Month November 2011

New Pattern Release: Bifurcate Kumara Cowl

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I’m pleased to announce the release of my latest pattern: a two-color, knit-flat, in-the-round, cabled cowl.  Bifurcate Kumara Cowl was featured in Issue 218 of Classic Elite’s Webletter (if you aren’t already a subscriber, sign up! free patterns, once a week! can’t beat that 🙂 ).

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Here’s what CEY had to say about Bifurcate:

This two color cowl is a show-stopper, and its construction is incredibly clever. How’s this for a brain-teaser…the entire cowl is knit back and forth, NOT in the round. Curious? This ingenious design comes from Rachel Henry, the designer who brought us one of our most popular Web-Letters to date, the Cotton Bam Boo Kudzu Shawlette.

There is no cozier yarn than Kumara, with its soft, lofty blend of extrafine Merino and baby camel hair. The camel hair is undyed, resulting in a muted effect that performs in perfect harmony with the sophisticated palette of 23 colors. Baby camel, a fiber with a softness rivaling cashmere, is expensive on its own, but you’ll find it in this decadent blend at an affordable price. This yarn is pure luxury!

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Pattern: Bifurcate Kumara Cowl

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: Free! from Classic Elite’s Web-letter (Issue 218)

Yarn: CEY Kumara in Thai Purple and Royce Mountain

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Design/Skills Needed: This cowl is “knit flat” in the sense that it is worked back-and-forth, with RS and WS rows.  When the colors cross, the RS and WS rows overlap a little bit — it’s easier to do than describe!  However, this cowl is also “knit in the round” in the sense that it is worked row-by-row and there is no long vertical seam.  If you can cable and follow directions carefully, you can make this cowl.

2740 Kumara Two-Color Cowl (inside)

Inspiration: My youngest son saw me working on a lacy cowl for myself, and asked if I would make him a neckwarmer too. I showed him my stash, and he chose a dark red and light grey and instructed me to make it “half one color and half the other, like this,” holding his hands up to his own neck. This request was the initial inspiration for this two-color, knit-flat, in-the-round, cabled cowl.

I knew I wanted to use simple cables, with no separation, to make subtle overall pattern that would also give the cowl some vertical structure. Almost right away, I could see in my head how the two halves could meet and twine together using this same cable pattern. I knew I could accomplish this by knitting first one half and then the other, but I wanted to make it all at once – in the round, at least nominally.

The first prototype, now in my son’s coat pocket, looked great. “Bifurcate” is the second generation of this original cowl, and is improved in several small ways. I changed the top and bottom edge to be less flared, and used different yarn and stitch counts to create an adult-sized cowl. I chose soft, luscious Kumara for it’s to-die-for touchability and great stitch definition. When washed and block, the soft halo is lovely.

The original knit-flat, in-the-round, two-color, cabled cowl:

2524 two-color cowl


Cast-On Monday: Kensington Mitts, Bubble Hat, Advent Garland, and Jellyfish Bodega

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I’ve cast on a number of new projects over the last two weeks.  The first pattern is from the new “Jane Austen Knits” special-edition magazine from Interweave Press.  I’m making the Kensington Mitts with a skein of tonal green Dream in Color Smooshy.

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I also cast on (and finished) this adorable Bubble Hat using some Swish Tonal left-over from my Marilla Shawl. Meg, if you’re reading this — this hat is for Susan, of course!

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Have I mentioned that I recently started working at the Hub Mills Store, now in Billerica, MA?  In addition to the retail work, I’ll also be teaching knitting there.  And, making samples for the shop!  While we were setting up the yarn in the new shop, a shipment of new yarn came in, with packs of an unusual fiber called Bodega. I took some home to make a sample for the store — it is very, very interesting!   Below, you can see my first attempt at a Bodega scarf, using the pattern that came with the yarn.  I wanted something fuller, so I started over yesterday … just wait until you see the jellyfish awesomeness of the new version.

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Last but definitely not least, I cast on for the Advent Garland that Frankie Brown is offering for Christmas 2011.  Every day of December until Christmas, Frankie is releasing a new tiny ornament pattern, and a bunch of my knitter friends are all doing the ornaments together.

