Knit with KT

Year in Review (Goals Achievement)

2011-12-21T16:37:00.001-05:00

This is one of those end-of-year posts that lots of people do, looking back at the goals set in January to see if they were reached (or, rather, which were reached, which is a much more positive outlook). So, without further ado:

1.Finish the wholesale catalog and reformat patterns into shape. Start contacting LYSes with the catalog and sign up at least 10 by the end of the year to sell my patterns wholesale.

I did this (several times), and managed to sell patterns to a few shops (3) but have completely failed at getting a distributor to pick me up. I'm a bit disgruntled and demoralized by the whole thing and have decided, in the end, to forgo the whole print wholesale end of things in favor of other work. The payoff has just not matched the effort.

2.Get a book proposal accepted. I have about three or four that I'll be proposing in the next months, and I want to have at least one of them accepted by the end of the year.
Still haven't proposed these, largely because I haven't set myself deadlines for sending them in. I'm shifting this goal to 2012.

3.Self-publish 12 patterns, either new ones or published ones that have returned rights to me. I currently have three KnitCircus patterns plus two new wraps at the TE's, so am well on my way here.
Woohoo! Exactly 12 up for sale on Ravelry in 2011!

4.Have 4-6 patterns accepted for publication. I'd love to see if I can get into more books, but am also nurturing relationships with some of the monthly/bimonthly magazines who need a lot of patterns.
14 patterns published in 2011, with two more in press for early 2012. (This is why the self-publishing just squeaked in and the books didn't get proposed)

5.Work with smaller but established yarn companies who publish patterns based on their yarns. I feel like this is an area that I haven't pushed very much and would like to expand into.
Not much work here, though I do have some connections that I'm continuing to pursue.

6.Submit 6-10 patterns for the KnitPicks Independent Designer Program. I have five that need to be written up, tested, edited, and posted, so am at least partway there!
I now have 5 patterns in the IDP, of which 3 have been added this month (photos in this post!).

7. Develop regular clients in my tech editing business.
This is definitely true: see my page of published patterns that I've edited to see the somewhat impressive list!

8.Continue to participate in the Phat Fiber boxes. Last year I had wanted to be in 9 boxes, but this year I'm being a bit more conservative - say, 6? I'm already missing January because I just wasn't inspired and had no time.

Not sure how many I did this year, honestly. At least 4...

9.This may be in opposition to the above one, but I also want to make 2011 a major stashdown year.

Let's just ignore this goal, shall we? I've actually been very good about not purchasing yarn or fiber. The downside of doing so much design for magazines and books, though, is that they provide the yarn and so if anything it ends up being stash-positive (from leftovers)!

10.Get the Katherine Vaughan Designs website really in shape and running.

It's up and running - comments are always welcome! http://www.ktlvdesigns.com

11.Become active in and develop networking contacts through other members of the Association of Knitwear Designers, which I was accepted into in December.

I'm actually fairly irritated about this one. I applied to the AKD in late fall of 2009, heard nothing for a long time, was finally accepted (with a slightly snarky note that included the line "you clearly love to knit, but..."), and then within two weeks of receiving my acceptance I was notified that the AKD was folding. But they kept my money, even though I would receive absolutely no benefits (and did a lot of work). They haven't even updated the website to reflect the fact that the group is completely defunct!

Remembering Pearl Harbor (1)

2011-12-07T13:11:00.001-05:00

Today on my way in to work NPR and the BBC were covering various stories about Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941), which was up until 9/11/2001 the worst single-event attack on the United States in our nation's history. The thing that struck me about these remembrances was how few people of even my parents' generation have the kind of visceral reaction to December 7th as my grandparents do - and as Americans alive on 9/11 do now.

The attack on Pearl Harbor, and the greater suite of events that made up World War 2, had a profound effect, though, on my family. These are lasting effects that you can see not just in the lives of my grandparents who lived through it (interestingly, neither of my grandfathers fought in the war), but also in the lives of my parents and even in myself and my husband. I'm interested in recording some of the lore as I remember it (and that's somewhat faulty, as my mother reminds me often).

The most obvious interaction of my family with the War in the Pacific comes actually from my husband's family, specifically his father and grandmother. My grandfather was born in the Philippines in September 1940 (we think) to two American expatriates. It seems that my husband's grandmother (Elizabeth) was something of a wild child and drifter, and she had moved to the Philippines some time before, where she met and eventually married Milton (grandfather, an engineer who was working on, I think, bridges there) and had two children. Aunt Beth would have been about 2 on Pearl Harbor Day; Clay (father) was a little over 1.

There are interesting stories about Milton (who went on a business trip to Manila, got stuck there, joined the Army, was promptly captured, survived the Bataan Death March and died as a POW) and Elizabeth (I'll write about her later), but today I'm interested in my father in law, Clay. When he was 2 years old (and Beth about 3), the three of them were captured by the Japanese and put in a civilian camp. The stories of how they survived are horrific (See this entry, with a memory from Clay, in the book Civilian Prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands: Years of Hardship, Hunger, and Hope January 1942-February 1945). Clay would occasionally tell anecdotes of his time there that chilled me - things I didn't want my own children to hear.

The more I read about the particular camp that Clay, Beth, and Elizabeth survived, the more I am horrified about one person will do to another in the name of power. And then I ran across this class action complaint by the US citizens stranded by the US in the Pacific in the lead up to Pearl Harbor and am even more horrified. Here's the section about my husband's family:

3. Milton Clay, Elizabeth, and Beth Vaughan

89. Plaintiff Milton Clay Vaughan (“Clay”) was born on September 8, 1940, in Iloilo, the Philippines. His parents, Elizabeth Head Vaughan (“Mrs. Vaughan”) and Milton James Vaughan (“Mr. Vaughan”), were both American citizens. Mr. Vaughan worked as a civil engineer for the Pacific Commercial Company. Soon after Clay’s birth, his family moved to Bacolod, the provincial capital of Negros Occidental on Negros Island, located in the mid-Philippines. Now that they had an infant child, the Vaughans made general inquiries about the safety of remaining in the Philippines. They were reassured by American officials that they were perfectly safe.

90. In early December 1941, Mr. Vaughan was sent to Manila on a business trip. On December 7, eight hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Philippines was attacked by the Japanese and Mr. Vaughan was unable to return to his family. He then enlisted in the United States Army. Mrs. Vaughan was left to care for Clay, just over 1 year old, and his sister, Beth, 2.

91. Clay and his mother and sister were rounded up by the Japanese army and sent to the Fabrica camp in Bacolod. On March 2, 1943, Clay was taken, along with his family and many other internees, to Bacolod Pier to be transferred to Manila. The boat was covered in a layer of crude oil from leaking barrels which had been loaded on the boat just before the internees arrived. There were no beds or pillows, so two-year-old Clay slept on the oil-covered hard wooden floor. There was not enough space for everyone to lie down, so the adults took turns lying down for part of the night. There were no toilet or bathing facilities on the boat, and the internees were not fed by the Japanese. The internees lived in the cramped quarters of the boat for five days before the boat even left the pier. Shortly before the boat left, pigs were brought on board and placed below the steps used by the internees, adding to the already filthy conditions. The boat arrived in Manila on March 10, 1943.. The internees were taken to Santo Tomas internment camp, where Clay experienced hardships similar to those of the other internees previously discussed.

92. One day when four-year-old Clay was playing outside, a Japanese soldier walked by, whom Clay did not see. The soldier kicked the child. Clay, who was too young to understand all the rules of the Japanese, did not know why he had been kicked until his mother came out and explained to him that the soldier kicked him because he did not get up and bow when the soldier walked by, as the internees were required to do. All internees were also ordered never to look at planes flying overhead. App. 34, p. 108.

93. Under the military orders governing the camp, the Japanese soldiers in charge were generally not allowed to kill prisoners. However, any person who showed signs of rebellion against Japan could be summarily executed by the prison guards. Accordingly, the Japanese guards encouraged and tried to bribe internees to reveal the names of persons who were critical of, or had a derogatory attitude toward, the Japanese. One day the Japanese soldiers took Clay to a restricted area, encouraging the child to claim that his mother had said derogatory things about the Japanese. Clay was asked what his mother had said the previous night. Clay said nothing, but shook his head to signify that she had not said anything. A soldier then pulled out one of the child’s fingernails, and then repeated the question. Although only four years old, Clay withstood the pain and steadfastly refused to say anything that would implicate his mother.

94. After liberation, Clay, Beth and Mrs. Vaughan were given transport back to the United States, but prior to departure Mrs. Vaughan was required to sign a promissory note in the amount of $825.00 to the government as payment for their voyage. Mrs. Vaughan was also required by the United States Army Counterintelligence Corps to sign a paper promising that she would not reveal information about the internment for at least 40 years. She learned that her husband Mr. Vaughan, who had enlisted in the U.S. Army and survived the Bataan Death March, died in the summer of 1942 in Japanese hands as a prisoner of war.

There are so many things to be horrified by in this narrative. But here are two things that I hadn't known before: 1: The US assured its citizens that they were safe, when they obviously were not. 2: When my father in law was a toddler, his father went on a business trip and never came home, because of the events of this date. This date, that lives in infamy, even now.

Stream of consciousness: Noro book

2011-12-03T23:42:00.001-05:00

I am ineligible to participate in the Amazon Affiliates program, because I live in North Carolina. WTF?
The cover photo for Knit Noro: Accessories on Amazon, Ravelry, and in real life is my hat. The cover on the book being sold by KnitPicks is a completely different hat!
None of the promotional pictures from Sixth & Spring or KFI (the US distributor for Noro) include that hat. But they only show 1/3rd of the patterns, so it possibly is in there, just not highlighted.
I feel very sorry for the designer of that hat, if she's all excited about having a cover and then it's not to be.
But what if I'm the one being led? Ack!
I clearly NEED a copy of this book, and cannot wait for my designer copy to show up.
I'm assuming I get a designer copy.
Anyone with the book want to do a designer interview? I'm game!
But first on my plate is watching McGuyver and knitting.
And pie. If you're not familiar with my love of pie, you haven't been reading the blog since the beginning. I recommend this post in which I identify with Harold (of purple crayon fame) and discuss the pain of Thanksgiving in a family of non-pie eaters (upside? more for me!).

Riverbed Rib Hat (Knit Noro: Accessories)

2011-12-01T23:31:00.000-05:00

I have a new pattern out in a book collection - and I am completely excited as this is my first solo cover - and on a lovely book, too! The pattern is the Riverbed Rib Hat (link to Ravelry) and it's in Knit Noro: Accessories (link to Amazon). There are 29 other patterns in the book that are all relatively small projects done in various Noro yarns, including things to wear, to carry, and to use at home. Enjoy!

@ Sixth & Spring

Technical Editing Insights: Time to Edit

2011-11-30T13:10:00.001-05:00

One of the common things I'm asked by new clients is how much time I think it will take to edit their pattern(s). This is a really hard thing to estimate, because the amount of time any given pattern depends on several factors:

Clarity & consistency of writing
Number of errors (The more errors you have, the longer it takes)
Amount of math to be checked (shaped garments need more time)
Complexity of the stitches (fully lace shawls take a LONG TIME because every row of the chart has to be checked against every row of the written instructions)
Internal consistency & consistency with "knitting normal"

Out of curiosity I decided to go back into my last 60 patterns edited to see what sorts of things I tend to edit and how long they take. Here's a breakdown by type:

You can see here that, unsurprisingly, the average amount of time it takes to edit something increases as shaping and stitch patterns increase. Things like hats and scarfs are pretty simple and take not much time, while shawls and tops (either for children or adults) require me to haul out my calculator and do arithmetic.

But this doesn't tell the whole story. Here are the breakdowns for time spent on the 17 shawls and 11 adult tops:

As you can see, the shawls have a relatively smooth range in their time to edit, with 9 of the 17 taking less than an hour (5 of these took 36 minutes), and 8 of the 17 taking an hour or more. Shawls are interesting to edit (and knit) because, while their shaping is usually pretty simple (short-row ones notwithstanding), their stitches are often very complex. Included in this count are stockinette-plus-lace-border as well as true-lace-patterning-on-both-sides-all-the-way-through ones. The latter take a lot longer.

Adult tops, on the other hand, are mostly clustered somewhere in the 1-2 hour range, with two obvious outliers at under an hour and nearly 5 hours. That 5 hour one was for a new designer with an unusual construction and several different lace stitches; the 45 minute one was an extremely simple tee with minimal shaping. To be even more precise, of the 11 that I did in the last six months, 6 took 84-96 minutes total.

So what should I be telling clients about how long their edits will take? I suppose I can use these stats to give an average amount of time by type of garment, but even then there are going to be outliers one way or the other. Also keep in mind that not all of my clients receive their invoices online (this only counts PayPal invoices), and I'm not done with a bunch of ones that just came in this week, so the methodology isn't perfect (but when is it?).

Looking back at November's Goals

2011-11-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

Just a quick accountability post! Here's what I said I wanted to do for November, with notes on what actually happened:

Samples and pattern sent to KnitCircus ahead enough of time that I can use Priority not Express mail. I've swatched for half of the samples and am stuck until I can find a specific stitch dictionary to see how something has been done before, before I can write out the stitch for the second. Got a reprieve on this one - the KC samples are now due for a different type of project on March 1st. This was initiated by KC, and I don't feel like I should spill what kind of project, but I'm excited about it!
Sweater for DS. He's small (small for a person, not for his age), so that won't be a huge undertaking. This means knit the sweater, write the pattern, send it to the TE, get testers. I hear the dryer dinging; that means the swatches are dry! Yeah, or not. Instead I got a commission from a magazine and worked on that. I did get through most of the back of the sweater, and will come back to it in December.
Finish the patterns for KP that have been hanging around my neck. These are a vest, hat, scarf/hat/mittens, purse, and child's outfit. Partially complete - the purse and child's outfit are at KP, and I've gotten word that they've been accepted. Still need to do the vest, hat, and set.
Set the handspun that is waiting to be set. (Hey, look! Halfway there!) Yes! I did this!
Spin 8oz by the end of the month. No clue, but given how much I did spin, I'm guessing that this goal was reached.
Figure out Xmas gifts for people, including any that should/can be knit. Nope, though the DD wrote out her list. We did identify a number of crafty things that we could do - including making jam!
Mail Parallel her dang present from last year's Xmas, birthdays, and baby arrival! Does it help that I've pulled everything together, I just haven't actually mailed it yet? Also need to mail off my Secret Elf swap package to my PhatFiber buddy...
Get back to my preferred turnaround on tech editing of 4 days, not 7-8. Yes! After a marathon amount of tech editing this month I am now back to turning things around in less than a week, preferably 4 days. My friend Joeli is on maternity leave, so I'm (temporarily) picking up a few of her clients, but I'm doing a better job of managing my time so they don't slow things down. It does get in the way of knitting, though!

Thank you!

2011-11-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

I have much to be thankful for, including a (generally) healthy and happy family, warm home, stable jobs for myself and my spouse, good friends and family who are close, and time, space, and funds enough to pursue my second career and hobbies. A few years ago I discovered a love of technical editing for knitting patterns, and since then have built a small but thriving freelance business working for a number of independent knitting pattern designers. I wanted to give a shoutout to some of these clients who have stuck with me over time - it is immensely gratifying to see them grow as designers (and, many of them, as moms and business owners!).

I tried to give you a short list of my favorites, but I just can't do that - both because it's not a SHORT list, and because I kept looking at my clients list and couldn't figure out who not to include! Instead, take a look at the list of Published Patterns from Clients on my website - this is an amazing collection of wildly creative and very tolerant of criticism women who deserve your attention!

Thank you, all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Top Down Diamonds Preemie Hat

2011-11-12T22:35:00.000-05:00

Top down hats scare a lot of knitters, even ones experienced in circular knitting. It's because of the increases needed, I think. However, top down hats are great - if you don't know your gauge you just increase until the diameter is about 1/3rd the desired circumference (C=3.14159D), and then work the hat normally. If you're not sure if you have enough yarn to complete the hat (as happened with this one), you can work it until the yarn is gone and then either add on a new skein for the body (as I did here) or make a beanie. Plus, it feels a lot more like a hat than a tube for the majority of the time!

Finished Size: This is a preemie hat - about 10.5in (16cm) by about 4.5in height (11cm)

Gauge: 13 stitches and 14 rows to 3in (7.5cm) in garter stitch on US5 (3.75mm) needles.

Materials:
Worsted-weight cotton or other soft, washable worsted-weight yarn. (approx. 36yd/33m)
US 5 (3.75mm) double-pointed needles (or whatever method you use for circular knitting)
Darning needle

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
Kfb: Knit through the front & back loops
P: Purl

Instructions:
Cast on 6 stitches.
Row 1: Kfb all stitches (12 stitches).
Row 2 and all even rows: Knit all stitches.
Row 3: (Kfb, k1) six times (18 stitches).
Row 5: (Kfb, k2) six times (24 stitches).
Row 7: (Kfb, k3) six times (30 stitches).
Row 9: (Kfb, k4) six times (36 stitches).
Row 11: (Kfb, k5) six times (42 stitches).
Row 13: (Kfb, k6) six times (48 stitches).
Rows 15 & 17: (P1, k7) six times.
Rows 19 & 23: (P2, k5, p1) six times.
Row 21: (P3, k3, p2) six times.
Rows 25, 27, 29, 31: (P1, k7) six times.
Row 33: (P2, k5, p1) six times.
Row 35: (P3, k3, p2) six times.
Row 37: (P4, k1, p3) six times.
Rows 39 & 41: Purl all stitches.
Row 42: Knit all stitches for one last row.
Bind off in Purl.
Weave in ends.

Note that if you do not wish to have the diamond and triangle motifs, you can just knit in stockinette stitch (or chosen pattern) after row 13. Rows 39-42 create a garter stitch band at the bottom of the hat.

Simple Preemie Hat (With Eyelets)

2011-11-12T21:39:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I just want a mindless knit - and this hat managed to be that, with some little twists to keep it from being totally boring. First, there is a round of eyelets introduced into the ribbing section - you could thread a ribbon through these for extra oomph - and second, the decreases are done more gradually than usual in the hopes of creating a "conehead" effect. Otherwise, it's just knit knit knit all evening long!

Finished Size: 12in (30cm) circumference by 5in (12.5cm) height (flat)

Gauge: 20 stitches and 34 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch in the round

Materials:
1 (partial) skein Lion Cotton-Ease (50% cotton; 50% acrylic) Lake Colorway [100g/3.5oz to 207yd/189m]
US 6 (4mm) double-pointed needles (or whatever style you use for knitting in the round)
Stitch markers: 1 of primary color; 7 additional contrasting
Yarn needle

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
K2tog: Knit two stitches together
P: Purl
Yo: Yarn over

Instructions:
Cast on 64 stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place primary marker to indicate beginning of round.
Round 1-4: (K2, p2) 16 times.
Round 5: (K1, yo, k1, p2) 16 times.
Round 6: (K2tog, k1, p2) 16 times.
Round 7-10: (K2, p2) 16 times.

Work in stockinette stitch (knit all stitches, all rounds) until hat measures 3in (7.5cm) from cast on edge (approx. 13 stockinette rounds).

Crown shaping:
Round1: (K8, place contrasting marker) seven times, k8.
Rounds 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17: (Knit to 2 before marker, k2tog) eight times.
Intermediary rounds: Knit all stitches. Note: there will be two rounds of all knit stitch between each decrease round.
Round 19: K2tog eight times (8 stitches remain).
Break yarn, leaving a long tail, and thread through remaining stitches. Drop stitches from needle(s) and pull tail tight to cinch hole closed.

Sew ends to inside of hat.

Baby Bowties Preemie Hat

2011-11-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

When I saw the "Tiny Bowknot" pattern in Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury, I just knew I had to make a preemie hat out of it. It's just so cute and delicate, and perfect to spice up an otherwise typical stockinette hat. The stitch itself is easy to remember but uses the possibly novel "knit into the stitch below" (k1b) technique.

Since you have half a prayer of keeping a hat on a baby's head, but very little of getting a tie on a squiggly babe, I chose to rename the pattern "baby bowties" - their heads can be fancy even if their necks aren't!

Finished dimensions: 12in (30cm) circumference by 4.5in (11cm) height (flat)
Gauge: 12 stitches by 20 rows in pattern to 2in (5cm) in the round

Materials:
1 (partial) skein Plymouth Dreambaby DK (50% microfiber acrylic; 50% nylon) [50g/1.76oz to 183yds/167m]
US 5 (3.75mm) double pointed needles (or whatever method you use for knitting in the round)
Stitch marker
Yarn needle

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
K1b: Knit into the stitch below
P: Purl
Sk2p: Slip one stitch, knit two stitches together, pass slipped stitch over k2tog.

Instructions:
Cast on 72 stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place marker.
Work in garter stitch for two "ridges" = (Knit one round, purl one round) twice

Pattern stitch:
Rows 1, 2, 5, 6: Knit all stitches.
Row 3: (P3, k3) 12 times.
Row 4: (P1, k1b, p1, k3) 12 times.
Row 7: (K3, p3) 12 times.
Row 8: (K3,p1, k1b, p1) 12 times.

