New Pattern: Foster

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted.  I’ve been very busy! One of the things I’ve been working on is my new women’s cardigan pattern, Foster.

Foster is a top down asymmetrical cardigan. The pattern includes the option of having the sweater open on the left or the right side.

The cable runs asymmetrically down the front and is centered on the back.

The buttonbands and buttonhole bands are picked up and knit, as is, the collar. Instructions for the body include instructions for a shaped waist and a non-shaped waist. Being that this is worked up in a worsted weight yarn, it’s a quick, warm and cozy knit.

The yarn? It is gorgeous. Philomath Worsted from Springtree Road yarns is an absolutely wonderful yarn! It is fantastic off the skein and after a blocking it absolutely blooms and glows!  The color is lovely. As an added bonus, Maya from Springtree Road is offering dye to order sweater quantities if you would like to knit up a Foster for yourself in the yarn used for the sample. Just take a look at her colorways.  The link for the dye to order is here. All the info you need should be on that link. Even if you decide not to order a sweater quantity, do yourself a favor and check out her other lovely yarns.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you like Foster as much as I do!

I’m baaaack! with pictures!

Not that I really went anywhere. In just a few words, I can sum up my absence: Christmas and illness. Christmas really kicked my tuckus(is that how you spell tuckus?). On top of that lovely Christmas(it really was lovely!!), three members of this house were battling a horrible cough/cold/sinus thing. In fact, we’re still not over it! Seriously, I’m on week 3. This is crazy, right?

I’ve also been a bit distracted by the weather. It’s been LOVELY. I’ve been able to take my toddler out 3 days in a row. We have a possibility of hitting 60 today. Yes, I live in North Dakota and yes. I can’t believe we have 50′s in January, also crazy.

I’ve also been knitting a lot! I knit a few Christmas presents, which I don’t usually do. I knit 2 hats for my niece and a neckwarmer for my sister. All were very well received. I also knit up a couple sample cowls for a new pattern that I will have coming out very very soon, like..next week soon. It’s a garter based design, knit in the round, and comes in two sizes. The longer version is knit in Knit Picks Swish Tonals. I love the contrast of these two colors. The gray is Thunderhead and the green is Springtime.

Here it is wrapped around. This is my favorite way to wear it, especially on a cold morning!

Below is the shorter version. It is knit up in Malabrigo worsted Frost Gray and Verde Adriana. I had the above sample done for some time, but I needed to get the shorter one done. I knew these colors of Malabrigo would be winners because I had recently knit myself a hat (here and there) in these exact colors and I fell in love with the combination.

You can see the stitch pattern better here. There are garter stripes leading into a bobble/garter block pattern. Don’t fret on the bobbles, they are small and there aren’t that many! They are quick and painless. I rather like bobbles, but I know some people do not.

Also coming soon, I have a cardigan with testers and I am working on getting the pattern into shape. Christmas derailed me there too, but I guess that’s the nice thing about self-publishing! I can get delayed and it’s ok!

New Patterns Galore!!!

Yes, I’ve had a busy release month and were not even halfway into December! I’ve been meaning to get this post up all week, but I got sick yet again! Ugh. I haven’t been sick so much in years. Really couldn’t come at a more inconvenient time. It seems like we’ve been dealing with one malady or another around here for a couple months.

So first off, I have a hat in Interweave Knits 2011 Accessories issue! I am so excited to show you you! It’s a men’s hat done in Alisha Goes Around Panoply of Peacocks (merino cashmere!!!). The yarn was an absolute dream to work with and I really enjoyed knitting up this hat. It is a quick little knit.

Interweave Press ©2011

Next up, I have a couple of self-published titles out this week. First off, the sweater. The Abernathy Sweater is a unisex pullover with cables and a shawl collar knit up in The Plucky Knitter Merino Lite.
The sweater is done in the colorway Elmer T.  I had a ton of fun with the photos. We let my son run around the park and play with sticks and dirt. Also, the outer cables have an option to twist away from the center cable (as in the modeled sample) or inwards towards the center cable (as in the non-modeled Sundara version below).

 

He loves his new sweater too! Though, it’s been a little cold around here the past couple of weeks to wear only a sweater outdoors!

Here is a test knitters version done in Sundara Yarn Sport Merino.  Isn’t it lovely?

Now, because I liked the center cable so much, I decided to do a hat design based on the same center cable.

The Abernathy Hat comes in 3 sizes and options for regular cap or slouchy hat.

Well, I hope you like my new offerings and keep a lookout, I have more coming very soon!

Interweave Knits Winter 2011 and NaBloPoMo fail!

Yes, it’s been 9 days since I posted. NINE days!!! Why did I have such a NaBloPoMo fail. Well, I can tell you. It will sound like an excuse, but really it’s just the way it is! I started NaBloPoMo with the best of intentions, then I got the worst cold I’ve EVER HAD and the day after that I got the worst migraine I’ve had in years. I lost several days of work and spent the rest of this time trying to catch up. I still have remnants of the cold, but I think it is finally abating.  I also had two test knits going on at the same time and I cannot WAIT to show you those designs.

