b r o o k l y n t w e e d
7.29.2008
'Turn A Square' Pattern Now Available
Back in February, my brother's Christmas hat (scroll down) generated a lot of pattern requests and I've finally gotten around to putting a pattern together (thank you, vacation time!)
The pattern is available as a free PDF download - either in my Ravelry store, if you prefer to keep it in your Ravelry library, or just click the button below to download directly to your computer.
The pattern is perfect for using up leftover yarn and works with any worsted weight scraps you may have lying around. The hat uses one solid and one self striping yarn. The raglan decrease scheme on the crown turns your circles into squares and adds a bit of interest to an otherwise very ordinary beanie.
Aside from being a quick and easy gift idea, the pattern includes a simple how-to on working jogless stripes in my preferred method, and is a great, low-risk opportunity for becoming comfortable with this technique (it's wonderful and super easy to learn).
The hat requires approximately 40g of a solid and 25g of a self-striping yarn. Wool is recommended, as always. My version was worked in Cascade 220 as the MC and Noro Silk Garden as the CC. I've had the hat test knit and these amounts seem to be pretty consistent throughout, so you can weigh your scraps to see if you've got enough to squeeze out a knitted gift in a pinch.
I think the pattern would look great with a handspun yarn subbed for the Noro, as well. Yarn amounts are given for manufactured yarns only, however, so keep that in mind if you're planning on using your handspun.
Happy knitting and enjoy!
¶ 7:50 PM 105 comments
The pattern is available as a free PDF download - either in my Ravelry store, if you prefer to keep it in your Ravelry library, or just click the button below to download directly to your computer.
The pattern is perfect for using up leftover yarn and works with any worsted weight scraps you may have lying around. The hat uses one solid and one self striping yarn. The raglan decrease scheme on the crown turns your circles into squares and adds a bit of interest to an otherwise very ordinary beanie.
Aside from being a quick and easy gift idea, the pattern includes a simple how-to on working jogless stripes in my preferred method, and is a great, low-risk opportunity for becoming comfortable with this technique (it's wonderful and super easy to learn).
The hat requires approximately 40g of a solid and 25g of a self-striping yarn. Wool is recommended, as always. My version was worked in Cascade 220 as the MC and Noro Silk Garden as the CC. I've had the hat test knit and these amounts seem to be pretty consistent throughout, so you can weigh your scraps to see if you've got enough to squeeze out a knitted gift in a pinch.
I think the pattern would look great with a handspun yarn subbed for the Noro, as well. Yarn amounts are given for manufactured yarns only, however, so keep that in mind if you're planning on using your handspun.
Happy knitting and enjoy!
7.23.2008
Druid Mittens
It's always a wonderful moment when magazine previews hit the Internet because then we designers finally get to share some of our little secrets from the past year. I designed and knit these mittens up in the spring and really grew quite attached to them, so I'm really happy to finally introduce the two of you.
This pattern will be available in the upcoming Fall/Winter issue of Vogue Knitting, along with many other wonderful mitten designs from a handful of great designers. A little mitten spread seems like just the ticket for Fall knitting, doesn't it?
The concept for these was something intricate and beautiful with lots of detail. The mittens are knit in fingering weight Shetland wool (Jamieson's Spindrift, one of my all-time faves, in the 'Leprechaun colorway') and covered with texture. Not the quickest knit, but really fun for us detail-oriented-types. Or those of us who just plain love bobbles (I'm not ashamed).
The pattern features knit-purl patterning on the cuff, shaped wrist, gusseted thumb, and garter stitch straps flanking the sides (I had to squeeze the garter in there somehow). The palm is worked in a textured tweed stitch and the thumb features its own little cable motif that grows out of the gusset.
The mitten is closed with a garter stitch saddle - a little detail that I really love. The garter stitch panels on either side come up and over the fingers, capping the top seamlessly, a la seamless saddle shoulder sweater construction, and are grafted together to finish up.
Being such a busy little pair of mittens, they require some acrobatic needle work and because of it look pretty lumpy after knitting. I highly recommend a warm wash in the sink - which will do wonders for this pattern and Shetland in general. They seemed a little limp and less-than-impressive before their bath, but afterwards bloomed wonderfully - the fabric becomes much more cohesive and the cables pop. If you aren't an immersion-blocker, making an exception for these babies will really pay off.
I've listed the pattern over on Ravelry if you want to check up on all the specifics, see the other patterns featured in this issue, or queue the project for your Fall or Winter knitting.
And the honor of all honors: the folks at Vogue chose these for the cover of the issue! Talk about flattering!
Enjoy the issue!
¶ 7:16 PM 179 comments
This pattern will be available in the upcoming Fall/Winter issue of Vogue Knitting, along with many other wonderful mitten designs from a handful of great designers. A little mitten spread seems like just the ticket for Fall knitting, doesn't it?