Work pattern 3 times, then rows 1-4 once more.

Crown shaping:
Round 1: (K9, sk2p) six times (60 stitches remain).
Round 2 and all even rounds: Knit all stitches.
Round 3: (K7, sk2p) six times (48 stitches remain).
Round 5: (K5, sk2p) six times (36 stitches remain).
Round 7: (K3, sk2p) six times (24 stitches remain).
Round 9: (K1, sk2p) six times (12 stitches remain).
Round 11: K2tog six times (6 stitches remain).
Cut yarn and thread through remaining six stitches, slipping stitches off the needles. Pull tight to gather hole closed, and sew to inside of hat.

Sew in ends.

Angled Rib Preemie Hat

2011-11-10T22:22:00.000-05:00

This baby hat has all the elements I love in a preemie cap: extra soft yarn, ribbing to allow for multiple sizing, interesting stitch pattern (but not so much so that you mess it up while watching baseball), and a cute
topper.

Finished Size: 10-12in (25-30cm) diameter, slightly stretched, by 4in (10cm), cuffed

Gauge: 26sts by 38rows to 4in (10cm), slightly stretched
Dimensions:

Materials:
1 skein (partial) Plymouth Dreambaby DK Prints (50% Microfiber Acrylic, 50% Nylon) Color 203 [183yd to 50g]
US 5 (3.75mm) double-pointed needles
Stitch marker
Darning needle

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
K2tog: Knit two stitches together
P: Purl
P2tog: Purl two stitches together

4 stitch I-cord: Knit 4 stitches. Without turning work, slip them back to the left needle, most recently knit stitch first. Wrap yarn around back from leftmost stitch, knit 4. Repeat for length desired.

Instructions:
Cast on 80 stitches.
Join, being careful not to twist, and place marker to indicate beginning of round.
Work in K2, p2 ribbing for 20 rounds. (this is the cuff)

Angle pattern (body):
Rounds 1-3: (P1, k2, p1) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 4-6: (P2, k2) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 7-9: (K1, p2, k1) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 10-12: (K2, p2) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 13-15: (K1, p2, k1) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 16-18: (P2, k2) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 19-21: (P1, k2, p1) repeat to end of round.
Rounds 22-24: (K2, p2) repeat to end of round.

Crown shaping:
Round 1: (K2tog, p2, k2, p2) ten times (70 stitches remain).
Round 2: (K1, p2, k2, p2) repeat to end of round.
Round 3: (K1, p2, k2tog, p2) ten times (60 stitches remain).
Round 4: (K1, p2, k1, p2) repeat to end of round.
Round 5: (K1p2tog, k1, p2) ten times (50 stitches remain).
Round 6: (K1, p1, k1, p2) repeat to end of round.
Round 7: (K1, p1, k1, p2tog) ten times (40 stitches remain).
Round 8: (K1, p1) repeat to end of round.
Round 9: (K3, k2tog) eight times (32 stitches remain).
Round 10 and all following even rounds: Knit all stitches.
Round 11: (K2, k2tog) eight times (24 stitches remain).
Round 13: (K1, k2tog) eight times (16 stitches remain).
Round 15: K2tog eight times (8 stitches remain).
Round 17: K2tog four times (4 stitches remain).

I-cord topper:
Using remaining 4 stitches, work I-cording for 2.5in (5.25cm).
Bind off stitches.
Sew in ends.

Tie I-cord into a simple knot, with base of knot close to top of hat. This gives a topper somewhat reminiscent of the tied off umbilical cord, I think.

Ripple Brim Preemie Hat

2011-11-10T21:29:00.000-05:00

This little hat is distinguished by its simple ruffled brim (with a bit of slip stitch detail at the turn to the body for strength) and subtle crown shaping. Otherwise it is a basic stockinette hat - very quick and simple.

This pattern is an appropriate hat for a preemie. If you are looking for instructions for this hat for several adult sizes, please see my Ripple Brim Chemo Cap, which is for sale as a charity pattern for the NC Cancer Hospital.

Size: 10in circumference by 3.5in height (25cm by 9cm) (preemie)
Gauge: 24 stitches and 36 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch in the round

Materials:
1 (partial) skein Plymouth Dreambaby DK (50% Microfiber Acrylic, 50% Nylon) [50g/1.76oz to 183yd/167m]
US4 (3.5mm) needles - whatever you use for knitting in the round (I used double-points)
Stitch markers: 1 main color; 5 of secondary color(s)
Yarn needle

Abbreviations:
K: knit
K2tog: knit two stitches together
Ssk: Slip two stitches, then knit them together through the back loops.

Instructions:
Cast on 90 stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place 1st marker to note beginning of round.
Knit all stitches for 4 rounds.
Decrease round: (K1, k2tog) to end of round (60 stitches remain).

Slip stitch band:
(to add strength to the hat; you may skip these if desired by knitting all stitches)
Round 1: (K1, slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back) to end of round.
Round 2: (Slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back, k1) to end of round.

Body:
Work in stockinette stitch (knit all stitches, all rounds) for 3in (7.5cm)

Crown:
Round 1: (K10, place marker) six times.
Round 2: (K2tog, knit to 2 before marker, ssk) six times (48 stitches remain).
Round 3: Knit all sts.
Repeat rounds 2 & 3 until 12 stitches remain.
Final round: K2tog six times (6 stitches remain).

Cut yarn, leaving long tail, and thread through remaining stitches.
Slip stitches from needles and pull tail tight to cinch hole shut.
Sew ends to inside.

Lace Edged Preemie Hat

2011-11-09T21:51:00.002-05:00

This very simple but very elegant preemie hat is made from a small amount of yarn, and is knit in the round on US5 (3.75mm) needles. It has one repeat of a simple lace pattern at the bottom, stockinette stitch for the body, and a 9-armed pinwheel crown.

Finished Dimensions: 11in (27.5cm) circumference; 4in (10cm) height
Gauge: 23 stitches to 4in/10cm in stockinette stitch in the round, on US 5 needles

Materials:
Small amount Caron Simply Soft (100% Acrylic) Colorway: Soft Green [165 yds/3oz]
1 set US 5 (3.75mm) double-pointed needles (or two circular needles)
Stitch marker
Darning needle

Abbreviations:
k: knit
k2tog: knit two stitches together
k3tog: knit three stitches together
p: purl
yo: yarn over

Instructions:
Cast on 63 stitches.
Join, being careful not to twist, and place marker before first stitch.

Rows 1, 3, 5: Knit all stitches.
Rows 2, 4, 6: [(K1; yo) twice, k3tog twice, yo, k1, yo] 7 times.

Continue working in stockinette stitch until hat measures 3.5in (9cm) from a point on the base.

Crown shaping:
Row 1: (K5, k2tog) 9 times (54 stitches remain).
Row 2 and all even rows: Knit all stitches.
Row 3: (K4, k2tog) 9 times (45 stitches remain).
Row 5: (K3, k2tog) 9 times (36 stitches remain).
Row 7: (K2, k2tog) 9 times (27 stitches remain).
Row 9: (K1, k2tog) 9 times (18 stitches remain).
Row 11: K2tog 9 times (9 stitches remain).

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail.
Thread yarn tail through remaining stitches, slipping them from the knitting needles as you go.
Pull yarn tail tightly to gather hole closed.
Securely weave/sew ends to inside of hat.

Presto! Preemie Hat

2011-11-08T12:00:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it's fun to make a baby hat that you would never in a million years wear yourself, but that would be adorable on a baby - and this is one of those. Named Presto! because it reminded me of the collapsible tophats used by magicians, it has alternating stockinette and reverse stockinette ridges that gather into each other. Because of this, as well as the natural stretchiness of knitting, the hat will fit for quite a while - just pull it a bit longer as the baby's head grows a bit bigger, or squish it a bit shorter for a smaller baby.

Finished dimensions: 12in [30c] circumference; height is between 1.5 and 6in (4cm and 15cm) depending on amount of stretch. This is an appropriate hat for a preemie. If you are looking for instructions for this hat for baby (toddler, child, adult) sizes, please see my Beehive Cap, which is for sale as a charity pattern for the NC Cancer Hospital.

Gauge: 14sts to 4in (10cm). Row gauge is unimportant.

Materials:
1 partial skein Lana Grossa Cotofilo Print (88% Cotton, 12% Elite) [85m/50g] or other worsted weight cotton blend
1 set US 8 (5.0mm) needles - whatever you prefer to use for knitting small tubes.
5 stitch markers - 4 of one kind, 1 unique
darning needle

Abbreviations:
k: knit
p: purl
k2tog: knit 2 stitches together
p2tog: purl 2 stitches together

Instructions:
Note: instructions are given for preemie size, with newborn and baby sizes in parentheses.

Cast on 40 stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place unique marker.
Knit one round.
Purl one round. (this purl round prevents the bottom of the hat from curling up; you may omit if desired)
Knit 4 rounds.
Purl 4 rounds.
Repeat knit and purl bands once more.

Crown shaping:
Round 1: (K8, place marker) four times.
Rounds 2 & 4: (K2tog; knit to marker) five times.
Rounds 3 & 5: Knit all stitches. After Round 5, 30 stitches remain.
Rounds 6 & 8: (P2tog; purl to marker) five times.
Rounds 7 & 9: Purl all stitches. After Round 9, 20 stitches remain.
Rounds 10 & 12: (K2 tog; knit to marker) five times.
Rounds 11 & 13: Knit all stitches. After Round 13, 10 stitches remain.
Round 14: P2tog five times. 5 stitches remain.

Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, and thread through remaining live stitches. Be careful not to thread it through the markers! Secure ends to inside of hat.

Barclay Sweater (Interweave Knits pattern!)

2011-11-07T10:31:00.000-05:00

I was very excited last fall to have my first pattern published in Interweave Knits: The Barclay Sweater!

From the magazine copy: "The Barclay Sweater has an organic pattern reminiscent of light birches against dark oaks. Side gussets and a modified drop sleeve allow for sideways-knit construction without sacrificing fit."

Now for sale as an independent digital pattern from the Interweave Store for $5.50

Finished Size: 34 (40, 44, 48, 52)” chest circumference. Sweater shown measures 40”.

Yarn: Cascade Eco Duo (70% alpaca, 30% merino; 197 yd 180 m/100 g): #1708 hazelnut (MC), 3 (4, 4, 5, 5) skeins; #1707 latte (CC), 3 (3, 3, 4, 4) skeins.

Yarn Weight: #5 - Bulky

Needles: Size 8 (5 mm). Size 7 (4.5 mm): straight and 16” circular (cir). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.

Notions: Tapestry needle.

Gauge: 18 sts and 28 rows = 4” in St st on larger needles.

Originally Published: Interweave Knits, Winter 2010

More Info:
The sweater is knit mainly sideways using two different colors of the ultra-yummy Eco Duo (though any heavy worsted or bulky yarn will do). The colors of Eco Duo chosen for the sample were self-striping; one was cream to ligh tan and the other was medium tan to brown. This meant that the stripes get a very interesting effect that would be completely different in two colors that were more different from each other.

Often I find that sideways knit sweaters cause a lot of gapping under the arms because of the drop-sleeve effect. This sweater gets around that by having 1x1 ribbed side panels (or gussets), knit from the hem up, that allow for a modified drop sleeve. The shoulders have some shaping for additional fit, too. the neckline is a wide crewneck, though it could also be worn with a deeper neck if you chose.

I really enjoyed knitting this sweater - it was stockinette but not completely mindless, the yarn was scrumptious (even in 95F July heat!), and it looked great on my spouse who is considerably larger around than the (also scrumptious) model here (though I would make this sweater in a larger size for him, were it for him to keep).

Crafts for Christmas

2011-11-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Ok peeps, I need your help. Every year I far prefer to give handmade gifts (my own and others') to my loved ones. I'm feeling like I've done the easy things and need some advice for new things to make. Keep in mind that most of the recipients will have small children (birth-7yo), though not all, and that things that I can do with my 7yo and 2yo are particularly welcome.

Here's what we've done so far:

Knit items - I'll do a few this year, but not for everyone. Don't need much help here (though if you have a favorite type of knit gift please feel free to share). I'm looking at knit items that take on the order of a few days to do - so, worsted-bulky accessories, mainly (other than the sweaters for the DD and DS).
Fleece items - So far we've done hats (BIG hit). I have a pattern for fleece slippers but fear there's too much variation in foot sizes among my loved ones. Are fleece scarves too cheesy? I have a good amount of fleece, and the sewing skills to do something with it, just a lack of imagination/inspiration.
Dried herbs - I'm thinking I will do this again this year - we do get requests for particularly the rosemary (of which I have A LOT) and tarragon. I also have some nice dried chilies that some of our spicy-friendly friends will like.
Notecards and bookmarks - I cut up the DD's artwork from preschool (I had tons) and glued it to blank notecards, and gave those to people whom I knew still wrote letters (my mother and Oma).
Poured soaps - this was a big hit last year with the DD, but I just don't know that I can repeat it for most of our family/friends. I think we can do it for the teachers, but not for others.
Soup/cookies in a jar - We found three great recipes last year (rice curry, bean soup, and butterscotch cookies) and made up jars for our local friends. Is it weird to do that again this year, but with different recipes? Do people still give jam away? I have several jars of jalapeno pepper jelly that Mom & I canned in August that would make great gifts...

We like particularly to send a small gift to the children in our friends/family network, and then to give a donation to something like Habitat or Heifer Project in honor of the adults. Who really needs more stuff? So if you have suggestions of good quick and relatively easy gifts to make for kids - and keep in mind that I can sew - please share!

Fibery Weekend

2011-11-05T20:00:00.000-04:00

I have no photos for you today because I forgot to take some (how's that for honesty!). However, here's a roundup of the week's fibery pursuits:

Set five skeins of yarn (you saw a photo of this earlier in the week), of which three are the DD's and two are mine. Of the ones that are mine, both are destined for shawlish wear; the laceweight for a light shawl of unknown pattern, and the worsted/bulky for a warm one with a very simple pattern. I'm hoping to have that done soon so it can go into the PhatFiber December box.

Approx. 4 oz of fiber spun. I spun up the "cloud" of fiber from the PF retreat in October, and will be using that for cuffs. Also did half of the Halloween batts. I did two of the green/yellow and one of the pink in a A-B-C single, and will do the remaining ones in half-batt runs on the single so that the pattern is D-E-F-D-E-F. If all works out, this means the resulting two ply from the two singles should be A/D - A/E - B/F - B/D - C/E - C/F. Which is sortof a take on the fractal spinning craze that's going around right now.

Finished swatching for my next KnitCircus pattern. I love this yarn, and I love this concept, and I love this pattern, which is why I'm surprised I'm not working on it right now.

Started the back (I've decided) of the Christmas sweater for the DS. This is the bright red cotton thing that keeps morphing in nature with every stitch I do. Which is why I'm working on the back - as of tonight I'm not confident on the pullover idea and may well switch to a cardigan. Luckily, the back would be done the same. The next looming question: set in sleeves or drop? Or a modification?

Did a major round of tech editing, though I have two largeish patterns underway right now as well. It always happens that as soon as I think I've got some breathing room, one of my regulars comes by with some interesting work! I love it though, it's fun and it'll make Christmas a bit less stressful from a financial perspective.

I've been struggling with a cold all week, including a horrible-sounding (and feeling) chesty cough that's driving me insane. Several nights this week I haven't been able to get to sleep until sunrise, because of nearly constant coughing. Anyone have tried and true remedies? I'm trying cough drops, dextromethorphan/guaifenesin meds (aka, cough medicine), tea with honey, elevated pillows, meditation, lots of juice.

Conehead Baby Hat

2011-11-04T21:51:00.000-04:00

Newborns - at least, those delivered rather than "hatched," as we put it in my family - have pointy heads. All that squeezing... this reminded me of the old Coneheads skit from Saturday Night Live... and so I decided to make a hat for a coneheaded baby. It's an extremely easy pattern, and lots of fun to make. You can adjust how pointy the head is by increasing or decreasing the number of plain knit rows between decrease rows.

Finished size: 10in (14in) circumference [25cm (35cm)]
Gauge: 18 stitches and 30 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch in the round

Materials:
1 (partial) skein worsted weight yarn (I used Peaches N Creme 100% Cotton)
US7 (4.5mm) needles - whatever you use for knitting small things in the round
Stitch markers: 1 of one color, 5 additional of different color(s)
Yarn needle

Abbreviations:
K: knit
K2tog: knit two stitches together
P: purl

Instructions:
Note: Size given is for preemie hat, with newborn hat in parentheses.
Cast on 42 (60) stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place unique marker.
Knit in stockinette stitch (knit all stitches, all rounds) for 2.5 (3)in [6.25 (7.5)cm] - approx. 18 (22) rows.

Begin crown shaping:
Round 1: (K7 (K10), place marker) 6 times.
Round 2: (Knit to 2 before marker, k2tog) 6 times.
Rounds 3 & 4: Knit all stitches.
Repeat rounds 2-4 until 6 stitches remain.
Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, and thread through remaining stitches. Slip stitches from needles and pull tail tight to cinch hole closed.
Sew ends to inside.

Too Early Birthday Preemie Hat

2011-11-03T21:57:00.000-04:00

This hat - knit in the round with occasional purl ridges and a flat top - reminded me of a layer cake... which I last had at a birthday party... and preemies are babies who are born too soon... which means they get an "early birthday"... and thus the name of this hat was "born": the Too Early Birthday hat.

It's a simple but eye-catching design, just the thing to make for wee babes needing some love.

Finished Dimensions: 10in circumference by 3.5in height (25cm by 9cm)
Gauge: 18 stitches and 30 rows per 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch in the round

Materials:
1 (partial) skein worsted weight yarn (sample is knit in Peaches N Creme 100% cotton)
US7 (4.5mm) needles - whatever you use for knitting in the round
Stitch marker
Yarn needle

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
K2tog: Knit two stitches together
P: Purl

Instructions:
Cast on 42 stitches.
Join for knitting in the round, being careful not to twist, and place marker.
Rounds 1-5: Knit all stitches.
Round 6: Purl all stitches.
Repeat rounds 1-6 two more times (3 times total).

Begin crown shaping:
Round 1: (K5, k2tog) six times (36 stitches remain).
Round 2: Knit all stitches.
Round 3: (K4, k2tog) six times (30 stitches remain).
Round 4: Knit all stitches.
Round 5: (K1, k2tog) 10 times (20 stitches remain).
Round 6: Purl all stitches.
Round 7: K2tog 10 times (10 stitches remain).
Cut yarn, leaving long tail, and thread through remaining stitches.
Slip stitches from needles and pull tail tight to cinch hole shut.
Sew ends to inside.

Technical editing bonanza!

2011-11-02T23:57:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post, as I'm sick and tired and need to head to bed. In the last 24 hours I've finished up and sent off to the designers 5 different sweaters (one was a toddler dress, actually, but it was constructed the same so counts, in my book). Wow! Here's a tip for any budding designers, from your neighborhood technical editor:

Include an abbreviations section.

Bonus tip: Make sure it includes all of the abbreviations that you actually use in the pattern, and none that you don't use!

I've been editing for a while now, and have read through hundreds of patterns looking for errors. This is right up there as one of the most obvious beginner mistakes. I admit that in my own free patterns (which have not, by the way, been edited) I don't have abbreviations!

In other news, the swatches for the DS's sweater came out of the laundry. They're very, very red, and nicely soft from the dryer (they're cotton, too!). The sleeves and sides of the sweater will be the stockinette (on the right) with the texture stitch (a modification of American Seed) as the trims, body, and pocket(s). That boy loves pockets!

On setting challenges

2011-11-01T22:15:00.000-04:00

It's November 1st, which could mean lots of things. For one, I miss singing in the choir - right now I would normally be breathing in incense smoke while singing someone's mass and getting all lightheaded from it all. But not tonight - I've traded in my black cassock for the sensible shoes of being Cantus Choir Mom (and they generally don't sing after bedtime on a school night!).

For many people, it seems, November 1st is the start of a monthlong challenge to do something extraordinary. And not just that, but to do it with (or perhaps in some competition against) other people, using a cute nickname that's somewhat understandable once you have the code. Here are some options that I've seen:

NaNoWriMo: The one that started it all, NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, in which participants try to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. I believe a first draft is expected, not a publishable manuscript.
NaBloPoMo: NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth, in which participants (often with the help of a prompt from the linked page) write a blog post per day during November.
NaKniSweMo: NAtional KNIt a SWEater MOnth, started by Shannon Okey aka Knitgrrl, to knit a sweater of at least 50,000 stitches (so baby and/or superbulky ones don't count). The link here goes to Ravelry, FYI.
NaKnitDeMo: NAtional KNIT DEsign MOnth, which may or may not be confined to my (perhaps loony) friend Katherine, who is going to try to sketch out a design a day, so that she has 30 ideas sketched by the end of the month.

