mymegmarieknits

Summer Delay

2011-06-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

Summer is never a good blogging season. I'll say that my laptop gets really warm and I have an easy time ignoring it unless I need the extra heat.

I'm proud to report that we have a nice little after picture to our spring "garden: before" photo.

Everything is growing, if not slowly. We get a lot of shade, so everything is getting to ripen nice and slowly. We already have sweet peas.

The deck plants are growing much faster – better sun.

Just in time to start getting excited about fresh tomatoes and radishes, carrots and beans Dave and I found out last week that we're moving. He got a job up north and we're moving to New Hampshire, land of "live free or die."

It's sad to leave the neighborhood and garden, but it'll do wonders for my commute. We have about 10 days to pack up the entire apartment and get out of town.

And now, the obligatory kitten picture:

Till next time, when we're living in the new place.

Julep

2011-06-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

After months of waiting, we brought home Julep one week ago. A quick head scratch makes her smile.

She's a 3.5 month old Devon Rex and the most un-cat kitten I've ever seen. Julep snuggles, eats, plays, chases her tail and likes to watch cars drive by.

We chose a Devon because we both have moderate allergies. It took a lot of research, but we read in various places that people with allergies do well with Devons. They lack guard haris, leaving only the silky undercoat, which is usually curly. Or, in wool-speak, her hair has great crimp. The most similar fiber I can think of is angora but without the fluff and shedding. Jules sleeps in the bed with us and I am thrilled to report that she hasn't caused a sneeze.

So far, Jules has left the house plants alone (and there are many) AND hasn't shown any interested in my stash or my knitting. Toys and blankets and chairs are all fair game. As are toes at 5 AM.

Of course there's no ignoring Julie's gigantic ears and eyes - something she'll never grow into. It's just just part of being a Devon.

IWK back cover

2011-05-21T08:10:00.000-07:00

Interweave Knits, Summer 2011

Squee!!!!!

I knew this was coming, but couldn't hardly believe it when I got the magazine and flipped it over. Faith - designed and knit by little 'ol me.

And the garden is coming along beautifully, which is surprising because we haven't seen the sun in Boston for over a week. But it's peaking out today, time for summer.

Happy weekend!

Faith: another first.

2011-05-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

Faith is a reversible leaf-lace wrap with scalloped edges that is knit from tip to tip. The tweedy summer yarn is Cricket and and the design is from the booklet with the same name. My first cover!

In general I'm happy to knit a piece and pass it on for someone else to name. However this time I had a special request. While I was designing Faith, a friend from high school was killed in Iraq while serving with the US Army. Her name was also Faith, and this one is for her.

I have a thing for reversible patterns – unless the piece has a definite right/public side, then I prefer it to look just as good on both sides. Lacy leaves are one of my favorite textures and with this wrap I took up the challenge of writing a stitch pattern with leaves on both sides.

Of course this sounded a heck of a lot easier than it actually was (aren't most things?). However, once I had the stitch pattern down, increasing and decreasing one leaf at a time was intuitive and made a lovely scalloped border. With knit leaves flanked by purl leaves (and purl leaves flanked by knit leaves on the other side), the wrap has the bit of ribbed boing one would expect from anything with knit/purl columns.

As with all designs, the yarn pairing was very important. It was not until I swatched a ball of Cricket that I knew it was time to translate the sketches from my mind into a tangible pattern. The crispness of the linen makes the stitch pattern pop while the cotton tones down the pattern's tendency to pull in too much.

I could not be more proud of this wrap making the cover of the Cricket. Have a look at the other designs and you'll see why, they're all great.

Gardening

2011-04-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Going to a nursury is always a bad idea for boyfriend and I. No matter what we promise ourselves, we always come home with at least a few plants.

Yesterday was no different. We came home with two trays of Tête-à-Tête Daffodils. There was already an assortment of bulbs peeking out of the urban fill that is our backyard, so we transplanted everybody into one, new garden in the corner.

New bulb garden (!!)

I'm not typically one for flowers, but most of these were already available and they'll keep coming back and spreading year after year. We also transplanted four Wisteria plants that we started from seed earlier this year. It was spontaneous gardening at its best.

Dwarf Daffodil - new flower since we planted yesterday (!!)

This next picture is from last summer, but will be a very important picture when all is said and growing. Before we could dig at all, we had to clear out the yard. Here's the before:

Before. (Boyfriend is excited to repurpose the grill as a planter.)

In the year that we've lived here, not once has the moped or the grill been moved, let alone used. Since last summer we have been planning our garden. From the plants that will grow in the shade of several large trees (I'm feeling good about lettuce and root veggies), to which weekends we plant and replant (we have a big posterboard calendar), to how we're going to water (I won't give that away – watering will be an epic tale of its own).