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Project Gallery: Steek This Coffee Cozy

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My steeking tutorial pattern, Steek This Coffee Cozy, has been out in the world for about two months.  The response has been great so far — at 17 projects listed in Ravelry, it is my most popular self-published pattern. Today I’ll share a mini-gallery of some of those project photos.  One of my favorite things about colorwork is how different the same pattern can look, which you change around the colors!

cybinsmom’s OMG!!!! YOU CUT YOUR 

 

 

karinamaza’s Steeking and Leftovers KAL

 

Noeller67’s Steeking KAL

 

klaartje’s cursus projectje

 

histrung’s Eek! It’s a Steek Coffee Cozy

 

 

Kessed’s Learn to Steek

 

 

FO Friday: Howl Cowl

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I put this pattern in my queue some time ago, and I bought yarn for it in early September.  My goal was to finish it by Halloween …

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Project: Howl Cowl

Pattern: Hocus Pocus Cowl

Designer: Thea Eschliman

Available: $7 on Ravelry (includes alternate pattern for tote bag)

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Fingering in Black and Stroll Tonal in Foliage

I had a great time making this cowl.  It begins and ends with a turned hem.  Even the “baubles” are adorable — and I’m often not a fan of bobble-knitting.  I think the colorwork is exceptionally clever — very evocative cats, owl, and pumpkins, with subtle vines to fill in the empty spaces. I especially like the skull at the foot of the cats — fantastic!

What with camping in the snow (unintentionally) and a days-long power outage, I wasn’t able to finish before Oct 31st.  Lucky for me, the power outage forced the town to delay Halloween by a week, so by some measures I did get to finish on “Halloween night.”

New Pattern Release: Babylon Shawlette

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Introducing my latest pattern: the Babylon Shawlette!

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Knit from a single skein of sock yarn, this shawlette started out life destined to be a pair of socks … but the yarn wanted more. In sock form, the colors pooled and flashed in an unacceptably foul manner. No matter what I did, the yarn would not cooperate.

 

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Pattern: Babylon Shawlette

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: $6 on Ravelry

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight (biggie skein)

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Design/Skills Needed: This sinuous shawlette is designed to show off unusual colorways while fighting pooling and flashing with a varying-width edging and tapered ends.  Short rows at the center back curve the shawlette into a shoulder-hugging crescent and add interest to the pattern.  Babylon is worked from tip to tip in one piece — no finishing or picking up stitches! The neck edge has a worked-as-you-go i-cord border for comfort at prevent too much curling.

The trickiest bit of the edging is the yarn-over at the beginning of each wrong-side row.  It’s important to wrap the yarn the same way you would to do a normal stitch–that way, it stays open and creates a pretty loopy edge. The extra effort is worth it: a pretty edge that doesn’t roll and isn’t garter stitch, yay!

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New Pattern Release: Cadet Cropped Cardigan

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Introducing my latest pattern: the Cadet Cropped Cardigan!

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This stylish little cardi is my first sweater design project, so I am especially pleased that it has been released into the world.  The pattern is available through your local yarn store as part of Plymouth Yarn’s new fall pattern line: ask for Pamphlet #2325.  Photo credit for the modeled shots in this post all go to Plymouth Yarns — thank you for letting me blog with these awesome pix!

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Pattern: Cadet Cropped Cardigan

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: in Pamphlet #2325 at your local yarn shop

Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Worsted Merino Superwash Solids

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Inspiration: This is one of the first projects I did after deciding to carry around a small sketchpad, everywhere.  I saw a commercial on TV for an adorable fabric jacket that I thought would translate well to knitwear, and starting drawing little ideas madly. That’s as far as it went, until one of the designers at Plymouth (for whom I had been doing a lot of sample knitting) asked if I had any designs that might suit their fall line.  I worked up a proposal and it was accepted — I was thrilled!

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Design/Skills Needed: This cardi is worked flat, in pieces.  The all-over diagonal lines are formed by knits and purls; the vertical lines on the front, center back, and sleeves are right twists and left twists. The sleeves begin wide deep turned-hem cuffs, and have set-in sleeve caps. The center plackets are worked from picked-up stitches and are also deep turned hems.  The cardi is finished with i-cord at the neck and bottom edge.  The button loops and faux epaulets are also made with i-cord, then sewn in place.  It’s worth noting that there is a lot of “finishing” work on this cardi — some of my test knitters found it a bit daunting to complete the basic pieces, and then still have so much work to do.