I'm sure there are lots more, but as I am a knitter these are the ones I've seen so far.

I'm declining to participate officially in any of these, for lots of reasons. Among them, I already have quite a challenging month ahead of me and don't need to add more work! I've got the samples and patterns for them to finish and send to KnitCircus, a sweater to design and knit for the DS, and several other designs in the works for KnitPicks, for starters. And then there's the fact that when I set myself a goal of, say, blogging every day, I feel guilty when I (inevitably) take a day off (like, say, the day after Thanksgiving, which is mostly spent asleep and digesting). But since I also feel some peer pressure to do something amazing this month, here are my mini-goals:

5 skeins hanging to dry in the shower

Samples and pattern sent to KnitCircus ahead enough of time that I can use Priority not Express mail. I've swatched for half of the samples and am stuck until I can find a specific stitch dictionary to see how something has been done before, before I can write out the stitch for the second.
Sweater for DS. He's small (small for a person, not for his age), so that won't be a huge undertaking. This means knit the sweater, write the pattern, send it to the TE, get testers. I hear the dryer dinging; that means the swatches are dry!
Finish the patterns for KP that have been hanging around my neck. These are a vest, hat, scarf/hat/mittens, purse, and child's outfit.
Set the handspun that is waiting to be set. (Hey, look! Halfway there!)
Spin 8oz by the end of the month.
Figure out Xmas gifts for people, including any that should/can be knit.
Mail Parallel her dang present from last year's Xmas, birthdays, and baby arrival!
Get back to my preferred turnaround on tech editing of 4 days, not 7-8.

So these end up not being in any one area of fiber crafts, but instead cover pretty much all of the things I like to do. So maybe what I should declare is some sort of KTFiMo - KT FIber MOnth - in which I work hard to be productive and still have fun with my fibery pursuits.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:34:00.002-04:00

Trick or treating: DD, DS, and DD's BFF

Happy Halloween, all! Today started off cold but sunny, and rapidly changed over to cold and rainy by the later afternoon. As such, we weren't particularly worried about our neighborhood pranksters, but we did have to consider how to protect the DD's Tutankhamun costume (which she made herself) against the elements. Turns out packing tape does an admirable job of waterproofing tempera paints and paper! The DS yet again inherited his sister's pumpkin costume, though since this is the largest one she had, next year he's off the hook. In fact, he's a bit long in the torso for this one - I never saw a pumpkin with a wedgie before. Thank goodness for diaper padding!

Note: The DD wants to make it clear that although she is a girl and King Tut (pronounced, I'm instructed I should add, "TOOT" not "Tuht") was a boy, since her headdress is modeled on the one that was found in Tut's tomb, that's who she is. She is not, though she could have been, Queen Hatshepsut (Wikipedia Link!), because while she's "completely cool" it would have meant creating a completely different headdress (for which she had no pattern) AND making herself a fake beard, and that just wasn't in the cards.

My daughter apparently not only looks just like I did at her age, she thinks like me too. Which makes me a: want to apologize to my own mother over and over again and b: fear for the future. My future.

Proof that I didn't just sit around and eat candy!

I, of course, had prepared well more to do than I had time for (this is preferable, I think, to running out of fibery stuff), and in the end while I did some spinning it was all inside. I made two new notebook ads for Ravelry (to promote the Verso-Recto Fingerless Gloves and Anona Shawlette), added the Nessa Purse to the Rav database and my store, and plied the DD's monster single with the alpaca that I'd finished yesterday.

For the rest of tonight I'm finishing up some technical edits - five, at least, and will get serious work done on a sixth. I'm thinking of doing a blog series on what are the most common things I "correct" or at least comment on in patterns. Would that be of interest to anyone but me?

Getting Ready for Halloween

2011-10-30T23:56:00.001-04:00

It's Halloween again, which means this blog is one year older (and more neglected). This year I'll be spending the evening outside on either my front porch (if it's raining) or in the driveway (if it's not) spinning in a witch costume. Of course, I'll be doing it on my Babe, which being made of PVC piping and a wheelchair wheel kindof mars the historical reenactment side of things. There's no way I'm taking one of the Kromskis or the antique wheel (dubbed "Raven" by the DS, so that WOULD be an appropriate one) out into the weather.

The reason I'm planning to be outside and thus rob the children of the joy of ringing our doorbell is twofold:

Our doorbell is broken (this is actually the second reason, though the more practical. It's second because I forgot about it until today).
Last year at Thanksgiving and Christmas someone pranked us twice - first by putting a condom with something white and viscous (we think it was yoghurt) on the doorhandle, and then by egging Dad's car and the front and side of the house and throwing pancake and chocolate syrup on the door. I'm still royally pissed about this, particularly since there's no logical reason why they should have pranked us - we're friendly people, never harass the local kids, have jobs that are dull, and have small children. Also, the condom episode led to a "birds and bees" discussion with my then nearly-7 year old, which ended with the question, "Is that what you did to Daddy so you could have me?"

But I digress.

In order to spin outside for several hours in the cold (well, cold to us in North Carolina. It'll be in the 60sF for the high tomorrow, and the 40sF for the low), I clearly need to have sufficient materials that I won't run out in mid-~~home guarding~~ candy dispensing. I generally use the Babe for plying, but she's also a lovely workhorse for larger gauge yarns. So here's what I've got for the evening:

There are six batts in an appropriate colorscheme for the day. I took some black mystery wool (came with my carder) and made "monster sandwich batts" with samples from my last two PhatFiber boxes. The monster part is because the ingredients come from all over (like Frankenstein), and the sandwich is because the monster parts are between two layers of the black wool. There are three in the pink/purple/blue family and three in the green/yellow/orange family. I haven't decided how to spin them yet - I'll let the evening guide me.

Below the batts are two bobbins of yarn for the DD. The more colorful one (sorry about the bad colors; indoor lighting at night) is a set of three (maybe four; we can't remember at this point) monster batts that she carded earlier in the year. They're all more or less pink themed and have names that I can't recall at this moment. I think one is "princess" and another may be "mercury." The brown bobbin is alpaca from my fleece purchase at the NC FiberFest last spring. I'll be plying them together first tomorrow, since that's quick and easy to drop when kids show up.

Oh, and there has been knitting this week - just of the swatching kind, which is a: boring and b: not stuff I can show off until after the patterns are published. I did do two swatches for a sweater for the DS and will blog about that later, after they're washed. Happy holidays, all!

Scarves for Kids

2011-10-25T14:15:00.003-04:00

In North Carolina, where it is still 72F/22C this week, we haven't started wearing our warm woolies yet. But this doesn't mean I haven't started thinking about how to keep the kids warm this winter. Gloves and mittens are easy - that is, you don't put gloves on a 2 year old (his fingers are so small!), and doing the math for figuring out what will fit is fiddly but not hard. Hats, same deal. Socks, yep. Sweaters, even, just require some measuring and swatching.

But what to do about their necks? Scarves are the obvious solutions, but I know many people have concerns about them. Here are some:

Long scarves can be a choking hazard
Likewise, they can be a trip hazard
They get dirty when they drag in the dirt
Little necks don't need that much material wrapped around them
They get lost!

Ok, that last one is also true of hats and mittens (and, in my family, also socks), and there's honestly not much you can do to prevent handknits from going missing once the child takes them off. Short of glue. Or maybe tape?

I've also heard a lot of questions about how to size a kid's scarf. My general rules of thumb are these:

Length = Child's height
Width = Child's handspan, or about 4"/10cm if it's a worsted/bulky yarn, or double that if you're going to fold or scrunch the scarf

Now, obviously for a kid who is only 30"/76cm tall and has a neck circumference of 12"/30.5cm, these "rules" don't allow for much wrapping around the neck, so if you're doing a traditional long scarf, you'll need to fudge it a bit.

Recently, however, I've started rethinking how I design child scarves (and adult ones, too, I've been so happy with the kids'!). How can we make scarves that aren't so bulky, potentially hazardous, and dirt magnets? Well, we can come up with ways to shorten the scarves - with fasteners, connecting them to other gear like hats, or working them as cowls/pidges instead of scarves (those have issues too, though)

One option I really like is the keyhole scarf, such as what I used in Peaks. In this case you aren't going to wrap the scarf around the neck multiple times - instead you have a hole worked into one end of the scarf that you tuck the other end through. This means you can have an overall shorter scarf. My rule of thumb for this is that the scarf is the circumference of the child's neck plus 16"/40.5cm. This allows for a 2"/5cm hole (plenty for a 4" wide scarf, though you can make it larger if you like) plus 6"/15cm tails on both ends, and about 2"/5cm of ease. start the hole 6"/15cm from one end, and work until it's the right length.

I also just finished a scarf for the DS that is double her handspan, and has an eyelet pattern. At one end are buttons that she can use to button the scarf closed, at whatever angle she needs. This was also a short scarf - about 24"/61cm. I'm sure there are other ideas out there - I'll be interested to see if anyone has their favorites to share!

Fiber Friday - 10/21/2011

2011-10-21T20:09:00.000-04:00

I've had a busy week along the whole spectrum of fibery arts.

First, it was PhatFiber Box Drop Day last Saturday. I contributed one of the ingredients to my Valerie's Miracle Scarf, with a code to get the whole pattern digitally. My contributor's box came on Wednesday. So much fluff to play with! I'm trying to decide whether to spin them sequentially or to card them up into a monster batt. Thoughts?

And then I finished up spinning my "Grapes of Wrath" braid from Knitty and Color. This was a lovely BFL black with hot pink, purple, and some blues. I originally was going to spin this pretty fine then ply it against itself, but I like it so much done as the laceweight single that I think I'll keep it this way. No clue what the yardage on this is, as I'm letting it rest a while on the bobbin before skeining it up. I bought a yarn meter from Nancy's Knit Knacks (which, incidentally, is headquartered not far from me!), and am hoping to use it on this yarn after it's blocked. I'm hoping for enough for a small wrap or shawlette. The colors in this photo aren't as bright as the actual yarn - gotta love evening light.

At the PhatFiber reunion a few weekends ago we all carded up some very special batts to sell for charity. With the bitts off the lickers-in we made clouds to share with everyone. Well, I dislike spinning very chunky crazy artyarns, so the prospect of working through the cloud was not appealing to me. Louet Junior carder to the rescue! My cloud fit perfectly on the carder, and now I have a lovely batt that I'll have fun spinning up in to a pretty single. The idea is to knit the finished yarns into cuffs to wear at next year's reunion.

I've also been working on knitting - first it was finishing up a pattern and sample for Knitting Today!, then working on a new shawlette using Berroco Comfort Sock. I'm designing that one on the fly, but am pretty happy with it so far. It's done on the triangle shawl concept but will have a crescent shape. I'm nearly up to the lace border, and am trying to figure out what to do for it. I'm thinking a garter-based lace, though my friend R also suggested a dropstitch pattern... Photos when it's photo-able.

NPR top 100 Sci Fi/Fantasy Books

2011-10-20T12:26:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've not been blogging for a while. I know you're shocked. But when I ran across NPR's top 100 SciFi/Fantasy books, I just had to grab it and post it here, mainly so that I can keep track of which I've read, which I own (not 100% overlap), and which I want to read.

So the ones I've read are marked with a strikethrough, the ones I own are italicised, and the ones to read in the somewhat near (without time travel) future are in bold.

1. ~~The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien~~

2. ~~The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams~~
3. ~~Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card~~
4. ~~The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert~~ (I have read three and own two?)
5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin
6. ~~1984, by George Orwell~~
7. ~~Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury~~ (This book may be one of the reasons I'm a librarian)
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov
9. ~~Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley~~
10. ~~American Gods, by Neil Gaiman~~
11. ~~The Princess Bride, by William Goldman~~ (Yeah. I have two copies of the book, and four of the movie. And two of the soundtrack. And two patterns inspired by the book/movie...)
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan
13. ~~Animal Farm, by George Orwell~~
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. ~~Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein~~
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss
19. ~~Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut~~
20. ~~Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley~~
21. ~~Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick~~
22. ~~The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood~~
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. ~~The Stand, by Stephen King~~
26. ~~Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson~~
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. ~~A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess~~
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
32. ~~Watership Down, by Richard Adams~~ (I totally thought this was about the navy; it took about 100 pages before I clued in that it's about rabbits, ALL THE WAY THROUGH).
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
~~35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller~~ (Own in print and audiobook. Love, love, love. Another one that influenced my career choice)
36. ~~The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells~~
37. ~~20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne~~
38. ~~Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys~~
39. ~~The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells~~
40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny
41. ~~The Belgariad, by David Eddings~~
42. ~~The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley~~
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. ~~The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin~~
46. ~~The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien~~ (Currently reading, again)
47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White
48. ~~Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman~~
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons
52. ~~Stardust, by Neil Gaiman~~ (Also loved the movie)
53. ~~Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson~~
54. ~~World War Z, by Max Brooks~~
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman (though I understand there are two books with this title; be sure to get the right one!)
57. ~~Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett~~
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. ~~Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett~~
61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy (Why read such depressing stuff?)
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (Loved the movie, though I understand this is very different)
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks
68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard (Um. no.)
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson (Our copy was borrowed by a friend & not returned!)
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke (It's entirely likely I've already read all of these ACC books - I went through a major Clarke jag a few years ago, but that was mostly the short stories)
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. ~~The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin~~
79. ~~Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury~~
80. ~~Wicked, by Gregory Maguire~~
81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. ~~Anathem, by Neal Stephenson~~ (Long; not impressed)
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge
94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson (I think I read Red Mars...)
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville
99. ~~The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony~~ (Until it got repetitive, that is...)
100. ~~The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis~~ (These are Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. I particularly liked the first two)

So of this list I've read 40 (8 of the top 10; 29 of the top 50) and have 15 that I haven't already read yet but want to in the not-too-distant future. Cool!

Tour de Fleece Day 5: FLUFFY!

2011-07-06T23:45:00.001-04:00

IT'S SO FLUFFY!

This, my friends, is 35yd/3.1oz of 4-ply super bulky pink fabulousness. This was so bulky in spots that I had to manually wind it onto the bobbin, even though I was using my plying flyer with my Babe Production. Perhaps I should have plied it on my big ol' plying spindle instead - it would have been quicker. I love this yarn beyond reason, especially since a: I don't normally like pink and b: I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with it. Perhaps a hat for the DD. For now I'm just glorying in the FLUFFY!

I'm also glorying in fluffy of a less-completed nature. Look what showed up on my porch today:

A box of Navaho/Jacob/Romney cross fleece from my favorite aunt's caramel colored lamb, "Ms Lemon." Squee!

And more squee! Four (FOUR!) llama fleeces from the same aunt's animals. There are two greys, a tan, and a beige fleece, each in bags.

Sadly, I won't be able to start working on these until late next week - but they do give me something to look forward to on my comp day.

(And did I mention, FLUFFY! SQUEE!)

Tour de Fleece Day 4

2011-07-05T22:34:00.000-04:00

Today was a high-mileage day for me, in terms of number of batts spun. Note that my carder puts out batts that I think are probably on the order of 1+oz, so these aren't huge amounts of fiber.

First I plied the Fruitwood singles that have been hanging out on a bobbin for a while after the main part of them were plied with something else. I used one of my favorite techniques on this one - I took the singles and wound them into a cake on my ball winder. Then I plied the inside end against the outside end. This gives me a two-ply skein that uses up all of the singles. Very pretty result, I believe. This is the plied yarn in the photo.

And then I decided to spin up what I thought was a primarily green batt that I'm thinking of using in the cousins' wedding hats (long story; more on that in a later post). But when I opened it up I discovered a stripe of black somethingorother as well as a significant amount of pink hiding out in the middle. So I went ahead and spun it - and LOVE it - and am trying to decide whether I want to ply it with the wedding hat fiber (which is coming soon!) or with something else.

By this time I'd gotten bit by the spinning bug du jour, so I decided to tackle those three pink batts that I'd like to ply together with a laceweight pink spindle-spun single from way way back. I got two of the pink batts spun (one is thick & thin, lumpy and loopy, arty; the other is pretty smooth, generally a DK weight). But then my flyer started getting hot and I thought perhaps setting my Babe on fire (or melting her) would slow me down in the long run so I stopped to take photos. The pink is going to be PINK! and FLUFFY! and BULKY! when it's done - I can't wait!

Tour De Fleece Day 3

2011-07-05T00:20:00.000-04:00

Quick post as I've got to go to bed. Tonight for the 4th the DD and I went over to a friend's house for dinner (after driving home from TN and napping). There were amazing storms - with hail! That woke us all up, but sadly the DS is sick so he and the hupband stayed home for the evening. I took my Sonata on her first trip away from home, and spun while playing Monopoly with the friends. I did about 3oz of the most luscious alpaca/silk from Natchwoolie (called Black Pearl). Then I plied it with the purple spindle spun from Day 1. Sadly, the purple didn't behave itself very well - it kept snapping/fraying while plying. I caught two of the times it did this and was able to spit-splice it back together, but there are at least three more times that I didn't manage to get while spinning. So the finished product is far from perfect - but it's also gorgeous, heavy, shiny, and slightly slithery. I love it!

Tour de Fleece: Day 2

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

Today I finished up another long-languishing WIP, this time a fat bulky single of samples and grab bag bits from various people. I would guess that today's spinning accounts for about .5oz, maybe up to .75oz, and that the total on the spindle here is more like 2oz, so this isn't much. I have more I'd like to add to this single but it's getting particularly unwieldy due to bad cop construction in the early days. I'll unwind it when I get home and see if I have enough for a goofy hat. If not I'll rewind it better and do some more work with it.

We had a lovely day today visiting with some old friends of ours who moved out of town probably going on 10 years ago. We only see them every few years, but they're the kind of friends that you can just pick up from the last time you saw each other and move on without awkwardness.

Tomorrow I'm trying to decide whether I'll work on another WIP or get out the Sonata to do some wheel spinning. I love my spindles, not least because I feel like I have more control over them than I do the wheel, but they are darned slow and I usually can't fit as much on the spindle as I can on a bobbin. Maybe I'll get that black bamboo from Extreme Spinning done up and ply it with the purple from yesterday's spindle...

Tour de Fleece Day 1

2011-07-02T19:59:00.001-04:00

Two years ago I started spinning during the Tour de Fleece using spindles bought from various places and a lot of fiber from Phat Fiber contributors. Sad to say, I still have some fiber on spindles that I started way back when! My first few days of the Tour this year are to finish up those WIPs. Today I finished a single-ply, roughly laceweight, of purple wool bits from a WC Mercantile grab bag (or two. I love those things).

I'm planning to ply this either with one of my monster batts (I may have to make one that has a lot of blues and purples, oh poor me) or with something neutral. Last fall at the Phat Phamily Spin-In I did some of this with a charcoal alpaca that Hilary brought as swag - and loved it. I gave that to Judy (aka MamaJude) in a secret swap in the winter, though, and am wanting some of my own. I think it could make a really striking hat or perhaps mitts.

No idea what the yardage is on this as I don't have my niddy noddy handy, nor do I know the finished weight. I'd guess it's a decent amount, though. This is Day 1 of my Tour done!

Tour de Fleece and Fiber Friday

2011-07-02T01:10:00.000-04:00

So sorry, poor neglected blog. But I'm attempting to do the Tour de Fleece, so expect many photos of spinning in the next month!

Here's what I'm hoping to get through during the Tour:

These are batts that I carded on my new drumcarder, using various samples from PhatFiber boxes and grab bags from "Phatties". Also my long-suffering spindle-spinning WIPs that I'll be taking on various travels that aren't spinning-wheel friendly.

I'm also getting a fleece or four that will eventually become hats for my husband's cousin and new bride (the fleece come from animals his mother raises) as wedding presents. I'll be blending them probably with the greenish batt in the center of the 9.

My spinning has really come a long way since two years ago when I started with my first spindle (also during the Tour de Fleece). Here are two things I finished this week: 175yds of two-ply brown wool (that came with the drum carder) and pink samples from WC Mercantile - my first carding experiment - and 16yds of art(ish) yarn, made from yet another carded monster batt. I'm completely addicted to carding.

More Knitting in the Sun - Ramona and Beezus!

2011-05-09T00:00:00.002-04:00

I had such a good time working with Kristi Porter on a pattern for her Knitting in the Sun book that when she put out a call for kids-related patterns for a followup book I was happy to send in some ideas. What came out of that were the Beezus and Ramona patterns - a cropped cardi and racerback tank with which I'm particularly pleased. The book is More Knitting in the Sun, and has 30+ projects for kids ages 2-12, including my two. I'm one stop on a blog tour organized by Kristi - see here for the schedule.

Because I'm always interested to see what designers write in their proposals, here is the blurb I sent to Kristi along with my sketches and swatches:

Inspiration: Often in the summer we go from the hot outside to the air-conditioned inside, making getting dressed a bit difficult. A lightweight top and jacket are just the ticket. I wanted a pair that would be a bit more grown-up than many kids’ outfits are, but still functional and washable—and I wanted to be able to do one or the other without feeling like I’d broken up the band.

