A Sock Story

The first pair of socks I ever knit I made for Mr. Cleaver and to the joy of any crafter who gives a handmade gift, over the last 4 1/2 years he has loved them to death. I mean, look at these things.

I've darned them twice, and tried to appease him with a new pair of socks, but to no avail.The new socks were nice socks, he wanted another pair of house socks.

So in the past month or so he has taken to wearing that first pair over another pair of socks, just to keep wearing them.

As touched as I am by this, decided that a suitable replacement must be made.

I mean, look at these things!

For the past few months, I had been on the lookout for a suitably thick and suitably manly sock yarn, but didn't find anything just right. Then Quince released their winter heathers and I though"bingo!" and picked up a skein of kumelien's gull and kittiwake in chicakdee at Knitwit, with a plan to do some kind of stripe.

Eventually I decided on this salt and pepper pattern, which had the added bonus of making the insides double-cozy because of the floats and I ended with up just enough of main color to finish two man-sized socks.

Technically, I knit three socks, but sock #1 didn't fit right, so  I ripped it out. Fortunately try #2 and its mate received full husband approval.

And since I am the nicest of wives (particularly with grateful recipients such as these), I let Mr. Cleaver have this Christmas gift a whole month early.

He's worth it. And a girl can hope these last over 4 years too!

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PS: Did you know you can get 20% of any the patterns in my shop through the end of the day Monday (November 28 at Midnight EST) Just use the code "smallbiz."

PPS: And did you know you can find out about pattern releases and sales right as they happen by signing up for the mailing list or following me on Twitter?

PPPS: And did you know that if you sign up for the mailing list by Dec 15th, you'll get access to an exclusive free pattern? I'm knitting it up right now and it's going to be pretty awesome. Just sayin'  :)

Introducing: Ferrous

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.

Introducing: Wetherell

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

Introducing: Oakdale

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.

PS - Did you know about the new mailing list? You'll receive notification about all new Ms. Cleaver Creations patterns as well as special discount codes and offers.  Sign up Now!

Sneak Peaks

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.

Sign up Now!

A Little Bit Country

One of my guilty pleasures in life is Time-Life Music infomercials. There's something endearing about the standard formula of past-their-prime musician + woman-of-a-certain-age co-host + those 5 second clips of unforgettable hits of the 60s and 70s. On a lazy Sunday afternoon Mr. Cleaver and I will merrily let it run for the full half-hour and our ultimate favorite collection is "The Golden Age of Country."

My costume this year is a tribute to the Golden Age of Country, the Grand Olde Opry, and fantastic country songbirds of the age like June Carter Cash, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton in all their big-haired, chiffon-clad glory.

I came across Simplicity Pattern 2180 a few weeks back, and thought it would be the perfect starting point for my costume, but it was out of stock in my size. However a kind friend in my knitting circle picked it up for me on a trip to Augusta, so I was in business!!

I knew the dress would have to have a gauzy chiffon component, preferably in a pastel shade and this Jenny Lewis video inspired me to pick up some lace trimming as well. I treated the seafoam-y tafetta-esque base fabric as an underlining, and sewed the two layers together before making the darts/seams/etc. which made dealing with the top layer chiffon a bunch easier.

It's not the best sewing job I've ever done, I skipped a few steps like the waistband facing and replaced the sleeve cuffs with elastic, but for a Halloween costume, I think it turned out pretty swell.  I'm racking my brain for occasions/places I could get away with wearing this dress in ordinary life, because I kind of love it (and I'm definitely remaking the pattern in a more casual fabric at some point).

Mr. Cleaver joined in on a more modern take on the theme, thanks to a cowboy hat from Target and some clothes from around the house. Our first thought was to do a more "rhinestone cowboy" look (like Buck Owens), but this was easier.

We went to a Halloween party over the weekend, where Mr Cleaver claimed to alternately be Toby Keith and/or Hank Williams Jr.

Even Steinbeck got in on the action (he is from Texas after all).

I even tried to keep the pumpkin in the country theme, though it looks more like a Holstein pig than the cow I was going for.

But while we may look country on the outside, inside we're both still rock ' roll.

PS - thanks to Bristol (and her dad) for the loaner cowboy boots!!

Fall Update

On Thursday I finally got around to making my annual apple pies. Technically you could say I made six, but I ended up with two, as four went to my co-workers who came over for a pie-making lesson/afternoon.

I might of eaten pie for breakfast. Twice.

In other news, I've planted about 100 bulbs for the spring,  raked some leaves, put the down comforter on the bed, finished my first sweater of the season, and sewed about 70% of my Halloween costume.

Yep. Looks like fall.

[PS - want a sneak peak of my Halloween costume or other projects in process? Check out my twitter account! ]

Puppy's First Apple Picking

On Saturday after several weekends of sickness and rain, we finally, finally! made it out for our annual trip to Ricker Hill for apple picking.

And even better, the the pick your own fields at Ricker Hill are dog-friendly, so we took Steinbeck along for his first apple picking adventure.

Steinbeck wasn't really into the apples, and he definitely wasn't into the slingshot.

But he did enjoy the wagon ride, and was very interested in the porcupine we wouldn't let him within twenty feet of.

As for the people, we got a beautiful crisp fall day, great views, a chubby pumpkin and half a peck of delicious apples.

See ya next year Ricker Hill!

A Home for Hedgie

Back in the day when I was first introduced to needlefelting, I made Hedgie, got bit by the needlefelting bug, and picked up a feet kits at Fiber Frolic.

One of the things that drew me to needlefelting was the instant gratification (and sculptural) nature of the craft, but you wouldn't know it from the four months that passed from my starting this kit and finishing it yesterday.

But that's life for you, right?

In any case, I'm one kit down and Hedgie has a nice mushroom grove to reside in. Next up - Gnomes!

Cumberland County Fair 2011

After a few days of rainy-day postponement and a bit of waffling, Mr. Cleaver and I made our way to the Cumberland County Fair Friday evening having decided to alternate years with the Fryeburg Fair.

The Fair never really changes, the bunnies and fried dough occupy their same spots each year, but there's something comforting in it's familiarity: in the pig races and livestock pulls, the pumpkins and mums, the earnest 4-Hers and the disaffected teens.

I'm sure one year I'll tire of it, but for now I revel in the contrast of the farm and the ferris wheel, and dream of mini-rex bunnies with fur like velvet.