More Swatches
No really...swatches are all I'm knitting these days. I've probably explained this before, but for me a book usually goes 1) have an idea, 2) source yarn, 3) swatch and write patterns, 4) send yarn and patterns off to magical stunt knitters to turn into projects, 5) get the patterns into proper book format and have them edited, 6) get projects back and take photos, 7) more editing, 8) printing. Now there's more to it than that (I left out the traditional 'all my ideas are crap' crisis that invariably happens somewhere in the middle), and there's some overlap (for [...]
Cleave (plus giveaway)
There's something about taking a classic like a ribbed sock (comfy, easy, fits perfectly) and adding just a little bit of a something special that gets me every time. The special bit could be dropped stitches or lace or even a fancy cuff. Whatever you pick, it's always more fun than it has any right to be. For Cleave, I went with an absolutely delightful cable and a little bit of a twist for the heel. The construction on these is really fun. Instead of working flat over half the stitches to make a heel flap, then picking up stitches [...]
Suitably Matched
Way back when I was a brand new knitter (think 'had to look up how to purl because it seemed sort of tricky' level of new), I read a pattern that said something like 'cast on 24 stitches with appropriate yarn and suitably matched needles.' And somehow I got it into my head that 'suitably matched' meant 'needles that look pretty with your yarn.' I'll just let you imagine how well that worked out. It's a wonder I ever got the hang of this. But that incident has left me with a tendency to grin every time my needles happen [...]
Good Mail (oooooh, aaaaah)
Oh my goodness...my mailbox really is a happy place. That's one of Indigo Dragonfly's Tornadoz sets on Chameleon Sock in the color Cahoots. It's an absolutely delightful merino/cashmere/silk blend, and looks absolutely beautiful knit up...wait till you see my swatch! And this is Seven Sisters Arts newest grand idea, Varigradients. That's three skeins of their beautiful variegated yarns in varying intensities, light to dark. In this case it's the Water Garden colorway on the Matrika base. And oh...oh it's lovely stuff! If you want to follow along and check out all the yarns for Curls 3 (and some swatches too), [...]
A fold here, a tuck there…
So when the knitting's done, you do a little magic, and end up with something like this. Which sure, it's cute enough, though a bit ruffled. Well you know what I'm going to tell you to do. You need to block that hat! And for this one? For this one we get to use a whole new blocking prop. Marbles. Yes really marbles. I'm every bit as amused as you are (quite likely more). And when it's done? Well when it's done it's rather delightful. And yes, yes there will be a pattern down the road (almost certainly in July). [...]
This next bit’s quick
So the pay off for knitting miles and miles and miles of stockinette? The decreases on this hat are going to be lightning quick. Like two rows of knitting quick. Like blink and you miss them quick. But before you can do them, you do need to check to be sure the hat is tall enough, because those fast decreases mean you lose some of the height to fabric distortion. This is the way I do it (put all your stitches on either two long dpns or two long straights, try it on, if it fits your golden). The other [...]
Cohesive
So you know how sometimes I say something like 'this project has big stretches of reverse stockinette so you may want to consider a more subdued yarn than you might otherwise use'? Like with the top of the foot on Cataphyll or the background on Enchase or the heel and background on Greenhorn? Yeah well let's look at why. Take a look at this and notice the difference between the stockinette side (that's the bit that's all knits...the bottom in this picture) and the reverse stockinette side (that's the bit that's all purls...the top in this picture). Trace one of [...]
Mellow
Ribbing done! And stockinette underway. Now let's be frank...the stockinette part will be the entire rest of the hat. That means this is going to just get taller and taller and taller until it gets tall enough (or I give up and quit...that's totally an option too). Luckily, the yarn provides a heck of a distraction! [pextestim pex_attr_set="looking-for-this-pattern" pex_attr_autoplay="false"][/pextestim]
Collusion (plus giveaway)
It all started so simply. I wanted to play with two yarns but not to do the hard parts of colorwork (using two yarns in the same row scares me every time). And I wanted to play with slipped stitches. Before I knew it, there were three new hats in the world! The third, Collusion, is out today. It continues the theme started with Entrapment and Misprision. You only ever use one yarn per row, and you make all the fancy bits happen by slipping stitches. It really is sort of amazing what you do within those constraints! And there's [...]
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