Description: The tank/camisole shirt and cropped, 3/4 sleeve jacket use a lovely light worsted cotton/soy yarn. Both have a diamond motif on a stockinette background; the tank is done with purls while the jacket uses yarnovers. This preserves some modesty in the shirt while allowing for more lightness in the jacket. They also share trim in common; either a picked up I-cord or single crochet for the edges, straps, and tie on the jacket. All pieces are knit flat and seamed to add structure to the very drapey cloth formed by this yarn. This would be sized for older children, ages 6-12.

When Kristi wanted us to name our patterns after characters from children's and YA literature, I had SO MANY options - I wanted a set of sisters who were similar but had their own personalities. I finally fixed on Ramona for the tank, and Beezus for the slightly more grown up cardi.

Here are the blurbs from the book (and also on Ravelry):

Ramona - This simple camisole avoids ruffles and lace, and the racerback styling stays on a girl’s shoulders even when she’s swinging from the trees. The purled diamonds echo the lace pattern from the Beezus cardigan, making them a perfect twinset.

Beezus - This cropped cardigan has an open front with I-cord ties and a simple overall diamond lace pattern. It’s great over a camisole or tee, or pair it with its companion tank, Ramona, for a put-together look ready for any occasion.

Sometimes the vision in my head and the final product are so similar it's creepy. This was definitely the case here - and I love both! I'll be knitting these in all sizes for the DD over the next years, I think, and may even try to size it up for myself.

It seems appropriate that I'm blogging this this week - just Friday the DD and I watched the Ramona & Beezus movie. Which was very cute, though I still like the books more!

I was so excited to get my copy of More Knitting in the Sun - it's definitely a great buy for those of us living in warm climates. I think we'll get a lot of wear out of the book (and the knitwear!), from the skirts to the tops to the accessories. Great job, Kristi!

(Tomorrow's stop is Stephanie Japel's blog.)

Time to Fess Up: Fiber Stash

2011-01-09T21:15:00.002-05:00

Oh. my. goodness. So I knew I had a larger fiber stash than I should, particularly since I've only been spinning for a short time (on a spindle since July 2009, on a wheel since April 2010). But I was in denial about how much of a fiber stash I had (the same goes for the yarn stash too, but I'm not measuring that until later in the month). The DD and I just spent 2 hours (!) inventorying the fiber. We only got through the full size items of animal fibers. So, not the silk, bamboo, soy, milk, cotton, etc., and not the samples.

Oh shit, the samples. There's a whole drawer of Phat Fiber samples that I had forgotten about.

Anyway. Only counting the full size braids/batts/roving balls of animal content, I have 46 units for 13 pounds of fiber. Ack! I'm having a bit of a panic attack right now, just thinking of all of it. I think the fact that it's (mostly) fitting in two large bins has made me complacent about how much there was up there. Tomorrow we're going through the samples and non-animal fibers, and I guess we'll add another 50% only to total. Which means I could be pushing 20lbs of fiber.

The question then is, how much can I legitimately spin up in a year? In a month? This weekend I've done one batt, and did one since Christmas, so that's probably 4 oz. Can I do 8oz a month? If I could stick to that, I'd be at 6lbs lost over the year. Hell, maybe I'll lose 6lbs of body weight from all the treadling too!

EDIT TO ADD (1/10):
We finished logging all of the fiber this afternoon while waiting for the snow and ice storm to start (which it hasn't, and I'm a bit grumpy). As I feared, it comes to just about 20lbs of fiber, 66 full-size items plus about 3lbs of samples, grab bags, ends, etc. Sigh.

The Obligatory New Year's Goals Post

2011-01-01T16:55:00.011-05:00

Technically I'm not writing this post on New Year's Day (we had a very busy day, with the tail end of a sleepover, seeing the "spare" family, then dinner with my brother & his family), but it will be datestamped 1/1/11 so try not to let that freak you out. I've discussed in previous years how much I hate making resolutions, since they always seem to get broken before January is out. However, I am a to-do list freak and so here is my "11 Things To Do in 2011" post:

Finish the wholesale catalog and reformat patterns into shape. Start contacting LYSes with the catalog and sign up at least 10 by the end of the year to sell my patterns wholesale. Want to see the current incarnation of the wholesale catalog? Here it is. Feel free to send it to your favorite yarn shop owner and suggest she/he email me or place an order!
Get a book proposal accepted. I have about three or four that I'll be proposing in the next months, and I want to have at least one of them accepted by the end of the year.
Self-publish 12 patterns, either new ones or published ones that have returned rights to me. I currently have three KnitCircus patterns plus two new wraps at the TE's, so am well on my way here.
Have 4-6 patterns accepted for publication. I'd love to see if I can get into more books, but am also nurturing relationships with some of the monthly/bimonthly magazines who need a lot of patterns.
Work with smaller but established yarn companies who publish patterns based on their yarns. I feel like this is an area that I haven't pushed very much and would like to expand into.
Submit 6-10 patterns for the KnitPicks Independent Designer Program. I have five that need to be written up, tested, edited, and posted, so am at least partway there!
Develop regular clients in my tech editing business. Big shoutout to several women with whom I've worked more than once - Rachel Erin, Katherine Rollins, Harumidori Designs, Kristy Howell, Sara Morris, Three Irish Girls - you guys rock! It's particularly gratifying to work with designers over time and multiple patterns, especially ones who came to me with their first patterns and then come back after they've been hooked on writing. (Thanks Katherine, for pointing out that I forgot the advent of my tech editing in 2010 in the last post!)
Continue to participate in the Phat Fiber boxes. Last year I had wanted to be in 9 boxes, but this year I'm being a bit more conservative - say, 6? I'm already missing January because I just wasn't inspired and had no time.
This may be in opposition to the above one, but I also want to make 2011 a major stashdown year. I pulled all of my fiber out of the bins in which it's been living (fiber is unspun; yarn is spun), and it completely covered the rug in the craft room. This is bad, especially since I only learned to spin 18 months ago, and have had my wheel for less than 10 months. I'm on a fiber diet (again)! I probably should do the same thing with the yarn (not pull it out; go on a diet), but my SIL gave me a gift certificate to WEBS and I can't very well let it expire...
Get the Katherine Vaughan Designs website really in shape and running. It's up now - if you have comments I'd love to hear them! Part of this is also making sure I make regular posts to this blog, which is a perennial thing on my to-do list anyway.
Become active in and develop networking contacts through other members of the Association of Knitwear Designers, which I was accepted into in December.

And then, of course, there are the non-fibery things that I always want to do: lose weight, clean out the garage, spend more time in my garden, redo the bathroom (this may actually happen this winter), etc. But those aren't particularly exciting so I shall leave them off this post. Plus, it's time to go make sure the kids aren't overwhelming my MIL!

Back in 2011, Review of 2010

2010-12-31T11:37:00.001-05:00

I realize it's been months (months!) since I last blogged, and I apologize profusely to those of you who read the blog (even if that's in the past tense) and have wondered where I've been. Really? I've been here, doing the same old stuff, and just too lazy to write about it. This post is going to be the typical review of my goals stated last January, and then I'll post later with goals for 2011.

So here's what I said I would do:
Start wholesaling patterns to LYSes in the NC/VA/TN/SC area, with the aim of gradually expanding outside the immediate region. I don't really know how to do this, but I'm going to start by the end of the month.
The update here is that I've created a catalog of the 36 patterns currently available for wholesale, and am about 1/4th of the way through reformatting them for wholesale. My goal is to send out mail to LYSes by the end of the month. I think I've found a printer, and I got some good feedback from my LYSO, Mary, who also said she'd be placing an order!

Expand the pattern catalog to 36 patterns by June 30th. I'm currently at 30. I'd like to stick to a pace of 12 patterns a year self-published.
Check! I'm actually up to 39 patterns at the end of 2010, with five nearly ready for the TE. I should release those by Feb 1st 2011.

Submit 6 patterns to magazines, get 2 published.
Wow, this was a good year for me in the magazine publishing world - even though each rejection stung a lot, I had quite a few things accepted, including patterns for Twists & Turns, Yarn Forward, Interweave Knits, More Knitting in the Sun: Kids, Ennea Collective, Love of Knitting, Knitting Today!, and two of the Fresh Designs books

Submit 4 patterns to the KnitPicks Independent Designer Program and have 2 accepted.
Both of the patterns I submitted were published, and the Patchwork Tote has more than made back its advance. I'm developing a bunch more to post in winter 2011.

Complete all the current WIPs (there are 6, I think).
Yeah. Let's move on, shall we?

Participate in at least 9 months of PhatFiber boxes. January is bookmarks!
I'm honestly not sure of how many I did. Not 9, I fear. The problem with doing so many magazine patterns is that when I'm working on them I can't take time out for fun stuff like the PF patterns.

Knit something for each member of the immediate family, including myself.
DH got a hat and cowl (the Jaume set), DD got mitts and a hat (pattern for the IDP), but I'm not sure if I made anything for the DS. Hm.

Complete one gift a month.
Nope! See note about the PF patterns.

Complete two baby hats or one chemo cap a month (or other community knitting project of similar size).
Nope! Though I did get a lot done, and since I'm on a hat jag a lot of the samples for patterns are going to the hospital.

Join the Association of Knitwear Designers.
I was welcomed as an associate member in December. Yay! Unfortunately the group has fewer online resources than I thought and seems to be going through some organizational angst, so we'll see how useful it will be to me. I'm hoping to get involved in it and make some good connections in 2011.

I think I'll just put down the list of things I did accomplish in non-knitting, rather than admit to what didn't happen:

Clean out my house and give stuff to Goodwill or the ABC Sale. - Yep! Plus we gave a lot of the baby gear that the DS is too big for to a local support group. There's a lot more in the garage that needs to be actually donated, but I'm feeling pretty good about the inside of the house.
Go out to Oregon to see Parallel (how does April sound, over our spring break?). - Yep! Plus, she and her fam came out to the East Coast for her sabbatical, so we got two visits this year. Yay!
Get the roof replaced. Yay! Also got the house painted - so it's not that nasty peachy white any more!

And of course, other fun stuff like I learned to spin on a wheel, went to a family reunion in Maine for a week and met all sorts of family I didn't know we had, the library merged with the main system on campus, etc. It was quite a year. I can't say I'm happy to see it end, but I'm not sad either. On to 2011, I suppose.

Blog Tour: Knit a Dozen Plus Slippers

2010-09-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

Today I'm the stop for designer Amy Polcyn, on "tour" for her new book from Annie's Attic, Knit a Dozen Plus Slippers. My pattern for today is the Ruggedly Warm Slippers, which happen to be the cover photo! I successfully knit a pair for my husband, but have failed to get him to model them (he's shy), so you'll just have to wait to see my version. For now, enjoy my short interview with Amy!

There are so many different styles of slipper in this book - where did you get your inspiration for the Ruggedly Warm Slippers in particular? How does this slipper differ from the others?

The inspiration for the Ruggedly Warm Slippers came from trying to think of something that would work for both men and women. I wanted it to be simple to knit and FAST. I fell in love with the yarn, Berroco Sundae, last year at TNNA and had the fact that I needed to do something with it soon stuck in the back of my head. A couple months later, while swatching for the book, I decided I needed to bust out my sample skein! Several of the designs in the book use a similar "architecture", if you will-- basically casting on, working some variety of heel, working straight for the foot, working the toe (usually same technique as the heel), and then the Thing That Makes it Different. In this case, it's garter welt treatment around the top edges, followed by a bit of twisted rib on the instep. Also, it's totally possible to interchange details between these similar designs-- for instance, if you wanted the look of the Ruggedly Warm Slippers for a child, make the Ballerina Slippers, then instead of working the I-cord details, work a garter trim and twisted rib instep. Of course, unless you want to do a bit of math, you'd have to stick with the yarn weight of the base pattern.

What is it about designing socks and footwear that you find most fun?

I love designing for feet for a couple reasons, but mainly because the result is portable, usually quick-to-knit projects. I also love giving knitted gifts, so small projects are a must for that (unless one person is lucky enough to receive all of your attention!) Also, I love wearing handknit slippers and socks, so it's fun for me to come up with ideas that will please me as well.

What do you particularly like about the Ruggedly Warm Slippers?
I was very happy with how these turned out. The way the yarn looks knit in the garter and twisted rib pattern just looks yummy to me (also, it might have something to do with the fact the yarn is called "Sundae"). The best part was my husband said he'd actually wear them, which is pretty huge since he's super picky about clothes.

I find that naming patterns is sometimes the hardest part of writing. How do you come up with naming ideas?
ME TOO!! I always feel like whatever name I come up with is dumb, so I tend to stick with basic descriptive names. I'm fortunate that in many cases (including this one) my charming editors jazzed up a few of the names for me.

There are already several projects for these slippers (the Ruggedly Warm Slippers) on Ravelry. Do you like to watch patterns get knit up, or are you already working on the next project so don't look back at previous ones? (Or some combo of these?)
Well, I probably should be focusing on new things (and believe me, I've got plenty going at the moment) but I still get a ridiculous thrill seeing my designs get favorited, queued, or finished on Ravelry. I'd be lying if I said I stalked it, but I'd also be lying if I said it didn't matter to me. :)

Next up, Rachel Erin! I worked with her on several of her patterns that have come out lately, and look forward to seeing what she's got to say!

Illigitimum Non Carborundum

2010-08-20T13:13:00.001-04:00

My Bandie heart is warmed by this:

Although the HUB doesn't do formation marching (at least, not while I was in it), there is a moment when I thought, "Oh my God! Backwards through the mud!" I also love that at the end there's random noodling by drummers...

So yes, let it go. This too shall pass.

Beide: Cabled and eyelet summer tee

2010-08-19T11:45:00.001-04:00

Today I'm wearing a knit tee that I designed for Twists & Turns using Valley Yarns Southwick - Blue Lapis. I'm in total heaven! I don't often knit for myself - usually I'm making baby blankets, scarves, mittens, hats, etc. for other people or for community knitting - and most of my self-knits are headbands and "fichus" (as my friend Dani of Danido Crafty suggests I call them. Much sexier than "scarflette" or "shawlette"). But today I'm glorying in the joy that is a handknit tee.

The top is called "Beide" and is currently only available in the T&T Summer 2010 issue. It's knit in the round from the hem up, with a cable braid flanked by eyelets running up the sides. The short sleeves take that cable and repeat it across their width. The ribbing at hem and neck echoes the cable with an eyelet in the purled part of the rib. This is such a comfy top - not just because it fits (!) but because the yarn is wonderfully light and silky. I'm in love!

Planning for the next round of submissions

2010-08-12T12:11:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago I promised myself that, once the current rush of patterns for publication is over I'll spend some time working on knitting for fun (i.e., Christmas) and patterns for my indie line. I have a great idea for a series of patterns but haven't had a chance to work on them. Why is that, you say? Because July 1st I had big patterns and samples due for Interweave Knits and Knitting in the Sun for Kids; August 1st I completed a baby blanket and hat; August 15 I finished a big pattern and sample for Yarn Forward. Sept 15 I'm sending off patterns and samples for the Fresh Design project by Shannon Okey (aka, Knitgrrl). So you can see why I might be interested in a bit of a break.

But then I started thinking about the current calls that are out right now. Like, Petite Purls, which is looking for winterwear for kids - and I have some really cute hot green wool that would be a great winter toddler sweater because it's so warm while bright and cheery. And KnitCircus, for which the coordinating neckwarmer and hat to the Jaume Mitts would be great (especially since the yarn is so awesome!). And then there's my goal to one day be in Knitty - and Stacey at KnitPicks was kind enough to comp me yarn for a project for there with the understanding that if it doesn't get accepted that I'll send it along for the IDP.

But the real killer? The Summer 2011 moodboard for Interweave Knits. I love every single one of the areas on there. I mean, really? Cables for summer - yes please! And lace - all about that! And shape? I love shape! Patchwork? I've had a sketch for something on my desk for years and haven't had the wits to execute it, that would be perfect for this.

So I guess I'll be swatching this week. That, and ogling all the lovely summer tops that I see at the bus stop, the grocery store, church...

Nautical knitting

2010-08-06T11:32:00.000-04:00

This weekend we're visiting the 'rents, and will more likely than not end up sailing. I love sailing - the sounds, smells, feel of the motion of the waves and the wind on my face, the birds, etc. Sailing is also a great time for knitting, since it's generally calm and involves a lot of sitting around with booze or other liquids, and we tie the kids to the rails so they can't fall overboard (this is not as cruel as it sounds - they've got leeway, plus lifejackets).

Here are some of my favorite knitting projects on the boat:

My patterns

Skirtsicle - the prototype for which I knit entirely on Dad's boat.

Beehive Cap - because it's mainly stockinette, knit in the round. Plus I donate mine to the NC Cancer Hospital, so I feel like I'm being a good person while I'm also being indulgent.

Oceanside Cowl - two pattern rows? in the round? yes please!

Other people's patterns
Knitted Kitty and Knitted Bunny - toys, knit flat, forgiving of gauge. Full of win!
Korknisse - cutest things ever, plus a great way to use wine corks.
And, of course, various washcloths - with texture, not motifs.

What makes good sailing knitting, in my opinion? It should be pretty mindless, because I'm trying to keep up a conversation and may have to drop it to grab a line or the tiller or something (you never know with my Skipper). It should be small, so that it can be stuffed into a bag easily. It should be on circular needles - NOT double points - so that it doesn't risk poking anyone when it is dropped (flung) when I go diving for a line/the tiller. Preferably should be cotton or some other warm-weather yarn. Not something I need to be referring to the pattern for, because patterns tend to blow away or get wet (or eaten by the baby).

As mentioned, I'm going sailing this weekend. What am I taking with me?

A heavily cabled sweater in 100% wool, nearly completed.

Christmas stockings, this time done right

2010-08-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

This summer I've been racing to finish samples for patterns in magazines and books, and have had precious little knitting time for myself. Pretty much it's been a week at the beginning of June when I was waiting for yarn, plus a week at the beginning of July when I was waiting for yarn. It's starting to wear on me, and I find I'm literally dreaming of knitting for fun rather than profit (hah!). Right now I'm desperate to finish a sweater, and then there are some projects for Shannon Oakley's latest venture... so it looks like at least until September 30th I'll be knitting like a fiend for other people.

This is not to whine, mind you. I actually really love the things I'm working on (which is the big advantage of being a mostly self-publishing designer who is picky about the submissions she makes). But right now I really, really want to knit a Christmas stocking for the DH.

Why a stocking, you may ask? Because my only true failure of a FO was the Gigantic Christmas Stocking of 2007 (wait, there's a post somewhere about that... ah yes, here). The DH claims to love it, but I refuse to hang it on the mantel. Instead he has a "creepy rotten, store boughten" stocking. The rest of the family all have handmade ones. My Grandel needlepointed ones for myself and my brother; my mother has made ones for my SIL, my DD and DS, and my nephew (is that DN?). I think my mom made her own, which seems like cheating. Dad's was made by "Tippi and Hoodoo", which is worth having the stocking around anyway. (I'm not sure who Tippi and Hoodoo are, nor even if that's the correct spelling. Mom?)

So all this brings me around to my guilt I feel every December when we're decorating the house for the holidays. Out come the stockings, and there's the DH's machine-made one. I'm such a bad wife/mother/person... And since I have the sense not to start some stranded, fancy pattern right before Xmas (nor the time, given last-minute washcloth knitting), every year I promise myself (and the DH) that I'll knit him something for the next year.

And, dammit, this is the year I keep that promise.

So here are some questions for you, dear readers:
1: Should I keep this secret from the DH? He's pretty oblivious to stuff, and if I worked on the stocking while he was at class he'll never see it.
2: What style do people like? I'm not big into intarsia, but I can easily handle Aran, Fair Isle, felted, etc... I prefer a short-row heel, but suppose I'm capable of doing a flap (dunno, never tried).
3: Do you have a specific pattern you like?
4: Should I just design the darn thing myself?

I think part of the reason I'm so nervous is because of the utter disaster of the first try, coupled with the fact that my family won't let me forget it. I just want to do something nice. Nice and flashy. Flashy enough to get my family to shut up about the GCS. But not so flashy that my fingers fall off.

Oh, and I can't start it until September 30th. Honestly, Shannon!

On Knitting a Sweater in July

2010-07-28T14:56:00.000-04:00

Today I was happily working away on my latest sweater project, which is cabled, and heavy, and wool, on the bus. People were looking at me very strangely (more than usual), and I think it may be because it's swelteringly hot here and most of us are seriously contemplating the societal pressure to be clothed in public, and whether there's something someone should really do about changing that... while I was knitting something obviously not appropriate for this climate ever, much less right now.

At least, I think this is what they were thinking. I checked - underwear properly on, hat not unusually odd, clothes match, wearing shoes, nothing in my teeth.

