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WIP Wednesday: A Sleeve and a Group

The yellow fall pullover now has the body and one sleeve finished:

I’m about 1/3 of the way through the other sleeve, and then it’s on to the yoke! I was planning on a raglan sleeve, but I’m starting to wonder if I wouldn’t like a saddle shoulder better. I’m going to contemplate this as I knit tonight.

In other news, I’ve finally started a Ravelry group for my designs! I’ll be posting test knits (like the cozy gray sweater, which went up for test knitting yesterday and is almost full already, yay!), promotions, new designs, and lots of other stuff there. Come check it out here if you’re interested: Triona Designs Ravelry Group.

WIP Wednesday: New Fall Sweater

I started a new sweater this week!

I adore it so far (to the point where I’m having to restrain myself from dropping everything else and just working on it 24/7). The yarn, Imperial Columbia, is so luscious that I’m already contemplating buying another sweater’s worth. It’s rustic-looking, but incredibly light and soft. And at a gauge of 4 sts/in, this is working up really quickly.

Here’s what I’m thinking the sweater’s going to look like. 3/4 sleeves with a fat cable, slight waist shaping, and a scoop-neck with garter edging:

As you might have noticed, I’ve been on a garter stitch edging kick recently. It’s just so squishy and awesome!

FO Friday: Return of the Gray Sweater

Whew, it’s hard to keep up with blogging when most of your projects are secret! But the last one of those was packaged and sent last week, so hopefully it should be a little more action-packed around here.

First up, I finished the Creme de Menthe vest. No modeled pictures because it’s still blocking, but I’m really happy with the way this one turned out. The alternating stripe concept that was the basis for the whole idea turned out great!

Stay tuned for more pictures on that one.

Also, I’ve resurrected the cozy gray sweater! Remember this one?

Last time I mentioned it, this one was on hold due to some disappointing pooling. I pulled it out a few weeks ago to get myself psyched up for the ripping and re-knitting… but to be honest, it didn’t look nearly as bad as I remembered.

Cozy Gray back

I think part of the reason I was so down on it was some pictures taken with crappy indoor lighting. That highlighted the striping effect of the second skein and made the sweater look awful. So we took some better shots–and I love it! I’m working on getting the pattern finalized and getting it into the hands of test-knitters. I’ll probably aim for an October release with this one.

Oh, but it needs a name! I’m calling it “Cozy Gray” in my head, but that isn’t going to fly for the pattern release. You guys were so helpful with my hat pattern a few months ago–any thoughts on this one?

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.

And next year the TNNA summer show is in Indianapolis, practically on my doorstep! I’m definitely planning to be there. :-)

WIP Wednesday: Stuff I Can’t Show You Edition

I’ve been hard at work on a secret, very large, commissioned project. Since I can’t actually show you what it is, here’s a teaser pic:

As you can see, it’s got lovely squishy garter stitch and a texture pattern, and it’s in one of the nicest yarns I’ve had the pleasure to work with. I’m sad I have to wait to share it until the pattern is released!

To distract from the lack of actual WIP pictures, I’ll show you the other stuff I’ve been working on: re-blocking samples for TNNA this weekend. Our cross-country move last summer was not kind to my poor sweaters and accessories.

Hats blocking using my preferred balloon-in-a-mug method

My Hipster Stripe and Put Together samples drying on the blocking boards

Pile of blocked sweaters awaiting transport

I’m still nervous about the show, but as you can see, things are coming along nicely. My next post will probably be a TNNA wrap-up, so wish me luck!

Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival

I can’t believe I forgot to post about this! A little over a week ago, my husband and I found ourselves in Franklin, Indiana on one of the days of their annual Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival. We went in on a whim (hey, I’m always up for some yarny shopping), and we really enjoyed it!

The festival was much more extensive than I thought it would be. There were three barns of vendors–LYSes, dyers, spinners, wood crafters, etc. This lacemaking vendor, promoting local lacemaking classes, was one of my favorites:

I got to feel up some bison yarn for the first time:

My husband loves historical gadgets, so this antique sock machine was right up his alley:

Easily my favorite booth at the whole festival was a whole wall of hand-dyed yarn from a local dyer, A Good Yarn. It was the first booth I saw when I came in, and I probably spent more time there than at any of the others combined. I didn’t get a great picture of the booth, but you can see some of her gorgeous skeins in the background of this shot:

And, of course, I couldn’t leave her booth without purchasing something. I made away with two skeins of sportweight superwash in this luminous blue color:

Lucky for me she didn’t carry DK or worsted-weight yarn, or I would have really been in trouble!

My husband did a more extensive blog post (with more pictures, and quite frankly more witticisms than I could ever muster) here, if you’re interested in checking it out: Fiber, Fiber Everywhere OR The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Hoosiers. :-)

FO Friday: Worsted Weight Europos Scarf

I finished my scarf! Here it is blocking:

I learned from the first (DK-weight) sample that this pattern pulls in a lot, since it’s basically 1×1 ribbing with regular increases and decreases thrown in. So I was rather aggressive with the blocking this time, knowing it will spring back a certain amount when it’s unpinned.

Quick specs:

Pattern: My own Europos Scarf

Yarn: Malabrigo Rios, one skein in Vaa. Rios is in the running for my favorite yarn ever. It’s as soft as butter, but fairly hard-wearing thanks to the twist.

Notes: I luurve this pattern. It’s just interesting enough to not be boring, but it’s easily memorized. Perfect travel knitting. It pretty much lived in my purse for the past week. This pattern played really well with the variegated quality of the yarn, too. It was so nice to not have to worry about pooling.

In other news, the Bevin sweater re-knit is nearly completed too! Just a few ends to weave in and blocking left.

Now, maybe you’re wondering why I’m spending all this time and effort reknitting samples when I could be working on new designs. The truth is, I have an exciting month ahead of me. My wonderful print pattern distributor, Stitch Sprouts, offered me the chance to share time in an exhibitor booth at the TNNA summer trade show!

For those of you who don’t know, TNNA is an abbreviation for The National NeedleArts Association. Their annual trade shows are a big deal–loads of knitting and fiber related businesses, yarn store owners, and very well-known designers attend. I’m feeling a little bit out of my depth, to tell the truth, but I’m slowly getting a handle on everything I need to get done in order to have a successful booth.

Stay tuned for more preparations!

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