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I had all these plans for writing a long post of reflection on my Lenten vegetarian experience, and then the mail came.
Look, it's the summer edition of Knitscene.
With a two page spread of my design!
My name in print!
This hasn't happened since I got a byline as an intern for an article on August Wilson's play cycle in the Jan/Feb 2007 edition of the Goodman Theatre's OnStage Magazine (So totally different).
And there it is again!
I was pretty much doing a little happy dance all night long!
I was pleasantly surprised when I was told that Quince & Co. would be releasing my newest design this week, as I didn't expect it to see the light of day until the fall knitting releases, so while this isn't the springiest sweater, it's without a doubt one my favorite designs.
I wanted Kaeryn to be one of those cozy weekend sweaters that you could just throw on, be comfy and still look good. I wanted it to be something infinitely wearable and a go-to item. My knitting buddy Karen must have thought so, because ever since I pulled out the sketch for the first time, she was encouraging me to hurry up and finish it so she could knit one of her own. And since Karen served as my design-approver throughout the process, I named it after her (though I changed the spelling to look more knitting-pattern-y)(though technically, I think the new spelling would be pronounced kay-ren, but I'm cool with however you want to pronounce it).
In many ways, this is a very basic raglan, a-line sweater, but I think I've added a few details that make it pretty special. Perhaps the most noticeable are the moss-stitch panel and its seamless kangaroo pocket. I also like the clean lines of the turned hems at the collar and hem. I discovered the decrease bind-off while working on this sweater and it's perfect for keeping the hem sketchy.
Also of note are the moss-stitch cuffs, which are decreased into a soft point.
The sweater is knit in Quince & Co's worsted weight Lark yarn, in Frank's Plum.
When possible, I strive to write my patterns for a while range of sizes and this comes in a bunch: 30½ (32¾, 34¾, 36¾, 39, 41, 43¼, 45¼, 47¼, 49½, 51½, 53½, 55½, 57¾, 59¾)”
To purchase the pattern, visit the Quince & Co. website or you can queue it up on Ravelry.
Like I said, I love this sweater and totally want one in my own size, so I'm up for a knit-along nearer toward fall if anyone's interested!
[All photos with model © Carrie Bostick Hoge, courtesy of Quince & Co; all other photos by me]
In September I stopped in PurlDiva and treated myself to two skeins of Misty Alpaca Chunky.
I'm not a big yarn horder, I typically only buy for specific projects, so I had admired and passed on this yarn on a couple different occasions. But on this particular day it had been a long week, and Misty Alpaca feels like soft cuddly air and Purl Diva had it stocked in one of my favorite colors, so how could I resist??
As soon as I had a break from all that November knitting, I turned that yarn into this Bob & Wave cowl. The color reminded me of 1950s Cadillacs, so I wanted do do something with a retro feel and nothing feels more like retro knitting to me than bobbles.
Though it's a small and relatively quick project, there are a lot of fun details. The cowl features an i-cord cast on and bind off. I-cord also appears as the button loops and faux i-cord is created by rows of purl stitches that are pleated horizontally to make the texture really pop. Carefully placed increases and decreases create the scalloped waving background for the bobbles and the fabric manipulation makes for a denser and warmer cowl.
The project uses two skeins of Misti Alpaca or 175 yds of cozy chunky yarn and measures 22”/ 56 cm long, 9”/23cm high.
The pattern is available for purchase for $4.00 USD
or you can queue it up on Ravelry.
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When I dropped Ferrous off at the quince Offices, I said I was feeling a hat for my next design. I'm a sucker for textured stitches, so I thought it would be fun to do a sampler hat of knit/purl textures.
I swatched a bunch of patterns in both Lark and Osprey and settled on using Osprey as the bouncy nature of the yarn really makes the texture pop. Also, Osprey is totally my new favorite Quince yarn.
Dolan is knit in the round and uses one skein of Osprey (shown in Leek here). Because of the large gauge (size 9/5.5 mm needles), it's a super quick project - if you have any last minute Christmas gift needs. The pattern can be purchased for $5 USD via Quince & Co or queued up on Ravelry.
(PS - aren't these photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge the dreamiest? I love them!)
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned here before that I learned to knit from a teddy bear kit in 2005 and many of the first things I made were another bear, an elephant, and a flying pig. Though I moved on from my initial focus on knitting softies, stuffed animals are still knitting comfort food to me.
While my usual excuse for knitting an animal is an impending birth, Bradac is just for me. I got the notion in my head to knit a Polar Bear and I went to Purl Diva in search of some yarn. I wanted a slightly off-white, superwash wool and the Lambs Pride worsted from Brown Sheep fit the bill perfectly.
Named for a college roommate who's fond of the creatures, Bradac is knit seamlessly in the round from nose to tail. Most details, like the ears, are worked in short rows, while the legs are knit with scrap yarn and then picked up and worked in a similar fashion to an afterthought thumb or heel.
The bear is stuffed as you go and measures approximately 12 inches from nose to tail and takes 200 yards of worsted weight yarn, plus some additional contrast yarn for the face and scarf.
Bradac is available for purchase for $5.00 USD
or you can queue it up on Ravelry.
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Like I said, last week was a big week for me and today I'd like to talk about the inspiration behind the third and final design released last week, Ferrous.
Ferrous is my second design, and shawl for the locally-based Quince & Co. yarns. Going into fall, I wanted this shawl to be a little bit denser than Alaria and I wanted to feature strong lines.
So my first thought went it came to motifs for the lace was wrought iron fencing (hence ferrous= iron).
