New Pattern: Threadle Sweater

Now available on Ravelry: Threadle Sweater!

This design has been on the needles for a full year, so I’m extra excited to share it with you.

I designed the main cable pattern specifically to look like a lot of cabling, without the heaviness that complex cables usually give knitted fabric. The big cable weaves back and forth across the column, and reminded me of a dog agility maneuver called a “threadle” that allows the dog take two side-by-side jumps in the same direction by weaving between them.

A Hundred Ravens Epona — between 6 and 9 skeins, depending on size. To enable your obsessions, AHR sells “sweater bags” of yarn (all dyed on the same time to reduce variability) with a small discount as a thank-you for a big purchase. (Email the shop for details.)

This sweater is meant to be a comfortable “just throw it on” kind of garment — so it’s designed to be worn with a bit of positive ease. There isn’t any shaping in the body, but the ribbing under the arms means it will gently curve with the shape of the wearer’s body.

(shown in size S on a 5’9″ model with a 37″ bust)

 

 

 

 

Advertisement

New Pattern: Kukulkan

Now available on Ravelry: Kukulkan!

20170114_144213

This striking shawl evokes the step pyramids of Chichen Itza, which served as a temple to Kukulkan. Little is known about the original mythology of this “feathered serpent” deity from Mesoamerica. In modern folklore, one story tells that Kukulkan flew to the sun to try and speak to it. The sun, too proud to speak to a plumed snake, burnt Kukulkan’s tongue.

20170114_143943Designed especially for Aesir Minis from A Hundred Ravens, this shawl highlights the beauty of gradient mini sets. The rectangular tabs are worked first. The main body is worked from a combination of picked-up stitches and cast-on stitches. After the main body is complete, the small solid squares are worked from picked-up stitches. No seaming required!

20170114_144051

20170114_143132

This pattern has full written instructions (no charts). This pattern has been professionally tech edited.

 

 

 

New Pattern: Mini Mazy

 

Now available on Ravelry: Mini Mazy!

How did I miss this? This pattern went live in November, and it’s been a big hit! My apologies to blog readers who may have missed out.

20161103_101238

Lose yourself in the labyrinthine turns of Mini Mazy! This asymmetrical triangle-ish shawl is designed especially for gradient mini skein sets from A Hundred Ravens. The sample uses one set of minis in “Starry Night” and a skein of Iachos in “Loyalty” as the background color.

The design would also do justice to a highly-variegated skein, combined with a solid skein to anchor it.  I’m working up a sample in Tyche in “The Captain’s Parrot” and “Oceanus.”

20160913_113056-1

Mini Mazy is easily adapted to larger or smaller amounts of yarn, and to other weights of yarn. Simply choose a needle appropriate to your yarn, and knit until you run out of yarn.

Mini Mazy is worked sideways from the small end. The design uses basic increases and decreases and a handful of picked-up stitches to create the surprising right-turn.

 

20161103_101748

20161103_102042

 

 

New Pattern: Mini Meltdown

 

Now available on Ravelry: Mini Meltdown!

Get 50% off from now until the end of July 2016 with coupon code SummerMeltdown!

IMG_0746

Colors melt into each other, draping beautifully around the neck in a mix of lace and simple stockinette stitch. Mini Meltdown was designed especially for gradient mini skein sets from A Hundred Ravens; the design would also work well with single-skein gradient yarn, as well as many tonal and mildly-variegated colorways.

IMG_0749Mini Meltdown is worked top down, both in the round and flat, using short rows to shape the cowl. Lacy sections are charted, with full written directions for all charts.IMG_0764

The sample used about 360 yards as pictured. It would be relatively easy for an experienced knitter to modify the design to be larger (which would, naturally, require more yardage).

IMG_0613

 

FO Friday: Purple Gusher Socks

IMG_5948

Project: Purple Gushers

Pattern: GUSH

Designer: Yarnissima

Available: €4.00 EUR on Ravelry

Yarn: CEY Alpaca Sox in “Byzantine Purple”

This is the second of five pairs of socks that I’m making for my mom.  Alpaca Sox is fuzzy and warm, and the pattern was fun.  Every row is charted on these toe-up socks, which I loved! I had a little trouble following the transition from pattern to rib at the top of the leg, and with both socks I had to fudge it a bit.  I chalk this up to a failing in my understanding of the “sizing” directions (three sizes are shown on each chart).  Cool pattern, great yarn.  Next!

FO Friday: Handspun Chicken Mittens

I made something out of yarn that I made!

IMG_5298

Project: Handspun Chicken Mittens

Pattern: Fried Chicken Mittens

Designer: Ellen Mason

Available: FREE! on Ravelry

Yarn: my very first handspun yarn

IMG_5301

 

Fried Chicken Mittens is my very favorite “just a mitten” pattern.  The way the thumb increases are done make for a superior fit!  I knew I would be a bit short on yardage, and my handspun yarn was in two or three different weights.  I started with the most irregular/bulky/fuzzy yarn at the cuff, and knit less cuff than called for.  I knit the mittens two at a time, so that if I needed to turn them into fingerless mitts, they’d be at the same point.  I joined in the mid-range yarn shortly after the cuff, and then swapped to the best yarn as that ran out.

IMG_5296

 

I knew I would be cutting it VERY close.

IMG_5285

 

As you can see, I ended up short by the tip of one thumb.  I stole a bit of yarn from the first batch spun on my new spinning wheel, and called it good.

IMG_5284

FO Friday: Purple Hedgehog Hat

I made a very silly hat! Also, a very warm hat.

Want to make one just like it? I have plenty of yarn leftover — if you promise to make a hedgehog hat, I’ll send you my leftover Mushishi.

Project: Purple Hedgehog Hat

Pattern: Hedgehog

Designer: Mercè Janer

Available: FREE from Knitty.com

Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Mushishi #12

I picked up some Mushishi as a “courtesy purchase” while checking out a LYS.  The long color changes seemed just right for the short-row hedgehog hat.  I love how yarn and hat came together for this project.  I know it’s not to everyone’s taste … but I love a silly hat sometimes!

The hat is worked flat, with each bump worked as a set of short rows.  For the hat you work a row of bumps, work a couple stockinette rows (decreasing the overall number of stitches), and then work a row of bumps back the other way.  I definitely put my new(ish) skill of “knitting both directions without turning” to good use with all those short rows!

In addition to a delightfully silly look, the bumps also trap air — this is a one WARM hat. I look forward to wearing it for more than a few minutes at a go, come this winter.

FO Friday: Purple Endgame

 

 

I finished (another) Endgame!  This one is a shop sample for the Hub Mills Store

IMG_4289

Project: Purple Endgame

Pattern: Endgame

Designer: Rachel Henry

Available: in booklet #9207 (“Checkmate”) (single-pattern download may be available in the future)

Yarn: Wool Bam Boo

Closeup of the faux-woven (and fully reversible!) pattern:

IMG_4288

 

Amazing drape!

IMG_4253

 

Please ignore the author’s wrinkled and inappropriately-bright-red shirt:

IMG_4255