After - cleared and ready for landscaping

And that was all yesterday. Did I mention I got a sunburn too? In the shade? In early April??

Today we went to he Do-It-Yourself store for planter box supplies. We managed to squeeze four 8 foot planks into my compact sedan and hauled them home to begin building.

There was hammering...

Boyfriend did-it-himself

(If this photo was super high-res and zoomed in, you'd be able to see my knitting on the chair in the distance behind him.)

There was raking to level the yard...

I helped, honest! It's hard to be behind and in front of the camera all at once.

Just need dirt.

And two long afternoons later, there was a clean back yard with two brand new planters and a bulb garden. Ready to go and ready for spring.

To keep me on topic and on track a bit...here's what's been on and off the needles lately:

1. Carlow - my first design submission for publication. Ever.

2. (Pretty) Wicked Thing in Wicked by CEY. Mmmm cashmere...

3. Chiton Pullover - sweater #5 in 2011.

4. Wild Strawberry in Firefly - my favorite non-wool yarn.

2011-03-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

"Happy 1/2 birthday...or something" was boyfriend's line to me tonight as he handed me an envelope and ran out the door to work. Inside was I swear to good you are god at this from Holiday Matinee. Yeah, I had to read the title a few times too. It's a fun little book that presents 25 people and their creative projects in a fun, graphic coffee table-style.

After reading it I headed over to their web site for more. In the about section the minds behind the site each list their top 5 things. I like that.

Two years ago Boyfriend and I went to Costa Rica. Handmade treasures from street vendors

1. I love handmade things from others even more than my own. I'm an Etsy nut.

2. Saturday mornings and Thursday nights.

3. Cushy carpet after five years of hardwood apartment floors. Yummy.

4. A Kiss to Build a Dream On – Louis Armstrong. Thanks Pandora, for the new favorite song.

5. Casting-on and binding off.

Very fun indeed.

2011-03-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got a handy little tool for storing, editing, enlarging, lighting up and propping up my patterns.

When the first iPad came out I really thought it was silly. That is, until I realized how it could become one of my most powerful knitting tools – behind my interchangeable needles, of course.

In the few days I've had this little guy (haven't named it yet, but surely will) I've added my favorite files to iBooks and Dropbox – making them easily accessible for knitting. For my patterns-to-be, Quickoffice is a simple editing tool for .doc and .xls files. Not all of these programs let me enlarge content as much as I'd like, but all present it at a perfectly readable size when propped up a few feet in front of me on the coffee table.

There's still plenty to figure out but I think we're going to get along beautifully. The only drawback so far is the cameras kind of stink.

On another knitterly but very different topic, I have a few more spring patterns to share. (Click the images to enlarge.)

Lacy Valence in Firefly – Crocheted Mat in Summer Sox – Herringbone Curtain Panel in Allegoro

All three are available in Home Sweet Home, a new pattern booklet from Classic Elite that is filled with designs for the home. It was photographed in a greenhouse and is just a beautiful booklet to look through. Taking these pieces out of their home element really makes them pop!

The Lacy Valence is one of my favorite designs in my design portfolio. There is nothing complicated about it. The rod pocket is done while knitting, omitting any need for seaming, and the curtain is knit as a rectangle with a simple eyelet pattern. The eyelets flow into a more complex pattern at the bottom and the curtain is then drawn up with cords in finishing.

Firefly is a wonderfully drapey yarn and couldn't be more perfect for this sort of project. It easily blocks open and the finished fabric is slinky. I wish I had about twice as many hours in every day so I could knit up a trio of these for the bay window...

While I'm at it, I'd like to note that today I cast on for sweater #4 in '11. Number three I designed and will not be released for a bit, but it surely counts because I also knit it. Number four is going to be a sleeveless top. My friends have assured me that sleeveless tops still count as sweaters, but I admit I feel like I'm cheating, just a bit.

Happy knitting!

Seedlings

2011-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

I, for one, am more than ready for spring. And it looks like the lettuce and wisterias are just about ready too.

My knitting is also coming along quite nicely. Sweaters #1 and #2 are bound off, blocked and in heavy rotation in my winter closet. Sweater #3 is a secret (but it'll premiere before the year is over) and will be done in a few weeks.

I've already decided that #4 is going to be the Chiton pullover from the cover of Knitscene but I'm being good and only knitting one sweater at a time. It feels a lot like progress, I may even up the stakes to 12 in '11. It does make for nice, even math...

Happy weekend!

p.s. another one of my favorite recent designs premiered this week – the Woodland Turtle Cowl. I do have to say, I absolutely love how this one looks/wears/fits/is made to be under pea coats.

Wisteria: My First Sweater

2011-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

Here she is. My very first sweater design. Wisteria is knit in Soft Linen and is part of the collection in Perennials, recently published by Classic Elite. It is the simplest of knits--a short sleeved, yoke top knit from the top down with flared sleeves and a cinch at the hips.