So I was thinking, what really is the deal with knitting sweaters in the summer? And this is what I've decided:

Summer sweater knitting is the ultimate exercise in the belief that there is a future and I will be in it, and I will be cold.

This last statement is what's hardest to believe at this time of year (actually, it's hard to believe many times of the year, including in the winter when it can be in the 70Fs). But really, what about our weather in North Carolina in July would ever lead one to believe that sometimes - yes, really! - sometimes it snows here. And on that day this February (or next, it honestly could be years), I'll be standing waiting for the bus feeling very smug, cozy and warm in my cabled sweater.

I wonder sometimes where in the evolutionary process the understanding of seasons came to bear. Do other mammals understand that winter is coming? Clearly they do on some level, since they store food/fatten up (hah! if only that were my excuse) in preparation to hibernate/estivate/whatever. But is that instinct only, or is there some real sense that these things are cyclical, predictable, and driven by scientific principles?

Anyhoo, these are the things I think of while knitting on the bus.

That and,
"Wow, that woman is actually being quiet while talking on her cell. I wonder who the heck she's talking to at 7am?"
"Today should be 20F cooler than Sunday, yay! Wait, that means it's still in the mid-80Fs..."
"$#@!. I didn't leave the DD at home, did I?" (no, I didn't, I dropped her and the DS off out of the normal order)
"This yarn is the same color as my skirt. I wonder what my favorite color is." (not the color of my skirt, interestingly)
"Knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl, knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl, ..."

Ten on Tuesday

2010-07-27T22:21:00.001-04:00

I have been struggling lately with blogging. It's just so darned hot around here (today was the first day since at least the middle of June that the high has been under 90F - and last week we had five straight days over 100F with the heat index in the upper 110sF!. So I'm turning to the blogosphere for fun/random things to post. Today? 10 fun things you can do rather than watch TV (this is the 10 things I've done today rather than watch, actually):

Snuggle with the children.
Knit! I'm working on yet another secret project for a magazine. I can say that it uses Lang Merino + Superwash, my new favorite superwash worsted. So squishy!
Read! This week I'm reading Speaker for the Dead, which is the sequel to Ender's Game.
Clean up the dinner dishes so DH doesn't have to.
Troll the Ravelry boards.
Play Plants vs. Zombies on the computer.
Work on updating the officer's manual for my professional society (ok, this wasn't fun).
Tidy up the downstairs, looking for a certain lost item of the DD's (didn't find it).
Listen to a podcast of last week's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me...
Go to sleep early and catch up on some of that sleep deficit!

Edit: Thanks to Carole Knits for the meme!

Checking in!

2010-06-23T22:13:00.000-04:00

Hello to all my ghost readers - I know some of you actually miss me when I neglect this poor blog (and for that I apologize!) so I'm popping in to give an update on what's going on.

It's been a busy spring, with lots of designing for publications and not much for "my indie line" (which still seems a bit odd to me to say). I'm right now racing to finish up two big pieces for a book and a major magazine by the end of the month (yes, that would be next week), which is part of the reason why I'm behind on my blogging. I also did a lovely spring/summer top for Twists & Turns, called Beide. T&T is a newsletter that focuses entirely on cabling - yay! - but unfortunately there are only a few issues left before the editor packs up shop to move on to other endeavors in life. I've always liked it, though, so am pleased to have a pattern in there before it goes away. I promise pictures when it's live! Next month doesn't promise to be much easier - I have another big item to make/write for a UK magazine by the end of July. I am deliberately masking magazine titles, as I'm superstitious about things until they're done with tech editing etc.

And after that I'm working on a largeish number of things to self-publish or to publish with Knit Picks (which is sort of the same thing). There are two shawlettes using fingering weight yarn (hand dyed by Phat Fiber friends), a hat and matching shawlette in Knit Picks CotLin, several baby blankets (including Amirah, which I've been discussing here), and who knows what else.

This Saturday is the local Stitch n Pitch, and while I can't take any of the magazine work with me (too hot, plus the privacy factor is important), I can work on the KP patterns. So if you're here because you saw one of my pattern cards, I was the woman working on the teal hat! Hi!

I find myself in need of a website. Nothing fancy, just somewhere to collect my self-published patterns and show off the magazine/book ones. If you're interested in bartering web work for patterns and/or yarn, please let me know. My Rav ID is ktlv, but if you'd like to include your email addy and links to examples in a comment I promise not to release your info to the open web (I moderate all comments). Thanks!

Pattern for Sale: Pandora's Box

2010-06-10T23:01:00.000-04:00

When Pandora opened her box, all of the evils of the world flew out, leaving hope behind to comfort her. These bowls are inspired by ancient Greek lidded vessels, use Peruvian yarn manufactured in the US, have a Russian name, and were originally featured in an Australian magazine. If the international nature of knitting doesn’t bring you hope, maybe you’ll find something to put in these lidded bowls that will!

Available in my Ravelry Shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $3.50

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Originally published in Yarn Magazine Issue 12, December 2008 and now rewritten in my standard layout.

Gauge: 17stitches by 24rows to 10cm (4in) in stockinette stitch, before felting.

Size: 8in base diameter by 5in tall (20cm by 12.5cm) before felting; 6.5in by 4in (17cm by 10cm) after felting.

Materials:

- Approx. 100yds worsted weight 100% wool (or a blend suited to felting). Bowls shown use Cascade 220 (Charcoal) and Cascade 220 Paints (Montego Bay).

- 1 set size US 10 (6.0mm) needles, either one set 40-60cm circulars plus one pair double-pointed OR two sets circulars (length not important).
- 10 stitch markers (1 unique).
- Small amount of smooth waste yarn.
- Tapestry needle

Pattern for Sale: Windowpane Baby Blanket

2010-06-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

The inspiration for this blanket was a lovely stained glass window that set two similar colors against each other in a nested frame pattern. The symmetry and simplicity appealed to my inner knitter and outer mom. How refreshing to have a blanket that is not based on a stitch pattern, but rather a strong graphical idea!

While the instructions may seem long and complicated, the blanket is actually quite simple once you get going. You may want to refer to the schematic on page three before starting to see how the knit and purl sections are laid out. Each frame is 15 stitches wide and 30 rows deep; even rows could be written with the enigmatic “knit the knit stitches and purl the purls” between the seed stitch border.

There is no “right side” to this blanket: the photos and schematic show even rows “up”.

Available in my Ravelry Shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $5

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Gauge: 16 stitches and 25 rows to make 4in [10cm] square in pattern.

Size: Blanket is approximately 22in wide by 31in long (55cm by 77.5cm).

Materials:
- 3 skeins Lion Cotton-Ease (50% cotton, 50% acrylic) Pistachio colorway [207yd/188m to 3.5oz/100g] OR 500yd/365m worsted weight yarn
- 1 set size US 8 (5.0mm) needles
- Tapestry needle

Design story: Amirah stitch

2010-05-30T22:32:00.000-04:00

Baby blankets are great opportunities for placing a stitch against a pretty large canvas and running with it. The only problem is - it's pretty boring to keep flipping through all my stitch dictionaries (even the Walker Treasuries!) looking for written out patterns. Since I like doing simple lace - really eyelet - and/or knit/purl patterns for blankets, it is often just as easy to chart out my own stitches. But before I do that I need some inspiration. Here are some images that I saw in my mind's eye as I was planning Amirah:

May Phat Fiber Mixed Box (video)

2010-05-20T12:50:00.000-04:00

My Phat Fiber box for May 2010 came yesterday - it's a mixed contributor's box - and so I made a little video for it:

Design Process: Amirah Blanket

2010-05-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Every once in a while I like to share the process that I'm going through to design something relatively simple - in this case yet another baby blanket. I can't help it, all the blankets; too many friends are having babies, and I just don't like to knit the same thing twice! Plus, there's such a dearth of good baby blanket patterns out there, so this is my way to enhance the world for baby items.

Here are specs on the one I'm starting today:

Name: Amirah Blanket. I name the blankets after the baby for which they were designed. Thus the Logan Blanket is named for my cousin's daughter, the Hans Blanket is for another cousin's son, and the Malcolm Blanket is for my erstwhile roomie's son. Amirah is the second daughter of the DH's college roommate. I created the small version of the Dewdrop Blanket for her older sister (this was one of the few blankets I've ever done twice, thus it's not named after a specific child).
Yarn: Berrocco Comfort in Wild Cherry. Bright red! I dislike doing blue and pink for babies - it just seems so blase - and red is one of the first colors that is interesting to babies. Her sister got a yellow blanket, also a nice color for babies.
Body Pattern: I charted out on the bus this morning a knit/purl pattern that is pretty big (18 stitches by 24 rows) and has a lattice/dots kind of motif. I've seen versions of this stitch elsewhere, but didn't feel like poking through my books to find just the right one. Sometimes it's quicker just to sketch the vision out.
Border Pattern: Not determined yet (hey, I can't figure everything out in advance!). My first inclination is for a box stitch, since it makes a nice flat border, but I'd really like to have something that echoes the body pattern but on a much smaller scale. This may be my bus work on the way home!
Dimensions: Standard half blanket - 20in by 30in (50cm by 75cm). I like this size - it's highly functional because it fits nicely in the car, it's lighter weight so is good for peekaboo when the baby can sit up and also good for dragging around when she can walk, and it is both faster to knit and uses half the yarn of a "normal" blanket. Plus, it's fairly easy to scale up to the larger size.

I'm planning to document the blanket in future posts, and will have the pattern up for sale by August 1st. Stay tuned!

KnitCroBlo5: Location, Location, Location

2010-04-30T12:09:00.000-04:00

Where do you like to indulge in your craft? Is your favourite arm chair your little knitting cubby area, or do you prefer to ‘knit in public’? Do you like to crochet in the great outdoors, perhaps, or knit in the bath, or at the pub?
Ha. I knit everywhere. Except in the shower, and that's only because I'm so uncoordinated that I'd be seriously in danger of falling and hurting myself if I had to wrangle string. I've had people see me in odd places and say, "Oh, you're the lady who knits on the bus/at the doctor's/while walking/at the pool/in faculty meetings/etc." It might be easier to list the places where I do NOT knit:

On rollercoasters (too distracting)
In the shower and while swimming (too wet)
In the bathtub (mostly b/c our bathtub isn't worth taking a bath in, so I don't take baths)
In church (too many mean looks from other worshippers. I do knit during adult ed and before the service starts)
On the reference desk at the library (except for on holidays when no one is around. I got special permission for that)
While asleep (yet)

You will note that I have knit in the movies and at shows, while out to dinner (though generally not while having dinner at home, though that may change once the DS is able to feed himself), at the doctor's, while in labor (hard with an IV in your hand), while driving (if someone else is, usually), and while walking. Lots of people comment on the knitting while walking thing, actually, which I find interesting because unlike walking while reading I can actually watch where I'm going b/c usually I'm not doing anything more complex than knit/purl.

My favorite spots to knit:

My blue chair. It's a wing-back recliner, and I've loved it so much one of the elastic bands holding up the springs has snapped and I need to staple a new one in place. I spent much of my last pregnancy in that chair.
Outside in one of the folding recliners my 'rents gave us for Xmas one year. Sun plus knitting = heaven.
At the pool. See above. Must be something small and with metal needles so they fit in the bag but are ok getting wet. I do a lot of baby hats at the pool.
At baseball games. See above. Generally I bring cotton washcloths to the baseball games b/c it's okay if they get beer on them. See how much planning my life takes?
On the bus/while riding in a car. Otherwise I get terribly bored, fall asleep, and either don't manage to navigate (so we get lost) or miss my stop.
Out at Panera with my friends. Actually, I had a great time sitting on my friend Mika's floor and knitting - I should have more knitins with people.

KnitCroBlo4: A New Skill

2010-04-29T10:46:00.002-04:00

Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day? maybe you’re a crocheter who’d also like to knit? Maybe you’d like to learn to knit continental, knit backwards, try cables or attempt stranded colorwork.

Funny that this should come up; the May challenge for the Project Yarnway group on Ravelry is to design something using a skill you don't yet have, but that can also be good for a beginner. I feel like I have most of the basic techniques under my belt, but could use some practice with these (I plan to do something with each in the next year):

entrelac (did one Garterlac washcloth but want to get this more comfy)
Fair Isle and Intarsia (complete Mom's Inspiration scarf)
top down mittens and toe up socks
well, really, socks of any type (my project for PY this month are top-down socks for the DD with an origami heel)
gloves - it's the fingers that are intimidating

I'm also working on teaching myself spinning and crochet. The spinning is coming along nicely; the crochet, not so much. It's just so stiff, and the hook feels awkward in my hands...

KnitCroBlo 3: One Great Knitter

2010-04-28T10:31:00.003-04:00

Write about a knitter whose work (whether because of project choice, photography, styling, scale of projects, stash, etc) you enjoy. If they have an enjoyable blog, you might find it a good opportunity to send a smile their way.

I'm cheating on this one and listing three - one of whom counts and a knitting superstar and the two who should!

There are a lot of knitters I think are particularly cool. One I'm excited about right now is Cat Bordhi, magical knitting maven extraordinaire. She comes up with the most interesting mathematical concepts in her designs - possibly because she was a math teacher (or still is? unsure. is this the sort of thing you can give up, or is it like an addiction - once a teacher always a teacher?). I met Cat at Stitches East in 2008 when I sat at her banquet table. She admired my Reduce Reuse Recycle, and I about fell over with pride.

Another cool mathematical knitting team is Woolly Thoughts, whose tag line is "mathematics through knitting and crochet." They've got a great line of blankets, but my favorites are the baby toys and math puzzles like the Soma Cube and Tangram. I'm thinking of making some of these as Christmas presents this year!

I also love that Marnie MacLean is a scientist-knitter. Her Assets of Evo shorts (available for free - but please leave a donation) honor Charles Darwin! Marnie has a lovely, simple aesthetic, and she knows how to design for us girls with curves. Also, whimsy, etc.

The Knitting and Crochet Blog Week schedule is here.

Knit & Crochet Week: An Inspirational Pattern

2010-04-27T13:03:00.000-04:00

Blog about a pattern or project which you aspire to. Whether it happens to be because the skills needed are ones which you have not yet acquired, or just because it seems like a huge undertaking of time and dedication, most people feel they still have something to aspire to in their craft. If you don’t feel like you have any left of the mountain of learning yet to climb, say so!

Mostly I don't have a huge number of patterns that I'm hoping to do - perhaps because I have an overinflated sense of my own skills, and perhaps because I'm so busy working on things that I need to do right now that I don't take the time to explore other possibilities. I do like to pick up new techniques, though, and so on the advice of the erstwhile roomie (Hi!) I did a Garterlac Dishcloth. I learned a bit, and would like to do another one to work on it a bit more. So, those of you who get Christmas presents from me, expect this cloth this year!

One pattern that I'd love to do sometime is the Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood. It's just so gorgeous - I'm thinking of doing it in a slightly heavier yarn and perhaps with more repeats around the outside so that I can use it as an afghan for me. We'll see if that ever happens, though!

Most of my challenges that I set for myself now actually come in the design arena - I can knit pretty much anything, it's the figuring out how to create something without a pattern and then follow it up by writing the pattern from scratch that can be really hard. For example, I'd love to get a better handle on toys - how to put together the pieces so you end up with a stuffed creature that looks like something God created, not Dr. Frankenstein (though that would be cute too). I'm also playing with different sleeve and neck styles to see what works and how garments can be pieced together at different sizes.

Knit & Crochet Blog Week 1: Getting Started

2010-04-26T11:23:00.003-04:00

I've decided to participate in the Knit and Crochet Blog Week festivities organized by Eskimimi on Ravelry and her blog (see here for the schedule, info, etc). The idea is to post something every day this week on a different topic. Pretty straightforward, yes, and it gives me a reason to update the blog!

Today's topic is "Starting Out"

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

My mother taught me to knit in 1985 when we were living for a year in West Germany while my father was doing a sabbatical at the Uni Heidelberg. I'm not sure if I asked to learn (I cannot imagine I did), or if she was yarn shopping and was inspired to teach me (also unlikely), or if she was desperate for something to give me to occupy my time so I quit beating up on my little brother (most likely). Mom, if you have input, feel free to leave a comment.

Mom taught me; her mom (Oma) taught her; one of Oma's aunts who was very crafty (unlike her own mother, who was a musical artist but not a fiber one). The funny part of all this is that Oma is a southpaw, so she flipped Aunt Vera's instructions around so she could throw with her left. Then when she taught Mom it got flipped back. So now both Mom and I both knit "English with a twist" - pretty literally. I lift my entire right hand off the needle to wrap the yarn, which I understand is not standard practice. I once had a lady (at a UNC Hospitals Volunteers training, where I was knitting a preemie cap) tell me "you're doing it wrong."

I've since inherited Aunt Bertie's ivory knitting needles, plus Oma's remaining stash (mostly bobbins for colorwork) and needles/tools. During WW2 Oma claims she knit a pair of socks a week for the troops - and given the large quantity of steel US0 and US1 dpns from her collection, I can believe it. I still have several baby sweaters that she knit for me in the 1970s - and will treasure the two blankets she made for my babies in the 2000s. Mom used to do a lot more knitting, but now is totally enamored of her fancy sewing machine (don't get her started talking about the myriad cozies she's knit for the boat!).

I claim I learned to knit in 1985 - and this is technically true. Mom taught me how to cast on, the knit and purl stitches, and how to bind off. I made a stockinette scarf for myself (which curled, of course), and a cozy for my Swiss Army Knife (a familial love of cozies: nature or nurture? you decide). And then I put down the needles for a long time. There was a period of time during college when I would ask Mom to cast on for me, as I'd forgotten how. That period lasted for two scarves, after which she told me I could darned well learn how to cast on again. I turned to sewing and cross-stitch instead. When I had the DD I developed a fear that she would crawl on and/or eat a sewing pin or needle, and so I went back to knitting. I bought myself the "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting!" book at ACMoore, which came with needles, and launched back into it. That was, oh, 2004? In 2007 I published my first pattern (Reduce Reuse Recycle), and learned how to spin on a spindle last summer and on a wheel this spring. I've also been flirting with crochet this year.

Blog Tour: Woolly Wormhead for Twisted Woolly Toppers

2010-04-15T11:36:00.002-04:00

I love blog tours! This month I'm participating in the tour for Woolly Wormhead's new book, Twisted Woolly Toppers. It's a lovely book (available electronically or in print) with 10 different hat patterns for children thru adult men, each of which have cables or twisted stitches on them. My favorite hat in the book is Medici, but since that was already discussed in the previous posting on the tour (by Stolen Stitches), I decided to talk to Woolly about two of the cutest hats - Floralys and Tinker.

First, it's interesting to me how many different shapes you do have in the book - beanie and slouch are traditional, but the shape in Tinker and Floralys is really simple to achieve and yet not found very often in hats. Why do you think that's the case?

This simple shape occurs mostly in children's Hats, rarely in adult Hats, and I think that's why it isn't as common as a beanie or beret. But why should the little people have all of the fun? I love to mix things up and give big people the chance to wear fun Hats too. It is a great shape to work with and so easy to knit due to it's straightforward shape.

For these two hats, what came first, the stitch or the shape?

With Tinker, I imagined the whole Hat – stitch pattern and shape together. The idea came to me as I went to bed one evening, and worked on it the very next day.

Floralys came to me in shape first, with the idea of those cabled panels, so I experimented to get the cables just right.

One of the things I like about this book is how you took the idea of cables on hats - which is pretty traditional too - and then altered the idea to make something different. An example is the cable on Floralys. The cables don't line up exactly - the bobble from the left of the front cable meets the bobble of the left side of the back. Is that what you saw in your head when you were designing, or was that a happy accident when it came time to finish off the top?

The cable panels on this Hat were designed to be at the edges, so how they meet in the middle will vary with each size. Adjusting the pattern so they meet in the middle is easily done, should that be the effect the knitter desires! The structure of Floralys, and how the 'ears' stand up is down to the cabled panels sitting at the side, giving it a slight asymmetrical feel. Repositioning the cable panels may affect this, but not much, as nearly all of the sizes, with the width of the panels, are close to meeting in the middle.

At first when I saw these hats I thought they had been knit flat and then seamed up the sides, rather than as a tube closed at the top. Do you think converting to a flat version would be useful to a knitter afraid of circs? When would you choose to knit a flat hat over a round one?

Converting either of these 2 Hats to be knit flat and seamed would be very simple, and ideal for anyone unsure of knitting in the round. Generally though, if a Hat is knitted vertically (i.e bottom up or top down) I would recommend knitting in the round to avoid seaming.

Sideways designs, like the patterns in my first book 'Going Straight', are the times I pull out my straight needles. I guess I prefer the clean, uninterrupted look of a seamless Hat (my sideways designs are grafted so the join is invisible)

Most of the hats in this book are sized for baby through adult male. Do you think there are shapes that are more suited to children vs. adults or men vs. women? Where do you think most people are comfortable with busting out of a hat "comfort zone?"

