Knitty!

Yes, I told you I had a surprise, didn’t I? The surprise this time is that my newest pattern, Kindling, was going up in Knittty’s First Fall Issue! Yay! I wrote the pattern for this, knit and tested this little cardigan in March. It was difficult to keep it a secret, but I managed. It is knit up in the fantastic Sanguine Gryphon Traveller.

This cardigan came to me in a dream. Well, ok not really. What had happened was I had thought of a really cute little kid’s cardigan with a leaf edged front. Two days later, after I had swatched and figured some things out,  I saw this had just been released.  Oh dear! I was headed back to the drawing board. Then, I was looking through cables and spotted the cable/bobble combo. It reminded me of a twig and from there, Kindling was born!

Kindling is a top down raglan. The catch is that the top is in reverse stockinette so I put the increases on the wrong side.  I just thought they looked better and we’re easier to do that way. The cable is also on a background of reverse stockinette so it’s a good idea to put markers around the 6 stitch cable area so as not to get too confused!

The photo shoot was a difficult one to pull off and has convinced me that I need better photo equipment. I don’t know if you know what March can be like in North Dakota, but let me assure you, it was not pleasant.  I believe we had several snow storms this year. So, an outdoor shoot was out of the question for a toddler. There are not many places to take toddlers here in this small town when there’s cold weather, which would also have good lighting and things for a toddler to do. We had to do it in what I have come to dub my temporary work corner/playroom.  It’s supposed to be a living room but with a family room elsewhere what I really needed was a playroom.  Note to self- work on props and backgrounds.Well, I hope you have enjoyed the blog post. I have been so excited to show you this design. I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by! Come check out my group on ravelry too!

Giveaway Winner!

Sorry guys! I should have posted this yesterday! I for some reason had the 16th in my brain as the contest end date. I chose a winner this morning. Purplemoose is the winner of the gift card from Knit Picks. I have contacted her and will get that to her right away! I had lots of fun with that. Thanks for stopping by and helping me spread the love on my patterns. I hope you continue to stop by here and check out my patterns on Ravelry. I have some very very exciting things coming very very soon. Trust me!

New Patterns and a Gift Card Giveaway!

Hey there guys! I’ve got some releases and a giveaway. First off, I have TWO new patterns today! Both are for babies/toddlers and both are knit up in Shine Sport yarn from Knit Picks.

First is the Garter Stripe Polo:

This is knit top down, in the round. The sizes available are 6months [12 months, 18 months, 2T, 4T]. I really like it. It’s a quick knit that looks fantastic with many different color combos!

Secondly, there’s Miss Abbey. This is also knit from the top down and joined in the round after the keyhole neck feature.

The garter bands on the sleeves and hem provide a simple adornment that looks very cute!

Knit up in a snuggly cotton blend, these two are great summertime knits.

 

Now for the giveaway. Well, this comes about because I completely forgot to submit ads on Ravelry for June. So, I have no ads for this month to spread the pattern love. Big fail on my part. My excuse is that in my insanity that was May, I just completely forgot about ads! So, in order to “spread the love”, I want to do a Knit Picks gift card giveaway. Basically, I will give you a $10 gift card to Knit Picks if you A) post a comment letting me know what you think of the patterns B) let me know your ravelry ID and C) favorite or queue one of these new patterns.  I need to know your rav ID so that I can check if you either loved or queued a pattern. I figure this is my attempt at advertising for the month! I will randomly [random.org]choose a commenter, check ravelry and then send you a gift card! You will have until June 15th and 1:00pm to enter this giveaway.

Sorry Blog, I have my reasons!

I have my reasons for being so neglectful. I promise that I will be giving you lots of love and attention soon! That’s not just an empty promise, either! Am I the only one who is so glad that May is over? I seriously was swamped in May and that made it very stressful for me. It’s not the designing that was stressful, usually the busier I am there, the better. It was all the party planning, a second birthday and a high school graduation.  I am no Martha Stewart (if I was, I’d hire someone to plan parties for me). Don’t get me wrong, I love to have plans and get things ready, it’s just the execution that is sometimes lacking. I mean, I shopped for vegan cake ingredients the day before a birthday…phew, I did find vegan soy-free margarine. Now, I buy vegan soy-free margarine all the time as my toddler cannot have dairy or soy and I know that in this small town, it’s often sold out and waiting until Saturday is a bad idea. It only took 3 stores, but I found it. Sigh…No, I will not miss you May. I know this will happen again too. My toddler’s birthday will always be in May and I have two more teens to graduate within the next 5 years.

On to knitting stuff! What have I been knitting and what is going on? In May, I started a Rock Island Shawl by Jared Flood. Fantastic pattern! I really am enjoying it when I get time to work on it. I have been swamped with design stuff, so there hasn’t been nearly as much time to dedicate to it. I am knitting mine in Madelinetosh Prairie Earl Grey. I got this skein out of a destash. It is perhaps the single, most beautiful skein of yarn I’ve ever seen and I say this as the owner of a skein of Amazonas Wollmeise It is knitting up beautifully and I am really enjoying every single minute of it.  Yes, I am enjoying lace yarn. What is going on there?

On designing, I have some FANTASTIC surprises! I cannot wait to share, seriously GOOD stuff. I am literally giddy about it and it is so close now, I might start squeeing. That is all I can tell you about that. I also have a women’s design that I am looking for testers for. Tentatively titled, Rhombi, I am hoping to be able to get this out to testers by Monday. This is a sportweight, cardigan knit up in Squoosh Fiberarts Rapture, which is absolutely wonderful! If you are interested in test knitting especially larger sizes as I have the smaller sizes covered, let me know. Size range is: 32 [34.5, 37.5, 39, 43, 48, 52]

I have another few kid’s designs in the work too. Possibly next post, I will give you a sneak preview. One is ready to go, the other is being knit up. I am excited about them too, They are fun designs.