When I worked at my LYS, it was a 3 mile round trip that I walked on most days. Everything changed when I got an 'all-grown-up' job and started driving to work. After a few months at the desk I gained about 15 pounds (some would argue it was a good thing, I'm munchkin-sized).

I designed Wisteria with positive ease to hide my new smooshy parts. The open neck sits on the shoulders and the body of the sweater is loose fitting down to the cinch at the hip. The cord pocket is worked into the piece as it is knit and an i-cord tie means the sweater can fit just right on many different shapes and sizes. Soft Linen has just enough drape to give the fabric movement and animal fibers in the yarn keep the fabric from being sheer.

I do have to admit I think this piece still looks great on the slim model; it's sweater for many sizes. And in plain stockinette, it's also a sweater for many skill levels. Having already knit this piece for CEY, I think I may make one for myself in Firefly. It will take more sizing and calculations (different weight yarn) but one yoked top later, I'm up for the challenge...

Scraps

2011-02-10T05:27:00.000-08:00

Since I began knitting (about five years ago), I have kept my scraps. They piled up and eventually became a substantial part of my stash. After I added the "queen chair" to the apartment, I needed a cozy rug for my chilly toes underneath the chair. Filling that need became the ultimate use of my scrap collection.

The pattern is a shorter, chunkier version of the Sancelia scarf, with scraps held quadrupled. It is mostly wool (my fiber of choice) and almost entirely dk and worsted weight yarns. The rug weighs 1.75 lbs / 794 grams and uses the equivalent of 16 50 gram balls. I did not purchase any extra yarn or break into any complete stash skeins to finish it.

This was certainly an interesting visualization of the colors I use most (and least). It was also very fun to work through my scraps, four strands at a time, and remember old projects. It would be impossible to purchase yarn for this sort of project that would include so many shades and variation.

To keep the rug in place, I found a non-slip rug pad that added a bit of extra cushion. It is the perfect finish to my queen chair and knitting corner....

Boyfriend's Montera Set

2011-01-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

Originally I set out to design a pair of mittens. I got distracted after the first mitten and knit a matching hat (I love hats). Lucky for boyfriend, eventually I finished the second mitten and completed Dave's Montera Set. Head over to this week's Web-Letter from Classic Elite for the free pattern.

The stitch pattern is a little magical. It is lovely in a solid color as the texture creates an almost-woven look. However, in two colors the pattern adds texture to the stripes--which is just as cool.

I whipped up the hat in a day while watching football (oh, those jubilant days when the Pats were playing so well...). The mittens would have gone just as quickly, if it weren't for my aversion to DPNs.

Boyfriend has been wearing the set non-stop through the recent, relentless New England blizzards and, I am thrilled to report, he approves of the thick and insulating yarn (and he's picky!). Boyfriend is from the south and pleasing his discriminating taste in winter accessories is no small feat.

Happy winter, everyone. I hope it's over soon so we can start the vegetable garden :).

Azami, mohair and a Diamond Cap

2011-01-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

She's done...

Azami was a beautifully-written pattern and a pleasure to knit. It's a too dark now for a real beauty shot--I'll post a few action shots soon. I knit the pattern as written, but decided to omit the hood and finish the neck without a collar.

It is avery, very difficult for me to put down a project when I have Soft Linen on the needles. It has the crispy-ness I love about wooly yarns (from the linen and wool) and the softness and drape of the other yarns (from the linen and alpaca). Soft Linen just wants to be exactly whatever I happen to be knitting.

Soft Linen is also the yarn that I used to design my very first original sweater, Wisteria (CEY Spring 2011). It is a simple, yoked peasant top with a cinched waist and flared sleeves. Stay tuned...

After finishing Azami, I was determined not to miss a beat and cast on Corona in Giselle:

Corona is also seamless. It isn't that I don't like finishing, I'm just always amazed that anyone can knit a garment to fit the human body in one fluid stretch. The original pattern is entirely in stockinette with eyelet details at the raglan increases. To make the knitting more interesting, I've added a vandyke leaf panel down the right front and back. I'm aiming to complete Corona by the end of the month...we shall see.

And finally, in this sprint to catch up on my knitterly happenings, have you seen my Kumara Diamond Cap from the CEY web-letter? I adore this one-skein cap and have already knit two.

I have a plain cream colored pea coat and a black and white houndstooth pea coat. Before the winter began I was determined to would have a red cap to go with both coats this year. I also wanted to design a hat for adventurous beginners. The knit/purl stitches create a lovely diamond pattern that is far greater than the individual stitches. The double decreases neatly work into the pattern, creating a star on top of the cap.