I think that beanies are generally preferred for the men, berets or slouchies for the women, and anything a little different for children. That's certainly been my experience anyway. For me though, I feel it's important to offer a range of sizes so that people can knit a style that they wouldn't normally wear (as well as provide for those with other than average sizing) – it may be the texture or colour that encourages someone to break out of their comfort zone and I'm all for encouraging knitters to try something different!

How did you come up with the names Floralys and Tinker?

I have a notebook that I carry around with me, for jotting design ideas, pattern notes etc. There's a page or two of inspirational names, as I find that I'm terrible at naming patterns! Floralys was one of those names – I can't remember where the initial idea came from but I thought it suited the Hat nicely.

Tinker had a working name, Zig-Zag Topper; it could have stayed as it was, but I wanted something more imaginative! It took us (myself and my partner) quite some time to find a name that demonstrated it's impish charm.

What's next on your needles? Lace hats? Colorwork?

I've a few Hats on the needles right now, some cabled, some lace, some textured. There's always a few in progress. The current ones are mostly secret knitting, or commissioned designs from yarn companies. Lots of new patterns will start appearing later in the year!

Thanks, Woolly! The next stop on the tour is next week, at Faina's Knitting Mode. Check it out!

The complete blog tour calendar is as follows:

18 March - Just Call Me Ruby
25 March - Baby Long Legs
1 April - Binge Knitter
8 April - Stolen Stitches
15 April - Knit With KT (me!)
22 April - Faina’s Knitting Mode
29 April - Tot Toppers
6 May - The Independent Stitch
13 May - The BeeBonnet Report
20 May - Knit Circus

Jaume Mitts

2010-03-14T16:13:00.000-04:00

There’s something just fun about convertible or “flip-top” mittens. They have all the warmth of regular mittens, with the added practicality of being able to get to your fingers when you need them. This makes them ideal for situations where you want to stay nice and toasty warm—such as in a snowball fight—but still need some manual dexterity—such as when you need to open the door to run back inside!

The pattern includes instructions for a child’s size and three adult sizes, with modifications to make a “regular” mitten rather than a convertible one. You could also leave the top off and get fingerless mitts.

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)
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Gauge: 17 stitches and 28 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch in the round

Sizes:
Child, [Adult S, Adult M, Adult L)]. These sizes correspond to a finished circumference of 6.5 [7.5, 8.5, 9.5]in (16.25 [18.75, 21.25, 23.75]cm).

These mittens were inspired by some lovely handspun purchased at the Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, MA. The wool will gradually felt slightly with use, adding even more to the waterproof and warm aspects of these mittens. Heavy worsted weight wool means the knitting on these flies by!

Materials:
75 - 200 yards (69 - 183 m) heavy worsted weight/aran weight yarn (wool preferred)
US8 (5mm) double pointed needles or circular needles for working small-diameter projects
3 stitch markers
Waste yarn or stitch holder
Yarn needle

Look for the “Jaume” ribbing motif repeated in a hat, cowl, and other Katherine Vaughan Designs patterns designed for men and their families.

Many thanks for the help of my testers:
Dorothy, SnookiesOz, NanaRector, Callip, ExtremeSpinning, Karynnd, CarolSch, and fabxtac.

Craft Culture Podcast Interview

2010-03-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

My PhatFiber friend Dani of DaniDo Crafty and Goddess Tea just "interviewed" (though it was more like a fun, rambly conversation) me for her Craft Culture Podcast ep of the week. The link is here, and you'll see from the program notes that we talked about all kinds of stuff related to designing knitwear.

In addition to Dani's links, I want to give a shoutout to Jessie of the Phat Fiber Sampler Box, because that community really hooked me up with designing for handspun and hand-dyed yarns (particularly small quantities of the same), and to the YarnTechs Yahoo! group, which is where I found my two fabulous tech editors Tracey and Amanda.

Logan Baby Blanket

2010-03-12T10:16:00.000-05:00

What a sweet little blanket, with an easy to remember lace pattern that gives a great graphical punch to a simple knit. The eyelets could look like hearts, birds, tents, mountains, or faces, depending on the angle of view and the imagination of the viewer.

Instructions are given for two weights (DK and Worsted) and two sizes (half and full); enough variation in one pattern for the overworked auntie or grandma!

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)

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Note that gauge for the DK weight version is 22 stitches and 32 rows to make a 4in 10cm square in stockinette stitch on US6 (4.0mm) needles; gauge for the worsted weight version is 18 stitches and 28 rows to make a 4in 10cm square in stockinette stitch on US9 (5.5mm) needles.

Materials:
500-1200yds DK or worsted weight yarn
US6 or US9 needles (DK or worsted weight)
2 stitch markers
Yarn needle

Sizes:
20x30in and 30x40in

The sample shown is knit in Valley Yarns Sugarloaf. Many many thanks to Kathy Elkins and WEBS for supplying the yarns to make these blankets. I wholeheartedly recommend Valley Yarns Superwash yarns for their softness, strength, and usability!

Many thanks to Aimee for knitting the sample worsted weight blanket!

Haitian Relief - Thank you!

2010-03-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

Many many thanks to all who purchased patterns this month via Etsy, Ravelry, Patternfish and the blog. Because of your support I am giving $200 to the Episcopal Relief and Development Haiti Fund. Thank you!

Chessboard Baby Blanket

2010-03-01T10:02:00.002-05:00

This lovely baby blanket combines a simple design with a beautiful look to make the perfect gift for the newborn (and new parents!) in your life. Unlike other patterns in a standard checkerboard layout, this one has instructions for two different weights of yarn (DK and worsted) and two different sizes. The “half” blanket is 20in by 30in (50cm by 75cm) and the “whole” blanket is 30in by 40in (75cm by 100cm).

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)
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Gauge in DK weight is 22 stitches and 32 rows to make a 4in 10cm square in stockinette stitch on US6 (4mm) needles. You will need 600yd for the half size; 1200 yds for the whole size.

Gauge in worsted weight is 18 stitches and 28 rows to make a 4in 10cm square in stockinette stitch on US9 (5.5mm) needles. You will need 500yds for the half size; 1000 yds for the whole size.

You also need two stitch markers and a yarn needle.

The samples shown are knit in Valley Yarns Superwash DK (Wild Rose) and Superwash Worsted (Blue Ice). Many many thanks to Kathy Elkins and WEBS for supplying the yarns to make these blankets. I wholeheartedly recommend Valley Yarns Superwash yarns for their softness, strength, and usability!

Many thanks to Rebecca for knitting the worsted weight sample blanket!

Note that this is an updated version of my Checkerboard Baby Blanket, with additional sizes and yarn weights. This pattern has been tested and edited for clarity and accuracy.

Pearl Shrug

2010-02-27T10:33:00.003-05:00

This light, lacy shrug is great for summer nights, when you want a little extra weight around your shoulders but don’t need anything too clingy and warm. The ribbon yarn gives some interest to the eyelet and mesh stitches, particularly because of the pearlescent variations in the nylon half. It is called “Pearl” for the seaside colorway chosen, the fishnet stitch of the main body pattern, for the shimmer of the yarn, and because most of the rows are done in purl.

The rectangular base cloth is folded and seamed to form a three dimensional shape without “shaping”, making it a particularly quick pattern to work and wear this summer. Since both stitch patterns used are reversible, you can wear this shrug either with a flat or a shawl collar– so it is fun, fast, and flexible!

Available for $4 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)!
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Materials Needed:
- 5 [6, 7, 8, 10, 10] skeins Knit One Crochet Too Tartelette (50% cotton, 50% nylon) Sea Glass colorway [75yd/69m to 1.7oz/50g]
OR 370 [440, 515, 600, 690, 735]yd / 335 [400, 470, 550, 630, 675]m worsted weight ribbon yarn
- 1 set size US9 (5.5mm) needles
- 2 stitch markers (optional)
- Yarn needle

Gauge: 15 stitches and 23 rows to make 4in [10cm] square in stockinette stitch.

Sizing:

Finished bust 41.5 [45, 49, 53, 57, 61]in / 105 [115, 125, 135, 145, 155]cm.

To fit bust sizes 29.5 [33.5, 37.5, 41.5, 45, 49]in / 75 [85, 95, 105, 115, 125]cm.

Back length 11 [12, 13, 14,15, 16]in / 27.5, 30, 32.5, 35, 37.5, 40]cm.

Originally published in Yarn Forward Magazine No. 15, August 2009.

Olympics Knitting and Designing

2010-02-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

It is so sweet to wander back to the blog after being away for a few weeks to kind comments wondering where I've gone! We have been a house of pestilence this month - first the baby had a double ear infection, then the DH had something that was Probably Not Strep (though his tonsils were so swollen that the nurse wasn't confident she actually swabbed the back of his throat), then I had a migraine, then the baby's ear infection came back AND he had roseola, then the DD got a random cold. Oi! We're better now, and I hope manage to stay that way for a while.

Yesterday was the most beautiful day we've had so far in 2010 - in the mid-60sF, sunny, light breeze - and the kids and I spent several hours outside. I made my first Lowes run of the year for mulch, seeds, plants, and some inside home improvement stuff. It felt great to get my fingers dirty in the garden again after such a hard winter. Of course then today it was in the 50s and rainy. Blah.

I'm participating in the Ravelympics for the winter Games. I have to admit - another reason I haven't posted lately is that I'm totally addicted to the Olympics. Example: I hate curling. I don't understand it, and it's very slow and dull. But I think I've watched 6 hours of curling so far. My favorite events, though, are the ones that have some artistry to them - the halfpipe was wicked awesome, the aerials are also cool, and right now I'm watching ice dancing. I like it when people don't fall and get hurt!

For the Ravelympics I've been working on a shawlette done with 100% alpaca fingering from Mama Jude's Plant Dyed Stuff. It's beautiful stuff, and oh so nice to knit with. I'm also working on finishing up a bunch of WIPs - knitting, spinning, and designing - so look for a bunch of patterns to be released in the next few weeks once things get out of testing. If you're in my Ravelry group, I'm soliciting testers for a wrap and a shawlette, and will be asking for testers for the alpaca shawlette as well as some pattern collections from the last year of Phat Fiber boxes. I finished spinning a 4oz braid of merino - one of my first large-scale braids - and just have to get it set and skeined. I'm also the co-captain of the Phat Fiber team. Wow, it's been a productive couple of weeks!

Happy Anniversary, my Love!

2010-02-19T10:52:00.001-05:00

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary. It's somewhat shocking to consider that I've been married to the DH for so long - most of it pretty smooth and good. We've changed a lot, but luckily have changed in parallel. I wanted to brag about how much I've knit for him over the years, but it's actually a pretty paltry list: two hats, two scarves, a set of fingerless mitts, and the worst Christmas stocking ever. He really wants a sweater. Perhaps this is the year to do it!

To celebrate this milestone he "gave" me a day dedication on our local NPR station, WUNC. I'm "giving" him a night at the Carolina Ballet's Cinderella Ball (a charity event). One of the things I really love about this man is his willingness to go along with my quixotic attempt to lessen our material footprint and do good in the world.

Thank you, my muffin love, and here's to many more milestones to come!

Chandelier Fingerless Gloves

2010-02-15T09:44:00.003-05:00

Even people who have never seen the musical “The Phantom of the Opera” know a few basic plot points: there’s a weird guy in a mask who is in love with a singer, he plays the organ at inappropriate times, and at some point the theater’s grand chandelier falls spectacularly. These opera-ready gloves were inspired by that last bit of common knowledge.

The back of the hand has tracery lace that is reminiscent of the chandelier’s chains, while the drop lace pattern on the hand reminds one of the crystals. The gloves are knit flat and shaped from the finger loop up to the mid-arm with simple increases, then seamed up the underarm. Since there is no shaping for fingers this project will be ready for opening night even if you start it at the dress rehearsal. The dramatic statement they make is good for any diva (operatic or not!).

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)
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Gauge: 26 stitches and 35 rows to make 4in [10cm] square in stockinette stitch.

Materials:

- Approx. 0.5 skein Knit One Crochet Too Crock-O-Dye (60% superwash wool, 20% nylon, 15% silk) Pewter colorway [416yd/380m to 3.5oz/100g] OR 200yd/183m fingering weight yarn

- 1 set size US4 (3.5mm) needles

- Tapestry needle

Size: Gloves are approx 5in circumference at the wrist and 8in circumference at the midarm (12.5cm and 20cm) unworn; 10in (25cm) long from base of the finger loop to the midarm. Gloves will fit wrists of circumference 5-7.5in (12.5cm to 19cm). To adjust for smaller or larger sizes, use needles one size larger or smaller than needed for gauge.

Many thanks to my testers FaeriesandPixies, Ilythya, NanaRector, and SnookiesOz, and to my tech editor Calalily for their help with this pattern.

Winner of the comments contest!

2010-01-31T19:01:00.000-05:00

Is EJ!

EJ suggested "updated doilies" that take the idea of the white cotton ones but make them cool with handpainted sock yarns. Thanks!

EJ, I need contact info for you - if you'd leave a comment here with how to reach you I'll send along your winnings. Comments are moderated so you are safe leaving info you wouldn't normally put on the open web (I'll delete it after getting the 411).

Knitcircus book giveaway!

2010-01-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

As promised earlier today, I have the honor of announcing the book winner for this week's prize giveaway from Knitcircus! The book is The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits. With the help of Random.org and my lovely husband who told me when to stop pushing the "generate" button (Yes, I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere), we have a winner:

Blueroses105 on Ravelry!

Please send Jaala your snail mail address so she can send you your book! Since you're on Rav you can PM her through there, or else email her with the same info.

Also, for the complete schedule of the Knitcircus blog tour, see the kickoff post. I look forward to reading the upcoming entries!

Knitcircus new online format - blog tour kickoff!

2010-01-25T13:55:00.001-05:00

When Knitcircus announced a change in format from print to electronic I had oh so many questions for Jaala Spiro, editor - and when Jaala put out a call for blogs to participate in a "blog tour" to promote the new electronic launch of the magazine, I knew this was my chance! I'm excited to be the first stop on the tour, which will continue roughly until Valentine's Day. Look for the launch to happen this weekend!

Also, we'll be announcing the winner of a book giveaway this evening - stay tuned! You have a few short hours to drop by the Knitcircus blog and leave a comment to qualify for a copy of The Yarn Girls' Guide to Simple Knits... winner will be announced at 10pm tonight!

Why did you start Knitcircus?

Knitcircus began when I read the Vanity Fair Africa special edition and went outside to sit on my front step, reeling at the need in the world. The seed of an idea started to create something fun and divert just a little of the resources I see around me to help families who need homes, schools and drinking water. How could I do it?

Then it hit me—knitters! Knitting and crafting people tend toward generosity (I know people who have given away almost every piece they’ve made) and can always find a little cash in the couch for a ball of yarn or a great pattern.

At the time, I and a small group of other women published a small literary magazine for mothers. Moving to a knitting/fibercraft magazine seemed a natural progression. So the first issue was printed in my basement on a laser printer and hand-bound with yarn, and sold at one store, the Knitting Tree in Madison. We didn’t end up making much for Heifer and KIVA, the charities I chose, but we received enough encouragement to keep going. (KT: Hey, I give to Heifer and KIVA too!)

Why do you contribute part of your proceeds to KIVA and Heifer? Have you done anything special for the Haiti earthquake?

My parents when we were growing up always emphasized to us kids how lucky we were, and that we had a responsibility to give back in whatever we did. Even though we didn’t have much extra, since my dad was an artist and our family income varied from year to year, we had a very close-knit family and a lot of fun. Those values mean a lot to me, so I look for ways to act on them in my life.

In giving, there’s always the question of whether to use your dollars locally or internationally— we do have plenty of hungry people in the USA. The question for me was how can we give our relatively small donations the biggest impact? I chose both Heifer and KIVA.org because, first, in most cases a dollar stretches further in the developing world, and second and most important, both of them empower the recipients to change their own lives for the better and pass on the gift again. KIVA makes microloans to small businesses worldwide—my favorite so far was a woman who sold popsicles out of her home—and as the loans get repaid, the same funds recirculate and are re-loaned to another business. I think it’s genius, and it’s fun as a lender because you get to choose which business you’ll support. Will it be a farmer in the Philippines, a tailor in Iraq or fruit-seller in Mexico City?

A third organization we’ve supported at different times is the Second Harvest Food bank here in Wisconsin, and we’ll continue to do that through special pattern sales and at our events.

For Haiti, I’ve put all of my own patterns for sale into the Help For Haiti list on Ravelry and am encouraging our other designers to participate and highlighting those that do in our Knitcircus group (KT: including me!). (Also KT: Including Jaala's Aden Hat). When I find other craftspeople helping, I try to pass along that info on the blog. We’ll have a link to Doctors Without Borders in our upcoming online issue, too to encourage people to give to them directly.

Why the switch in format to electronic?

Well, it’s the wave of the future, it’s better for the environment, we can reach many more people, including international knitters, and we simply couldn’t sustain the cost of printing and distributing a glossy paper magazine. Many of the magazines out there now are part of huge publishing companies who can afford to support that arm of the business with other revenue streams, and many well-respected magazines—Gourmet was one recent one—have ceased publication entirely in this tricky economy. We’re very small and proud of it, and glad to still be in business; this move just makes perfect sense for us.

The online format gives us more room to stretch out and really showcase our patterns and photographs—we couldn’t afford lush, full-page spreads in print, but now we can have as many as our pattern-loving hearts desire. It’s very exciting. Now knitters will be able to store and print the patterns they purchase at home and carry them around on handheld devices, nobody has to pay shipping or wait for delivery. It’s also more democratic in terms of letting people enjoy some of what we offer for free, where before they had to purchase the magazine to read the articles, etc.

Your compensation to designers has traditionally been generous for advertising, visibility, and copyright more than financially (thank you!). How will this change with the new model?

Thank you! We view our designers as key to our success—and our existence—so we like to share with them as much as we can given how small the business has been. We have taken steps to make sure that our designers’ copyright is protected in the new format by only keeping the patterns up while the issue is live, then all rights revert back to them just as before. Only now designers have the option to sell their patterns from past issues in our online store. They can sell them anywhere else they like or choose not to, too. We’ve done everything we can to protect our designers and current subscribers by keeping the model very similar to our print approach. For example, we’ve priced the pattern collection the same as the magazine used to be so our subscribers are getting the same value. In lieu of the articles which are now free, we’ve been able to add more patterns to the collection. I hope all that will change for designers is more exposure and, if things go well, the possibility of more pay in the future.

You have patterns for all types of people - which is great for those of us with young families. Why do you think your magazine does this well when so many of the others specialize in just one age/gender?

Thanks for noticing—that’s a conscious choice on our part. A simple answer is that all of us involved in the magazine are moms and know that kids’ and men’s’ patterns are important! We specifically look for patterns for those groups, most particularly kids from 3-12, for whom it can be really difficult to find good patterns.

If you could knit just one pattern from past issues, which would it be?
Oh, Crikey, I can’t pick just one! I think I have projects on the needles already from just about every issue! (I’ll send some pics of my favorites) (KT: They're sprinkled about). The highest on my list right now is the Offhand Gloves from Issue #8 because I need gloves!

What pattern has surprised you with its popularity?

Far and away the Kate’s Cardigan from issue 5, followed by the Indian Corn Scarf from Issue #7. I thought that pattern was really fun, but maybe too quirky for some knitters, but people just loved it!

Do you have time to knit any more?

Hee, hee. Good question. Not nearly as much as I’d wish, especially when we’re on deadline; I think I worked one round yesterday. But looking at pictures of knitting and knitting patterns all day makes a pretty good substitute.

Why recipes _and_ knitting? Will that continue?

Well, I love to knit, bake and sew; we don’t have crochet in the magazine yet, but I’d like to see some of that as well. I’ve noticed that people who choose to do one thing from scratch—like knitting—tend to notice, appreciate and try other crafts and skills. It’ll continue for sure; the Circus part of the title refers to a bigger umbrella of multicrafting. Also a little bit to how crazy it is being a work-at-home mom!

What do you want people to know about Knitcircus?

I’d like them to know that the desire to create something fun and meaningful drives the process. And that by purchasing the pattern collection, you’re making things a little bit better for a popsicle seller in Central America.

The next stop on the tour is Mystery House, the blog of the staff writer for the magazine. She's got an interview with Lily Chin coming up, and is also announcing a book giveaway. Busy woman!

Upcoming PhatFiber Boxes - Comments Contest for Inspiration

2010-01-22T23:44:00.001-05:00

As most of you know, I’m a regular contributor to the Phat Fiber sampler boxes (see video below for my January box). I like to send in patterns designed with yarns sent in previous boxes - most of which are sockweight handpaints, 15-30yds. I’ve done bracelets, headbands, and this month did a bookmark. I have on my list of patterns to write up the “Phat Wrists” and “Phat Head” collection… At the moment I have done 4 bracelets and 3 headbands. What should I do for the next few boxes? I could fill out the bracelets and headbands so there are 5 of each - a nice number for a collection - or I could go in an entirely new direction. Thoughts? Leave them in the comments below.

