This project was finished a while ago, but I never shared … enjoy!
Project: Aphrodite of the Sea
Pattern: Song of the Sea
Designer: Louise Zass-Bangham
Available: £3.50 GBP on Ravelry
Yarn: Llyr from A Hundred Ravens in an early version of Aphrodite
This is a pretty straight-up pattern — shows off this tonal colorway beautifully. Easy to knit, easy to wear. Make one today! 🙂
Yesterday I took my sixth and final(?) Fiber Factor project to the UPS store in Chelmsford. You can see in my progress video that I’m making a hat, specifically a cloche, out of Leinen Los with a band/bow in softest Kid Seta to set off a pretty little shawl pin from JUL. The hat came together right away, and I love it. I’ve always enjoyed wearing hats, and the cloche shape looks good on me (brim up OR brim down). (In fact I have plans to make the hat again — must have this hat!) It took me a while to figure out the right thing to do about the band/bow. I had SO many false starts … and I ended up pulling a knitting all-night on Tuesday night. I finally landed on a good color combo/design, but I’d had so many wrong turns I couldn’t risk waiting until the next day to finish. (What if it hadn’t worked? Then I really would have been in trouble.)
ANYway, I want to personally thank theoatmeal for introducing me to the mantis shrimp, which helped me settle on a set of four colors for this hat. Those “harbingers of blood-soaked rainbows” rock my world.
The judging for this round is taking place at VKL Chicago. As always, I’ll be interested to hear the judges’ feedback. Results for Challenge 6 should be online at The Fiber Factor on or about November 9th. I’ll post more photos after that.
The other thing that’s happening on or about November 9th is the announcement of the three finalists, who will go on to compete in the two-month-long final challenge of The Fiber Factor. At this point, coming off the last three very-short-deadline challenges, I’m feeling ambivalent about moving on to the next round. Of course if I’m selected, I’ll be thrilled and delighted. The winner of the final challenge gets a trip for two to Germany! Plus it would mean they like me! However, NOT being selected would be cool too. It would mean I’d have a shockingly relaxed holiday season. I could knit on my own projects without feeling guilty or furtive, and I could start submitting to calls without worrying if the deadline will coincide with a Fiber Factor deadline. I could cheer on the final three and have opinions and just enjoy the competition as a “Watcher.” Ultimately I’m too competitive to NOT want to play, and too realistic to be sorry if I don’t get to.
It’s been fantastic. I don’t regret a minute of it. My sincere thanks to Skacel (especially Karin, Cirilia, and Chuck) for putting the Fiber Factor together. Honor and glory to my fellow semi-finalists. Thanks most of all to my friends and family, who have been incredibly supportive over the last seven months. (Oh tiki dog it, seven months! No wonder I’m feeling a bit worn out.)
The 5th challenge of The Fiber Factor was all-consuming for me … lots of new techniques to conquer, and leagues of hand-sewing and hand-embroidery to do before I could rest. My fingers bled, my eyes crossed: my piece was a harsh mistress :). One thing that kept me at my task was knowing that I had not one, not two, but THREE mystery KALs lined up to start right when the project was due. Yippee! Naturally I started them all as quickly as I could. We shall not mention that I already have the specs (and a bit of bling) for Challenge #6.
First up: the RHK Mystery KAL by Sara Elizabeth Kellner. RHK stands for Rabbit Hole Knits — Sara designs adorable stuffed toys to knit, and this seemed like a great opportunity to make one. This MKAL is free — all you have to do is join her forum. I’m using some left-over Tosh Vintage in Rosewood:
Next up: the Autumn Mystery KAL by Susanna IC. Right now the pattern is still $3, but the price will go up as clues are released. Buy now to get the best price! 🙂 I’m using two skeins of Tosh Sock in Mare and the browner beads:
Last but not least, the Morticia Halloween KAL 2013 by Boo Knits. I’ve been dying to do a Boo Knits pattern, and I had this skein of Alfar just begging for a good use. I’m doing the “two kids of beads” option, making the larger shawl:
I’ve been working very hard the last few weeks on my project for Challenge #5 of The Fiber Factor. You can view my mentoring video and my progress video if you’re curious to see more, and I’ve posted a ton of photos of my work-in-progress in the Fiber Factor forums.
Here’s a taste of what I’ve done … I finished the last bit of sewing this afternoon, and tomorrow it ships out! This time around, the pieces will all be in a runway show, and we’re being judged (in part) on runway impact. So, wish me luck!!
Ok, so I used google translate for the heading … hopefully it doesn’t say something awful.