Today a Raveler cast on the 40th cap. I have really enjoyed watching Ravelers make this cap and then make it again. Thanks to everyone who has posted pictures!

Poncho Pança

2011-01-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

When I was a senior in college, the day before Valentine's Day I walked into the pet store to get a hamster. There I met Poncho, then left to think about it. Hours later I brought home my first baby ratlet. At the store, they told me that a rat was a much better substitute for the ferret that I really wanted (but couldn't afford).

They were spot on. He was one month old when I brought him home.

Not only did he have the cutest ears I'd ever seen, he was incredibly affectionate and clever. We lost him last night, exactly 23 months after I brought him home--his 2nd birthday, to general failure.

Love you, Poncho Pança...my Little Mister.

Here he is weeks ago, playing in the torn up Christmas wrappings.

And my favorite video--we'd take him and his brother Tito to play at the park. No leashes needed for either of them. They'd come when we whistled (which is exactly what he does at the end of the video). That is, if we could get them to wander away from us long enough to come back. They always liked to stay close.

"Well, first, I ride behind him. Then he fights. And then I pick him up off the ground." Sancho Pança, from Don Quixote.

11 in '11

2011-01-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Last night, in true Meg tradition, I flew solo and finished a big knitting project. As the ball dropped on the east coast I was pinning a Swallowtail Shawl (yarn unknown).

Boyfriend and I are actually calling this the get out of Chicago shawl. During the Christmas blizzard we were stranded at Chicago Midway, hoping for standby tickets after spending one night in the windy city. I finished the body repeat as the first plane to Boston began boarding. Then they announced 4 standby openings and we got two of 'em. It's a lot amazing because there were at least 3 flights to Boston cancelled before this flight--that's a lot of stranded travelers.

Since it's been a while (holiday knitting, had too many gifts on the needles to blog), I'll jump to the next big knitting event.

In November or so, I decided the best way to learn the ins and outs of sweater construction would be to make a bunch of sweaters. Around 12:30 last night I began my 11 sweaters in 2011 challenge with Azami in Soft Linen (color is Smokey Rose).

And that needle is part of my brand new Addi Lace Click set (join takes little getting used to, but I love the nickel plated lace tips). It's a big challenge, considering my record with sweater knitting. 2010 seemed to be the year of the lace shawl for me, and I'm excited to make this the sweater year.

Calliope

2010-11-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Here's Calliope, a simple hat pattern with endless styling and embellishing possibilities.

(click any image to enlarge)

She begins with a tie casing and continues entirely in garter stitch--all worked flat. Garter stitch creates a lovely fabric with both drape and stretch--especially when worked in Fresco. This yarn has enough twist to add spring and stretch to the stitches while maintaining the perfect amount of drape (not to mention it is delightfully soft and warm).

My days working at the yarn store gave me a special appreciation for beginner friendly patterns that look elegant and appealing. Calliope has two options for the tie casing for both beginner and intermediate knitters. The stitches and skills required are:

Casting on
Knitting and purling (flat)
Decreasing (k2tog)
Seaming (both vertical and horizontally, with garter stitch)

The intermediate version includes instructions with a Provisional Cast On, which omits the horizontal seam.

This pattern includes two letter sized pages with multiple photos (on both pages), list of abbreviations and detailed instructions that are in the same clean, professional layout as my freebies.

To celebrate my first for-sale pattern, I'm offering Calliope at a discounted $2 until Tuesday, November 23. On Tuesday the price will increase to $3 at noon (eastern time). For the discount, use promo code "calliope3" during checkout.

Fair isle, a hat and a day of football

2010-11-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

It's that magic time of year again. Along with football season, my holiday knitting is in full swing and keeps me busy on Sunday afternoons. It is also the time of year that boyfriend begins to imagine his new winter hat and starts offering to design the charts if I'll do the knitting. Last time we ended up with the Marching Bears Hat, a fun but demanding chart without any repeats.

This year I agreed to knit another 'boyfriend original' with a few conditions: floats no longer than 5 stitches, and repeats no longer than 20 stitches. His conditions were pretty simple: it has to fit just right and it has to be a solid and a self striper.

After my halloween rally hat, the solid had to be Fresco. The striper is Silk Garden Sock and both yarns are in colors that are just right. His chart is remarkably easy to follow and (almost) sticks to my conditions.

It makes me excited to see what next year's boyfriend hat will be...

2010-11-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Just like ~200,000 other people, boyfriend and I decided it would be a fun idea to go to Washington D.C. for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. We decided to do the (in)sane thing and take an overnight train to DC, rally away, then take an overnight train back to Boston.

I actually slept quite well on the train. At least, as well as one can expect to sleep on a train that stops in every metro area between Boston and DC. We got in around 7am Saturday morning and made our way to the national mall (not hard to do when all of Union Station is migrating to the same place).

