Moving Day!

I’m finally able to share that I’m moving blog over to my new website www.tamaramoots.com!!! Please look for future blog posts there.

New Releases: Alana Sweater and Stole

Both the Alana Sweater and Alana Stole are now available! The Alana Sweater combines a center front cable panel and complementary sleeve cables with top-down construction and simple stockinette for casual elegance. Written in 7 sizes with waist and hip shaping for a flattering fit. Cables are charted and written.

Named Alana from the Celtic word meaning harmony or stone because the cables evoke both ancient stone carvings and the blending of individual parts into harmony. This sweater was originally published in Knit Now magazine. The rights have released back to me so I’m now free to republish it! I’ve reworked and updated the pattern and formatting! Sample Size S worked in West Yorkshire Spinners, The Croft Shetland Tweed Aran in the color Clousta and used just under 500 g or 910 yards.

The Alana Stole combines the same center cable panel with complementary smaller cables and a moss-stitch edging in a modern wrap with the feel of a vintage stole. Simple stockinette between the cables helps to keep the Alana Stole a quick knit with cables to spice up the rows.

Perfect to layer as the temperatures turn cooler and the seasons change. Cables are charted and written. Sample worked in Cascade 220 color 9600 Antiqued Heather and used about 450 g or 990 yards.

The Alana Sweater and Alana Stole are available at Ravelry now and will be available through other venues later this year!

Pattern Spotlight: Vincent and Amy Pond

Originally published in September of 2011, the Vincent and Amy Pond scarf was one of my very first patterns. I loved the long red lace scarf Amy Pond wears in season 5 of Dr. Who (“The Vampires of Venice” and “Vincent and the Doctor”).

So I design something similar – long and lacy and flowing. I picked a lovely lace from Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns, added borders and repeats. And I released it as a free pattern.

This scarf is as fun to knit as it is to wear! Sample is knit in Knit Picks Stroll and used 450 yards or most of two 50 g balls. Pattern edited and updated in 2016. The Vincent and Amy Pond scarf is available through Ravelry and LoveKnitting! The pattern has been been downloaded more than 1,300 times and is still free. Happy knitting!

 

Random: 10,000 Steps

We all know we are supposed to get 10,000 steps a day for our health. Over the summer I did a pretty great job of getting my 10,000 steps each day. On the days that I hike, I hit the 10,000 easily. Other days I find I need to take two separate walks to reach that goal.

I feel happier and healthier when I do it consistently. After several weeks of making the 10,000 steps daily I can start to feel my body changing little bit by little bit. Plus I feel the pride of making time for my health day after day.

Just recently I’ve been averaging a little over 7,000 steps a day. That’s 3,000 or so fewer steps than I averaged over the summer. It doesn’t really sound like that extra 3,000 could make a big difference but I definitely feel it. We’ve been extra busy with soccer and cross country and band and taekwondo over the last weeks and it is easy to let my health goals slip in the process of getting everything else done.

A few things really help me do the work consistently – a hiking or walk buddy (someone who is expecting me to show up so I’m not tempted to skip), listening to podcasts or fast paced music on the days I walk alone, a husband willing to take that second walk with me even if it is after dark by the time we can manage it and I really like using my Fitbit to track steps.

I like all the Fitbit badges and being able to see an actual record of my daily steps. At some point I’m going to need to switch over to something newer than my current Charge 2 but for now I’m fine. I got a Fitbit to track my steps in July of 2016. Since then I’ve earned lots of badges. Here are four of my favorites so far:

I earned both the Castle and Trail Shoe Badges in November 2017 as we hiked out of the Grand Canyon as a family.

Since then I’ve earned the Cloud Badge in February 2018 and the Monarch Migration in September 2018.

Knitting: October Projects

Here is a quick look at what I finished last month and what I’m working on in October.

Finished! 

I finally finished my coffee inspired project out of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the color Pecan. The color is a beautiful brown that I love and I really enjoyed working with this yarn. It’s lovely and the written pattern is almost through final edits of the pattern getting it ready for test knitting. I’m excited to get this one into test knitting. I really value all the comments, questions and suggestions I get from testers as they work through a pattern. And the fresh eyes are so very necessary because by the time a pattern has made it to test knit, designers (and editors) have already looked at it so often that is easy to miss simple errors or think a thing is clear when it really isn’t or “see” a thing that was deleted three edits ago as still being present or whatever else.

On the Needles

I’ve got several things on my needles for the month of October.

First, I’ve been working with the DK Treasures Yarn I got from Treasure Goddess Yarn at Knitting in the Heartland in April of 2018. I got the colors Ghost Ship and Pieces of Eight. I’m using US Size 5 needles and like how the slightly smaller size needle really helps the cables pop. From the very beginning I envisioned a pirate inspired two-tone cabled….something. So I’ve been playing with different cables. My first thought was a shawl (if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know that I was thrilled when my knitting math came out exactly right when I double checked the logic using a geometry calculator) and the shawl was lovely. But eventually (about 300 yards into the project) I realized a shawl wasn’t quite the right fit for this yarn and the cables I’ve chosen. So I frogged it back to zero and started over. Now it I’m pretty far along in a different design and I’m loving it!

