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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:

I still haven’t quite readjusted to actual seasons after my years in LA. The poor trees look so sad now!

Rhinebeck Part 2: The Haul

This is the post where I get to show off my Rhinebeck purchases!

First up, two skeins of luscious Cephalopod Yarns Traveler in the Finger Lakes colorway. This colorway is hard to photograph, but it reminds me of fresh purple grapes:

I think those are going to grow up to be a hat and mitts set (or possibly a scarf).

Next up, two skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL sport in colorway “Manly, yes, but I like it too!” (Really, that’s the name of the colorway.)

This yarn is squishy and delicious, but I made a mistake when I bought it. Although the name should have tipped me off that it was a sportweight yarn, an error in labeling printed a worsted gauge instead of a sportweight one. You can see it in this picture if you squint:

So instead of the 1300 yards of light-worsted weight yarn I thought I was getting, I actually have 1300 yards of sport. I really do like the yarn and the colorway, enough to keep it rather than go through the hassle of returning… but I have to psych myself up to tackle a sweater on size 4 needles (what should have been printed on the label, and the size the Blue Moon website recommends).

This next lovely skein wasn’t actually purchased for me. My husband took one look at the wall of Stonehedge Shepherd’s Wool and insisted on buying one so he could knit himself another hat. As you can imagine, I didn’t argue. This is the Berries colorway:

I also got a sachet of moth-repelling herbs and a book of stitch patterns:

Not pictured: the maple candy and half-sour pickles that were eaten before the weekend was over. Yum.

I think I did pretty well for my first Rhinebeck! I purposely didn’t decide I had to have any one type/brand of yarn, since I’d heard too many stories of people sprinting to booths the second the fairgrounds opened, or standing in lines for hours. We were there to see the sights, eat good food, and spend a little (but not too much) on yarny goodness.

I would say mission accomplished :-)

Rhinebeck 2012 in Pictures

Rhinebeck was AWESOME. Completely amazing. I’ll be going again next year for sure!

Warning: very photo-heavy post ahead.

Barn of amazing vendors

A shot of a small number of the people at the Ravelry meetup (it was huge!)

Mr. T the sheep

New sweater in action

Me with two lovely designers: Becky of Sugar Tree and Danielle of Makewise Designs

Angora bunnies!

Delicious maple cotton candy next to undyed roving. Can you tell which is which?

Hubby clowning around in the sweater I knit him last year–we got so many compliments! Of course, it helps that he's adorable.

Knitting in the (very long) line for lunch

Another barn full of amazing vendors

(Pardon the lens flare) A sighting of Chandail in the wild!!! I was so excited! This lovely lady is Amy, who sought me out at the meetup! :-D

I spotted another Chandail just walking around, which made me stop in my tracks and squeal to my husband like a little girl. And I had several people tell me they had been following the progress of my new sweater on Ravelry and were excited to see it in person! I passed out loads of business cards and (of course) bought some delicious yarn.

Rhinebeck Bound!

The Tosh sweater is done! It’s gorgeous. Unfortunately, it’s also unblocked, so the big reveal will have to wait a few days. But it will be done long before Friday, which is good because…

… that’s the day I’m leaving for Rhinebeck!

This pretty much sums up how I feel about that:

Although my sweater looks a teensy bit cooler than his.

It’ll be my first time at Rhinebeck, so I’m mostly just going to soak in the atmosphere. I’ve heard it can be pretty overwhelming for first-timers! I’ll be at the Ravelry meet-up on Saturday, so if you’ll be there, you might get to see my pretty Tosh sweater in person.

Hubby and I are driving out to New York and it’ll take about 10 hours, so of course my thoughts turn to projects for the car.

I’m thinking I’ll work on the matching hat for the Malabrigo scarf:

I might get through that one, though, so I’ll need another project too… hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

WIP Wednesday: Design Snag

I’m still working on the same sweater, but I’m not quite as lovey-dovey about it this week.

I finished the body and the neckband, which is good:

But the little jog where the neckband ribbing meets the placket ribbing is bothering me. Which is bad.

The stitch markers are standing in for buttons.

It’s especially bad because I wove in all the ends already… thinking that the main reason I didn’t like the look was because there were dangling ends everywhere. *facepalm*

I think I might have to unpick all the ends, rip it out, and try again… which doesn’t make me very happy. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from my year + of designing, it’s that time spent re-doing something that isn’t quite perfect is time well-spent. That was true when I wasn’t designing, too, of course. I just didn’t want to hear it then.

Want to help me get psyched up for all that ripping? :-(

Same Sweater, Different Week

I’m still knitting away on my Tosh Merino Light sweater:

The placket part looks so weird before the buttonbands are added, doesn’t it? I have to keep reassuring myself that it’ll all look fine once the finishing is done.

Now that I’m past the part where the sweater is joined together, it’s smooth sailing (no more purl rows, yay!), so I should be able to make some good progress on it this week. I’m hoping to at least have the body and sleeves done by next Wednesday (the finishing would be great too, but I’m not sure if that’s a realistic goal).

I’m a few inches farther now than that picture–and I only just ran out of the first skein of TML! Knitting fingering weight on size #6 needles is definitely a good way to stretch out your yarn, that’s for sure. I’d be surprised if I used all of three skeins for the whole sweater, since I’m planning to do 3/4 sleeves anyway.

Back photo:

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…

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