Here's us with our just-woke-up faces and Congress behind us. (notice the rally hat?)

We weren't the first there, but we were first enough that we were able to stand really close to the stage.

Having nothing to sit on for the remaining five hours between us and Jon Stewart, we debated the pros and cons of standing in the same spot for five hours vs. touring a city that I'd never seen before. We decided to see a little scenery and risk losing sight of the stage for the show.

Did you know it's almost two miles from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial? By the time we made that round trip it was nearly rally time. We made a quick stop at the WWII memorial to represent:

Boyfriend's actually thumbs upping his Grateful Dead hat, he just doesn't know it ;).

Then made our way back to the edge of the crowd, now two projection screens back from the stage. It was almost rally time, but I got in a little sock knitting anyway.

When it began, there was laughing.

And plenty of sanity with Stewart. The stage is actually just to the right of that dude's hat. Not terribly far away, but far enough that we couldn't see anything happening.

When all was said and done, everyone seemed genuinely pleased, ready to pee, and very hungry. It took a couple hours for us to get anywhere, which happened to be the Museum of Natural History. It took even longer for us to find a place to eat that wasn't booked through the night.

Then we made our way back to Union Station and got back on the overnight train.

Success.

New Pattern – Lush Sampler Cowl

2010-10-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

I had hopes of going to bed early tonight but my plan was foiled when I ventured over to Twitter to see what everyone was up to.

"Just for fun - a montage of some of today's most-visited pattern pages: http://skitch.ravelry.com/skitched-20101027-173655.jpg" says @ravelry.

Here's what's behind the link:

I think I actually made a sound. Can't quite say what kind of sound, but this one definitely got my attention. You see the very first pattern, that one right there on the top left corner, just happens to be my most recent contribution to the CEY Web-Letter.

I'm a swatcher and I love to knit in the round, and the Lush Sampler Cowl is my rendition of one super-sized functional swatch. Now I'm wondering how it might look in Magnolia...

Anywho, it's a freebie, so what's not to love?

Halloween Beaumont

2010-10-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

That yarn did manage to knit itself into a Halloween Hat. It's a Beaumont Tam in Fresco:

The chart is the same size/number of stitches as the original hat, but I wanted to jazz it up a bit for Halloween and our upcoming trip to DC. The charts were actually really easy to modify and the stitch counts worked out perfectly without much finagling with the text.

I started the ribbing Friday night and finished the whole tam by Saturday evening. I am a huge fan of fair isle, but was amazed to see how quickly Fresco knits up in stranded work.

My new obsession with Fresco continues with a two tams that I designed last spring, but haven't published a pattern for just yet. Both are in Fresco, very very beginner friendly, and will possibly be available soon. Here's a little preview:

I adore winter hat season.

Photogenic Chair

2010-10-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went fishing (read: casting practice) and decided it was a good day to hunt down a TV stand--something that I've put off for over two years. After all, what makes anything a TV table is putting a TV on top of it. Boyfriend disagrees, and I'm glad. It took a little Craigslist sleuthing, but now we have a real TV stand and the cords are finally hidden.

But before Craigslist and after fishing, we antiqued our way home. It was then that I saw this chair. The antique shop described it as an "upholstered chair from the 1960's" and also had a few other gems from the same source.

It wasn't until after I left the chair behind, slept on it, woke up thinking about it, purchased it after work, and rearranged the living room, that I finally realized that I have far too many house plants.

Seeing as this is a yarn blog, not a chair or a plant blog, I was determined to keep on topic when I got out the big camera tonight.

It looks good with brown, autumn-y colors (my personal favorite to play with):

And it also looks good with bold, Halloween-y colors (if I keep thinking about it, this may turn into a Halloween hat for our trip to the Rally to Restore Sanity):

It really reminds me of a velvet blue rocking chair my mom had when I was a kid. This doesn't look unlike that chair, except hers was definitely a lot more comfortable and it was a full blown chair--padded all the way to the floor. But hers, like mine, was velvet and she had it as long as I hope to have this chair. And she loves blue and I love green. And I think peridot is a pretty great color when it comes to greens.

This is the first piece of nice furniture I've ever owned. Which is to say the store didn't write the price on it with a crayon, scratches aren't its defining feature, and it didn't come from IKEA.

Most importantly though, it looks good with me in it.

What next?

2010-10-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Mittens, I think. Out of a ball of my handspun wool with one ply of white and one ply of hand-painted browns/oranges/greens/pinks. EZ mitered mittens, is my plan.

Trixie Shawl

2010-10-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well hello there. It hasn't even been a week and here we are again, with one more free pattern. I could get used to this––publishing patterns is a lot of fun.

If you are a subscriber to the Classic Elite Web-Letter, you already know about the Pink Scarves project released this week. If not, head on over and read all about it here.