You know what, I think I'll turn this into a contest. What little projects would you like to do? Each comment gets you an entry, each Tweet, blog post, etc. gets another mention (tell me you did the additional thing in a comment so I don't have to track it down myself). An entry for what, you say? How about a skein of beautiful hand dyed lightweight sock yarn from Winter Mountain Fibers in the Plum Pudding colorway?

I'll draw a winner on January 31st at 7pm US East coast time!

January Phat Fiber Box - video!

2010-01-22T00:18:00.000-05:00

Here's the video of my January Phat Fiber box - much fun. Note that this was my fifth try at getting something internet-worthy (there are several tries that are blackmail-daughter-when-she's-16-worthy), and I'm holding the Flip in my left hand while trying to pull stuff out with my right. Take pity.

And I'm serious about wanting suggestions for February's theme. I love the sample that is like Monet's colors - but what to do with it?

Patterns for Haiti

2010-01-16T17:32:00.000-05:00

From January 13th through the end of February, I'm donating $2 from every pattern sold to the Episcopal Relief & Development Haiti Fund. The only exceptions are the two chemo hats, which support the NC Cancer Hospital already. See the list of for-sale patterns to the right, and/or go to my Ravelry store or my Etsy store for direct purchase.

Why Episcopal Relief & Development? Because I know people who have worked for them, they already had a fund for Haiti (and, indeed, one of my friends who worked for them worked in Haiti and met his wife there), and because I'm an Episcopalian and so am one of the few people who knows about them. Maybe this will be a way to get them some free publicity, too.

Please do what you can to help the people of Haiti.

2010 Goals

2010-01-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, the obligatory beginning of the calendar year, what do I hope to accomplish for myself posting. Sorry to be so predicatble, but this does keep me somewhat honest. Here are the goals for the year:

Start wholesaling patterns to LYSes in the NC/VA/TN/SC area, with the aim of gradually expanding outside the immediate region. I don't really know how to do this, but I'm going to start by the end of the month.
Expand the pattern catalog to 36 patterns by June 30th. I'm currently at 30. I'd like to stick to a pace of 12 patterns a year self-published.
Submit 6 patterns to magazines, get 2 published.
Submit 4 patterns to the KnitPicks Independent Designer Program and have 2 accepted.
Complete all the current WIPs (there are 6, I think).
Participate in at least 9 months of PhatFiber boxes. January is bookmarks!
Knit something for each member of the immediate family, including myself.
Complete one gift a month.
Complete two baby hats or one chemo cap a month (or other community knitting project of similar size).
Join the Association of Knitwear Designers.

And non-knitting or design goals:

Lose the rest of the baby weight and keep it off (note: not the weight from the most recent pregnancy; the weight from the previous two!). It's about 18 pounds.
Clean out my house and give stuff to Goodwill or the ABC Sale.
Clean out the garage. Ditto above.
Actually harvest veggies from the garden, not just plant them.
Figure out my next career step. Library management or info science research/teaching?
Go out to Oregon to see Parallel (how does April sound, over our spring break?).
Get the roof replaced.

Summing up 2009 (a look back at goals)

2009-12-31T18:36:00.000-05:00

As is traditional for the last day of the year, I want to look back at the goals I set for myself to see if I made them. It was good of me to check in October, since at least then I could tell if stuff was on track or not.

The original January goals:

Knit a gift a month. - Don't know if I accomplished this - but I did manage to not freak myself out too much over Christmas. In part this was because instead of knitting gifts for the various kids who get things, I sewed fleece hats. I believe I did 10 hats in total - which was three evenings of lazy work (assisted by the DD) compared to probably a month of work had I knit them.
Knit two preemie/baby hats a month (on average). - Started off strong, ended very poorly. I believe I managed to make about 18 total hats this year, not the 24-30 that I had hoped for.
Write up at least one pattern for publication (formal or self) each month. - 16 patterns completed, according to Ravelry, of which three were for magazines (Nixie's Net, Pearl, and Tammie), three were partnerships with Stitchjones (Good Day Sunshine, This End Up, and Peaks), two were for KALs with eXtreme Spinning (Inconceivable! and Valerie's Miracle Scarf) and the rest were totally self-published (Comfy Cape, Malcolm Blanket, Harris Blanket, Windowpane Blanket, Cleopatra Bath Set, Fauxhawk, Oceanside Cowl, and Alley Collar). I also have had two more patterns accepted for publication, of which one was sent off last week and the other is due in March.
Knit something for myself. - I ended up keeping the Comfy Cape, Pearl, and Inconceivable! for myself, though none of them were originally inteded for me. A pattern in development, though, is mineallmine! It's a shoulder shawlette done in fingering weight cotton, tentatively called Isadore.
Knit something for the husband. - Finished on the 28th! A pair of flip-top mittens knit in handspun chunky yarn from Drumlin Farm in MA. I'm calling them Jaume - look for the pattern in late January/early Feb.

So, in the end, not a bad return on the year. I clearly need to work on the baby hats - though in my defense I did a hat drive for the NC Cancer Hospital that came out quite well so I wasn't a total pig. I'm looking forward to finishing up a little glut of publishing work and having some time to myself!

Alley Collar

2009-12-27T01:15:00.001-05:00

This collar takes the great aspects of small-project knitting and runs with them. It pairs just one skein of a luscious wool/alpaca/silk chunky yarn in a bold teal color with a simple but dramatic slip-stitch pattern to make a warm and stylish accessory for any occasion. Additional personalization is added with two interesting buttons. This would be a great gift project!

Why the “Alley” collar? The stitch pattern is adapted from the “Bricks” two-color slipstitch pattern from Barbara Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, and the narrow strip of scarf made me think of the narrow space between two brick buildings.

Available in my Ravelry shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $3.50.

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Gauge: 15 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

Sizing: 4.25in (8.5cm) wide by 23in (57.5cm) long

Materials:
1 skein Elsebeth Lavold Silky Flamme (50% Peruvian Wool, 30% Alpaca, 20% Silk) [50g/1.75oz to 82yd/75m] OR 80yds [73m] bulky weight yarn
US10 (6.0mm) needles, OR size needed to match gauge.
2 ¾in buttons
Tapestry needle
Coordinating thread and sewing needle, for attaching buttons

Wordle image of this blog

2009-11-02T15:06:00.000-05:00

Click on the image above to see a graphical representation of the 300 top used words on this blog. Courtesy of Wordle (copyright Jonathan Feinberg)

October Phat Fiber Box!

2009-10-21T21:09:00.001-04:00

My Phat Fiber box came today! Oh joy oh wonder! The theme this month was Masquerade Ball, and though I had some issues coming up with a headband pattern (though I did - the Waltz Headband), I'm really impressed with all of the ideas from my fellow Phatties. In lieu of trying to photograph and then write out my box contents, I decided to make a little video on my Flip camera. This is an experiment - it's the very first time I ever did a video - so please forgive my apparent inability to stay in frame and the slight fuzziness of some shots.

FOs so far

2009-10-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

It's been a productive first two weeks of October (or so). At knitting group last week I finished the knitting on baby blanket #1, and then got the knittin on the shawlette done over the weekend and into the early part of the week. So that meant that I was able to spend knitting group weaving in ends. I hate weaving in ends, so I save up a whole pile of stuff to do at once. Somehow the combination of the batch processing with the pleasant company makes it not quite so onerous. So now the blanket, scarflette, scarf, and crown are all done, plus I finished up the October PhatFiber headband and have started the gloves for eXtremeSpinning! Yay!

I'm working on converting two of my popular free baby blanket patterns to paid patterns, with the addition of extra sizes and weights of yarn. The two candidates right now are the Checkerboard and Logan's Half blankets. Checkerboard is currently a worsted full-size pattern; Logan is a chunky half-size. I'm writing them out for DK, worsted, and bulky weight yarns in both half and full sizes. In both cases I'll leave the version that's currently up as free but will no longer be available to convert for people.

I also spoke with Sharon of Stitchjones about the three patterns that I designed for her last spring (This End Up Baby Vest, Peaks Child's Scarf & Hat, and the Good Day Sunshine Bag). I'm pleased to report that I'll now be offering them via my Ravelry and Patternfish stores! Peaks is already available, and the other two need to be converted to my style template and sent to the tech editors.

Speaking of which, I've decided to take the plunge and hire tech editors for my patterns. I'm amazed at how quickly they work and what great suggestions they have. Little things, too, like how I often forget to put periods at the end of my line-by-line instructions! It's a little extra time, and a little extra expense, but in the end I think they'll make my patterns that much stronger.

October is FO Month!

2009-10-01T19:39:00.001-04:00

I've been very productive this summer - I learned how to drop spindle (mostly), I've written a number of patterns, and I've started quite a lot of projects. I've finished some of them, too. But, sadly, not all. At the moment I have a whole stack of stuff that needs to be blocked and have ends woven in, plus a few felting projects that just need to be felted. So this month is FO month. My goal is to finish everything that's ongoing right now, plus at least half of whatever I start this month.

The current WIP list includes:

Two bowls that need felting, one in Malabrigo and one in Lamb's Pride worsted. The Malabrigo bowl is the template for a bowl series that I'm planning, and I can't felt it until I figure out whether my notes are correct, and I don't want to felt the other one on its own b/c that would be a colossal waste of water.
Mom's Inspiration scarf. I'm about 25% done, which means I've just started the three-colors-across section. I'm not a colorwork knitter, normally, so this is a mental block mostly.
Baby blanket of the fall #1. (about 75% finished)
Inconceivable! (needs blocking)
Valerie's Miracle Scarf (needs blocking)
The not-a-triangle shawlette (about 80% finished)
Maryel's Crown (needs ends woven in and finishing)

I also need to come up with an October PhatFiber pattern, plus more people are falling pregnant as I type so I have a slew of baby blankets planned. Also planned is the November pattern for the eXtremeSpinning club - "Chandelier Fingerless Gloves" inspired by the Phantom of the Opera. Once I finish that pattern it's on to full-steam ahead Christmas knitting, some of which will be original patterns and some will be from OPP.

Valerie's Miracle Scarf

2009-09-27T00:59:00.001-04:00

Valerie, Max’s wife in The Princess Bride, has a rough job. She never knows when Max is going to want to whip up some weird miracle potion or some such, and so she’s constantly trying to come up with functional ways to arrange the shopping lists.

This scarf might be one. Included on the scarf are all the ingredients needed for the Miracle Pill (including frog dust and holocaust mud, the only two specifically identified in the book version of TPB) that Max and Valerie make to bring Westley back from his mostly dead state—many of which Inigo and Fezzik had to go find in the few short hours before the wedding.

This is also known as a “sampler” scarf. It has a dozen different blocks, each separated with seed stitch. The knitter will get some experience with simple eyelet and lace stitches, knit/purl motifs and patterns, and textural patterns involving slipped stitches, bobbles, etc. Techniques will be explained each time they are introduced—making this an excellent project for knitters looking for something more interesting than a one-stitch scarf. You’re welcome to mix and match the squares if you like—just don’t forget to include true love and the chocolate coating!

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)

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Gauge: 18 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

Sizing: Approx. 6in by 60in (15cm by 150cm).

Materials:

300 - 325 yards worsted weight yarn

US 8 needles

Yarn needle

Many thanks to my testers CarolSch and AlaskanSass!

Oceanside Cowl

2009-09-25T22:19:00.031-04:00

This cowl was inspired by the need for a simple, lightweight garment to keep the chill off while on vacation in the fall at the beach. The stitch pattern echoes the foam-flecked waves of the Atlantic, and the yarn used includes a small amount of chitin, made from the exoskeletons of small invertebrates like shrimp and crabs. The pattern is simple enough to take anywhere, but looks complex enough to impress your friends. It is knit in the round with a rippled lace pattern that is completed in two rounds.

This is a great project for an odd skein of sock yarn—or any other lightweight fingering yarn you may have lying around. Whether you keep one for yourself, or knit several for gifts, this is a good stashbusting project for any time of year!

Available for $1.99 from Knit Picks!

Also available in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)

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Gauge: 26 stitches and 39 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch

Sizing: One size fits most. Cowl is blocked to 19in circumference by 18in long (47.5cm by 45cm). Mods for larger widths noted.
.

Materials:

250-350 yds sockweight/fingering weight yarn
US4 (3.5mm) 16in circular needles
1 stitch marker
Yarn needle

Many thanks to my pattern testers Becca (Msrib), Deb (Sockknitter54), Jenn (Rois), and Lois (LoisKnits)!

Fauxhawk Baby Hat

2009-08-31T21:25:00.034-04:00

Pity the punk babies. They have no hair. They have no control over what they get dressed in – and so they’re stuck with duckies or puppies. All they can do to show their true colors is to yell (which they do well)! Help support the inner punk in your little one by knitting a skullcap complete with a faux fur fauxhawk.

The inspiration for this hat came on a bus trip across campus. A young man in front of me had the most amazingly colored, fuzzy Mohawk. I was not the only one staring, though I may have been the only one trying to derive a hat from his head. Then I looked down at my newborn, and it hit me – while I could never in a million years get my attorney husband to wear a hat like that, my child wouldn’t have a choice!

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)

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Note: Hat is worked flat, then grafted along the top and seamed down the side.
Suggested modification: If you want the fur to stand out even more, work the fur stripe in reverse stockinette stitch (purl on right side rows) and the “skin” in regular stockinette stitch (knit on right side rows).

Sizing: Preemie 0-3mo, 3-6mo, 6-24mo to correspond with head circumference 10 11, 13, 15in (25 27.5, 32.5, 37.5cm) Shown in size 3-6mo (green) and 6-24mo (blue).

Gauge: 18 stitches and 24 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch.

Materials:

Under 1 skein worsted-weight cotton-blend or wool-blend yarn
Under 1 skein Lion Brand fun fur or other novelty fur/eyelash yarn
US8/5.0mm needles, or to make gauge
Yarn needle

Many thanks to my pattern testers Deb (SockKnitter54), Elaine (KnitWits1), Jody (SnookiesOz), and Lois (LoisKnits).

I have left you... for Twitter (kidding!)

2009-07-08T21:13:00.002-04:00

... but not really kidding...

I've been neglecting the blog, and I apologize. You see, after denigrating it for years (ok, months), I've caught the Twitter bug. Turns out Twitter is a lot more interesting than it sounded. It helps that now that I'm in the Phatfiber group, I've got a bunch of other fiberistas to "follow" - and some of us end up having little conversations over tweets. If you're on Twitter and want to follow me, I'm knitwithkt. See you there!

(If you just want to follow the blog, scroll down. My tweets get posted to the sidebar.)

Inconceivable! Wrap

2009-07-01T10:27:00.005-04:00

You keep using that wrap… I do not think it is what you think it is... Is this a wrap? A cowl? A capelet? A shrug? The options are numerous, the lace is good for beginners, and the results are fit for a princess or a bride. It’s Inconceivable!

Why else is this Inconceivable!?

It’s perfect for a pleasure cruise at night through eel (or shark) infested waters (or for curling up with a good book or movie)…
It looks good on both sides, which is inconceivable! in a wrap…
The wrap can be worn at least six different ways, depending on how you choose to lace it with ribbon through the border…
It is inspired by the embroidered pattern of Vizzini’s coat…
The original yarn is a golden green, also inspired by Vizzini’s coat…
TPB is my all time favorite movie, and I’ve been dreaming for years of designing a wrap fit for Buttercup…
And finally, you’ll keep using this wrap, even if it doesn’t mean what everyone else thinks it should mean!

Available in my Ravelry Shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $6

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Size: 20in by 64in (50cm by 160cm)
Gauge: 27 stitches and 42 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch

Materials:
Approx. 900yds(822m) laceweight yarn
US4 (3.5mm) needles
3 stitch markers
Yarn needle
Optional: Lifelines and stitch markers for lace knitting

Inconceivable! was designed as a Phat Fiber Knit-along in Ravelry for the summer of 2009. Thanks to all the “Phatties” who participated in the development of the pattern and/or in the KAL itself!

The original sample is knit in Xsive Softness Yarn (fingering weight baby alpaca/silk/cashmere blend) in the Inconceivable! Colorway from eXtremeSpinning. Thank you CJ!

Many thanks to pattern testers Carol (CarolSch), Dawn (DawningDreams), Evelyn (NanaRector), Jenessa (TheNoviceKnitter), and Sarah (AlaskanSass).

Cleopatra Bath Set

2009-06-30T20:57:00.002-04:00

It is said that Cleopatra nurtured her beautiful skin by bathing in fresh milk and honey. You can do her one better by using a milk/cotton or pure milk yarn for your bathing accoutrements. Milk fiber is soft, silky, has the same pH as human skin, and is naturally antibiotic.

This bath set consists of a quick and fun soap sack and washcloth. The stitch is an adaptation of the Roman Stripe - Cleopatra did love her Roman men! - made to be reversible for the washcloth but not for the soap sack. Instructions are given for the sack to be knit either in the round or flat. This set would make a great gift, but remember to keep one for yourself!

Available in my Ravelry Shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $4

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Gauge: 21 stitches and 33 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch.

Materials:

- 80-120yards of DK weight cotton/milk blend yarn. The testers also used worsted weight cotton (such as Sugar and Cream) with good results.

- US 5 (3.75mm) needles, or to make gauge.

- 1 stitch marker for the soap sack knit in the round.

- Tapestry needle.

Inspired by the eXtreme Spinning July 2009 spin-along club selection - 100% milk fiber. Join the club at http://extremespinning.etsy.com/.

Many thanks to my pattern testers, CarolSch (Carol), MrsFife (Swapna), and TheNoviceKnitter (Jenessa).

Inconceivable! KAL

2009-06-16T21:06:00.001-04:00

I've mentioned the Inconceivable! wrap a few times in my latest posts - I'm now happy to announce that the Inconceivable! KAL group has a home on Ravelry!

Why is it called Inconceivable!? Well...
It is inspired by the embroidered pattern of Vizzini’s coat…
The original yarn (Inconceivable! by ExtremeSpinning) is a golden green, also inspired by Vizzini’s coat…
The pattern looks good on both sides, which is inconceivable! in a wrap…
The wrap can be worn at least five different ways, depending on how you choose to lace it with ribbon through the border, so it may not mean to you what I think it means…
TPB is my all time favorite movie, and I’ve been dreaming for years of designing a wrap fit for Buttercup…
And finally, you’ll keep using this wrap!

Please come join the Inconceivable! KAL group on Ravelry. Pattern will be released by Katherine Vaughan Designs on July 1st at a discounted price for KAL participants.

Contest Winners!

2009-06-15T13:08:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to the contest winners (chosen by random number generator):

Turtle wins 2 skeins of Plymouth Royal Bamboo in the silver colorway. I'd like to see what people say when you're knitting with this lovely stuff on top of a mountain!

Darcy's Knotty Knitter wins 1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted in Purple Mystery. She has fond memories (also painful ones) of Sheep Sheep.

Sharon Rose wins 3 skeins of Filatura Di Crosa Regina Print. Her favorite pattern is the ever popular 1x1 Noro striped scarf.

More summary later on the contest. I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments!

Midyear goals

2009-06-15T09:28:00.003-04:00

Skeins Her Way is holding a contest for people to declare their summertime knitting goals. I'm a sucker for both listmaking and contests, so of course you can image that I'm all over this one. It seems like June is a good month for taking stock of one's yearly goals (remember, I don't do resolutions). Here were my January goals:

Knit a gift a month. - Doing pretty well. I've completed three gifts for family, two swaps, and have started two more gifts for family. So not quite on pace, but close.
Knit two preemie/baby hats a month (on average). - Doing very well. I gave Dad 10 hats in May to take to Hopkins, and sent 6 to Charlotte today. That's 16 over 6 months, which is above my target average.
Write up at least one pattern for publication (formal or self) each month. - Doing very well. I've had two patterns published in magazines (Nixie's Net and Pearl), plus finally got the three Stitchjones patterns up (Peaks, This End Up, Good Day Sunshine), plus several self-published patterns (Malcolm and Harris blankets, Comfy Cape), plus several still-secret patterns for publication (total of four), and then there's Inconceivable in testing plus the Phatfiber bracelets and hair accessories getting ready to test. That's 12 patterns completed in 6 months. Yay!
Knit something for myself. - Yeah, or not. I'm keeping Inconceivable, though, so that will count!
Knit something for the husband. - Again, not so much. But I've bought (more) yarn to make a vest, so hopefully this will get underway.

I feel like I'm doing pretty well, other than the knitting for the husband and myself.

So here are the goals for the next few months:

Finish Inconceivable! (July 1st).
Knit several things for the daughter for summer/fall wear: Purple camisa, kindergarten skirt (Sept 1st).
Knit something for the husband.
Make three hats for the UNC Hospitals Heart Felt Hats drive (Sept 1st).
Develop new connections with two indie dyers and one yarn company.
Publish at least 3 new patterns (Inconceivable!, Cleopatra, and Phat Wrists)
Clean out my house, take stuff to Goodwill.
Paint the powder room trim.
End maternity leave and go back to work.

