New Design: SIDEREAL CHECK COWL

I have released my new stranded colorwork design, SIDEREAL CHECK COWL as promised. It is a companion piece to my recently released SIDEREAL CHECK HAT.  The pattern is available on Ravelry with a 25% introductory discount through midnight (EST) December 16.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was very fortunate to have my designs selected for yarn support by The Fibre Co as part of Autumn/Winter Yarn Support Programme. Their gorgeous, Arranmore Light is a new favorite of mine. It blends cashmere and silk with merino wool to create an autentic tweed yarn of the highest quality.

The reversible cowl, with one side in stranded colorwork and the other in a two-row stripe, has picot edgings. It begins with a provisional cast on and ends with three-needle bind off.

Finished Measurements 
33” 84 cm circumference and 9½” 24 cm height

Yarn
DK weight yarn 
348 yd 318 m Main Color (MC)
180 yd 165 m Contrast Color (CC)

Note: If making both hat & cowl with Arranmore Light, two skeins of the main color and one of the contrast color will be more than enough.

Thanks for reading!

xoxox

New Design: SIDEREAL CHECK HAT

I am happy to finally introduce my new stranded colorwork hat pattern in two sizes, SIDEREAL CHECK HAT. This pattern is available on Ravelry with a 25% introductory discount through midnight (EST) December 2.

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to learn that I had been selected for The Fibre Co’s Yarn Support Programme AW 18/19. Their Arranmore Light blends cashmere and silk with a fine merino wool to create an authentic tweed yarn of the finest quality. I have always loved colorwork with tweed yarns.

I actually received yarn support for both the hat and a coordinating cowl that will be released two weeks from today, on December 13. These colorwork projects were inspired by high fashion garments featuring graphic variations of houndstooth check. I enjoyed charting some of these checks for stranded knitting.

The check pattern I use here was one of my favorites. I love how the background color appears as a series of four-pointed stars. ‘Sidereal’ means of or relating to distant stars or constellations.

The hat, with optional pompom, may be made in one of two sizes to fit most women (men).

Finished Measurements
18¼ (19¾)” 46.5 (50) cm un-stretched brim circumference and 10¾ (11¾)” 27.5 (30) cm un-cuffed height, will stretch to fit heads up to approximately 22 (24)” 56, (61) cm

Yarn
DK weight yarn
For hat:
152 (178) yd 139 (163) m Main Color (MC)
38 (44) yd 35 (40) m Contrast Color (CC)
For optional 3⅜” (8.5 cm) pompom:
additional 43 yd 39 m CC

Note: If making both hat & cowl with Arranmore Light, two skeins of the main color and one of the contrast color will be more than enough. (Arranmore Light has an amazing 328 yds per skein.)

Thanks for reading!
xoxox

(didn't know I was) Playing Yarn Chicken

One of my knitwear design highlights in 2017 was my No-Wrong-Side Hat which I created for The Fibre Co’s Fall 2017 Yarn Support Programme.

No-Wrong-Side Hat (for Mr K) Dec 2017 (with just one skein of Tundra)

Please see my design release post from November to read about the reversibilty of this hat (two hats in one).

The pattern has three sizes: 15½ (18¼, 20¾)” [39.5 (46.5, 52.5) cm] circumference. The two smaller sizes can easily be made with one skein of lovely, silky and lofty Tundra. The largest size will take a bit more...

Or so I calculated.

I did NOT make the largest size No-Wrong-Side Hat in Tundra before I published the pattern. (My test knitters did but with other yarns.) Shortly after publication I made one for Mr K, and...

It only took one skein!

With only one yard to spare!!! (as shown in photo)

I have been adding 5% to my yardage calculations for a long time now. This was originally suggested to me by the tech editor for my Socks That Rock Design, Sandy Rosner, and it only makes sense...

Using my swatches and design samples, I do my best to calculate yardage requirements, and then I add 5%. I strive to guarantee that others have success knitting my designs -- which means not having to play the game of yarn chicken (i.e., will I, or won't I, run out of yarn?).  

In the case of the largest No-Wrong-Side hat in Tundra, a 5% buffer means that you will need a second skein to be certain that you will not run out of yarn. But, of course, you may not need it...

Perhaps you can ask about the return policy where you purchase your yarn... Perhaps you can make a second hat... Perhaps you can wait a bit for the release of my next mitt design...

A pair of mitts will take far less than one skein of Tundra.
I will keep you posted. 😉
❤❤❤ 

New Design: NO-WRONG-SIDE Hat

NO-WRONG-SIDE Hat
(right side when knitting)

I am very happy to introduce my bulky weight, reversible (2-hats-in-1), design in three sizes, NO-WRONG-SIDE Hat.

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to learn that I had been selected for The Fibre Co’s Fall 2017 Yarn Support Programme! The Fibre Co's Tundra is the the perfect blend of baby alpaca, merino and silk, worked into a 2-ply that gives it a pleasing, well-rounded appearance for great stitch definition. Though a bulky yarn, it is very light in weight, lofty and extremely warm. It is perfect for the deep texture / cable stitch pattern of the No-Wrong-Side Hat.

This design was originally sparked by the photo of the “Sunburst Check” stitch pattern on page 202 of A 2ND TREASURY OF KNITTING PATTERNS by Barbara G Walker. I was fascinated by the depth of texture in the photo. The poofs of stockinette push strongly forward leaving little pockets of reverse stockinette like pools beneath them. 