My contribution to the Web-Letter was a pink shawlette, the Trixie Shawl:

It's a freebie pattern, it is available here--> CEY Web-Letter 159 where there's PDF links for this and other free scarves.

Since publishing the pattern, I have had several inquiries about written instructions, which are not part of the original pattern. Welp, below are the written instructions for the charts for those of you who prefer that format. Two things:

Along with the below instructions you will need the original pattern from CEY for pattern requirements, and the actual pattern itself.
I translated the charts into written instructions between dinner and desert tonight, so if you find any errors, please let me know :).

In recognition of breast cancer awareness month, if you enjoy this pattern I encourage you to make a donation of whatever is within your budget to support a hospital or charity that is important to you. And it doesn't have to be money, check with your local hospital/charity--many gladly accept caps and other knit items.

Set-up Chart

(panel of1 st inc’d to 21 sts; 20 rows)

Row 1: (RS) Yo, k1, yo.

Row 2 andall WS rows: Purl.

Row 3: Yo,k3, yo.

Row 5: Yo,k5, yo.

Row 7: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k3, yo.

Row 9: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 11:Yo, k5, yo, k2tog, k4, yo.

Row 13:Yo, knit to end, yo.

Row 15: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k6, k2tog, yo, k3, yo.

Row 17: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 19: Yo,k5, yo, k2tog, k6, yo, k2tog, k4, yo.

Row 20:(WS) Purl.

Work Rows1 – 20 for Set-up Chart Pattern.

Tulip Lace

(panel of8 sts + 13 inc’d to multiple of 8 sts + 21; 8 rows)

Row 1:(RS) Yo, knit to end, yo.

Row 2 andall WS rows: Purl.

Row 3: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k3, *k3, k2tog, yo, k3; rep from * to end, yo.

Row 5: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1, *k2, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1; rep from *until 1 st remains, k1, yo.

Row 7: yo,k5, yo, k2tog, k2, *k4, yo, k2tog, k2; rep from * until 2 sts rem, k2, yo.

Row 8:(WS) Purl.

RepeatRows 1 – 8 for Tulip Lace Pattern.

Border Lace

(panel of16 sts+5 inc’d to multiple of 16 sts +31; 25 rows)

Row 1:(RS) Yo, knit to end, yo.

Row 2 andall WS rows: Purl.

Row 3: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, *k6, k2tog, yo, k6, k2tog, yo; rep from * until 3 sts rem, k3,yo.

Row 5: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k1, *yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k1; repfrom * until 4 sts rem, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 7: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k2, *k1, yo, ssk, k4, yo, k2tog, k3, k2tog, yo, k2; rep from *until 5 sts rem, k1, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 9: Yo,k2, k2tog, yo, k3, *k2, yo, ssk, k7, k2tog, yo, k3; rep from * until 6 sts rem,k2, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 11: Yo,[k2, k2tog, yo] twice, *k3, yo, ssk, k5, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog, yo; rep from *until 7 sts rem, k3, yo, ssk, k2, yo.

Row 13:Yo, [k2, k2tog, yo] twice, k1, *yo, ssk, k2, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k2, k2tog,yo, k1; rep from * until 8 sts rem, [yo, ssk, k2] twice, yo.

Row 15:Yo, k4, yo, ssk, k3, yo, *k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k5, yo, ssk, k3, yo; rep from *until 10 sts rem, k2tog, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, yo.

Row 17:Yo, k6, yo, ssk, k3, *k2, k2tog, yo, k7, yo, ssk, k3; rep from * until 10 stsrem, k2, k2tog, yo, k6, yo.

Row 19:Yo, k2, k2tog, yo, k4, yo, ssk, k2, *k1, k2tog, yo, k3, k2tog, yo, k4, yo, ssk,k2; rep from * until 11 sts rem, k1, k2tog, yo, k3, k2tog, yo, k3, yo.

Row 21:Yo, k2, [k2tog, yo] twice, k4, yo, ssk, k1, *k2tog, yo, k3, [k2tog, yo] twice,k4, yo, ssk, k1; rep from * until 12 sts rem, k2tog, yo, k3, [k2tog, yo] twice,k3, yo.

Row 23: Yo,k2, [k2tog, yo] three times, k4, yo, sk2p, *yo, k3, [k2tog, yo] three times,k4, yo, sk2p; rep from * until 12 sts rem, yo, k3, [k2tog, yo] three times, k3,yo.

Row 25:Yo, k2, [k2tog, yo] four times, k4, yo, *k2tog, k2, [k2tog, yo] four times, k4,yo; rep from * until 15 sts rem, k2tog, k2, [k2tog, yo] four times, k3, yo.

Work Rows1 – 25 for Border Lace Pattern.

Calavera Scarflet

2010-10-02T09:52:00.004-07:00

It's done!

