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.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pattern Spotlight: Bolero Cowl

Published in late 2016 the Bolero Cowl combines basic stitches to evoke the lovely slides and twists of the dance.

 

Cables are written and charted. Bolero Cowl is perfect for a quick and easy gift as well as a good introduction to textured knitting.

The Bolero Cowl is available through Ravelry, Knit Picks and LoveKnitting!

Designing: Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible

 

I purchased this book in April of 2018. I under enough deadlines when it arrived that I placed it on my bookshelf without much more than a glance. Just recently I’ve had the time and mental space to pull it out again and really look through it.

Now that I’ve had a chance to really look, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book!! You know how the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes after he sees something he hadn’t even considered before? Well, I’m pretty sure my brain grew three sizes after looking through this book.

I spent hours pouring over this book after I opened it. I kept stopping my mathematically minded sons and husband as they walked past my desk to show them the charts and symbols. I tried explaining to them how the new way of visually representing the stitches with different notations and having no words at all on page after page felt so liberating and amazing. They were not properly impressed.

Many of the stitch patterns in the book are not completely new to me. I own at least 9 other stitch dictionaries and I pour over most of them every time I sit down to start building responses to submission calls. So I hold a lot of different stitch possibilities in my mind. But even the ones that feel somewhat familiar aren’t quite the same – the stitches are twisted to help them pop of the background better or the cables are smaller or the simply the “normal” way of representing the stitches is just different enough that it sparks my brain in a way that I haven’t felt for ages.

I’ve already got three designs on the needles and a line of others percolating in my mental queue inspired by ideas I saw in this book. Plus I can’t wait to try some of the things in there that caught my attention even if they’ll never end up as a design.

Also, turns out this is actually Hitomi Shida’s second stitch dictionary! Her first collection of 250 knitting stitches is being re-released later this year in English for the first time. So now I’m wondering, can I wait that long? Do I just want to try to pick up an older copy of the original in what they call “simplified Chinese”? Or do I need to study side by side? I haven’t decided yet. But I do know that I’ll be picking up one or both versions of it before the end of the year.

Knitting: July 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’m hoping to start doing a project round-up once a month to talk about everything I’ve got on the needles that month. So, here is a quick look at what I’m working on in July.

First up is a batch of sample knits for submissions to various magazines. July is a big month for Calls for Submissions for upcoming Winter and Spring/Summer publications. I don’t want to go into specifics about any of these submissions since they will be copyrighted if accepted. But am giving you a quick glimpse of pieces of each so you can get a feel for what types of stitches and colors I’m working with these days. Textures and cables and twisted stitches are some of my favorites right now. And I seem to be returning to my favorite autumn colors palette.

The first sample above is a bit of twisted stitch cables worked in Cascade 220 color 8895 (Christmas Red). Cascade 220 is one of my very favorite yarns these days because it holds stitch definition so well with cables and it is a joy to work with.

The second sample features basic decreases and yarn overs worked in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Amber Heather. I love the depth of colors pulled together in this heathered brown.

The third submission is worked in Cascade Eco+ with twisted stitch cables on a background of reverse stockinette. I used to think I didn’t really love Eco. But working with this sample may have changed my mind. I don’t know if it is because I worked it on smaller needles giving me a gauge of 16 stitches per 4″ and I much prefer working it at this tighter gauge. Or if my tastes are changing or I just love the bright, green color so much.

The fourth submission is a cabled piece worked out of Cascade 220 color 7827 (Goldenrod).

This month I’m also working on several designs that will be ready for test knitting and then publishing later this year.

I’m almost finished with this sweater made out of Valley Yarns Colrain (50% Merino/50% Tencel) in the Navajo Red color. I love, love, love working with this yarn – the deep rust color is one of my favorites, the drape and feel of the knitted fabric is amazing and it shines. Tencel is a new-to-me fiber that is part of the rayon family made from cellulose. I’m adding knit and purl texture details and really enjoying working on this pullover. Almost all the sample garments I make these days are Mona-sized (Mona is the name I’ve given my dress form) instead of me-sized. But this one? This one I’m making in my size for me to wear!

 

I’m also working on a new top down cabled cloak in Valley Yarns Amherst Jungle Green that will be similar in construction to my Brianna Cabled Cloak. This particular yarn and cable have already started out as a poncho, then a swancho and just recently ripped back to the beginning for the cloak that is my final decision for this project.