Thanks to momotte over at Ravelry, Mind the Gap is now available in French! This is my first pattern to be translated to another language (that I know of, anyway). How cool is that? Of course I don’t speak a lick of French (I took German in high school and college), but when momotte asked if she could translate Mind the Gap, I said “Sure!”
The French translation of Mind the Gap is up at her blog, K’fé tricot des Hauts. Here’s Mind the Gap, as a reminder :).
I am so happy to announce that Susan’s Sunsuit is finally available! This is a sweet little baby-girl romper that I designed ages ago — in fact it was one of my first few sales!
Pattern: Susan’s Sunsuit
Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)
Available: in Fresh Designs: Kids for $16.95 (PDF only) or $22.95 (print copy + PDF) (individual sales coming soon)
Yarn: Three Irish Girls McClellan Fingering (1-2 skeins, depending on size)
Design/Skills Needed:
Not long ago, my dear friend had her first baby. For Susan’s first summer on the planet, I designed this lacy sunsuit, knit in lightweight yarn at a comfortably loose gauge. The bottom is knit flat, then joined and knit in the round following a simple diamond eyelet pattern. Diamond slip-stitch smocking cinches the top. Girly ruffles finish the edges, and i-cord straps are soft and adjustable.
Knitters should be comfortable with basic lace, increasing/decreasing, provisional cast-on, picking up stitches, i-cord, and learning a slightly-new slipped-stitch pattern for the smocking.
This romper has become my go-to pattern for gifting baby girls — in sizes 12mo and under, a single skein of sock yarn is sufficient. The finished romper is cute and easy to put on and off. I’ve made it no less than four times!
So … I got this knitting machine for Challenge #4 of The Fiber Factor. It’s really good at cranking out stockinette … so obviously, instead of working on the challenge, I packed up the machine and brought it over to Kate’s house. (You know, Kate, the amazing hand-dyer over at A Hundred Ravens.) We rigged up two swifts and two skeins of her sock-yarn base ( (aka Iachos). With her managing the swifts and me minding (and winding) the machine with the sock yarn held double, we cranked through 400 yards and created a tube-shaped dying blank about 5 feet long (tall?).
Why, you ask? Because with such a blank, we could do a fabulous gradient dye job! What fun! It took about 40 minutes (with two people) to make the blank, which is longer than it took to dye it. Later on Kate & Company reversed the process and made skeins out of the blank.
My desire was to emulate the beautiful fall leaves against a slate-gray stormy sky. With Kate’s guidance (and editing eye) we focused on the leaves on the test skein (dyed “normally” with short color repeats), starting with a pale yellow, moving through bright oaky orange and a cherry maple red, and finishing with a more mahogany color. I begged for a second skein of the slate gray to do colorwork with the short-repeat skein.
Here are those two colorways, skeined and then caked:
The gradient colorway is AMAZING in person — here it is in skein and cake:
I have selected Alexandra by Dee O’Keefe (shawlette size) — so far, I’m in loooove!
Introducing my latest pattern: Objects Below!
Pattern: Objects Below
Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)
Available: $6 on Ravelry — discounted to $3 until September 30th, 2013!
Yarn: A Hundred Ravens Lustre DK (sample used 215 yards)
Design/Skills Needed:
Objects Below is a narrow lace stole/scarf designed especially for A Hundred Ravens Lustre DK. It uses nearly a whole skein — 215 yards in my sample. With complex lace patterning on both sides, this pattern is a challenge to make and a joy to behold.
Important Coupon Code!
If you buy before September 30th, please use coupon code **MOON** for a 50% discount.
Important Coupon Code!
Full written translations of all charts are included.
I (finally) finished my Eden Prairie shawl!
Project: Pansy Prairie
Pattern: Eden Prairie
Designer: Nancy Whitman
Available: $7 on Ravelry
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Alpaca Sox in Charcoal, Oatmeal, Wren, and Pansy
I instigated a KAL in my knitting group earlier this year … and I think I may be the last to finish? I put this aside for far too long, and I’m so glad I came back and finished! It was really fun to choose colors for this project. My advice is to start with the “pop” color in the center, and work from there. Alpaca Sox was delicious to work with and is fabulous to wear.
This week I started (and finished) a quick-knit hat in a new Classic Elite yarn, Ava. It’s sparkly! The sparkles match the colorways! Purple rules! Here is my version of Bastille.
I also cast on for a new Sivia Harding cowl, Wild Iris. I’m using a skein of Tosh Light in Mare that I’ve had stashed for some time now.
Remily Knits 