Archives for April 2016

Here is another cute book!

This is Wee Garter Stitch: Must-Have Knits for Modern Babies & Toddlers by Vickie Howell, a collection of 28 patterns for babies and toddlers that all feature garter stitch and that are all adorable!

The name Vickie Howell is probably familiar to you. Her bio:

Vickie Howell is a knit, crochet, and craft designer/evangelist with a penchant for DIY culture and social media marketing. Vickie is most well known as the former host and creative consultant of DIY Network & HGTV’s Knitty Gritty, her bestselling craft books, and her accessible, inclusive approach to nurturing the creative community via print, video, and social media. She’s the International Spokesperson & Creativity Guide for the largest North American yarn company, Yarnspirations, Yarn Arts Ambassador for Clover Needlearts, Inc, and she knits with viewers nationwide as the host and co-executive producer of PBS’ Knitting Daily TV with Vickie Howell. She lives in Austin, TX.

This new book is due out in May, and the projects are already shown on Ravelry, here. There’s a little bit of everything: sweaters, footwear, hats, blankets, a dress and a pair of pants, among other things. Some of my favorites:

Best Dress(ed) is a sweet sportweight colorwork dress. It’s worked from the top down in one piece.

Paper Chain Garland: how clever is this? And easy too! A beginner knitter could use this to practice technique using odds and ends and end up with a cute nursery decoration.

Snow Leopard Sweetie Bonnet: it doesn’t get much cuter than this! It’s knit in worsted weight yarn and the leopard spots are embroidered on afterwards.

Horseplay Zebra Mat: this is so clever! A “zebra-skin” rug knit from bulky weight chenille incorporates short rows to make the stripes more realistic.

Each project is cuter than the next. 🙂

The book also includes a very nice how-to section with large clear photos of techniques.

And with my review copy, they enclosed a set of Clover bamboo size 5 knitting needles, a size used for many of the projects in the book.

Since I don’t have any little ones to knit for, I’ll offer my copy and the needles to one of you. Who’d like this adorable book?

To be entered in the drawing for  Wee Garter Stitch: Must-Have Knits for Modern Babies & Toddlers by Vickie Howell, leave a comment on this blog post by Sunday, May 1, at which time a comment will be chosen at random.

Martin Storey Afghan KAL

I  did finish my squares for the 6th square pattern before the 7th square pattern was released, so I am still caught up.

For the 7th square, I’m not using the pattern provided. I decided to do something different. All will be revealed in the fullness of time!

Loki

Here is Loki right after he completed a full-on Thunder Kitty run!

And in one of his favorite places:

Again:

Loki thank you for the birthday wishes and he is delighted that so many of you have downloaded the Catnip Mouse pattern (free through the end of April with the code LOKI). He would also like all the kitties out there to know how much he loves his new Cat Ball. He highly recommends this: two paws up.

Stained Glass Cowl

In other news, my Stained Glass Cowl is done!

I knit this from 2 colorways of Wollmeise Pure: Schwarz and Tiefer See, and used two skeins of each color. Actual yardage: 1000 yards Schwarz and 800 yards Tiefer See. The resulting cowl is just under 80″ in circumference and approximately 9″ deep. The inside is worked in a simpler pattern than the outside.

The pattern is now available for sale in my Ravelry shop, and for a limited time, it is $3.00. It will go back up to the regular price of $5.00 at the end of the month.

You could knit one that is half the circumference and there are many many color combinations you could use. I think it would be lovely in a pink variegated with a brown solid. Or how about a gradient set with black? Or black and white? The possibilities are almost endless.

Books, Books, Books

The winner of my review copy of Highland Knits, Knitwear Inspired by the Outlander Series by Interweave is Melanie J., who has been emailed.

And, I have another book to review:

This is The Beginner’s Guide to Writing Knitting Patterns by Kate Atherley, new this month from Interweave. Not a book of patterns, but a book to teach you how to write patterns. Note only is Kate a knitting designer, but she is Knitty’s technical editor, so I firmly believe that she knows what she is talking about when it comes to writing good patterns.

I’ve been told by many who knit them that my patterns are well-written and easy to follow. I firmly believe that this is because I spent a number of years working as a technical writer, documenting complex software systems. I think there is no better preparation for writing knitting patterns — you don’t leave out a step in a user guide for an online acquisition system without disastrous consequences!

So I was pleased to read in the introduction of this book that before becoming a knit-design professional, Kate spent 15 years in the technology industry as a tech writer, documentation specialist, and marketing communications expert.

I feel vindicated.

This book covers pretty much everything you need to know and think about when writing patterns: what needs to be included in a pattern, sizing, schematics, charts, abbreviations, etc. It’s a lot to cover in 300 pages, but after reading through it, I think that anyone who has created an original knitted item and has copious notes could take the advice in this book and turn those notes into a clear pattern that others can follow.

Throughout the book there are snippets of information and advice from other knitting designers, and there are also many callouts from knitters Kate has interviewed titled “Don’t Just Take It From Me” — these are knitting pattern likes and dislikes from real knitters. One of my favorites was from a knitter who said not to describe your pattern as beautiful or exquisite — let her be the judge of that! But seriously, there is a lot of great information in those little callouts — knitters’ pet peeves and things they like to see and things they wish designers would include in patterns.

