New Pattern: Susan’s Sunsuit (Fresh Designs: KIDS)

September 6, 2013remilyknits 7 Comments

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!

New Pattern Release: Mhara Baby Blanket

April 18, 2012April 18, 2012remilyknits 4 Comments

Introducing my latest pattern: Mhara Baby Blanket! Mhara means “sea” in Gaelic.

Pattern: Mhara Baby Blanket

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: for $1.99 through Knit Picks IDP or $2.50 on Ravelry

Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Bulky in Tranquil

Design/Skills Needed: This fully reversible baby blanket is worked on the bias in garter stitch. Step-wise increases and decreases are embellished as you go with crocheted waves. Explicit directions for stroller- and crib-sized blankets are given, but the pattern is easily adapted for larger or smaller blankets. This pattern includes complete photo tutorials for the step-wise increases and the crocheted embellishment. For ease of printing, these tutorials appear at the end of the pattern. Experienced knitters may print just page 2 for complete pattern with no extraneous photos or information.

Familiarity with crocheting is helpful, but not necessary. Almost any yarn will work with this pattern, provided you use appropriately-sized needles.

Cast-on Monday: a sunsuit for Lillian

August 1, 2011December 29, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

This week I cast on for a gift project, using my yet-to-be-published baby sunsuit pattern. This one is for my pledge sib from Epsilon Theta — well, for her baby girl, Lillian, to be honest. Here’s a photo of the progress as of a few days ago:

New Pattern Release: Rapunzel

March 18, 2011March 17, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

Introducing my latest pattern: Rapunzel! This simple girl’s top is designing with color-changing or self-striping yarn in mind, but will work with both plain and variegated colorways. It can be worn alone, or layered over a shirt in cooler weather.

Pattern: Rapunzel

Designer: Rachel Henry (that’s me!)

Available: for $1.99 at Knit Picks

Yarn: Knit Picks Chroma Fingering

Inspiration: I swatched for this pattern using Felici Sport, a great self-striping yarn. I wanted to show off the striping with a wide horizontal band, then work downwards. When KP accepted the pattern, they offered me the new Chroma yarn … I could NOT resist. I just love how it turned out. I used mostly-stockinette throughout, to highlight the color changes, with an itty bitty braid to add interest. As I worked, I was reminded of Rapunzel letting down her braid … just like the off-center braid on the top, hence the name.

Design/Skills Needed: Rapunzel is worked top-down, beginning with a large cabled bandeau that is worked sideways from a provisional cast-on and then joined in a circle. Stitches are picked up from the bottom edge of the cable, and the rest of the body is worked in the round. The bottom edge is finished with a simple ruffle. The straps are also mini versions of the main braid, with ruffled outer edges.

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

Ravelry Monday: Hats, Hats, Hats

February 21, 2011February 21, 2011remilyknits Leave a comment

Happy Monday! Time to look back at the previous week’s recently added knitting patterns on Ravelry and pick a few favorites.

First Pick: Quinny, by Julie Hahn (FREE! at Gourmet Knits)

Ravelry has been all a-buzz since the episode of Glee where Quinn wears this cute knit hat:

A couple versions of the hat have been released on Rav, but this is the one I like the best. The designer captured the look and shape of the original, including a bang-up job on the yarn button. I predict cute little pixie hats covering the nation’s heads (well, at least the Gleek heads), especially since this pattern uses bulky yarn and should knit up exceptionally fast.

Second Pick: Toasty Bean, by Chelsea Berkompas ($4.99)

I love knitting patterns that work with colorful yarn, mostly because a love colorful yarn and always want more. This hat has a nice shape and lots of cool details — tassles, buttons, braids, etc. It also has a very, very cute baby model :).

Third Pick: Inga Snoflinga Hat, by Johanne Landin ($5.00)

What a purty colorwork hat — cleverly placed snowflakes of different sizes and designs on a muted variegated background, yum! It looks like the pattern isn’t available quite yet, but it is a new listing, so with luck it will be up soon.

FO Friday: Monster Bum Baby Longies

January 7, 2011January 6, 2011remilyknits 28 Comments

Every Friday I will feature one of my own finished objects. This year I joined the group “52 Projects in 52 Weeks” on Ravelry, and I’ve found it’s a great way to get motivated to finish up languishing projects. These monster pants weren’t exactly UFO’s, but I’d stalled out on the legs a couple of weeks ago. This week I bumped them to the top of my knitting priority pile, and soon enough I finished them, lickety split.

Pattern: Grumpybum Monster Longies

Designer: Wandering Lady

Available: FREE! at thewanderinglady (also available in the original Norwegian)

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish DK in Eggplant, Beach Glass, Tidepool, Hollyberry, Black, and White

I found the pattern easy to use and follow. I made a few modifications, include a hemmed top edge. (I put in elastic, in lieu of an i-cord tie.) Instead of using duplicate stitch (as described in the pattern), I knit the eyes and fangs directly on the pants, using skills I’ve learned from making amigurumi. For each eye I picked up about 34 stitches, purled one round, decreased to 28, decreased to 21, switched to green, knit one round even, decreased to 14, switched to black, knit one round even, decreased to 7, pulled yarn through rem sts. For the fangs I picked up 5 stitches and made icord, decreasing on the inside edge every other round.

These pants are for my friend’s little girl, and I simply cannot wait to pop them on her and watch her monster bum toddle around the room.