Rockfall Sweater

I really can't relay just how excited I am to have a pattern published in Knitscene! It is my favorite knitting magazine. I love their modern knitting patterns and the beautiful styling. One thing that is crazy about the knitting design industry (and probably all clothing design) is that it's such a long time from when you first get the idea, submit the idea, knit the idea, and then the idea comes to life and sees the light of day. I can't remember when I submitted, but I remember knitting the sample sweater on the drive to DC to visit friends back in July. 

Anyways, here are some amazing photos of my Rockfall Sweater, the photos are from Knitscene. 

I get a lot of inspiration for my knitting patterns from magazines and ready-to-wear clothing. These two images were my inspiration for the Rockfall Sweater. I found them while prowling the internet. I use Pinterest to organize my knitting inspiration. 

I love the asymmetrical line of the sweater in the first photo, but I wanted my sweater to be wearable like the second top. Something that you could just throw on without having to think about which undergarments to wear with it. Then I saw that Knitscene was looking for asymmetrical knits for Spring, and I submitted this sketch:

Because I hate seaming the Rockfall Sweater is knit seamlessly, in the round, from the bottom up. The sleeves are knit separately in the round, and then the sleeves and body are joined and knit in one piece to the top of the neck. Let me tell you, this sweater did give me some trouble. Getting the lace yoke decreases to look just right took quite a bit of trial and error. This sweater as shown in Knitscene is worn with negative ease, to give it a modern and fitted look. I really adore this sweater, and I hope that eventually I will knit one for myself. 

I can't wait until this issue is in stores! I'm definitely going to have to go visit it in at least one LYS. 

New Pattern: Two Hands Make A Heart

It's here! The second pattern in my Two Hands series: Two Hands Make A Snowflake. The first in the series was Two Hands Make A Heart. I really love this pattern. I think that snowflakes are much more gender neutral, and I love the fingerless gloves with the flip top because they are great for when you are out and about and need your fingers to use your phone (or pick your nose?). Once again I am indebted to Katy & Kevin Doyle for their photography. I especially like Katy's expression in the first photo. 

These convertible gloves are available in two sizes, just like the heart ones. Do you want to knit the hearts onto these convertible mittens? You can, because the charts are the same size! Just knit the pattern for the base glove of your choice, and insert the chart you'd like! I'm working on additional charts for this series, as well as one more base glove. Now through Friday 23:59 EST enter the code BOGO, and you'll get both patterns for the price of one! 

New Pattern: Eros Cowl

I published my Eros Cowl yesterday! Eros is the brother of Anteros and is the greek god of love. Eros is also known as cupid. The myth goes that Anteros, the god of requited love, was created as a companion for Eros, because in order for love to be complete it must be reciprocated. This cowl, much like the Anteros Shawl, is a cowl that you will love to knit and wear. The simple lovely cowl will love you back as much as you love knitting it! It features a beautiful and simple diagonal eyelet pattern that exemplifies the silky beauty of Bergère de France Origin’ Soie. 

This pattern was actually inspired by the yarn. When I first saw this yarn at Warm 'N Fuzzy I knew that I wanted to make something with the beautiful silk. I wanted something that would show off the beautiful sheen and drape of 100% silk. Of course you could easily substitute a different fiber and weight yarn, because this cowl is super customizable. (And instructions for customizing are included in the pattern!)

Now through Christmas Day you can get $1 off this pattern by entering the code EROS at checkout. 

New Pattern: Mimi Shawl

I'm really excited to be publishing the Mimi Shawl today! This pattern has been in the works for a while, and finished testing over two months ago! There were a lot of things that delayed me, most of them being busy with other things. Then I realized that my incredibly talented photographer friend Katy Doyle was coming to town, so I waited to publish the pattern until I could get her to photograph it. This is extremely rare, but I'm actually in my own pattern photos! Crazy! 

Oh, you want me to actually tell you about the shawl? 

I wrote this shawl for three weights: lace, fingering, and sport. The yarn in the photos is Lotus Yarns Mimi, which is 100% pure brushed mink. The minks are brushed, so no minks were killed to make this shawl. The pattern has both written and charted directions for the lace, and I made a handy table with stitch counts for the eyelet portion. The table came about because I made errors in the pattern, and during testing my testers were having a terrible time because of the errors, so I made this table so that they could at least make sure they had the correct stitch counts. Even after correcting all the errors they liked the table enough that I decided to put it in the final pattern as well. Hopefully it's as helpful to everyone who knits it as well. 

New Pattern! No Name! Help!

Hi everyone,
So once again I have a pattern without a name. This is for a lovely shawl, that is knit from the bottom up in garter stitch and lace faggoting.

I'm showing some truly beautiful photos of Lauren Harrington wearing the shawl, and the photos were taken by Katy Doyle. The photos were taken in Durham, NC.

CONTEST!
Think of a name for this pattern by Friday Aug 31. I will pick my favorite name, and that person will win any pattern from my library for free. Why won't you win this pattern? That's a secret... for now.