Archive for 2013 July

WIP Wednesday: Two Steps Back

Just a quick little WIP Wednesday post today, mainly because my Creme de Menthe vest looked like this a few days ago:

Sigh. I had a feeling while I was working on the vest last week that it was coming out too big, but I pushed the feeling aside and soldiered on, not wanting to contemplate ripping out and starting over (we all do this, right? Tell me it’s not just me). But when I had about 8-9 inches of fabric, I finally measured, and sure enough–it was almost 2″ too wide. My gauge changed from 5.5 sts/inch in the swatch to 5.25 sts/inch in the vest. Not a big deal if it’s a small piece, but it makes a lot of different over a whole garment.

But oh well. I’ve started again with fewer stitches and have about 3″ done. And I’m still madly in love with the yarn, so it could be a lot worse. :-)

WIP Wednesday: Creme de Menthe

I finished the large design and shipped it off, woohoo! Although I still have a few commissioned accessories I’m working on, with the sweater load off my shoulders, I allowed myself to start a new design.

Here’s the sketch (which I did in about 10 minutes using Adobe Illustrator–I’m getting pretty good with that program, if I do say so myself). I really like the idea of a vest with skinny stripes running perpendicular to each other, so that’s what I’ll be attempting. It’ll either be cute or a mess… but that’s part of the fun of designing, right?

I’m using the Tosh DK Twist I showed off in last week’s post, and man is this stuff lovely. It’s as springy as Tosh Vintage, but lighter weight and softer. I’m an addict after only a few inches:The tank is bottom up, in the round to the armholes and then back and forth. The 2-1 stripe pattern I’m using will necessitate pushing the work back and forth on the circular needles to keep the stripe pattern correct when it’s worked flat, but I tried it on a swatch and it’s actually kind of fun. You have to think about the fabric you’re making on each row, but that helps alleviate the boredom of endless stockinette. :-)

Also: I thought of a name for this design right away, which almost never happens. It shall be Creme de Menthe. Perfect, isn’t it?

Thanks to lightning-fast shipping from Knit Picks, I got my extra skein of Gloss DK this week and finished Concord, too!

Hopefully I’ll have some modeled pics by Friday, and then the vest gets popped in the mail.

WIP Wednesday: So Close

(I know, I know, it’s Thursday. I got busy yesterday and didn’t manage to get a post up. I won’t tell anyone if you won’t!)

Most of last week was spent working on my Concord Vest re-knit for the Knit Picks Independent Designer program. Everything was going along swimmingly until I got to the last part of the back:

And ran out of yarn. *facepalm*

Usually underestimating yarn requirements isn’t a problem for me (if anything, I tend to go in the other direction), but somehow I screwed up on this one and need another fourth of a skein or so. Luckily Knit Picks has the same dyelot still in stock, so they’re graciously sending me out another skein.

So while that’s on hold, I’ve been working on crunching the final numbers for my secret designs, because I have to have them finished to be able to work on a design using… drumroll please…

..this gorgeous yarn, which arrived yesterday! This is highly coveted Madelinetosh DK Twist in the Bluestem Willow and Farmhouse White colorways. It’s going to be a new striped vest design, which I already have planned out. I’m participating in the Twist and Shout KAL in the Madelinetosh Lovers group on Ravelry, so I have to wait until Monday to cast on. Expect to hear more about this design after that!

Oh, and I realized I got some yummy yarn last month that I forgot to show off here. As a participant in the Madelinetosh Lovers Rav group’s Mad May festivities, I was eligible to win prizes, and I was delighted to win a random drawing for two skeins of Tosh MCN Fingering donated by a lovely group member:

The colorway is Fluoro Rose, and let me tell you, it is bright. Photographing it accurately took me a lot of tries! It’s not a color I would normally have chosen, but I really like it. It’s a blue-ish pink rather than a reddish one, which definitely is more my color. I’ll have to figure out some properly eye-searing accessories for this yarn. :-)

TNNA Wrap-Up!

Whew, it’s been a hectic week. But I promised a TNNA wrap-up post, so here you go. :-)

We arrived in Columbus on Saturday morning and located the convention center. It’s huge inside, and luckily very well air-conditioned, because it was hot outside.

The show was movie-themed this year, so the entrance looked like this:

It wasn’t cool to take pictures of most of what was on the show floor (which makes sense, because a lot of companies promote new products at TNNA that aren’t ready for the public yet). But I did get a picture of my booth setup:

The other half of the booth was an overview of my print distributor, Stitch Sprouts. Isn’t it great??

I had a fantastic time meeting and networking with tons of people, hanging out with my fellow Stitch Sprouts designers, and walking the show floor. One of the neatest things (which I didn’t expect) was seeing several of the designs I’ve done for yarn companies on display in their booths!

Here’s my Clifden Cardigan at the Universal Yarns booth:

I also got to check out an upcoming book from Cooperative Press that includes one of my patterns. The book looks awesome. Expect to hear more from me about that later.

I hadn’t been to Columbus for about five years, and I have to say that the city was much more cosmopolitan than I remember! The main street going right by the convention center had great restaurants, neat boutiques, and of course the famous Jeni’s Ice Cream shop (it’s as good as everyone says it is).

On our last day, we ventured over to the North Market a few blocks away from the convention center, where I got (no lie) the best waffle I’ve ever eaten in my life. It has ruined me for all other waffles.

All in all, I’m so glad I went to the show this year. The best part was meeting tons of people in real life who I’d only talked to online. In my experience, knit/crochet designers and yarny people are generally fun and friendly, and this was no exception.