 

A cabled stole worked yet again in Cascade 220 color 9600 Antiqued Heather. I did say 220 was one of my favorite yarns these days. Especially when I’m working with cables. I’m loving working on a project that feels kind of antique in a color that matches the feel so exactly. You can see in this close up that my stitches aren’t all uniform right now since I’m knitting a bit looser than my normal. The great thing about blocking a good wool is that I fully expect the stitches to be uniform and beautiful after washing and blocking this piece.

 

And a coffee inspired project out of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the color Pecan. This yarn was a gift from a friend and I’m really loving working with both because it is beautiful and because it was a gift.

 

Then just for fun (nothing to do with my design work) I’m also finishing up a pair of socks for my mother-in-law out of Knit Picks Felici Sock Yarn in Maple Leaves. It might look like I picked this colorway since the colors match most of the other things on my needles, but I actually let her pick from several available choices out of my stash. I need to finish these up so she can wear them while she goes through treatments.

 

That’s it for now. I’ve actually got another couple of projects set to go on the needles soon. But I’ll save those to talk about after I’ve actually started working on them.

 

 

 

Designing: Summers are hard.

Our summers are so very busy that each year I have a hard time carving out enough time and mental space for work hours. We’re raising two boys and that means lots of commitments.

When I was just starting out trying to build a career for myself as a knitwear designer, the boys were littler and I simply gave up over the summers. I thought to myself that it was selfish to keep working hours instead of spending that time with the boys. So I put away all of my folders, projects and plans. I hoped that I would remember where I left off in the fall when I was able to pick things up again.

And each year I felt a little less like myself….a little like choosing to be only a mother was swallowing up the person I used to be. Like I was packing away a part of myself and each year when I took that part back out it was a little smaller and a little more brittle. Plus as my sales dropped over the summer, I felt more financial guilt like I should just give up and “go get a real job”.

Over the last few summers I’ve done a better job of figuring out how to work around the boys’ schedules and we are all much happier for it! I’m happier because my creative side doesn’t get shut down for a chunk of the year and that makes me a whole person. My family is happier because my being a whole person means that I’m not low functioning or depressed and I’m more able to participate fully in the time I spend with them.

For me, making the change is more about balance and a change in my mindset than anything else. I had to give myself permission to step back from daily life and carve some space and time each day to do the work. I also had to set clear boundaries for myself (butt in the chair every day) and for my family (no interruptions during work hours unless it is a true emergency like fire or extensive bleeding).

I’ve also learned a handful of things that help get my creative juices flowing over the summer break.

I do my goals quarterly using the Chalk Board Method (link to an earlier post) with my second quarter being the months of April, May and June. So before the end of school craziness hits in May, I already have my goals written out big and bold and sitting behind my computer on my desk. That way if I’ve got just a handful of minutes to concentrate, I can look at the board and see where to focus my attention.

I found a space that is just mine. There are no walls around my office desk so I’m still part of the house. But it is my desk and no one else uses that space at all. So folders and projects and sticky notes are right where I left them for the next time I sit down to work.

Also, I have to let some things go. Dialing back on things like cleaning and cooking mean that I have more time to spend with the boys and concentrate on work. So the floors are a little messier in the summer and we eat more sandwiches or salads. I don’t think the boys are going to care what the floors were like when we look back on these summers. Instead they’re going to remember that they saw me being fearless and working hard to follow my dreams and build a job for myself doing something I love. And they’re going to remember that I made some time each week to do things that matter to them like board games, gardening and teaching them to cook.

New Pattern: Sweet Clover Tee

Sweet Clover is a simple top down raglan with a square neck and an optional lace panel on the body. Linen Stitch finishing on the neck, sleeves and body. A-line shaping with positive ease for a relaxed fit.

Written in 7 sizes. Lace is charted and written. Sample knit in Cascade Ultra Pima Fine color 3826 Golden Rod. Name Sweet Clover because the lace and color both remind me of the roadside wildflowers on the Midwest prairies known by the same name.

I really loved working the Linen Stitch edging for this design. Knitting it is somehow relaxing and the almost woven look of the fabric that it creates is lovely. The pattern is written with the option to skip the lace panel completely and simply work the Linen Stitch edging at your desired length.

Sweet Clover Tee is currently available through Ravelry! Look for it at my venues soon.

And I’m adding it to my Summer Tees Promotion! 3 for the price of 2! Purchase any two of my tee patterns and get a third tee pattern for free! (No code needed. Just put your chosen tees in the cart and the price of the third tee will be automatically discounted.) Promotion ends July 31, 2018.