scarf

New Pattern Releases: Aureate Collection!

Remember all those secret projects I’ve been talking about?

I released a collection last week!

This is my first collection ever that isn’t just a bundle of a few related accessories, and it’s really exciting to have so many new patterns out there at once. The e-book includes five accessories, sized from Baby to Child, and the vest shown above (sized from 0-6 months to 4-6 years).

I thought I’d introduce the collection in parts, so today I’m showing you the first three accessories. Here’s the Aureate set, modeled by my very obliging son:

These were all knit with two skeins of Malabrigo Mecha, a wonderfully soft and squishy yarn (and you longtime readers know how much I like the squishy). Although the yarn is labeled as a bulky weight, I did find out that skeins of this yarn can vary in thickness. This particular batch knit up at more like a heavy Aran weight on size 9 needles.

Ronan has been wearing his Aureate Hat out and about constantly since the photoshoot, and it gets compliments everywhere he goes. Part of that is because he’s ridiculously adorable, but I like to think the hat should get a little bit of the credit.

He’s also wearing the Aureate Scarf in that shot. Long scarves aren’t practical for babies or small children (and can be a choking hazard), but I wanted to design something to keep the chill off his neck. I toyed with the idea of a cowl, but eventually decided on a short scarf that’s fastened in the front with snaps, ascot style. This way it’s easy to put on but will come off easily too if there’s an issue.

Here’s a detail of the scarf and its fastenings:

And finally, the Aureate Mittens complete the set. They’re thumbless in the baby size and knit up in no time flat. The toddler and child sizes take a little bit longer, but are still very quick projects.

The cables on these mittens are shorter than on the hat and scarf, but definitely still along the same theme. Here are the baby mittens:

And here’s one I knit up in the child size to show the thumb:

I love chunky knits on chunky babies, don’t you?

FO Friday and New Pattern Release: Oscillation Scarf

I have a new FO to show off, and a new pattern!

And it’s (gasp) not a baby knit.

The scarf is part of the awesome Malabrigo Quickies program (small designs that take 1-2 skeins of Malabrigo yarn). You can check out the rest of the Quickies here on the Malabrigo website. There are some ridiculously cute patterns there.

We had fun trying to pretend I wasn’t 36 weeks pregnant in the photoshoot. I think we pulled it off rather well. The bump is kiiinnnd of present in the full body shots:

But I think you still see the scarf first and not just OMG baby!

The FO specs:

Pattern: my own Oscillation Scarf (Ravelry link), available to purchase for $4 US.

Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo, two skeins in Reflecting Pool. Blue-green yarns are my Kryptonite, so I loooovee this colorway. My skeins were very different from each other, so I alternated every other row and twisted the yarns up the side. It looks neat and tidy in person, and you can barely see it in the photos, even the closeups:

The combo of the winding cables and alternating skeins broke up the pooling you sometimes get with hand-dyed yarns quite nicely. I’m really happy with the way the colorway looks with the pattern!

Notes: This is one of those sweet spot patterns: just interesting enough to keep your attention, but easily memorized so it makes great TV or travel knitting. A good chunk of this scarf was knit at the TNNA tradeshow while manning my booth or chatting (oops, still need to do a TNNA recap post!).

And now, of course, I’m back to baby knits. My little one is due in three weeks, so not too much longer until you get to see some modeled shots!

Hitch Blog Tour!

I’m delighted to be a stop on the blog tour for Hitch: Patterns Inspired by the Works of Alfred Hitchcock!

The book is now available in both print and digital (PDF) formats. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the patterns in the book, you can see images at the link above or on the Ravelry page for the book here. The patterns and styling for the book are, in a word, stunning.

My pattern in the book is the Francie Scarf:

I was so excited to have the chance to contribute to this book. While I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard Hitchcock fan, I am a huge Grace Kelly fan. She epitomizes style, and, well, grace in every movie.

Inspired by the above promotional shot from To Catch a Thief (definitely a contender for my favorite Hitchcock movie) and many shots of Grace Kelly in gorgeous headscarves, I decided to propose one for the book.

Now, this was definitely out of my comfort zone. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you probably know I tend to stick to sweaters, hats, and mittens, not shawls or lace scarves. Because of this, I knew I didn’t want to make the headwrap too complicated. I decided on a square shape (since this would be most conducive to folding) with no shaping.

The lace pattern is simple enough to memorize quickly, but it still requires attention and thus keeps the knitter’s interest. The yarn I used, Tactile Fiber Arts Larkspur Lace, is a scrumptious blend of alpaca and silk. The Pomegranate colorway I used just glows. Check out these amazing other colorways Larkspur Lace comes in:

The finished piece is light and airy, perfect for scrunching up and wrapping around the neck, or for folding and wearing over the hair. It would be a great piece to pack when traveling, since it provides just a bit of extra warmth and a pop of color against a neutral outfit.