I do have news though! First up, follow this link to check out Interweave Knits Winter 2011 issue. You might see a familiar name! I am so excited to finally be able to show you guys this sweater!

© Interweave Press

Isn’t the model sweet? The sweater is a top down raglan with a cabled body. It is a quick knit as it is done in Berroco Vintage Chunky. I really like Vintage Chunky, I’ve used it for LOTS of kids things and I just love how it washes up.

© Interweave Press 2011

The yarn has a great drape and really I think it was the perfect yarn for this cardigan. When I knit up the swatch, I was instantly in love!

© Interweave Press 2011

The buttons are some vintage buttons that I had in my stash. My button stash is nearly as large as my yarn stash. It doesn’t take up quite as much space though!

I hope you like my new design. I had an absolutely blast designing and knitting up this cardigan! Definitely check out the winter issue (well, all IK issues really), it has some LOVELY designs in it. Oh and before I go, You can preorder the Accessories issue too (or digital download). I have a pattern in there as well. Unfortunately, my pictures of that design were eaten in the great computer meltdown of 2011, so I will have to wait until I get the pics of that to share it with you.

I had so many plans for today…

They were not to be. I would not even be up if not for extenuating circumstances (like a kid needing help with Spanish homework). I’m going to bed, I leave you with how I feel about today.

NaBloPoMo…day 5 and 6-belated

Oh, I knew I should have set up this post ahead of time. Yesterday was a complete wash! I can’t believe I missed Sunday. Oh well, I’ll keep going.

I really was very busy yesterday. My mom has started a new business. She’s begun, “baking for hire.” My mom really is a superb baker and for some reason she’s really convinced she’s going to do this. I worry because, I know how tiring baking is and I know how much we bake already during the Holidays. If yesterday’s craft show was any indication, her holiday baking will increase this year. Her kuchens, cookies and bars, were a hit. She wasn’t selling yesterday as she just started this three weeks ago and she has two huge orders to fulfill, but she took orders and gave out samples and her contact info. If she’d had stuff for sale, I am not sure we would have been able to keep up. We were busy enough filling trays with samples and keeping her business flyers stocked. So, that’s how I spent my day yesterday. I hadn’t even planned on going to help. My daughter was just going to go help as she is Mom’s assistant. It’s a good thing I went though!

I didn’t get a picture of the cardigan. When I got home, I collapsed, watched Dexter and went to bed. I did manage to knit another hat on Saturday, which I will also photograph later today. I will have pictures tomorrow, I promise! I will have a thorough blog post tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo Day5! I almost blew it!

I did. I almost blew it. I almost forgot to post! I finished those sleeves today and about 3/4 of a hat. Working on a cowl now. I will put up a decent blog post and pictures of the sleeves! For now, I leave you with pretty yarn.

NaBloPoMo! Day 4

I promise my posts will be better this weekend.

As you may have noticed, I am a hockey fan. A HUGE hockey fan. There really are only two sports seasons for me, hockey season and not hockey season. When I named my pattern, “Go Buffalo,” I wasn’t kidding. Though, I don’t even have to watch my favorite teams. I’ll watch just about any team. This weekend for me, is hockey night. As I type, my favorite college team is playing in view of my computer and I just got done watching my beloved Buffalo Sabres defeat the Calgary Flames. Woooot. More hockey to come. Tomorrow night is the famed “Hockey Night in Canada”. The Sabres will be playing in Ottawa and there will be another UND/Minnesota game. Ahhh, I love it! Me, my knitting and some hockey!

NaBloPoMo Day 3!

Oof, perhaps this whole, “posting for a whole month” isn’t going so well when I realize just now that I haven’t posted!!! I don’t have much for today. I did get one of the arms to that sweater finished and I just cast on another hat sample. So, it was a productive day.

I will leave you with some pretty.

This is a gorgeous skein of yarn from The Wool Dispensary. The yarn base is Useful Irradiant in Lizard Boy.

NaBloPoMo Day 2: A Confession, of sorts.

I am using day 2 of NaBloPoMo on my blog to serve as a confessional. I like almost everything about knitting. I like lace, I like cables, I like tedious ribbing and all that jazz.  There is one thing that I just really don’t like doing. It’s the sleeves. Sleeve knitting drives me nuts. Remember the sweater pic that I posted yesterday? Well, I started the sleeves. The yarn is lovely, don’t get me wrong. I adore knitting this yarn but, sleeves are just…irritating. Who needs sleeves anyways?  Well, if you live where I do, I guess, well…I need sleeves. So, I forge on, knitting the sleeves. In the end, I know I’ll love them and I will be glad that I knit them. It’s just that I have a combined 34+ inches of tube left to knit. Sigh…