Speaking of test knitters … check out this AWESOME use of the Cadet Cropped Cardi as part of a steampunk costume!

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2126 cropped cardi

I would be delighted to answer any questions or help any knitters working on this project.

FO Friday: Pinky Pink Rose Ruffled Scarf

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I bought just two skeins of Cascade 220 in Heathered But Still Very Pink, and this was the perfect project.  I’ve worn it a lot and it attracts lots of compliments. It even looks good on my gap-tooth Julian.  (He said, “This picture isn’t for the INTERNET, is it??”  Shhhh, don’t tell.)

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Project: Pinky Pink Rose Ruffled Scarf

Pattern: Ruffled and Ruched Scarf

Designer: Pam Powers

Available: $7 on Ravelry

Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Heathers

Although the yarn has softened a bit with washing and wearing, it is still a touch scratchy for my taste — if I make this pattern again, I will definitely select softer yarn. I enjoyed the pattern (even if ruching makes for interminable knitting).  The rose is brilliant — usually I find crocheted flowers to be superior to knitted ones, but this rose is fantastic.  (See my “Tips and Tricks” post on how I made the rose pin for more details.)

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Tips and Tricks: Knitted Rose Pin

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Recently, I finished a pretty pink scarf (see my FO Friday post on the Pinky Pink Rose Ruffled Scarf).  The pattern included directions for a very pretty knitted rose, along with directions to “Sew rose onto a round piece of felt using whipstitch and attach pin back or small stitch holder.”  There was a clear photo of the finished look of the back of the pin, but having never done this before … I was a tad intimidated.  I sought council with my friend Susie, who has made many (many!) beautiful jewelry pieces using beads, precious metal clay, et al.  She gave me some great advice, and I set out to Jo-Anns to see if I could find what I needed.

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Success!  At first I thought of using one of the stitch holders I found in the knitting section, but they were all too long for my rose.  In the jewelry-making area I found the perfect size of pin, and it even had loops (for charms) that I could use to secure it to the rose in a non-slip manner. I also bought some neutral-colored felt, and dug up some heavy-duty interfacing to help support the weight of the rose, and cut both into circles (felt slightly larger than interfacing).  Quilting thread and a sturdy needle round out my list of materials and tools.

First, I marked pencil lines on the interfacing where I wanted holes to admit the pin:

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Then, I cut the holes and threaded the pin through:

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I secured the pin to the rose with many messy loops of thread:

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Then, I hid the mess under the interfacing — poof!

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I tacked down the interfacing to further stabilize everything:

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Next, I cut holes in the felt, and threaded it onto the pin:

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I whip-stitched around the edge of the felt to hold it in place:

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Voila! A pretty rose pin!

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Cast-on Monday (oops, Tuesday): Howl Cowl, Very Orange Hoodie, and swatches

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Between camping out on two consecutive weekends for dog agility trials and an October snowstorm with concomitant power outages, I missed a whole week of posts!  I’ll do my best to catch up this week.

Since last we chatted, I have cast on for two new projects:

My “Howl Cowl” is for Halloween … which, thanks to the aforementioned power outages has not happened yet, so I have another week to finish and still be “on time.”  I’m using KP Stroll Tonal in “Foilage” and Gloss Fingering in “Black.” Absolutely LOVE the pattern and how the cowl is coming out.  I even love the bobbles!

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Eli’s Blue Hoodie has been outgrown and then some — not too surprising, considering I made it in 2007. Eli desires an orange replacement, “just the same but bigger.” His wish is my knitted command — I scored some lovely soft bulky-weight Duchess in Very Orange, for a brand-new Very Orange Hoodie.

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I also cast on for two different swatches, for items I will submit to Classic Elite for consideration for their Winter 2012 booklets.  I have high hopes for my colorwork capelet in Fresco and my lacy/reversible scarf/stole in Wool Bamboo, but I can’t tell you much more than that (or share photos) just yet.