I like to think Ms. Kelly would have approved. :-)

Make sure to check out the rest of the blog tour for fun behind-the-scenes info:

9/28/2013: Sunset Cat Designs
10/5/2013: Knitting Kninja
10/5/2013: Knit One, Heart Too Podcast
10/7/2013: Herrlichkeiten
10/8/2013: Knit and Travel
10/9/2013: Knit & Knag Designs
10/10/2013: Wooly Wonka Fibers
10/11/2013: Verdant Gryphon
10/15/2013: Impeccable Knits: Shifting Stitches
10/16/2013: Rewolluzza
10/21/2013: Knitwear Designs by Carolyn Noyes
10/22/2013: Peacefully Knitting
10/23/2013: Dark Matter Knits
10/24/2013: Turnknit: Dani Berg Designs
10/25/2013: SweetGeorgia Yarns
10/28/2013: doviejay knits
10/29/2013: Triona Designs You are here!
10/30/2013: Tactile Fiber Arts
11/4/2013: A Knitter’s Life
11/5/2013: Catchloops
11/6/2013: Yarn On The House
11/07/2013: Ramblings
11/12/2013: Hazel Knits
11/13/2013: Knitcircus
11/19/2013: indigodragonfly
11/9/2013: Fyberspates
11/25/2013: knittingkirigami
11/22013: A B-ewe-tiful Design

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!

WIP Wednesday: Blue and Green Edition

I’m still trucking along on my Bevin re-knit. The back and front are done and sewn together:

Actually, the sleeves are done too since that picture was taken. Now it’s sewing up time (urgh), which means there’s a lot of this action happening:

Sigh. So anyway, I’m taking breaks between sewing up sessions to knit other things. I decided to re-knit the sample for my Europos Scarf as well, using the gorgeous Malabrigo Rios in Vaa I showed off in my last post. It’s coming along nicely!

Seeing a color theme yet? If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might have noticed I gravitate toward blues and greens (preferably both at once!) above all other colors. I kept trying to make myself branch out, but the truth is that the colors are flattering on me, photograph beautifully, and are fun to knit. I think maybe I should just embrace it.

And just as I was thinking this, the yarn arrived for a secret design for a yarn company.

The pic is intentionally hard to make out (secret, remember?), but it’s dark shades of–you guessed it–green and blue.

I’m in love. :-)

Pre-Christmas Check In!

T minus five days until Christmas! After seeing some seriously panicked threads on Ravelry, I’m really happy I decided to go easy on the gift knitting this year.

This could have been me.

No one in my family reads my blog regularly except for my husband (hi honey!), so I feel safe in sharing my gifting plans. I’m going to give my Texture Times Two hat and scarf to my mom.

Picture this….

….on my adorable mother! Isn’t it perfect?

I usually try to hang onto my samples, but she loved them so much when I showed them to her that I can’t resist surprising her.

I also mailed off the Sweet Peasy for my niece.

The Latte Baby Coat, though… I decided not to send it. After blocking, I discovered the buttons I’d been planning to use were too big for the buttonholes (boo!). Also, the front edge is a little ruffly. Possibly it’s one of those things only I would ever notice, but I hate gifting imperfect things, y’know? So I think I’m going to buy new buttons, reblock it, and give it to her next month.

But even that’s not enough to kill my relaxed mood. So different from last December, when I was frantically trying to finish these:

Ironically, we aren’t even going to be there to use them this year.

Are you knitting any gifts this year? How’s it going?

New Pattern Release: Texture Times Two!

I have two new pattern releases for you today! Here’s the Texture Times Two Hat and Scarf:

The pattern stitch I used is nice at first glance, but the coolest thing about it is the wrong side, which looks completely different:

It’s like the accessories have a split personality–classy on one side, sort of kooky and fun on the other. Plus I love it when scarves have an attractive backside (because who doesn’t love those? Hehehe. Yes, I am twelve).

The pattern is easy enough to memorize pretty quickly, but difficult enough to stay interesting through a whole scarf and matching hat. I knit mine in buttery-soft Malabrigo Worsted (you might remember the skeins of Purple Mystery from my birthday haul), which made the whole knitting experience highly enjoyable.

The patterns are for sale for $3.50 each here and here, or through my Ravelry store. If you want both patterns, you can buy the set for $6.00 (about a 15% discount).

I can trust you guys to keep a secret, right? After seeing my mom’s reaction to the FOs, I’m planning to give them to her for a Christmas present. Shhhh….

FO Friday: New Scarf Design!

I have a new design to show off for FO Friday:

The coolest thing about this pattern is the reverse side, which looks really cool and just as textural but totally different:

Proof that it’s the same scarf and I didn’t just knit two scarves with the same yarn but totally different patterns to mess you up (cause, you know, that sounds like a really good use of my time):

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Purple Mystery, 2 skeins (part of my birthday present from my lovely mother!)

Pattern: My own. I’m calling it by the amazingly unimaginative name of Texture Scarf while I think of something better. Any suggestions?

Notes: This cable pattern is kind of awesome, as long as you can cable without a cable needle (pretty easy with Malabrigo, since it’s definitely not what I’d call slippery). It was interesting enough to keep my attention, but easy enough to memorize pretty quickly and work while watching episodes of The Office (on season 7–please Netflix, hurry up and get season 8!).

I’m planning a matching hat, so I think I’ll wait to write up/release the pattern until I can do them as a set. Here’s hoping the LYS has another skein of Purple Mystery in stock…