Reminder: Last Day to Download Telescopic for Free!

I just wanted to let you know that today is the last day to download or add my telescopic cowl pattern to your ravelry library for free! After today, it will go up to $1.99. You can find it here.

WIP Wed: Secret Design

I guess it’s good timing that I have project that I’m mainly keeping under wraps at the same time as when I misplaced my camera. It doesn’t make for very interesting posts, but it makes life a lot easier for me. I’m also in my third week of student teaching, so it’s not like I have time to make much progress on anything.

Still, it’s going pretty well. I’m loving the lace pattern, and the rectangle part of this design went by really quickly. Now I’m on a part that increases, which is a little more tricky. I want to keep the increases within the pattern. It’s been going pretty well, but I’ve been really bad at keeping track of what I do. I know that this is going to make writing the pattern much harder, but I can’t exactly seem to make myself care!

This is another pattern for the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, so I was lucky enough to get my hands on 7 skeins of Gloss DK (70% Merino, 30% Silk) in a lovely grayish lavender color. It’s simply gorgeous and I can’t wait to see how the FO comes out. I have a feeling that it will be amazing!

For more WIP Wed. posts, check out Tami’s.

FO: Wanderer

There have been a couple of projects that I’ve all but finished while you guys weren’t paying attention. One of which was this:

Wanderer was a pretty easy but engaging pattern to knit. The cables kept my attention, but the garter rib was pretty mindless, too. For some reason, the combination worked!  The only mod I did was to knit another couple of rows for a slouchy-er hat. No stress there!

Photo Courtesy of Ravelry- Just picture a longer version in lime green with a pom-pom!

I cast on for this pattern when I knew that I needed some portable stress knitting the weekend before I began student teaching (I began on a Wed.). I was casting off during my second to last undergraduate class, three days later. I even had time (ok, I was so bored, we were all doing 10 min. presentations and it was HORRIBLE) to make my first pom-pom in class to use up those last little bits of yarn. I think it came out pretty well!

The yarn is a little limey-er, too.

Although the FO is pretty cute, I think I’m giving it away to a friend who has been waiting for a Birthday present for, oh, three months. Woops! I used up an entire 100g stash skein of Spud and Chloe Sweater (55% wool, 45% cotton). I’m not kidding- the whole skein. No leftovers! I was afraid that the cotton content would make it harder on my hands to knit, but that didn’t really happen. Still, it is too cotton-y for me to want to steal it for myself, so I’m perfectly happy passing it on.

Unfortunately, it seems that I have temporarily misplaced my camera at my parents’ house. Sorry about that! Hopefully I can find a substitute until I get that back from them (along with my heavy coat, which I also seem to have left there).

New Pattern: Telescopic

What is this, two new patterns in one week? Trust me, that’s not actually the case. I’ve had these patterns finished for a LONG time, but it’s taken me until now to, you know, summon up the energy and willpower to actually publish them. (For those of you just tuning in, I’m also talking about my Eclectic Shawl, which is only available for free on ravelry until this Wed., 2/27, so snap it up while you can!)

This new pattern also goes around your neck, although in a slightly different way. I have, just for you, the Telescopic Cowl. I used the same cable and textured mesh stitch patterns as my Chrolla hat, but have combined them to make a slightly different shape.

Telescopic is knit in the round with three sizes available: a cowl, a small eternity scarf, and a large eternity scarf (the sample pictured is the large). All three loops are 6” tall after blocking, although you could certainly continue for longer if you have the yarn! The pattern has both written and charted options for the stitch pattern, making it incredibly versatile.

As part of the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, the sample is knitted using 1 (2, 3) 50g skeins of Knit Picks Galileo (50% Merino Wool, 50% Bamboo), a sport weight yarn with a devastatingly wonderful sheen. Seriously, when you see this yarn you’ll think they added shiny acrylic. It’s amazing!

