pins to block my knitted projects.

Click on any image for a larger view.

Also off the needles and freshly blocked is my Peak Color Shawl which I made over a two month period of stop / start knitting from October to December:

Peak Color Shawl - A Pattern by Plucky Knitter | Red Pepper Quilts

The Pattern: Peak Color Shawl by Plucky Knitter

This eye catching asymmetrical triangle is worked from side to side in Plucky Bello yarn. I purchased this project as a kit with set colors but I have substituted a skein of bright pink yarn for orange ~ a color I am more likely to wear. The orange yarn is Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Terracotta. Each section brings in a new color and a new stitch pattern.

The Yarn: Plucky Bello by The Plucky Knitter

This was a great easy knitting pattern - perfect for a confident beginner knitter wanting to try different stitch patterns. The pattern includes written and charted instructions and once you have established the pattern for each new stitch quickly becomes intuitive although I did count rows and tick off charts as I progressed.

For more photos and all the details including links to the patterns and yarn please check my Ravelry page:

Loden Shawl

Peak Color Shawl

Goodbye 2015!

I have made 38 quilts this year - it has been a huge year! And considering that I spent at least 7 weeks away from my sewing machine/traveling overseas that makes it almost one quilt a week. Choosing my 2015 quilt favorites is hard for a little piece of my heart and soul are stitched into each and every quilt. These "favorites" have been chosen not only for their color, the fabric, and the design, but also for the process, the season, and the memories associated with that time...