The concept for these was something intricate and beautiful with lots of detail. The mittens are knit in fingering weight Shetland wool (Jamieson's Spindrift, one of my all-time faves, in the 'Leprechaun colorway') and covered with texture. Not the quickest knit, but really fun for us detail-oriented-types. Or those of us who just plain love bobbles (I'm not ashamed).
The pattern features knit-purl patterning on the cuff, shaped wrist, gusseted thumb, and garter stitch straps flanking the sides (I had to squeeze the garter in there somehow). The palm is worked in a textured tweed stitch and the thumb features its own little cable motif that grows out of the gusset.
The mitten is closed with a garter stitch saddle - a little detail that I really love. The garter stitch panels on either side come up and over the fingers, capping the top seamlessly, a la seamless saddle shoulder sweater construction, and are grafted together to finish up.
Being such a busy little pair of mittens, they require some acrobatic needle work and because of it look pretty lumpy after knitting. I highly recommend a warm wash in the sink - which will do wonders for this pattern and Shetland in general. They seemed a little limp and less-than-impressive before their bath, but afterwards bloomed wonderfully - the fabric becomes much more cohesive and the cables pop. If you aren't an immersion-blocker, making an exception for these babies will really pay off.
I've listed the pattern over on Ravelry if you want to check up on all the specifics, see the other patterns featured in this issue, or queue the project for your Fall or Winter knitting.
And the honor of all honors: the folks at Vogue chose these for the cover of the issue! Talk about flattering!
photo courtesy of Soho Publishing
Enjoy the issue!
¶ 7:16 PM 179 comments
7.16.2008
Spiral Yoke Pullover
Pattern: Spiral Yoke Pullover by Meg Swansen [Ravel It]
Source: Handknitting With Meg Swansen (Schoolhouse Press)
Materials: Sundara Yarn Worsted Merino (Discontinued) in Charcoal over Scarlet
Amount: 7.5 skeins (approx. 1300 yards)
Needles: US 7 and 8/4.5 and 5.0mm Addi Turbo Circulars
Start Date: 2 June 2008
Finish Date: 16 June 2008 (real-time is always a bit ahead of blog-time...)
Notes: I followed the pattern recipe as directed - there's already a lot of freedom built in so there isn't much to modify or fuss about. I worked a tubular cast on for both sleeve cuffs and base of body (i use this method - it takes longer but the results are always clean as a whistle), which looks really sharp in a yarn with such crisp stitch definition. To finish the neck I worked a sewn bind-off, my very favorite way to finish collars - super stretchy without ever getting streeetched out of shape.
This is truly a special sweater: the yarn alone means a lot - a gift from a talented friend which is not only exactly the color I had been vainly searching for for ages, but is also now sadly discontinued - and a pattern which I couldn't have enjoyed more. Seriously. Rarely, if ever do I find a pattern that I wouldn't mind knitting again right away after finishing. But, never say never.
If you're interested in making this but don't want to buy an entire book for one pattern, let me tell you to silence those worries straight away. Handknitting has a bunch of smart, quality patterns, (author people, author) many of which I plan to make in the future, and is, as can be expected, full of clever tricks and techniques as well as plenty of the witty banter we've all come to expect from Elizabeth and Meg.
More about the yarn - it's a semi-solid, hand dye by Sundara of Sundara Yarn in Seattle, WA - one of the great dyeing talents in the business and a wonderful person to match. I came into this rare lot two Christmases ago and have had it decorating my shelves ever since. It's a 4-ply, worsted-spun merino with super crisp stitch definition and the ability to suck up some serious color! I've never seen a yarn with as deeply saturated a red as this. (Also the hardest color in all of Christendom to photograph... but it's close enough *grumble grumble photoshop frustration grumble*.)
The pattern is written using EPS (Elizabeth's Percentage System) which you know I can never get enough of. There are no stitch counts or spoon feeding of any kind, just gauge suggestions, body percentages, and of course charts for that lovely spiral, which means if you put your mind to it you're almost bound to have a sweater that fits you wonderfully and a knitting process that is hugely satisfying.
The spiral yoke is genius because it exploits round-yoke construction (consecutive decrease rings evenly spaced over yoke depth) in a beautiful and clever way, at the same time totally camouflaging all those k2togs (or ssk's if you want your spirals to go in the opposite direction)(Yes, you get to choose). I'm always drawn to the spiral in knitting - it seems to me to be the organic shape that is most in line with the process of knitting in the round, or at least regularly decreasing in the round (think spiral crown shaping on hats, etc). It's smart and intuitive, and really fun to knit.
My favorite part? Definitely the collar accent where the spiral snaps into the opposing direction, defining the collar band and creating all those sharp little zig-zagged angles. So cool.
