New Pattern: Nebula Shawl

The Nebula Shawl test knit finished earlier this month and the pattern is now available!

The Nebula Shawl uses simple increases and decreases to draw groups of stitches into soft, undulating curves to evoke the wild beauty of the dense clouds of gas and dust in interstellar space that form into nebulae in our night sky.

The main body of the Nebula Shawl is a triangle worked from the top down in stockinette stitch with simple yarn over increases and garter stitch edging. Nebula uses the garter tab cast-on discussed in this earlier post.

The Nebula Shawl is available at Ravelry now and will be available through WEBS and LoveKnitting later this summer!

Designing: Some of my Favorite Knitting Books

I love my knitting books. I feel like I can never have enough. I like being able to look up a small tidbit in one book and a piece of a neckline in another and possible cable idea in the next book and read some insight in another book. Here I’ve listed some of my favorites and what I use them for.

I think I own almost all of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books. Although I love really anything by her I do have two favorites. Knitting Without Tears for the straight forward technical help that offers throughout the book. Sometimes when I’ve got a design that just isn’t doing what I expected it to do, I’ll go back and read over different bits of this book to see if she can tell me why exactly. And Knitting Around where she shares pictures and stories of her life. I love those glimpses she shares.

Knitting from the Top by Barbara Walker is another book I find myself coming back to time and again as I think through a new design. I like to reread the sections before I set down to start a new pattern so I’m sure I don’t miss any of the important steps to consider in a top-down sweater design.

For design inspiration, I have a regular rotation of all three of Barbara Walker’s Treasuries (in my head I think of them as the blue one, the red one and the yellow one) and several of the Harmony Guides from the 1980s. I find I use three of them consistently with Volume 4 being my favorite by far. In fact, I’m going to need a new-to-me copy since every time I leaf through mine another few pages comes loose from the binding.

For a while this Spring most of my knitting books were stuck in a closet I couldn’t reach due to our ongoing construction (I talked about that here.) So I’ve been looking at new books. So I now I have four new books. I’ve only cracked open one of them so far.

Pattern Spotlight: Market Day Cowl

Published in May of 2017 the Market Day Cowl combines basic purls, knits and cables with vibrant colors to evoke the beautiful traditional textiles of West Africa. Market Day Cowl is extra-long so it can be looped once for a draped-scarf feel or twice for colder days.

 

Sample is knit in Wonderland Yarns Mad Hatter in the colorway Shillings and Pence and evokes the traditionally indigo-dyed Leppi Cloth from Guinea where my husband and I were Peace Corps Volunteers.

Market Day Cowl

Leppi Cloth from Guinea, West Africa, 1997

 

The Market Day Cowl is available through Ravelry, WEBS and LoveKnitting!

 

Knitting in the Heartland

This spring I finally went to a larger (but still fairly local) event – Knitting in the Heartland in Kansas City.

I’m not sure how I’ve managed to make it this far without attending any large knitting events. I’ve gone to local workshops. I go to a weekly Knit Night whenever I can manage it (boy activities like soccer and taekwondo make it more difficult than you might think). I interact with other knitters in the Ravelry threads. I worked at our LYS until it closed. And I’ve got plenty of knitting friends. But somehow I’ve just never taken the plunge and gone to a larger event. I recently purchased a copy of Clara Parkes Knitlandia and I’m loving it. Each new essay that talks about a knitting convention or trip or event shows me a little bit more about what I’ve been missing.

So I went!

 

I took a class on drop spindle spinning. The teacher did a great job introducing us to very beginning drop spindling and I enjoyed being a classroom full of other people who love yarn and fiber as much as I do.

I also took a class on photographing your knits with Franklin Habit. So that was pretty great!

 

The Vendor’s Market was something to behold. Three entire rows with vendors lined up along both sides plus others set up at the ends and in the corners. Lots and lots and lots of lovely yarns and fibers and stitch markers and notions bags and tees. I’ve heard knitters and podcasters talk about “yarn fumes” but I didn’t think these fumes were a real thing until I walked my first time around the market and wanted to buy ALL.THE.THINGS.

My first trip through I only bought one skein of yarn. A lovely, lovely skein of Bearfoot from Mountain Colors in the colorway Seeley.

I had planned to look through the whole market first and then make informed and rational decisions about what exactly I would buy. I even had a detailed list of upcoming design ideas and the types, colors and quantities of yarn I needed. This skein wasn’t on any of those lists. I tried to leave it where I found it. I even walked away from it. But I hadn’t made it very far before I went back and snatched it up. It simply had to come home with me. It is lovely and I can already start to see the design it will become, but really? I think it was the lovely bits of orange that got me…..and the yarn fumes.

The second time through the market I was more restrained. I looked at everything but bought nothing. The third time through I had fun and I’m excited about the yarns that came home with me!

Two DK skeins from Treasure Goddess in beautiful greys! Pieces of Eight and Ghost Ship.

 

One skein of Supernatural Yarns Harpy DK in the colorway Can I Have A Picture? Colin Creevey.

One skein of Big Foot Fibers Superfine Merino DK in the color Maple.

So the Vendor Market was a lot of fun. And evidently yarn fumes are a real thing.

If I’m honest, the idea of networking might be the reason I hadn’t gone to an event like this yet. As an introvert, networking….in person….with actual people….at a live event sounds a little like the ninth circle of hell. But being there in person wasn’t actually as hard as I imagined. Like many public events in life (at least in the life of an introvert), once you are at the thing it is mostly fine. I didn’t walk up to anyone and say “Hello! I’m a knitwear designer!” and hand them my business card. Because that just isn’t me. But I did meet quite a few other knitters and spinners and dyers. I did actually give my business card to one of the indie dyers that I made a nice connection with and I mentioned I was a designer to another. And I sat down in a circle of comfy chairs, pulled out my work and enjoyed getting to know other knitters. I’m glad I went and am already wondering where I should go next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Pattern: April Cowl

The April Cowl test knit is finished and the pattern is now available! The April Cowl uses simple knits, yarn overs and decreases to evoke the new shoots and sprouts of early spring growth.

April is extra-long for a draped-scarf feel. Lace written and charted.

I really love this one and have been wearing it more and more as this spring seems to be dragging along. I even wore my April Cowl to show it off at my first ever knitting conference.