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.

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.