As a thank-you to all of my amazing blog readers, for just the next week (until Monday, March 4), you can get Telescopic for FREE on ravelry. No code required (honestly, you don’t have to read the blog. You just have to come across the pattern!). After that, it will go up to $1.99 and be posted on the Knit Picks site, under Independent Designs. While you’re on ravelry, I highly suggest that you snoop around the samples that my testers made. They are seriously wonderful and worth taking a look!

New Pattern: Eclectic Shawl

Normally, I would reserve a Wed. post for a WIP. To be honest, though, my entire life feels like a WIP right now. But I don’t want to get into that right now! Instead, I’m just going to come out and show off my newest pattern, the eclectic shawl.

Eclectic is a shawl pattern very close to my heart. The idea originated several years ago when I put together a quick shawl pattern for my Aunt, who had just been diagnosed with cancer and needed something to keep her warm. I hadn’t even been planning on writing this pattern up, but a couple of months ago her disease, which had been in remission, came back. We all knew the end was near, and I wanted a more tangible connection to her.

And that is when I started thinking about putting together the pattern. Since I gave her the original Eclectic, she wore it almost every time I’ve seen her. My Aunt’s personality is nothing if not eclectic so I hope you enjoy this interesting combination of different stitch patterns. 

This shawl includes two different stitch patterns. Each pattern includes both charted and written instructions, so we all get to do our own thing 😉 To make the shawl, you need 100g of fingering weight yarn (the sample is knitted in Knit Picks Imagination Hand Painted Sock, which creates a lovely halo), US6 needles, and an assortment of stitch markers. In order to thank my lovely blog readers, I’m offering this pattern for free just for this coming week (until 2/20/13), and then it will go up to $1.99. Of course, you can always just add it to your ravelry library here and download it later! I highly suggest that you check out the project pages of my test knitters- they’ve come up with some beautiful FO’s. The pattern is also part of the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, and will, eventually, be up on their site as well.

WIP Wed: I CAN’T STOP KNITTING

Life has been a little stressful lately. I’m dealing with some personal things and school has been…confusing. Not necessarily difficult, but confusing. Mainly because I have a class co-taught by two professors who don’t seem to be communicating. Anyway, in order to cope, there has been knitting.

A lot of knitting.

Just in case you are confused, that is the completed back and a good portion of the front of a Roam Tunic. Admittedly, it’s knitted using US10.5 needles and bulky weight wool (I’m using Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Cadet, a nice blue color), but I still think that’s an impressive amount of work, especially considering I just cast on LAST FRIDAY. The stress? It has manifested itself in the knitting (and the acne).

But I am definitely loving this pattern. I have very high hopes for how it will look on. The model looks great in it and so does threadpanda! I’m just adding a few mods. I’ve lengthened it a little bit to be more like a dress. That way I’ll be able to wear it to work (I teach middle schoolers, so it’s really important to watch those hem lines. Those kids will comment on anything!). I’ve also decided to nix the pocket. It’s in such a strange place that I really don’t think it’s worth it. And that’s it! I’m off to puzzle out what my assignment is for my next class session 😉

For more WIP Wed. posts, check out Tami’s!

 

Blog Week in Review: 1/21-1/28

It’s time for yet another Blog Week in Review. Once again, we’re pretty heavy in the accessories- ya’ll have got to finish your beautiful garments!

First up, there’s Pretty Little Fiber Co.’s amazing Spruce Forest Shawl. I love the colorway- it looks like it has just a hint of blue or grey, which gives the project a little something more than all of those white or off-white shawls. Plus, it looks HUGE. Definitely comfy and warm for these cold days we’ve been having!

I love Twisted Stitcher’s colorwork beret. I always think that colorwork anything is amazing, probably because I can’t actually do my own colorwork, but this one really is special. I promise!

Keeping with the colorwork theme, there’s Cloudberry’s Nuthatch Mittens. They have little birds on them! Even though it’s definitely a winter pattern, it seems so full of life. She definitely did justice to it!

The one garment that I did find was Knit the Hell Out’s Grey Sky. Apparently the silly lady had this wonderful project sitting in her UFO pile for over a year! I’m glad I finally got to see the FO, because it is gorgeous- the prefect blend of fashionable and comfort.

