Friday 23 May 2008

Lettuce Play

sea lettuce

Here is a picture of "Sea Lettuce" - Ulva lactuca- The delicate fronds are only 40 microns (two cells) thick. A small green alga with a broad, crumpled frond that is tough, translucent and membranous, it is attached to rock via a small holdfast. I think it is quite lovely.

My friend Jennie came to the Borders Knit Group in the autumn wearing a lovely frilly scarf based on this wavy, rippling plant. I made one for myself and have worn it lots, and it always gets compliments. So I decided to make some more as gifts.

The pattern is incredibly simpleIM002510, and I have just finished my fourth. Three shown here, as one went to sister-in-law Marion for her birthday. They look really attractive when worn, only take 2 balls of yarn - and if you plan to give them as a gift, you can roll them up prettily so they really do look lettuce-like! The recommended yarn is Twilleys 'Freedom Spirit' [which is what the orangey brown unrolled scarf is in] but the other two were both some Phildar DK I had in my stash.

100g DK wool, pair of 4mm needles [or a 4mm circular needle, which I use because it all rolls up neatly and fits in my handbag, and also because if I am knitting in the car, I feel safer with a shorter flexible needle] The pattern comes out as a strip with one side a strip of plain knitting, and the other half has a frill to it. Jennie's pattern had a bobble bit to the edging - but I missed that out, because it looked lumpy when I knitted it!

SEA LETTUCE SCARF

100g DK wool, 4mm needles [UK size 7]

Cast on 20stitches.

Row 1-4 knit

Row 5 Knit 9 stitches, turn work, knit back 9 Stitches

Row 6 Knit 6 stitches, turn work, knit back 6 stitches

Row 7 Knit 3 stitches, turn work, knit back 3 stitches.

Repeat till yarn almost used up, cast off.

That's it!!

If you live in Leicester, you can buy the Twilley's Yarn in Button Boutique.

3 comments:

  1. I thought I would stop by and say hello as I have just come across the comment you left on my post about the De La Warr Pavilion.
    I do hope the opportunity arises for you to visit there again one day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now why does this remind me of a corny joke from 30 years back?

    Down in the burrow it was nearly bedtime for the young bunnies. As mother rabbit came in to supervise evening prayers (they were very holy rabbits) she encountered one of her young flicking cold water at their siblings using a large outer leaf from a cos.

    Annoyed, mother rabbit berated her child who simply replied "but you always say 'lettuce spray' before we start..."

    The old ones are the ... worst!

    sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,
    I really enjoy your blog. I just started a craft sharing blog at http://www.thesemagicalyears.blogspot.com/ . Could I please post some of your tutorials with a link to your blog.
    Thanks,
    Yvonne

    ReplyDelete

Always glad to hear from you - thanks for stopping by!
I am blocking anonymous comments now, due to excessive spam!