When I swatched this stitch pattern, I was quite surprised to find that the reverse side of the fabric was a stitch pattern in itself – a very fluid rib-cable. It did not look like the “wrong side” of a piece of knitting. I worked out a double brim that compliments both sides of the hat. I also created a decreasing crown that flows from the stitch pattern on both sides of the hat.

NO-WRONG-SIDE Hat
(reverse side when knitting)

The brim of the hat is folded on a purl ridge and knit together creating a double layer brim. This requires a provisional cast-on and a later “knitting two layers together round” (much like three-needle-bind-off, but with both knit and purl stitches). Next there is an increase round with specific purl increases. For the remainder of the hat, both charted and written directions are provided.

Hat swatch showing purl ridge and double layer brim,
(knit with Tundra in the Boreal colorway).

PATTERN DETAILS

Finished Measurements
15½ (18¼, 20¾)” [39.5 (46.5, 52.5) cm] circumference and 8¼” [21 cm] high,
will stretch to fit heads up to approximately 19 (22, 24)” [48.5 (56, 61) cm].

Yarn
Bulky weight yarn,
approximately 96 (112, 128) yd [88 (103, 117) m] for hat.

Shown in:
The Fibre Co. Tundra (60% alpaca, 30% wool, 10% silk; 120 yd [110 m], 100 g)
 Tiaga colorway, 1 (1, 2) skein(s).

Needles
- Size US 9 [5.5 mm] needles: 16” [40 cm] circular (cir).
- Size US 10.5 [6.5 mm] needles: 16” [40 cm] circular and set of double-pointed (dpn). Adjust needle size if necessary to obtain the correct gauge.
- Spare US 9 [5.5 mm] or smaller 16” [40 cm] cir needle to hold hem stitches.

My No-Wrong-Side Hat pattern has been carefully written and tech-edited.

Three of my local knitting friends kindly and helpfully agreed to test the pattern in the Fibre Co Tundra. After which, I ran a successful second test knit on Ravelry. (I love all of my test knitters!)

This pattern is now available on Ravelry at an introductory reduced price of $3.75 until the end of the day (11:59 EST) December 4. After that, the pattern will be available at its regular price of $5.00.

My No-Wrong-Side Hat is a fun and quick-to-knit project... perfect for gift knitting. Because I am a participating designer in the Ravelry Indie Gift-A-Long, this hat is an eligible pattern for participation in the GAL2017 HATS & OTHER HEAD THINGS KAL/CAL, where you will find all the love and support you could wish for... as you finish your own gift knitting goals... along with fun games and many prizes.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for your support of indie designers!!!
xoxox 

The Fibre Co Tundra

To sum up my last post:  I was selected as a designer for The Fibre Co’s Fall 2017 Yarn Support Programme. My new hat pattern will be released on Ravelry on November 28. It was July when I took this photo of the Tundra yarn that TFC sent for my hat.   

The Taiga colorway is a sort of rustic teal with subtle, tonal gray-brown fiber worked in. Its tones echo the color in my barn wood. Very lovely.

I want to tell you more about this fabulous yarn that is Tundra. The fiber content is 60% baby alpaca, 30% merino and 10% silk. A 100g skein measures 120 yards (110 meters).

In the words of The Fibre CO, "Tundra, began life as the search for the answer to a simple question, 'If The Fibre Co. were to create a bulky yarn, what would it be?' Our answer came from our passion for all natural fibre content that add depth and softness to hand mades. We took a much loved formula of baby alpaca, merino and silk and worked it into a 2 ply that gives a pleasing, well-rounded appearance."

As I told my first group of test knitters, "It is honestly the lightest and softest bulky weight yarn I have ever used." Its warmth and softness are irresistible. The silk adds drape and shine and a touch of luxury.

One skein of tundra will be enough to create a hat in either of the sizes to fit most children and women (15½ and 18¼" circumference). A second skein is needed for the larger (20¾") size to fit most men.

The round smoothness of the yarn adds great stitch definition, which you can see here in the swatch photos that were a part of my design proposal. The stitch pattern is named "Sunburst Check" in Barbara G Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. The swatch was knit in the Boreal colorway.

A single swatch for a hat that has no wrong side. The top photo shows the right side when knitting... the lower photo shows the reverse side. Turn the hat inside-out... to find a new hat.

My No-Wrong-Side hat pattern is coming to Ravelry, with an introductory discount, in just two weeks.

Let's Start at the Very Beginning

A very good place to start!

I do love this timeline, because it will climax almost exactly one year to the date that it all began.

On November 29, 2016, I sent a proposal to The Fibre Co (maker of many of the very best yarns on the planet). I hoped to be selected as one of their Autumn/Winter 2017/18 designers.

That did not happen. Yet I was placed on a TFC potential designer list to receive an email announcement for their "Yarn Support for Indie Designers - Request no. 1".  

The request came in March.

My proposal went back in April.

Early in May, the email to let me know that my (really cool, uniquely reversible) hat was selected.I was selected as a designer for The Fibre Co’s Fall 2017 Yarn Support Programme!

I proposed the hat be knit in the yarn I used for swatching, the amazing lofty and light, bulky weight, Tundra, and TFC sent two skeins in the Taiga colorway.

(Note: Both photos in this post were taken July 26. My love of flowers, and color, and hummingbirds, and summer, all distracted me and lead me to take that first photo.)

The Fibre Co requested a late fall date for the release of my hat pattern. I selected November 28. It will be my grandmother's 110th birthday. I hope she knows how much she gave to me and how often I think of her.

The hat pattern will be available on Ravelry, November 28, 2017.

More to follow.