I’ll tell you right now — I’m keeping this book. While I pride myself on being a good pattern writer, there is always room for improvement, and this book will be a great resource to use for future pattern writing.

If you are a designer or a designer wannabe, you need this book!

Loki Sez:

I lead such a tough life!

Yesterday was Loki’s fifth birthday! In celebration, Loki would like you to have a free copy of my Nose-Up Catnip Mouse. Enter the code LOKI at check-out to get the pattern free of charge. The code is good through the end of the month.

I got Loki a cat ball for his birthday and he loves it!

Book Giveaway

The winner of my copy of Brooke Nico’s More Lovely Knitted Lace is Gail, who has bene emailed.

Squares

I haven’t reported on the Martin Storey Afghan KAL lately. Here are the first 6 squares (there are 8 total).

Are you a fan of the Outlander series on Starz? Then you might like this book:

This is Highland Knits, Knitwear Inspired by the Outlander Series by Interweave. It’s a collection of 16 patterns that, as the subtitle indicates, are inspire by the costumes in the series. You can view all the patterns here on Ravelry.

And you can download one of the patterns, the Sassenach Cowl, free, here.

You can purchase the book in paperback or in ebook format. If you buy from the Interweave store, you can get a 20% discount on the price through the month of April by entering the code OUTLANDER20 at checkout.

The patterns are all for accessories: cowls, shawls, handwarmers, socks, boot toppers. Some are very quick knits since they are worked in bulky yarns.

This sock pattern, Standing Stones Socks are knit in aran weight yarn:

They’d make a nice pair to wear around the house in the winter — aran weight socks would definitely keep your feet warm.

And I like these Herb Garden Gauntlets, knit from worsted weight yarn:

These would also work up quickly and make a nice quick gift.

So who’d like my review copy?

To be entered in the drawing to win my copy of Highland Knits, leave a comment on this post by noon next Wednesday, April 20, 2016.

Meanwhile at home, I am still plugging away on my Stained Glass Cowl. No photo until I am done!

And I’m playing with sketching apps for my iPad. Does this little guy look familiar?

She’s back with a new book:

This is More Lovely Knitted Lace by Brooke Nico, newly published by Lark Crafts. It has sixteen patterns that are organized by basic shape: circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. You can view all the patterns here on Ravelry.

I’ve picked some favorites. From the “Circles” section, I love the DeBauliver Top.

It is knit from Heaven’s Hand Silke, a 1005 mulberry silk yarn. In the book they say it is DK weight, on Ravelry it is listed as worsted. It’s a multidirectional knit and I can only imagine how fabulous the drape is in the 100% silk yarn.

In the “Triangles” section, my pick is the Peony Tam.

The sample is knit from SMC Extra Merino, a dk weight wool and it is knit from the center out.

In the “Squares” section, the Holly Shawl really stood out for me.

It’s knit from Schoppel Wolle Leinen Los, another DW weight yarn that is a wool/linen blend. (I’m picking all DK-weight projects here — not done on purpose!) While labor-intensive (look at all those nupps!) I think the results are well-worth the effort expended.

And finally, in the “Rectangles” section, I love the Primrose Tunic.

Knit from Debbie Bliss Angel, a laceweight mohair/silk blend (it looks like it’s comparable to Rowan Kidsilk Haze), each panel features a meandering vine pattern and the sample is knit in three different colors. You could use different colors or do a smashing monochrome version!

The patterns are clearly written with nice big charts and the photography, by Carrie Hoge, is exquisite.

Who’d like my review copy?

To be entered in the drawing to win my copy of s More Lovely Knitted Lace, leave a comment on this post by noon next Sunday, April 17, 2016.

Winners!

The winner of my copy of 60 Quick Cotton Knits: The Ultimate Cotton Collection in Ultra Pima™ from Cascade Yarns® is Kari M., who has been notified.

And the following people, identified by their Ravelry IDs have won cowl patterns from me: Sophy0075, PickleSoup, jdnrob, Ismenecat,Uny, SassyFrass, BCGramma, bufknitter, Swakins, knitandfiber, liso, monibknits, jdnrob, HLMauera, KaisaWM, Philhellene, brendac, and ccfan. Thanks everyone for weighing in on your favorites!

Excel for Knitting Charts

There were a number of questions in the comments after my last post, regarding using Excel for creating knitting charts. I do make the squares in my charts wider than they are tall so they more realistically resemble a knitted stitch. The ratio varies depending on the gauge of the item I’m working on, so rather than describe how I do it, I’ve uploaded a sample Excel Workbook that you can download, save, and use. I put a small chart in the corner and entered a few squares, using the Dingbat font, so you can see how to get started. Download here.

Now, you are on your own to figure out how to use it and make changes to it.

There was also a question sent to me about how I deal with the “jog” in colorwork when knitting in the round. For some of my cowl patterns, the ones knit “vertically,” I have a plain stripe of color at each side, so the jog is not visible. For the “horizontally” knit ones, it doesn’t seem to matter too much either. Here is my current cowl-in-progress shown at the beginning of the round:

Loki

Loki is showing off his toe-hawks.