This pattern has a big ol' stamp of approval from me - I'd love to see more of them with different yarns and on different folks. I'm seriously considering another. I'm thinking.... Handspun natural Shetland. Cardigan. Sounds good right? Now if it weren't for all those other sweaters sittin' around getting jealous.
¶ 3:28 AM 113 comments
Every once in a while we're lucky enough to acquire a truly special batch of yarn. We save it and save it until we think we have the perfect pattern for it. When and if that moment ever comes and we dare start in on this high-pressure project, we spend half the time worrying if the sweater will ever be good enough for this, the jewel of your stash. And very often it's not.
I've had and have a lot of these types of yarns that have never been touched as a sole result of the fear that no garment could ever do them justice. And until the beginning of June this was one of them. And, for the first time I'm not sitting here wondering if there could have been a pattern that might have been just a little more appropriate - and that's enough on its own to be pumped about.
I've had and have a lot of these types of yarns that have never been touched as a sole result of the fear that no garment could ever do them justice. And until the beginning of June this was one of them. And, for the first time I'm not sitting here wondering if there could have been a pattern that might have been just a little more appropriate - and that's enough on its own to be pumped about.
Pattern: Spiral Yoke Pullover by Meg Swansen [Ravel It]
Source: Handknitting With Meg Swansen (Schoolhouse Press)
Materials: Sundara Yarn Worsted Merino (Discontinued) in Charcoal over Scarlet
Amount: 7.5 skeins (approx. 1300 yards)
Needles: US 7 and 8/4.5 and 5.0mm Addi Turbo Circulars
Start Date: 2 June 2008
Finish Date: 16 June 2008 (real-time is always a bit ahead of blog-time...)
Notes: I followed the pattern recipe as directed - there's already a lot of freedom built in so there isn't much to modify or fuss about. I worked a tubular cast on for both sleeve cuffs and base of body (i use this method - it takes longer but the results are always clean as a whistle), which looks really sharp in a yarn with such crisp stitch definition. To finish the neck I worked a sewn bind-off, my very favorite way to finish collars - super stretchy without ever getting streeetched out of shape.
This is truly a special sweater: the yarn alone means a lot - a gift from a talented friend which is not only exactly the color I had been vainly searching for for ages, but is also now sadly discontinued - and a pattern which I couldn't have enjoyed more. Seriously. Rarely, if ever do I find a pattern that I wouldn't mind knitting again right away after finishing. But, never say never.
If you're interested in making this but don't want to buy an entire book for one pattern, let me tell you to silence those worries straight away. Handknitting has a bunch of smart, quality patterns, (author people, author) many of which I plan to make in the future, and is, as can be expected, full of clever tricks and techniques as well as plenty of the witty banter we've all come to expect from Elizabeth and Meg.
More about the yarn - it's a semi-solid, hand dye by Sundara of Sundara Yarn in Seattle, WA - one of the great dyeing talents in the business and a wonderful person to match. I came into this rare lot two Christmases ago and have had it decorating my shelves ever since. It's a 4-ply, worsted-spun merino with super crisp stitch definition and the ability to suck up some serious color! I've never seen a yarn with as deeply saturated a red as this. (Also the hardest color in all of Christendom to photograph... but it's close enough *grumble grumble photoshop frustration grumble*.)
The pattern is written using EPS (Elizabeth's Percentage System) which you know I can never get enough of. There are no stitch counts or spoon feeding of any kind, just gauge suggestions, body percentages, and of course charts for that lovely spiral, which means if you put your mind to it you're almost bound to have a sweater that fits you wonderfully and a knitting process that is hugely satisfying.
The spiral yoke is genius because it exploits round-yoke construction (consecutive decrease rings evenly spaced over yoke depth) in a beautiful and clever way, at the same time totally camouflaging all those k2togs (or ssk's if you want your spirals to go in the opposite direction)(Yes, you get to choose). I'm always drawn to the spiral in knitting - it seems to me to be the organic shape that is most in line with the process of knitting in the round, or at least regularly decreasing in the round (think spiral crown shaping on hats, etc). It's smart and intuitive, and really fun to knit.
My favorite part? Definitely the collar accent where the spiral snaps into the opposing direction, defining the collar band and creating all those sharp little zig-zagged angles. So cool.
This pattern has a big ol' stamp of approval from me - I'd love to see more of them with different yarns and on different folks. I'm seriously considering another. I'm thinking.... Handspun natural Shetland. Cardigan. Sounds good right? Now if it weren't for all those other sweaters sittin' around getting jealous.
¶ 3:28 AM 113 comments
7.10.2008
She's Done!
I'm working on a special location photo shoot, but until then here's a little peak!
More soon!
¶ 3:35 PM 54 comments
