Hapsarehappening Still

July 25, 2016 Jen Arnall-Culliford

In the month since the publication of The Book of Haps, the hapsarehappeningKAL has racked up nearly 200 projects on the needles, or finished. I wonder how many there will be by the time the KAL finishes on the 8th August. Whatever the final number of projects, there will have been a bewilderingly large number of stitches worked, and hopefully a huge amount of joy in the making process, joy in completing projects, and in many cases joy in receiving a hap as a gift.

As usual, I've picked a few project photos that have caught my eye. First up is this Lang Ayre in progress, made by Kharis (peeriewyes). I'm a great fan of the delicate pastel palette she's put together.

The original colours of Happenstance were chosen to match Romi Hill's surroundings in Nevada. This photograh shows another Happenstance, made by Dawn (nibbleknitter), again with colours that reflect her surroundings.

My favourite photo of Houlland in the book is undoubtedly the one with the hap and its shadow as it reinforces the lacy nature of the hap. Similarly, I really like this Houlland by Pauline (Ranadi). The yarn gives the lace motif firm definition.

I may have mentioned previously how much I admire Uncia, so here's another fine example, made by Tina (TinerW).

The last two rounds of prizes have been generously donated by Carol Feller and Romi Hill (last week) and by Hélène Magnússon and Lucy Hague (this week). The lucky winners are SaraMW, kathrynsmyth, fluffspangle, wolke100, Dimityknits, soupdragon, Gynnifer and Annarga.

Keep tagging your projects with hapsarehappeningKAL to be in with a chance of winning prizes as next week is the last for WIP prizes. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations.

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All photos © of the respective knitters.

Dial H for Haps

July 14, 2016 Jen Arnall-Culliford

I have been slow in putting together this week's progress post, but I have been giving it some thought. One thing that's struck me throughout the whole Book of Haps project has been the number of designs that began with the letter h, roughly half. Except for the obvious, I've no idea whether naming haps with an h was deliberate on the part of the designers or not.

With this in mind, I'd like to share two finished h haps, Happenstance and Houlland.

Top: Happenstance made by Kim (kimknitessex); Bottom: Houlland made by Julie (Crochet-Julie)

It should be pointed out that Julie's Houlland is one of 3 haps she's finished already!

Last week, I featured a partial Hapisk, one of the larger projects in the book. This week, we were treated to the sight of a completed Moder Dy, a square some 5 feet across before blocking. I am hugely impressed with the speed at which Elithea has produced this, and really look forward to seeing it laid out to its full size in the near future.

Of the other massive projects, a few more Hexahaps have been shared in the last week, and this half Hexahap by Caroline (lindyhopper) is all but finished. If you click through on the link to her project page, you get a really good feel for the modular nature of the design.

Random weekly prizes for this week have been kindly provided by Martina Behm and Gudrun Johnston and go to Dimityknits, daynasue, MonkSqueeDunk and 0bev0.

Keep tagging your projects with hapsarehappeningKAL to be in with a chance of winning prizes. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

HapsarehappeningKAL Weekly Progress

July 6, 2016 Jen Arnall-Culliford

All over Knitlandia, knitters are making haps in all sorts of shapes in all sorts of yarn. This week, I've picked up some pictures of the haps that weren't featured last week.

Working backwards, first up is a finished object: Lucy Hague's Uncia, made by Danielle (KnittingNixon)

I am constantly impressed with the way that Lucy managed to reproduce the architectural lines of great cathedrals of Europe and this and all of the other Uncias out there are permanent monuments to Lucy's skill as a designer.

While some of the haps are relatively quick to knit, there are a few enormous designs that take some doing. Moder Dy by Kate Davies and Hapisk by Hélène Magnússon are two of these.

Georgie (GeorgieVinsun) has got further than this photo suggests, but you can see the wave motif that gives the pattern its name very clearly.

Pip (RamsayBaggins) is charging through Hapisk. I find the colour combination almost mesmerising, and although it wasn't the inspiration, I am strongly reminded of photos of Saturn when I look at the stripes.

Of the smaller haps, Montbretia by Carole Feller and Theme and Variation by Veera Välimäki have proven to be popular.

Beverley (0bev0) has chosen colours inspired by wildflower meadows to make her Montbretia and they work fantastically well together.

Trish (Trish88) has gone for an attractive blue and grey palette for her Theme and Variation.

One of the ongoing discussions within the KAL has around choosing a favourite bird, and then matching yarn to plumage to customise the Nut-Hap. There will be birds from all over the world represented.

This example, that was recently completed by fluffspangle, takes its colours from the greenfinch. You can see how tucks are incorporated into the design, and to find out how to do this, Jen made a tutorial on adding tucks to your knitting last week.

The randomly selected winners of prizes, provided by Donna Smith and Jen, are: Nell9, carolynintheuk, nibble knitter, and elithea.

It's still not too late to get involved as the KAL will run into August: simply tag your Ravelry project with the tag hapsarehappeningKAL to join in. You can see all projects at a glance here, and see all the Instagram photos posted of projects here. Come back next week to see more beautiful creations.

All photos © of the respective knitters.

June Pattern Round-Up

July 4, 2016 Jen Arnall-Culliford

Much of June was taken up with promotion work, but there have still been a few patterns that have crossed our desks and been published.

Summer is most definitely shawl season, and Bristol Ivy's eye-catching Rillmark stands out from the crowd.

It takes its name from the marks left in the sand by the retreating water once a wave has broken on a beach. It has a clever construction in the way that increases are worked not only in the body of the shawl, but also in the edging without any obvious break in the pattern.

Conifer, a baby cardigan, is the latest release from Ella Austin's Colour and Line Collection.

Any child wearing this beautiful cardigan will undoubtedly get jealous glances from all quarters.

How to: Add tucks to your knitting

July 1, 2016 Jen Arnall-Culliford

To complement the pleats tutorial from last week, here is a how to video on working tucks in your knitting. If you've ever wondered what the difference is between pleats and tucks, this will explain all (or is it just me that thinks about these things?). I adore the generous texture that tucks can add to knitted fabric. My Nut-Hap for The Book of Haps features a tucked edging, which is worked in a slightly different way - more on that another time.