The yarn is Quince's brand new 100% wool fingering weight yarn, Finch, in kumlien's gull, one of the limited edition winter heathers. When Pam asked me if I wanted to work in a yet-to-be released yarn, in a yet-to-be-released colorway, I was super excited and Finch is springy, cozy and lovely to knit with.
The shawl uses two skeins of the Finch, but if you wanted a larger shawl, you could continue out the lines until the desired length then complete the arrowhead patterns.
Ferrous is available for $6 USD from the Quince & Co. website, or you can queue it up on Ravelry here.
It's been a big week for me a designer, I've had not one, not two, but three designs come out in the past four days. The one I'm perhaps most excited is Wetherell, which came out in the Winter 2011 issue of Twist Collective.
This design started way back in the early days of 2010, when I challenged myself to design a sweater as my 2010 knitolution. I've knit plenty of sweaters, and adapted a few, but I wanted one that was all me.
As with most deadlines, I procastinated and didn't even start thinking of my design until early October, when I was doodling during a meeting and came up with this (and promptly dripped water on it):
The big question was how to do the diagonal feature on the yoke. After flipping through some stitch dictionaries, I deciding on modifying a slip stitch pattern. I love slip stitches because their woven-look texture and I find them less commonly used than other stitch patterns (though it is my second Twist pattern featuring slip stitches).
The downside to this heavy of a slip-stitch pattern is that is takes almost twice as many rows to get get the same length as Stockinette stitch. The upside is that it looks great and since it's confinded to the yoke and the cuffs, it isn't overwhelming. The name for the sweater came when Bristol Ivy and I did this photoshoot in March. It comes from the copy of The Wide, Wide World, I'm holding in the shoot, a 1850 novel by Susan Warner, published under the pseudonym Elizabeth Wetherell. According to Wikipedia, it is often acclaimed as America's first bestseller (if you're interested you can read the whole thing here.)
The front and back of the sweater are knit flat, while the sleeves are knit in the round until the sleeve cap, then everything is blocked and seamed to together. The sweater is finished off with a knitted hem on the bottom. All together it's a simple sweater with the right amount of detail.
Both my prototype and the Twist sample were knit in Valley Yarn's Williamstown, a worsted weight wool/acrylic blend in a lovely range of tweedy shades. I even found matching buttons 8 months apart in the button box at Z Fabrics.
The pattern is available for $7 USD via Twist Collective or you can queue it up on Ravelry.
Photos 1-2: © Jane Heller, via Twist Collective
Photos 3-5: by Bristol Ivy
When it comes to my own designs, I never wear them until I have a chance to do the official photoshoot because I want to keep them as pristine as possible for the pattern photos, and for this particular design the weeks between completion and photography were super tempting.
I designed Oakdale as my dream sweater, and it turned out pretty much exactly as I hoped: as in crazy-close to the original sketch. The only difference is the neckline, which is more boatneck than crew (which I prefer).
Still in my colorwork period, it started off with an acorn motif and a desire to do a 40s-50s style sweater. I wanted it to be seamless and easy to knit, so I decided to do it as a raglan sweater, and since I hadn't decided what I wanted the neckline to be I started at the bottom and worked my way up, figuring I'd decide by the time I got there.
There's no shaping in the body of the sweater, but 1-2 inches of negative ease, plus the nature of the colorwork stripes, makes for a shapely-looking sweater. If you wanted to make it even MORE shapely, you could switch the Stockinette stripes for corrugated ribbing easily.
The front and back are entirely the same until after the yoke decreases are completed, then there are a little over an inch of short rows on the back neck to raise it up a bit higher than the front for comfort in wearing. The sleeves, neck and hem are all finished off in a K1, P2 rib that mirrors the striping pattern.
For the sample I used Cascade 220 in Chocolate Heather, Smoke Blue and Straw. But it would work in any worsted weight yarn with a reasonable color range.
A big shout out must be given to Bristol Ivy, fiber artist, who served as color consultant, photographer and tech editor for this pattern. And a mini shout out to the Canal School in Westbrook, which served as a charming autumnal backdrop, when our original location fell through.
The pattern is written for sizes 30 (32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58)”/ 76 (81.5, 86.5, 91.5, 96.5, 101.5, 106.5, 112, 117, 122, 127, 132, 137, 142, 147.5) cm at the bust and is perfect for your next sock hop or pep rally.
Oakdale is available for purchase for $7.00 USD
or you can queue it up on Ravelry.
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I just wanted to pop in to show a sneak peak of a design currently on the needles
and shot from my photoshoot with Bristol Ivy yesterday that was too fun not to share!
November's gonna be a big month for new designs for me, which is a good a time as any to introduce a new mailing list. I promise I will never share your email address and there won't be any spam, just updates on new pattern releases and sales, giveaways, etc.
I'm pleased to formally introduce Shoots & Ladders, the design I teased a few week back. Shoots & Ladders is an any season cowl, inspired by the orderly rows of plantings in gardens. I wasn't able to plant a big garden this year, but I did produce a few of these cowls.
The spring/summer version of the cowl features Elsebeth Lavold's Hempathy, which results in a drapey cowl, with well defined lace motifs
The more ethereal Winter version is knit in Rowan's Felted Tweed DK, resulting in a more structured cowl with a bit of halo.
Both cowls utilize approximately 300 yards of DK weight yarn and is knit in the round. The lace pattern is charted and decreases in the "ladders" section give the cowl a pleasing tapered shape.
The pattern is available for $4.00 USD
or you can queue it up on Ravelry
Photos, except detail shots, by Bristol Ivy.