To be more accurate, it actually has been done for a while. It was picking out the buttons that took the longest. After I spun the yarn, I had a hank of plush faux cashmere that would stripe beautifully if paired with the right pattern. And so the Calavera Scarflet came to be.

Skill Level: Easy

Measurements:5½” wide, 23” long

MATERIALS:

Yarn: Handspun Faux Cashmere, fiber fromKnittinK (Etsy), Alan Scott aka Green Lantern colorway, 4 oz, approx 100 yards.

Yummycommercial alternative: Ariosaby Classic Elite Yarns (use doubled, 2 skeins, approx 87 yards each)

Needles: One pair US 10½ (6.5 mm)

Buttons: Two 1¼” buttons, mine are from Happy Silence (Etsy)

GAUGE:19 sts = 5½” in pattern.

CALAVERASCARFLET

Using long tail cast on, cast on 19 stitches.Knit one row. Begin seed and stockinette pattern:

Row 1: K2, [p1, k1] twice, p1, k5, [p1, k1]twice, p1, k2.

Row 2: P2, [p1, k1] twice, p6, [p1, k1] twice,p3.

Row 3: repeat Row 1.

Row 4: repeat Row 2.

Row 5: repeat Row 1.

Row 6: P7, [k1, p1] twice, k1, p7.

Row 7: K7, [k1, p1] twice, k8.

Row 8: repeat Row 6.

Row 9: repeat Row 7.

Row 10: repeat Row 6.

Repeat rows 1 – 10 until piece measures 20” (or approx 3” shorter than you want the finished scarflet to be). Work rows 1 – 6 of seed and stockinette pattern once more.Buttonhole row 1: K2, bind off 3sts, k2, [k1, p1] twice, k3, bind off 3 sts, k2. Buttonhole row 2: P2, cast on 3 stitches using backward loop caston method, p2, [k1, p1] twice, p3, cast on 3 stitches, p2. Work rows 9 and 10 once then rows 1 – 5 of pattern once more. Knit one row. Bind off all stitches.

FINISHING:

Sew on buttons underneath button holes, weave in ends and blockpiece to desired measurements.

I didn't worry about making a PDF for Ravelry, but the design is listed so queue away :). I chose Ariosa as a good alternative (when used doubled) because it has the same super-soft, squishy feel as my handspun. With Ariosa's loose ply, it almost has a handspun look when knit up doubled:

Happy October!

Celebrate Crafting

2010-09-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

Living in the WBGH broadcast area has made me a complete PBS nut. I just caught the last half of Craft in America (the "Origins" episode) and although knitting was not discussed, it made me very proud to be a crafter. I highly recommend it. You can watch full episodes online at PBS.org.

The "Process" episode is just now coming on and I can't hardly wait to settle down with a ball of yarn and some needles to craft along.

ETA – I don't post nearly enough here, so I'm not going to do two posts in a day.

(Actual conversation when boyfriend got home from work tonight)

Him: The bartender at work today was wearing a seed stitch sweater.
Me: Wow, was it handmade?
Him: No.
Me: How so?
Him: I could tell by the shoulder seams.
(minutes later)
Him: I also saw a little girl in a crochet poncho on my way to work. It looked handmade.

One could say that I have him trained. Or that he's met my prerequisites for peaceful cohabitation.

I'm racing to complete four major-ish projects today. One of them I can even show you as it isn't part of a to-be-released collection. It's a pink, garter stitch shawl with a bit of a Fibonacci pattern out of a few hanks of my handspun. There might even be a pattern. More about that when I have better photos.

Double ETA (I'm on a roll, huh?):

Poncho was extra cute this week.

My boys actually smile. They relax into a vacant expression then slowly reveal a very, very toothy grin. This isn't quite a smile, but it is definitely a happy ratlet.

More of the same

2010-09-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

I love this yarn. I'm knitting it up into a simple scarf and it is striping exactly how I wanted it to. Now remember, this is my first attempt at navajo plying to preserve the beautiful-ness of the hand-painted fiber. So this is kind of a big deal.

There's not a lot of yarn, so there's not going to be a lot of scarf either. It will just be long enough to wrap around my neck and have the ends meet in front. The success of this scarf all depends on finding the perfect set of buttons. For now, I absolutely love this project.

Spinning

2010-08-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

I've been spinning again. And no, I don't have a thing for purple and green together, I just happen to have a coleus the same colors as my yarn.

This time, it's faux cashmere from KnittinK (Alan Scott colorway, 4.3 oz). Isn't it great, there's a web site for everything.

I picked up this braid of fiber and another in blue and brown at a handmade fair down the street a few weeks ago. I'm a particuarly bad shopper at handmade festivals--I tend to go for inspiration only. I have enough of my own handmade "treasures", thanks. But good job, I morally support your own handmade efforts entirely.