Next, I cast on a new top down sweater design! I’m knitting the sample garment out of Knit Picks Simply Wool Worsted in the color Wallace. I’m using US Size 6 needles which is again on the small side of the suggested needles on the ball band. I find that I knit almost all my worsted weight sweaters on US Size 6 needles these days which is two needle sizes up from what used to be my norm. The sweater is just now starting to take form as I work down the body from the cast-on at the neck. I’m really loving having the wool on my lap as the weather turns cooler (yes! I’m making the sample garment in my size and I can’t wait to add it to my winter rotation). The color Wallace is a muted grey-brown that I had trouble getting to show up quite right in my photos. I’m really going to like wearing it with a bright solid long-sleeve tee underneath. I was super excited to try this new-to-me yarn. I’m really liking the rustic, slightly airy feel of it and I’m certain it is going to be a warm, cozy sweater.

I also made it a bit further on my Close To You shawl worked in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Rosehip colorway. I have now completed 11 of the 14-row pattern repeats (that’s three repeats further than the 9 I had finished last time). The pattern is written with nineteen total repeats, so I past the halfway point on this one! I’m using US Size 1 (2.50 mm) needles for this and I almost wonder if I should have gone up a needle size or two for it. I definitely not changing it now though.

And finally I cast on a new pair of socks. I found this Austermann Step in the deep, deep, deep stash so I’m not certain how long I’ve had it. It has been marinating in with the other sock yarn since at least 2012 but I’m thinking probably even longer than that. Austermann Step is 75% wool and 25% nylon treated with jojoba and aloe vera. Mine is the 03 Greens colorway. I’m using US Size 1 (2.25 mm) needles and really like how solid the knit fabric feels as I work. These socks feel like they are going to be warm, cozy and durable to wear.

I’m using the same basic sock recipe that I use for all my socks adapted from one of the very first knitting books I ever own (The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns). Because these will likely go into the Christmas Gift Basket, I did decide I wanted to give them a little extra stretch so I’ll keep two lines of simple ribbing (p2, k2, p2) running along the length of the leg and onto the top of the instep of the foot to the toes.

That seems like not all that much knitting going for me. But I’m keeping plenty busy running three test knits and getting other designs ready for release plus keeping up with boy activities of band, cross country, taekwondo, soccer and band again for another age group.

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.

A Closer Look at Knitting Charts

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here and there are already many great resources available for reading knitting charts. Two of my favorites for covering the basics and beyond are from Knotions and Tin Can Knits. Here are links to both: https://knotions.com/knoted/tutorial-read-knitting-chart/  and https://blog.tincanknits.com/2014/06/06/how-to-read-a-knitting-chart/

Or this video is a very clear look at beginning chart reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytbcX5R6G98

For a more in depth look at reading charts I also like this from Brooklyn Tweed: https://www.brooklyntweed.com/reading-charts/

Instead of hashing back over things that many others have already presented really well, in this post I want to offer some quick examples of charts from some of my designs. Basically a knitting chart gives you a visual or graphic representation of written instructions telling you how to work the stitches in your pattern.

Here below are examples of some of the cables used in my designs with each of the sample knits shown next to their charts. From this you can start to see how a chart mimics the fabric (or the knitting mimics the chart if you prefer it that way).

 

 

In each of the above samples, the chart is shown next to the cable or cables it “describes”. And if you pull back a bit and let your eyes fuzz, many knitters can almost see the way the knit fabric will look by imagining the knit stitches as the white squares of the chart and the the purl stitches as the dark squares (usually denoted by a dot or a dash and sometimes shaded grey depending on designer preferences or charting software).

And now below is a second look at the side-by-side of the cable shown next to the chart that represents it, this time with directional arrows added. The first two examples I’ve only added lines to the chart since they are basic cables. I added lines to the knitting of the the third example since it is a braid which makes it slightly harder to see.

 

 

 

I intentionally did not include lace charts in the above samples because reading lace charts (even while squinting to blur things a bit) is not as intuitive to me as reading cable charts. I work from lace charts instead of written directions almost exclusively because it is faster to translate the picture of a stitch to the motion of my fingers while knitting, but I’ll be honest that the first time or two through a lace chart I have to simply trust the magic instead of intuitively understanding how the fabric will look. I am absolutely certain there are knitters out there for whom the complete opposite is true so I’m including a couple of knit lace samples here below next to their charts just in case you are one of those people and these next two side-by-side samples give you the moment of clarity you need to see how it all pulls together.

 

 

For my designs the lace or cable is almost always written and charted so that knitters can pick to follow whichever directions are more intuitive for them. If space allows, I’ll even include the written directions next to the chart for added clarity.