New cardi

This is Pebble. Once again I have used the top-down, seamless, simultaneous set-in sleeve method - I just love the fit I get! 

 

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern:

It's called Dot Stitch and I don't know if I've ever come across any patterns that use it. I don't know why not - it's lovely to look at, doesn't bias, doesn't roll, and is so much less tedious than most textured patterns. I love seed stitch and moss stitch but can't really say that I love knitting either of them. This textured stitch is only patterned on the wrong side, the right side is simply knit.

It's on sale for 1 week for 40% off! Happy spring!

Mystery Knit-a-Long!

When I was working on my latest shawl design, I kept thinking that it would be a fun project to do with a group. I've always liked the idea of mystery knit-a-longs, even though the one time I tried to do one in real time I ended up not liking the shawl and frogging it. This one is just a bit different, probably because of my experience. The first clue includes a sketch of the shawl - so you know basically what you're making and you can put your colors where they make you happy.

It's garter stitch. It has different colors. It's a scalene triangle. This one made my inner-geometry lover pretty happy :)  When I showed the sketch to my daughter, she said it was very much 'my style' - whatever that is!

Obviously I can't show any photos what with it being a mystery and all, but here's the place holder on my pattern and project pages:

These are the colors I used at least!

You can find the pattern here - it's half price until April 4 when the first clue comes out!

Baby Boom

When I decided to do a tiny sweater using the top-down, seamless, simultaneous set-in sleeve method, I had no idea how many of my testers were either expecting or knew someone who was. I needed a knitted baby gift myself and was curious about how this method would work with a tiny sweater. I'm really pleased with the results!

It's a great project for trying this method out if you aren't ready to tackle an adult-sized sweater. It isn't easy to come up with a name for baby things - there are SO MANY baby sweater patterns! I settled on Babycakes - a pet name for DD when she was tiny.

In other news - I have several teaching engagements! I can't think of anything more fun than spending a day talking about knitting with a bunch of knitters :)  In April I am teaching a sweater class at a Maryland knitting guild and also 4 (!!) classes at The Yarn Club in Virginia Beach. I'm doing two classes twice at The Yarn Club - a 2 hour class on planning ahead to knit sweaters that actually fit, and a 4 hour workshop on designing and knitting your own All the Shades of Truth/City Block style shawl/wrap/scarf/throw. We will be making miniatures of our creations in class. These are the minis I made when I was designing City Block - color placement is so important in this sort of shawl and this is a quick way to see if you're happy with your choices!

Burn Baby Burn!

I love turtlenecks and mock turtlenecks. When it's cold I'm not comfortable unless my neck is covered. Katharine and Audrey Hepburn liked them too.

"Burn" seemed like a good name for this pullover -

One of my testers knit this in CASHMERE with long sleeves and ribbing instead of the triangle pattern. I think I might need to copy her :)

Oh, and Burn is on sale for 40% off through March 9!

At long last

My latest design has been a long time coming.

I fell in love with a stitch pattern in my Japanese stitch dictionary a couple of years ago. I swatched and sketched and charted and plotted and schemed but just could not figure out exactly what I wanted to do with this stitch pattern - I just knew that I wanted to use it somehow!

I finally gave up on the idea of somehow making a triangular shawl out of it. Eventually I took the main element and charted out the mirror image. Then I added a column of alternating eyelets in between repeats. I took the tiny cable pattern that had been between repeats in the original stitch pattern and used it for an edge stitch.

Choosing the yarn was difficult too. Initially I thought I'd use DK weight - I had swatched in tosh dk and liked it. I had this lovely tosh merino dk and a rich russet color that would be gorgeous.

Unfortunately I discovered that purling two together through the back loops is quite difficult with single ply yarn :P I also considered some beautiful deep orange sport-weight from Yarn Chef and even wound it up.

But this wrap just demanded a luxury blend of fibers, so I finally settled on madelinetosh Pashmina in a lovely golden color.

Once I started working on what had become a rectangular stole, I realized it was going to need fringe.

I'm so pleased with the finished stole!

Winter Woolies

I just released this very warm and wintery sweater which means that spring is probably going to come soon :)

This is Woodsmoke - it's knit top-down, seamlessly, and the sleeve caps are knit along with the body - the same basic construction that I used in Serra.

It's knit in madelinetosh alpaca sport and I've enjoyed wearing it during some of the cold weather we've been having. I hope winter isn't quite over!

A present for YOU on my birthday :)

To celebrate my birthday on the 13th, I'm giving away a free pattern in my Ravelry Shop with the coupon code HAPPYBDAY from January 11 through January 14 (EST). (That's all day Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.)

The last two aren't in the shop yet - if things go according to plan they will go up in time for the giveaway!

 

This past year of designing has been so much fun and I really appreciate each and every one of my customers :)  This is just a small way to say thank you! Spread the word :)