Before I sign off, I just wanted to let you guys know  a secret: BULKY WOOL KNITS UP VERY QUICKLY! How do I know this? I guess you’ll just have to come back on Wed. to check out my current WIP, which seems to be knitting itself. Maybe the elves are coming out at night and knitting me a sweater!

FO Friday: Well, half of one, anyway

I finished the first sock! Sorry about the crappy picture- the colorway is hard enough to photograph at the best of times, but the light is horrible. On the up side, we’re expecting snow in a couple of hours!

For those of you just turning in, this is a Mock Cable Sock (although there’s not much mock about it) in Candy Skein Yummy. There’s a whole lot more information in Wed.’s WIP post, here. This sock went very, very quickly, and I’ll hopefully have his twin soon! I have a ton of work to get to, but for more detailed posts, check out Tami’s.

WIP Wed: Something Simple

After straight designing for what feels like FOREVER, I need something simple to cool down. Of course, I can’t just go from something really complex to a mile of garter stitch. Oh no, I’m somewhere in between.

These are Wendy Johnson’s “Mock” Cable Socks from Socks from the Toe Up, my sock knitting bible. These patterns always turn out great, and I use the basic templates just about every time I make socks. I’m not quite sure why they are mock cables- there are actual cable crosses involved. It’s a little strange. I was actually going to make another pair of Trilobite Socks, but I saw these before I could flip to the pattern in the book. I thought there must have been some really cool technique for making fake cables, but you just do a bunch of small crosses. Oh well, it’s still a really cool pattern, and I love how it’s interacting with my variegated yarn.

Speaking of yarn, this is the last of my Candy Skein Yummy in Butter Mints. It’s just a little bit more pastel than the picture shows, but I really, really love it. I raved about Candy Skein the last time I worked with this skein, but I can’t say this enough: CANDY SKEIN IS GOD.

For more WIP Wed posts, check out Tami’s. She’s also the creative force behind Candy Skein, so you can definitely link-hop from her blog to her web store!

Blog Week(s) In Revew: 1/7-1/21

Well, it’s been over a week since I last posted. Woops! It’s not that I haven’t been knitting. Oh no, I’ve been knitting like a fiend. Most of it, though, is design projects. There’s something about designing that makes me a little hesitant to blog. Probably the uncertainty- there’s never a guarantee that your WIP will turn out (Rocky Coast Cardigan, anyone?), but at least when you’re working on other people’s designs there’s guidance. You have none of that when you’re just starting out! Well, I’m just about finished knitting on the last design for a little bit, so I’ll hopefully have progress on someone else’s pattern to show you on Wed. Until then, I have some lovely blog posts to show you guys! We’re a little heavy on the accessories, today, but no worries.

Who doesn’t like a quickie? First, there’s Sezza Knit’s newest design, the Basket Weave Rib Socks. These seem like a perfect little pattern to add to my never-ending sock queue. Simple enough to keep in my head but complicated enough to keep my interest. Best of all, they’re free!

I really love Nook’s Angelus Shawl. It fits in this whole trend of combining colorwork with other skills, like textured stitches, cables, and lace. Honestly, I can’t get enough of looking at this shawl. It’s truly a masterful project.

Stitched Together’s Fluvial Shawl is also pretty gorgeous. The simplicity of the lace and cable columns set on stockinette and ribbing is, somehow, just as attractive as something five times as complicated!

Twisted Knitter’s Adiri Slouch Hat seems like the perfect winter hat. A fun knit and a fun wear!

If you’re into colorwork mittens, you have to check out The Knitting Squid’s Octopus Mittens. Not only is it an ingenious pattern of, you guessed it, Octopuses (Octopi?) on mittens, but I love the colors she chose. Plus, the detail of the tentacles continuing on the inside is really cute!

Finally, there’s just one garment. I absolutely love Don’t Drool on the Wool’s Fair Isle Yoke Cardigan. Her technique is absolutely wonderful, and it seems like it fits really, really well. She seems completely happy with it. Plus, she steeked! Steeking medal awarded 😉