Pattern Spotlight: Liam Scarf

Published in January of 2016 the Liam Scarf is an Aran scarf featuring many of my favorite textured stitch patterns and a cable from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. In traditional fishermen’s garments each stitch is thought to represent a part of life. For example cables to represent a fisherman’s ropes, a half diamond for twisting cliff paths, moss stitch for seaweed and so on.

Named for one of my favorite Irish folk singers William “Liam” Clancy from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. Instructions are written and charted.

The Liam Scarf is available through Ravelry, Knit Picks and LoveKnitting!

New Release: Ruby Cabled Raglan

The I Like Knitting October 2018 issue is out! It is full of beautiful projects including my Ruby Cabled Raglan!

All photos courtesy of I Like Knitting magazine.

Ruby is a simple top-down seamless raglan with a center front cable panel and stockinette body. This sweater also features waist and hip shaping for a flattering fit.

Written in 7 sizes. Sample sweater worked in Cascade 220 color 2427 Glamour.

 

I Like Knitting is a bi-monthly digital magazine published by Prime Publishing LLC. See the October 2018 issue patterns here! And learn about subscriptions here.

Random: Galaxy Trucker

We are a board game family. The more complicated and long a game is, the happier it makes the older boy. I don’t mind a super complicated game sometimes but I find I don’t have the mental space needed to stay chipper during an extra long game all that often during the summer. So this summer I instituted a new family tradition of playing a 3-player Galaxy Trucker on Friday afternoons! I figured that way we could play a long, involved game to make the older boy happy at least once a week and I wouldn’t have to learn all new complicated rules each time we sat down to play a game. Plus I’ve yet to win at Galaxy Trucker so I hoped that playing it repeatedly would eventually help me get better at it.

It sounds simple. You build a ship by grabbing components and properly placing them next to other components on an empty ship board. That isn’t hard, right? Except you need to grab the components before the other players do, you need to finish your ship before the timer runs out and you need to be certain that all the bits go together properly or you might loose half (or more) of your ship during the spot check before you even launch into space.

This is one of my best ships. You want guns. You want people. And you want engines. Other things are good too. But really if you have those three things and can keep them, you’re doing all right. It isn’t perfect and it definitely isn’t the prettiest ship. But evidently my standards are low for intergalactic travel.

The game says “The game ends after Round 3, once all the rewards have been collected and all the penalties paid. Add up all your cosmic credits. If that number is 1 or more, you win!” It took longer than I would like to admit (a surprising number of bad things can happen to your ship during the three rounds through space – meteoric swarms, smugglers, pirates, slavers and so on…..even simple, friendly open space can be the end of your ship if you somehow lost all your engines before the empty space), but I had actually ended the game with more than 1 credit before this summer.

This is one of my ships after many of those bad things happened one game. I’m not going to lie – this can be pretty demoralizing. Especially if the other ships breeze past all of the bad things due to a combination of better design, planning ahead and luck.

The rules go on to say “Of course, the player who has the most credits is a bit more of a winner than everyone else.” I am never the person to end with “a bit more of the credits”.

This is the most credits I’ve ever ended a game with. 60 credits!!! I was very proud. I still didn’t win that game. Maybe someday….

But I did get to spend hours and hours with my teen and tween this summer hanging out together. So I’m going to count that as a different kind of win.

 

 

Knitting: September Projects

It was pointed out to me recently that for a knitting designer, I don’t actually talk about knitting all that much on the blog. So I’ve started a project round-up once a month to talk about everything I’ve got on the needles that month. Here is a quick look at what I finished last month and what I’m working on in September.

Finished!

I finished my Jaida! Jaida is a top-down seamless cloak with one big, bold cable down the entire length of the back and textured moss-stitch edging and collar. I started the test knit for it here near the end of August and it is running through October 31st. I knit my sample garment out Valley Yarns Amherst Jungle Green and I love it!! I did work the Amherst at a slightly tighter gauge for this piece than I would have for another project because I really wanted all that lovely, lovely green warm wool for this project and the added warmth of knitting it at a slightly tighter gauge is not at all a bad thing. The gauge range on the Amherst ball band is 16 to 18 sts for 4″ and this pattern is worked and written at the larger end of the gauge range at exactly 18 sts per 4″. (I don’t generally love photos of me. But I do kind of love this one. I love the design. And I love that I’m growing into my natural color. My hair started turning grey at 24 so I dyed it for years and years. Over the last year I decided I’m ready to be done with that for now….except for the weeks where it is purple or blue or bright pink….but that is gone after 40ish washes so I’m not sure it counts.)

I finished the Judy Hat out of Knit Picks Felici Worsted in the colorway Lost Lakes and immediately cast on another one in the colorway Rustic. I was trying to save working on it for the next time we went to a movie. But we don’t go to the theater all that often, so when we rented Infinity War the other night, I decided that was close enough and picked it back up. I really do love self-striping worsted wool!

 

I finished the cabled Alana Stole! The Alana Stole combines a larger main cable panel with complementary smaller edge cables in a large rectangular shawl perfect for layering as the weather starts to turn cooler. The Alana Stole uses the same cables as my Alana Pullover published in Knit Now earlier this year and the pattern will be available this fall. (Side note: The rights to my Alana Pullover have actually reverted back to me and I’ll be releasing it as a self-published design soon too!) I worked my sample in Cascade 220 color 9600 Antiqued Heather and I loved every moment of working on it. The yarn, the wool, the color, the cables, the simple beauty of working back and forth in small bits at a time were all things that I really needed as we worked through the stress of readjusting back to school and activities in August.

 

I finished the October Cowl sample! The October Cowl uses the same simple knits, yarn overs and decreases as my April Cowl written for thicker yarn in a more fitted cowl perfect for the cooler days of fall. This shorter, more fitted cowl was an idea from one of my April Cowl testers. I loved the idea so much that I’ll be releasing the October Cowl (in October) as a BOGO with the April Cowl and making sure the promotion allows past purchasers to take advantage of the promotion and get two cowls for the price of one!

The Shenandoah Cowl test knit is moving along quickly! I finished this solid color sample soon as I work along with the testers. Test knitters are some of the most amazing knitters out there and that is really saying something since I think all knitters are pretty great. I really appreciate all the time and work they put into a project and enjoy getting to know them as we work.

The undisclosed project for Cascade Yarns out of their Pacific Sport in the color Deep Lavender is done and delivered! I think they’ll be releasing it soon. I’ll post about it once it is no longer a secret.

And I think that is it for finished objects.

Still on the Needles

I put my coffee inspired project out of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the color Pecan away for a bit while I finished other projects. I’m ready to pick it back up and am looking forward to working with it. The color is a beautiful brown that I love best and the yarn very nice to work with.

I’ve made a little progress with my Close To You shawl worked in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehip colorway. It feels hard to make time for this “fun project” that has nothing to do with my knitting designs. But I just need to do it since I love this project and can’t wait to be able to wear it! Hopefully I’ll have more to show you of this next month!

It feels like I have almost nothing on the needles right now. So I’m also busy this month happily tossing the stash and dreaming about designs and releases and yarns for 2019.