Archive for 2012 November

New Pattern Release: Dream a Little Dream!

Dream a Little Dream has been released! It’s available through my Ravelry page, or on this website here.

From the pattern page:

Have you been dreaming of a lightweight pullover for indoor wear, changing seasons, or winter in temperate climates? Look no further than Dream a Little Dream. This stylish but still casual pullover is light as a feather and easy to knit. Mock cable rib at the hems and upper back adds texture and keeps the knitting interesting.

This sweater is constructed from the top down in the round and is completely seamless. The only finishing is picking up and knitting the neckband and buttonband placket.

SIZES AVAILABLE
XS (S, M, L / 1X, 2X, 3X)

Finished bust measurement:
30.5 (33.75, 37, 41.25 / 44.75, 49, 53.25)”, or 77.5 (85.5, 94, 105 / 113.5, 124.5, 135.5) cm

Shown in size M with 1” of negative ease

YARN REQUIREMENTS
madelinetosh tosh merino light (100% merino; 420 yds/384 m per 100g skein): 3 (3, 3, 4 / 4, 4, 5) skeins in Worn Denim

If substituting yarn, you will need approximately 900 (1000, 1150, 1300 / 1450, 1600, 1750) yds, or 825 (925, 1050, 1175 / 1325, 1450, 1600) meters, of fingering or sport-weight yarn.

NOTE: This sweater is designed to be knit at a loose gauge. A DK or worsted weight yarn won’t drape like the original, even if the gauge is right. Fingering or sport-weight yarn is recommended.

FO Friday: Sweet Peasy

Remember my baby sweater dilemma?

I decided to go with with Sweet Peasy for my niece’s Christmas present, because it had just the right blend of pretty detail and mindless stockinette. I’ve gotten rather, ahem, addicted to the show Castle lately (Nathan Fillion, witty humor, romance, and mystery–be still my heart!). I wanted a sweater I could make whilst being riveted to the TV.

(Apologies for the non-modeled picture… I don’t have a small person around to put it on, and modeled shots on dolls or stuffed animals freak me out a little, to be totally honest.)

The specs:

Pattern: Sweet Peasy by Heidi Kirrmaier (Ravelry link)

Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo in Plomo, about 1.5 skeins. The yarn was really lovely to work with, as per usual with Malabrigo. I’m not a hundred percent happy with the way it striped up in the FO, to be honest… but it’s not too bad. I’m just a perfectionist. :-)

Notes: I raided my vintage button stash and came up with these textured dark green ones, which I think look neat with the grayish-purple.

I thought the pattern was fairly good. I’m something of a discerning customer, haha. The pattern tells you to knit the sleeves first and then pick up body stitches from the underarm. I did it in reverse (body first). I also picked up a few extra sts when joining the sleeves and decreased them on the first round, which closes gaps at the sides of the underarms nicely.

I also added a couple of rows to the garter stitch trim on the bands, since I noticed many of the FOs on Ravelry were curling. It seems to have addressed the problem nicely!

Of course, as soon as I finished this, I spotted another little kids’ pattern that I MUST MAKE… so the nieceling may be getting more than one sweater for Christmas. We shall see.

Three new patterns!

Guess what guess what guess what? I just found out not one, not two, but three of my new patterns are now available for purchase!

These are designs I did for Universal Yarn back in March (remember when I had all that knitting I couldn’t show you right around that time?). Well, the pattern collection, Universal Yarn PC550 Deluxe Worsted Vol. 4, is out!

With no further ado, here are the patterns (all pictures by Shane Baskin/Black Box Studios):

Clifden Cardigan

I’m very fond of the cables on this sweater (they’re on the back too, although I don’t have a picture to show you, unfortunately). Increases between lines of rib on the sides give it a swingy A-line shape. Let’s just say it’s lucky this sample was knit in a size too small for me… I would have had a really hard time giving it up otherwise.

I named the sweater after this little town we stayed in when we visited the west coast of Ireland a few years ago. It was August, and although it was warmish, it was damp and drizzly most of the time. A wool cardigan like this would have been perfect.

Zingy Beanie

This hat uses a lot of twisted stitches to make those cool lines of rib between the diamond patterns. I was inspired by pictures of some old Aran sweaters that currently reside in museums. When the hat was right off the needles, the fabric was doing this really cool bias thing (due to the twisted stitches). I decided to block it out straight, but I think I’m going to make another one of these and let it do its thing. It was a different look, but still neat.