Don't forget my own contest, closing today at noon US Eastern time!

Good Day Sunshine

2009-06-14T12:45:00.003-04:00

Knit totes are fabulous items. They are simple in construction but carry a lot of wow! factor. They allow you to play with a stitch, yarn, or color that you might not pick for a sweater but still love. And to top it all off, they’re useful! Good Day Sunshine will brighten your day while knitting it and while carrying it. At 11 inches square by 2 inches deep, it’s a good size for toodling around town, without being so large that it’s unwieldy.

Fans of cabling, here’s a new challenge for you: this tote IS cabled, but not in a traditional roping pattern. Instead, the cables on the sides cross one knit stitch with three purls, forming sunburst checks. Just for a fun contrast, the strap is a super-traditional woven braid. This is a great project to practice cabling without a needle!

Available in my Ravelry shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $6.

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Gauge: 18 stitches and 27 rows to 4in (10cm) in stockinette stitch.
Size: 11in square by 2in deep.

Materials:

2 skeins Stitchjones Dyepot BFL Worsted (100% wool) Solid Gold Colorway [100g/3.5oz to 200yd/183m] OR 350yds (320m) worsted weight yarn.
US8 (5.0mm) needles (or size to get gauge).
Cable needle
Tapestry needle
Lining material, coordinating needle and thread, sewing machine (optional)

This pattern was created as a partnership between Stitchjones and Katherine Vaughan Designs. Many thanks to testers AlaskanSass (Sarah), CarolSch (Carol), FaeriesandPixies (Connie), Corirallen (Debi), Jani22 (Janet), and Nanarector (Evelyn).

WWKIP

2009-06-13T20:57:00.000-04:00

I always forget about World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP Day), even though it's always the 2nd Saturday in June, I have the Yarn Harlot's calendar on which it is marked, I'm on several lists that announce gatherings, and I have a lot of knitting friends. True to form, I forgot about it this year until my erstwhile roomie mentioned that she'd just gotten back from her local event. I think part of my problem is that I often knit in public anyway - because I knit everywhere - and so it's not such a big deal to me to take my knitting somewhere public.

So here's where I knit today:

In the car on the way to the Durham Farmer's Market and Morgan Imports. I did not knit while wandering around the market because I was working on a baby hat on dpns, and I thought it might be challenging to handle those while carrying the baby and a bag of broccoli.
In my brother's back yard. He claims that law enforcement considers his yard public (long story involving his interesting neighbors with the mitotically dividing ice cream trucks). It was hot, and there were lots of flies, but I enjoyed hanging out with my sibs and their other next door neighbor (who is not nearly as interesting to the cops).
In the car on the way to and from my brother's house.
In my living room. Clearly not a public space, but necessary in order to finish the hat.

I'm nearly done with a group of six baby hats that I'm sending to a 10 year old kid near Charlotte who is collecting hats for his local children's hospital. The kid's mom put out a call for help on one of the big Ravelry boards, and now he's on track to get more than 500 hats in a month. I feel like my 6 is a paltry contribution, but it's all I've got time to do right now. Plus, 6 hats in a month is pretty good for me!

How did you celebrate knitting today?

Knitting in the Sun

2009-06-11T17:59:00.004-04:00

As I posted about briefly before, I have a pattern in the new book Knitting in the Sun (Amazon link; Rav link). As is becoming fashionable, Kristi Porter decided to do a blog tour to promote the book. Several of the other pattern designers (and maybe some friends) agreed to write up something about the book on their blogs, and I am apparently the last one to go. I was very tempted to do an interview with some of the other designers, or maybe start a project and do a solo KAL-type posting, but of course I neglected to plan ahead for those. Instead I'll treat you to a totally self-serving and uncritical review of the book.

Honestly, it would be hard for me to do a critical review of this book. For the first time in a long time, I have a book in my hands that has a lot of patterns in it that I either want to knit (nearly) exactly as they are or that open up new ideas for me. So many project knitting books are boring for the truly creative knitter - they're just more variations on the themes of hat, glove, scarf, sweater, sock. This one is not. In addition, there are 32 projects total in the book - and given that the book is only $30 at full price, that's a pretty good deal!

I have to admit that my own contribution to the book, the Monaco driving scarf, isn't all that inspired. The cool things about it are a: the material (bamboo, very light and breathable), b: the shape (knit lengthwise with increases/decreases to make it a parallelogram shape), and c: the stitch pattern (reversible!). But this pales compared to some of the other projects.

Here are my favorites:

Windansea. This is a knit hat with wire in the brim to make it stiff. The yarn used is very light, and knit at a loose gauge to allow for more airiness. I'm totally entranced with the idea of brimmed knit hats, rather than beanies and slouch hats, and will make this. Plus, bonus! It's available online as a free teaser pattern!

Cinnamon Bay. You should have seen the excitement on the faces of my knitting group friends today when I was describing this: "It's a blanket, right, but with eyelets around the outside and a really long I-cord, and when you're ready to go in from the beach you just, like, pile all your crap in the middle and, ZIP! pull up the I-cord, and voila! beach bag!" Again, will make.

Bordeaux. Lace shawl with patterning at the ends but not in the middle. Somehow it just never occurs to me that I don't have to do lace all the way from one end to the other. This one is really pretty, easy, and would go pretty fast!

I am not a sleeveless type of girl - I dislike the look of my upper arms, plus who wants to shave that closely? - but in knitting group we all agreed that someone (probably Libbet) would have to make the Anna Maria tank with the Quimper capelet. I may make Quimper without Anna Maria - it uses one of my favorite hourglass lace stitches (the one Barbara Walker thinks looks like baby elephants on the reverse) and has a really interesting construction.

Aviara. I love Marnie MacLean's patterns anyway, and this one is another winner. The surplice top is forgiving to varying shapes, and given that I'm hoping that my shape will change (for the better) over then next months, this may be the short-sleeve top that I've been hoping for. Plus the ruffled sleeves and hemline are great. I'll probably have to up the neckline a bit. Also, nursing friendly!

Montague. I really like the stitch pattern - sort of like the drop-stitch snowshoe one, but more manageable - and it strongly reminds me of my mother in law (this is a good thing). I may make two - one for me and one for her. But not in pink. See, I can be critical!

I like all the cardigans, but particularly Yehliu. It's a very Asian construction, but with cables and lace that are more traditionally European. Also the color is one of my faves (normally I can see past color, but apparently not tonight). My only change would be to graft the sleeves/back rather than seam them. Keep in mind that I will do almost anything to keep from seaming something!

The Ravelry pattern page for Vernazza shows someone (I assume the designer) wearing it while very pregnant. This caught my eye! It's a sleep set, and I've been looking for something like it for a long while. I am not inclined to knit pants or shorts for myself for public wear, but it seems like they'd be great for lounging and sleeping. Plus, clearly this pattern has a lot of give. It's very cute, with a little lace detail at the hem and picot at the bust bindoff. Must make.

So that's eight patterns - plus mine - that I really love and can remember without the book nearby. As a resident of a hot climate - it was over 90F today in North Carolina - it's so refreshing to have a collection of wearable and knitable items designed specifically with warm weather in mind. Plus the photos are wonderful (all shot in California) and the layout is easy to read and follow. This is one of my favorite books in my whole knitting collection, and is sure to get worn out very quickly!

Bingeing

2009-06-10T13:40:00.003-04:00

I've been on a serious yarn binge lately. I got started because I "needed" some milk yarn to play with (I'm working on a spa set), and then to get the discount from Webs you have to order at least $60 worth of yarn... and then yesterday I meant to go to Jiffy Lube to get the car... lubed... but I forgot my book and so I "had" to go to Michaels, where I bought some yarn to make baby hats (also a T-shirt for the daughter's field day at preschool), and then I needed more pointy needles for a lace project so I went to Yarns, etc, but they didn't have the pointy needles, but then Mary was holding my son and she seemed so happy so I didn't have the heart to walk out without anything, so I ended up with three skeins of Bamboozle, one of Noro sock, one of chenille, one of Manos, and one or two others...

Mary also asked if I'd be interested in teaching this fall. I am! I just don't know what to teach. What do you keep hoping your LYS will offer? I took a great course on knitting in reverse at Stitches that would be fun to teach. Or maybe cabling? Knitting in the round? Hmmm.

The lace project that I'm working on is a wrap titled "Inconceivable!" It will be the subject of a KAL on Ravelry. I'll be setting up a group as soon as I find someone willing to make the graphics, and the pattern should be ready by July 1st. I'm looking forward to it!

Still haven't gotten the car lubed, and Wednesday is Political Junkie day on Talk of the Nation, so it'll have to wait until after 3pm. I can't go out and garden for long, either, both because it is hot and because I burned the soles of my feet yesterday going out to the mailbox barefoot. Literally burned them - I have blisters - guess I'm not as tough a Southern girl as I thought. Instead I'm putting on my socially-unacceptable Crocs and cleaning the garage. We have 50 gallons of water in soda bottles that I need to arrange more neatly ("drought insurance").

Design Story: Good Day Sunshine Tote

2009-06-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

Last summer I approached Sharon of Stitchjones ("Color Goes to Eleven") about designing some accessories using one or two skeins of her hand-dyed yarns. She sent me two different yarns to play with, one of which became the Peaks Child's Hat/Scarf Set and the This End Up Baby Vest (both for sale on Etsy). The other was a very bright yellow/gold worsted wool called "Solid Gold."

As soon as I saw that yarn I thought of making a tote bag. I initially thought of doing a round bag, knit from the center out, that would have a knit/purl motif that would make a sun on either side. But that became too difficult to chart/explain and so though it would have been extremely cool it was impractical for pattern design.

Then I thought I'd stick with the sunburst concept but on a more traditionally knit square bag. Again, I hoped to make the sun using a knit/purl motif across the front of the bag. But, as with the round-knit version, designing the very large scale sun was just not what the yarn or the pattern wanted from me at that time (though I haven't given up hope for this to resurface in the future).

In desperation, I did what I so often do: I turned to my stitch pattern libraries. In one of them I found a cabled check pattern called "sunburst". Perfect! It's a very interesting pattern that uses cables in a different manner than most Aran cabling - the cables are one knit stitch pulled over three purl stitches to "move" the check from one square to another. Poor explanation, I know. The reverse side looks like lattice stitches. I decided I'd make two square sides, each just under a foot on a side. That's a good size, I thought, for a tote - functional but not unwieldy.

For the strap, I decided on a traditional woven braid cable. The strap would also function as the sides and base of the bag for more stability and interest.

And so I delved into the knitting. I love cabling, I really do, and this one was fun. The yarn is very flexible, as wool is usually, and the color made it always fun to pull out of my bag. I finished up the knitting pretty quickly, but then sat on the seaming up for months. Yes, months. I feel very guilty about dragging my heels for so long - Sharon, I'm sorry! - and this just goes to show how much I hate seaming. But it's done now, and sent off to the testers.

More on the testing process later!

Rainy Friday

2009-06-05T13:24:00.002-04:00

Today would be a perfect day to stay inside and watch the rain. Luckily, that's pretty much all I do while on maternity leave anyway, plus knit. I'm working on swatches for a new multi-functional wrap that I'm calling "Inconceivable!". The yarn is from ExtremeSpinning, and we're planning to release it as a KAL later this month. I think I may do a design story series for it, but not right now.

I'm having a great time reading the comments that everyone is leaving on my contest! There are some truly fabulous stories there, plus I'm getting great ideas for gift and kid knitting... once there are 50 comments, I'll add another prize to the mix. Maybe a book this time? Or do people prefer yarn?

Yesterday we took the kids to our first baseball game of the season. We go to the Durham Bulls, and always have a great time. Last night it rained through the whole game, but not hard enough to stop play. We abandoned our (uncovered) seats in the 3rd to sit under cover, ate lots of food, hung out with some choir friends, got damp but not soaked, and generally enjoyed ourselves. The Bulls lost, but it was a good game even so (bit of pitcher wars until they got tired, then lots of hits on both sides).

My baseball knitting was this month's gift knit, a stuffed animal for my nephew. It's Flat Ted (Rav link) from Zoe Mellor's Knitted Toys book. I'm doing it in a cotton/acrylic so was confident that even if I spilled beer on it (which I am glad to report I did not), all would not be lost. I managed to finish the second leg and about 1/3rd of the body at the game. Not bad considering we were corralling the 5yo and I had to nurse/hold the baby too (though mostly the DH snuggled with him). This was his first baseball game, and he did remarkably well. I think it helped that it wasn't beastly hot, but also that he's a pretty mellow boyo. The girl, on the other hand, didn't sit still except when she was eating her funnel cake. Come to think of it, feeding her funnel cake in the 1st inning was perhaps a contributor to the later hyperactivity!

OK, back to swatching. This is my first attempt at true laceweight, and I think I need pointier needles...

Two Years of Skirtsicle (Contest!)

2009-05-31T14:28:00.010-04:00

This month marks the second anniversary of the Skirtsicle - a quick and easy little girls' skirt. It was originally published in MagKnits, but when that magazine went under I revamped it and put it up for sale in Ravelry. Since the spring of last year, 101 people have purchased a Skirtsicle via Rav (and a few more on Etsy), so I thought it was time to celebrate!

And what's the way to celebrate when you have a blog? A comments contest, of course!

I came up with the Skirtsicle because I wanted a fast knit, easily washed, play/dressy, hardwearing item for my daughter. It needed to be good for summer - and summers are hot in North Carolina - so not a heavy sweater or other knit top. A skirt seemed like the best option. I couldn't find one I liked, so I designed my own. A lot of the knitting was done while on vacation with my parents - my dad likes to sail on the Chesapeake - and I remember one night knitting away in the round when a great blue heron landed on the boat. I was so scared I nearly dropped my needles! My daughter loves her skirt, and is very sad that the original has gotten too short. True to the blurb, I knit a new one every once in a while to try to stay ahead of her growth spurts.

As you can probably tell, this pattern has a lot of sentimental value and good memories associated with it. I want to know what pattern or project is the same for you. Is there something you've made that makes you smile every time you put it on? Is there one with a funny story attached to it? Or that is adored by the recipient? Tell me your story in the comments of this post, and you'll be entered to win one of the prizes. Advertise it via whatever channels you have (your blog, tweets, plurks, etc.) and you'll get an extra entry (you have to tell me about them, though). Make sure you leave me some way to get ahold of you (Rav IDs are great, but other things work too).

I'll pick the winners by random number generator. If you are wool-averse or wool-preferring, please note that in your comments so that I can sort you to one or the other. Otherwise everyone goes into all drawings.

Prizes:
2 skeins Plymouth Royal Bamboo, Color 03 (Silver)
1 skein Malabrigo Merino Worsted, Color Purple Mystery
3 skeins Filatura Di Crosa Regina Print, Color 5004 (Purple, teal, orange, pink variegated)

I'll add an additional prize every 25 entries!

Contest ends June 15th, at noon Eastern (US) time.

Katherine Vaughan Designs now on Patternfish

2009-05-30T00:03:00.000-04:00

So, yeah, the title pretty much says it all. I'm gradually uploading my patterns to Patternfish, so those of you not in Ravelry (or who like PF better for pattern management) can find me there. Here's the direct link to my patterns.

What's Patternfish? Here's the blurb from their homepage: "Patternfish is an online store where you can buy or sell your knitting or crochet patterns as customized PDF downloads. That is all we do, and we want to be the best in the world at it." Patternfish has a bunch of things going for it - not least that they apparently scan in print-only patterns (particularly leaflets) and make them available in PDF format. This means that older patterns without digital equivalents can get scanned and sold. As a librarian, this makes me happy! Another key thing about Patternfish is that you have essentially your own library - so you can organize the patterns that you've purchased online and have access to them regardless of your physical location. Cool!

I joined Patternfish because I'm looking to expand the outlets for my patterns. You can now purchase from three places: Ravelry, Etsy, and Patternfish. Ravelry is my highest volume source (also the cheapest for me, which is good), followed so far by Etsy and Patternfish. However, in the last week I've already sold some patterns on PF, so that will probably end up being a close competitor to Etsy. Between the various random Etsy/PayPal fees and the hassle of having to email people the PDF patterns from Etsy sales, Patternfish comes out being pretty close in cost/sale compared to Etsy (I get 60% of every sale on PF).

I'm debating whether I want to start wholesaling to stores. I really don't want to have to deal with printing, though, so I've been holding back. Someday, maybe.

Current WIPs

2009-05-27T00:12:00.000-04:00

Just as a way of keeping up myself, here's what's going on at Casa KT:

Projects underway needing completion:

Finish hat for Ravelry swap (complete on Thursday; mail on Monday)
Finish bracelet and headband for Phatfiber patterns (complete on Friday)
Submission to Knitty (complete on Friday)
Submission to Knitcircus (complete on Sunday)
Two patterns for Phatfiber (complete on Monday and mail)
Seam up bag for Stitchjones (complete on Sunday; mail on Monday)
Bag pattern for Stitchjones (complete on Wednesday)

Projects in design stage:

Maryel's shrug (swatched; need to cast on)
Inconceiveable! wrap (received yarn from ExtremeSpinning; need to swatch and write up preliminary pattern for testing before launch of KAL in mid-late June)
Bath set (awaiting yarn)

Clearly I need to set aside time on Monday to get to the post office. Hmm, between the pediatrician's appointment and the house cleaning, that could be interesting. I also need to get the car serviced. Maybe we'll be having a nice long day out Monday!

Harris Baby Blanket

2009-05-21T14:08:00.002-04:00

Some ancient and relatively simple stitches are just made for baby blankets. The Harris Tweed Stitch is one such. It is easy to memorize, reversible, and results in a fabulous three-dimensional texture that will please Mom if not baby.

This blanket may be made in two sizes and two weights of yarn to fit your situation. The instructions are given for a small or “half” sized blanket using worsted weight yarn, with instructions for small bulky weight and “full” sized blankets in both weights in parentheses. These two sizes are approximately 20in by 28in (50cm by 70cm) and 30in by 40in (75cm by 100cm).

Available in my Ravelry Shop (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal) for $5

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Gauge: 18 stitches and 27 rows = 4 inches in Harris Tweed pattern

Materials:
- 500-1000 yards of worsted weight yarn or 400-800 yards of chunky weight yarn.
- US 8 (5mm) or US 10 (6.5mm) needles, appropriate to weight of yarn, or to make gauge.
- 2 stitch markers
- Tapestry needle

This End Up Baby Vest

2009-05-18T14:02:00.001-04:00

"This End Up" is a relatively straightforward baby vest with some textured detail at the front and back waistline for extra interest. The vest is particularly designed to show off handpainted yarns without worrying about pooling. Garment is knit flat to help with avoiding pooling differences at the neckline. Ribbing at the armholes and neck is picked up after seaming.

This cute topper for baby uses just 1 skein of Stitchjones Grand Designs Handpainted Worsted (shown in I Want Candy). It would also look great in Stitchjones Dyepot Worsted.

Available for $5 in my Ravelry store (no registration necessary; pay by PayPal)

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Also available for $5 at the Stitchjones Etsy Shop: My Mom Made This.

Sizes: 0-6mo, 6-12mo baby

Stitches and skills used: Knit, purl, P2tog, picking up stitches, knitting in the round

Materials:

1 skein Stitchjones Handpainted Worsted Merino (100% merino wool) I Want Candy Colorway [100g/3.5oz to 223yd/204m] OR200-220yds (201m) worsted weight yarn.
US8 (5mm) needles (or size to get gauge). You will be knitting flat and a small diameter in the round (double-points, two circulars, or one long circular needle).
1 stitch holders or waste yarn
Tapestry needle

Pattern designed by Katherine Vaughan for Stitchjones. Many thanks to Ravelry testers sjanova, faeriesandpixies, StrickenMama, LizzieKnits, and jennafuller for their assistance with this pattern.

Monaco!

2009-05-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

I have a pattern in the new book edited by Kristi Porter: Knitting in the Sun. The pattern is for a lightweight scarf done in a reversible lace pattern using bamboo ribbon yarn. It's called "Monaco".

"Come summer, I envy Grace Kelly driving down the coast of Monaco with her hair held safe in a light scarf. When she reaches her destination she either leaves the scarf on her hair or lets it pool around her shoulders…

This lightweight, mesh scarf can hold back your hair or hold off an a/c induced chill. The bamboo yarn is feather light and noninsulating, making it a great choice for a summer scarf. With a simple lace stitch pattern, sideways construction, and pointed ends, this quick but interesting pattern will become a mainstay of any summer wardrobe – whether or not you’re a movie star!"

Nixie's Net

2009-05-04T17:23:00.002-04:00

The new Knotions Summer 2009 issue is live, and I have a pattern in it! Nixie's Net is a nice summerweight scarf made with bamboo yarn (Madil Eden). I love this scarf - go take a looksee!