Faux cashmere is predictably soft, and the fibers are quite slick but have a great staple length. To keep it all together I overspun the single quite a bit more than usual to keep the fibers from sliding past each other and pulling apart.

It didn't take long for me to decide that this single would lead to my first attempt navajo plying. The colors were just too great the finished yarn would loose the great hand-painted effect if I plied two singles for a muddy, variegated 2-ply.

A hand-painted yarn such as this, with such high contrast complementary colors, needed the colors to stay separate. It just did. So I did it. My first-ever navajo ply (it was about time).

It's a little bumpy here and there and the twist is a bit random. But it's yarn and I'll be able to knit with it. And that's all it takes.

Go me. Now I need to go knit something.

It's Summertime... ♫

2010-07-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Starting blogs--setting up the designs and choosing the pallets--is great fun. When it comes to updating said blogs, I leave something to be desired. We'll just call it my summer break and you can assume I've been spending absolutely all of my free time crunching numbers and clinking away with the needles. You'll have to take my word for it and wait for next spring to see what I've been up to.

In the meantime, here's a fun, little, long-term project I have:

"Little" because I love knitting hats. "Long-term" because if I bothered to make a New Year's resolution, it would having something to do with knitting a hat every month to donate. A few of these are from last year, but all of these will make their way back to home-sweet-home Colorado as chemo caps for the local hospital or hats for La Puente.

I love to make hats--try new patterns, test my new patterns, swatch ideas--but once they're complete, they turn into more clutter that I have no interest in keeping. Destash and donate. Hmm, kinda sounds like a slogan.

Felted Flower Bowl on the KnitFinder blog

2010-05-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we moved to a new (and much larger) apartment a few towns closer to where I work. This weekend we finally have internet again. The move and all of the work that comes with transplanting has almost brought my knitting to a complete stop.

However, last Tuesday Therese, the force behind KnitFinder, featured my Felted Flower Bowl in her weekly pattern roundup. I couldn't hardly believe someone would be interested in promo-ing my little pattern, it made my day!

The Flower Bowls I've seen from other people so far have been lovely. It makes me want to put off the unpacking for the rest of the day and swatch a few more ideas...

CEY free beret and other patterns in the works

2010-04-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

At long last, this pattern is published and available as a Classic Elite Yarns Web-Letter freebie. This little gem happened a few months ago (I say happened but I really mean that I spent a week scrutinizing every lace pattern in my Barbara Walker library to get it just right).

As I said in the Web-Letter, I am in love with this yarn. Unfortunately, February isn't Soft Linen's peak season and the pattern had to ripen. This is a big personal milestone, as it is my first professionally published pattern. So, celebrate with me and cast on!

In other news, the seedlings I mentioned in the Web-Letter are doing great:

Those are green bell peppers and jack-o-lantern pumpkins, sown about three weeks ago on the same afternoon. I also have cayenne peppers and and basil seedlings just beginning to show.

I'm upgrading to an apartment with a backyard on the first and I can't hardly wait to get my plants in the ground. In the meantime, I'm finishing up another myMegMarieknits hat pattern. Here's a little hint for now:

After playing with lace since I discovered the beauty of lace shawls while home for Christmas, I have finally pried myself away from the the charts. Lately I've been rediscovering how beautiful garter stitch is, especially when paired with the right yarn. I seem to have found it in the wrong season, but Fresco is lovely.

Lilliput Hat in Montera

2010-04-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

This began as a gauge swatch for a tank top that I've yet to make (but have every intention of starting soon!). I needed to test the lace pattern in the round. Two movies later I had a hat. After scribbling down the pattern I knit a second hat just to make sure my first success wasn't a fluke.

So here you have it, the Lilliput Hat – download now

(click images to enlarge)

I have an endless supply of ideas for patterns, if only I could knit fast enough. My creative juices for naming, however, aren't quite so plentiful. This is a quick, short hat to knit. So are the Lilliputians in Gulliver's Travels, which I happen to be reading at the moment.

On a completely different note, my Felted Flower Bowl pattern has 5 projects on Ravelry and three hundred downloads in the one week it's been available. Woah.

Happy knitting.

Felted Flower Bowl – A new pattern for a new blog

2010-04-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

Moving my knitting life to its own dedicated blog is well underway and I have a newly published original pattern to celebrate.

Felted Flower Bowl – download now
(click images to enlarge)

Another felt-able done in 28 rounds from the outside edge in. I've been using the brown bowl as a catch-all for my notions and stitch markers. The brown and red bowls are done in Cascade 220 and the purple bowl is Montera by Classic Elite.

Along with the new web site I have also re-designed the look and layout of my patterns. Slowly I'm also updating and re-releasing old originals. My Felted Hook Vase is also updated and available to download.

More to come soon!