Saunter Mitts

I think these little mitts knit up in about four episodes of Doctor Who. Totally fun, and just enough pattern to be interesting without frustrating.

I’m so glad to finally be able to share these patterns/FOs with y’all! I had a lot of fun knitting them, and I’d love to hear what you think. :-)

New Pattern Release: Lavandula from Twist Collective!

The Twist Collective Winter 2012 issue went live this morning…

…which means I finally get to share one of those secret sweater knits I worked on over the summer with you!

This is Lavandula, my first pattern to be published through Twist Collective. I love, love, LOVE this online magazine’s design aesthetic and sense of style, so it’s been a dream of mine to get a pattern published with them. Lavandula was my third submission–and the first one that was accepted!

Of course, I was knocked out by the photography and styling (All gorgeous photos by Jane Heller for Twist Collective):

The yarn is Sundara Sport Merino two in Monet’s Basilica. I was thrilled when they told me which yarn had been selected for the design, because I’ve been dying to try Sundara yarns for ages! Let me tell you, it lived up to the hype. The depth of tone and color is absolutely stunning.

Lavandula is sized for bust measurements from 30″ to 51″ (76 to 130 cm). If you’re interested in purchasing the pattern or finding out more information, you can check out the Twist Collective page or the Ravelry page.

I’ll try to do a post about the design process in a few days–I know I’ve enjoyed seeing those from other designers, so hopefully you’ll enjoy it too!

Oh, and this makes me pretty happy too: Lavandula is currently #5 on Ravelry’s Hot Right Now list! :-D

;

FO Friday: Weeny Sweater

I have an FO I can show you for Friday! Second week in a row!

Although that photo doesn’t show scale very well, it’s little, trust me.

The specs:

Pattern: Tiny Holiday Sweater Ornament, free from the KnitPicks website. I didn’t use my own pattern! Gasp!

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Sport in Moorland, leftovers from my Put Together sample.

Notes: I didn’t enjoy this knit, unfortunately. Part of it is my fault–I didn’t have enough fingering weight yarn around, so I decided to knit it with sport weight on size 2’s. This meant the stitches were very tight and it was hard to work the front and back cables without a cable needle (my preferred method).

The pattern itself was too fiddly for my taste. Also, I would estimate it took me about 6-8 hrs of knitting. That’s as long as I would spend on a worsted-weight hat or mitten: too long for an ornament, in my opinion. I’m planning to make a few more little sweaters for gifts, but I’m going to find a nice DK or worsted pattern for the rest.

At least it came out cute! It’s hard to make anything out of Madelintosh that doesn’t look fabulous, really. Look at the depth of color:

And in other news, I’m planning to knit yet another pattern of someone else’s, this time for my adorable 2.5 year old niece! I have a few skeins of Malabrigo Arroyo in a lovely grayish-purple that have been sitting around waiting to become something, so I swatched it up yesterday:

Isn’t that gorgeous?

Glamour shot:

I’m drooling over little girl patterns on Ravelry, trying to pick out the perfect one. It’s such a novelty to be able to pick and choose without having to write my own, haha!

My current favorites are (Rav links):

Sweet Peasy: This is really cute and looks quick and simple. My gauge is a little smaller than required, so I’d have to go up to the next size and hope for the best, though.

Saffron: RIDICULOUSLY cute. I’m a little worried it’s too girly for my niece’s stylish mama, though… and I know from experience that ruffles are painful.

Sweet Poppy: Love this one… but I’m a little worried I’d run out of yarn. Also, the sweater has to be mailed all the way across the country, and I’m thinking the drapey fronts probably wouldn’t fare so well. It might need re-blocking at the other end!

Do you have a go-to toddler sweater knit in sport or DK weight yarn?

FO Friday: Texture Times Two Hat

I finished the texture hat to match the purple texture scarf!

It came out great! The hat is fully reversible and looks just as cool on both sides as the scarf.

The specs:

Pattern: My own, coming soon (with matching scarf).

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Purple Mystery, 1 skein. What can you say that hasn’t been said about Malabrigo? It’s like knitting with clouds.

Notes: Even after a whole scarf and a hat, I still really like this texture pattern. The two-in-one effect is awesome. I finally figured out a good name for the set, too: Texture Times Two!

We had fun with the photoshoot on what turned out to be one of the last days with leaves still on the trees: