Will - O - Wisp

It's getting colder, the sky is dull and grey, and we all settle to nest in an knit... But it's also the time where leaves are starting to fall, the sun breaks through and you go on a stroll througth the beautiful changing forests. It's not cold enough to take out your warm winter jacket, but cold enough for an additional layer.

Will - O - Wisp is perfect for the changing seasons. It can be worn around your neck, but it's also big enough to wrap around all of yourself for that additional layer of warmth when the wind picks up. And I do mean all of yourself - as the pic shows below, it's even big enough for me. And I'm not a tiny person.

The lacy triangles remind me of the little, playful wisps of wind that swirl around you on those breezy autumn days. Wisp from Dream in Color is a gorgeous laceweight in silk and wool that's just wonderful to snuggle up in. I love the subtle shine of the silk content, and it's just heavenly soft. And yes, the pun is intended.

I'm really happy with this shawl. I'm even tempted to knit it again in a slightly heavier yarn. And by the way, the pattern includes a little variation paragraph - if you follow my blog, you probably already know I love versatility in my patterns.

Klick on the tab designs above to see all of my works.

Kite Shawl goes print!

I'm so exited, my first pattern is going to get published in print! Stackpole books accepted my Universal Kite Shawl/lette for their new Beginner's knitting book "Basic Knitting and Beyond". I'm really exited about this. I've always been quite proud of the Kite Shawl, and I'm so happy that it'll get published in print!

Funny fact: My first pattern ever is also going to be my first published pattern in print.

This is the original Kite shawl, a warm and cushy version of the pattern.

For the book, I'm going to knit a lighter version using the gorgeous Malabrigo sock. Here are my chosen colors in Cote D'Azure and Archangel:

And last but not least, I feel a little bad that I've ignored this blog a little in the last couple of weeks. Sadly, I'm working on two patterns that I can't share here right now, but now I've got another project I can update you with regularly!

Monogamous knitting + designing? Impossible!

Designing knits totally messed up my way of knitting. I was knitting along happily on one project after another - and I still try to do that. But designing totally messed up my scedule. Now all is sorted in priorities, sceduled, and one project often has to wait a while otn. But that also means I can share my progress on several things! Remeber those socks that I talked about last time? Yeah, they are now in time-out, and will be a while. While pondering about the pattern, I started the long planned reboot of the strings, freaturing armwarmers, and a second color-placement option.

So, this is how far I got with one armwarmer - one is almost done. As you can see, there's quite a lot of shaping - and all happens in the area of the main chart, which is why it looks a little extreme off the arm. But it looks perfectly nice when worn! In case you haven't participated yet - I'm still collecting data on forearm measurements for perfectly fitting armwarmers.

 

And I started on my shawl design for DIC. The darker color, called "Indigo", is stronger variegated than I expected - but I love it. After all, that's the fun of hand-dyed yarns, right?

This is the first wedge knitted up - I'm going sideways, and there will be fun, lacy short row sections in a lighter blue. Can't wait to see how the lighter color will knit up - I'm sure it'll fit great with the Indigo. I'll share more pictures with you as soon as I'm further into the pattern.

And another design in progress - but here, I can show you nothing more than two finished cuffs which I have to rip and reknit. This will be another heavily cabled sock pattern, quite similar to my T-socks; The yarn color is not my first choice, but it has a really nice shine thanks to the silk content. My stepmom requested socks in a dark green or grey to go with her Tracht, and this yarn is the perfect match for that and I'm sure she'll love the color. This pattern is already a special first for me - I had some time today, and this is the first design that I have finished writing completely before cracking into the knit. It's so much easier if you have a similar patten to work from.

Shawl love

Let me start this post by saying: I was never a shawl person.

No, seriously. I never even remotely considered buying a shawl. Then why, you might ask, was your first design ever, of all things possible, a shawl?

Yeah, well, I needed to get deep into knitting to discover how great shawls can be. Things you can knit, you just can't buy. You can't hang around in ravelry as much as I do, and not notice how much people rave about shawls. So I had to try it. And I really loved the art-deco look of all those multi-colored shawl patterns. Thus, my Kite shawl was born. And really, I love it. I wore it every day in winter.

Despite that, a long time, I totally ignored lace shawls. I just didn't see the appeal. Yes, a lot of the lace patterns are really beautiful, but not something I'd wear. But again... you can't hang around ravelry without hearing people rave about lace shawls. So naturally, because I'm a curious person, I had to try, and started swatching. And what you don't see in the pictures - how cushy and nice garter stitch in lace weight actually is! And when I saw that Dream in Color offered to work with designers for their new yarn base wisp, the deal for me was sealed. Looking at the gorgeous DIC colors always inspires me.

Yesterday, my DIC yarn arrived! Look at the gorgeous Wisp - and so soft! Now I only need to choose which one to use for CC. I've already wound the MC.

And this is my current comfort-knit. (Easy, second knit for those times when you're tired and/or don't want to mess with complicated details) Do you believe this is my first pair ever of vanilla socks?

the crazy finishing streak!

Back when I started knitting, I was, what is called a "monogamous knitter". I never had more than one project on the needles, and I was happy with it.

That was... well, a while back. Still, I like to work on only one project at a time... but sometimes, there are reasons to put things in time out! And that happened a lot to me lately. But last week, I was suddenly able to finish all my wips, and suddenly I had not a single one left! Oh, that great feeling of accomplishment! That feeling of freedom! I can now cast on something new!

First was this cardi that had accompanied me for more than a year now. I'm so happy it's finally over and done with. It had many names - the never ending cardi - the cardi of the many bobbins - and some other that I don't really remember anymore. This was not the most complicated, but surely the most tiring knit I ever had otn.

A look into the innards of the cardi - you can see the bobbins carried up and the wrong side of the berry stitch.

Second where the stockings I had otn for my Papa. This was a Christmas present. I was running late on Christmas and couldn't find any of the weird and obscure CD's he wanted, to I just packed three skeins and draw a fun "instruction manual" on a little piece of paper. How to use this present? Choose a skein, give it to the master of needles, and get a pair of socks. And then, my "evil" stepmom had one ingenious idea. "Why not knit stockings instead? You could use some!" she said to my dad. I really love her, but I really wanted to strangle her at that moment. But yeah, she was true, my Papa has only one old ugly worn-through pair of stockings, so I had to knit some.

Ever knit a man's pair of stockings? Not fun, I assure you. This pair is the equivalent of two really tall socks for me, or 3-4 normal pairs of socks for normal feeted women. Over 800 m of yarn!!!

In between waiting for fitting on these two projects for other people, I had time to work on a third project. And still being a little bit of a more monogamous knitter, I just couldn't bring myself to cast on another project. And that was good, because I finally had a reason to pick up some wips! I'm really not bad - I had only two wips in hibernation. The first one was another pair of stockings for me, and I really found my love back for them. And although they were stockings - compared to the two projects above, they really were a fast knit. ;)

And after those three were finished, I was so happy with clearing out my wips that I took another sip (sock in progress). This one was a test knit, and I never made a mate for the first poor, lonely sock. This first sock is now happily ever after with it's mate!

And then I thought I'd go back to my monogamous knitting ways. Well... that didn't work so well. I knitted two toes for another pair of socks - then swatched the cable pattern and had to put it in time out since I couldn't decide immediately. Then I cast on a shawl. And one day after I cast on a shawl, the needles arrived that I need for my first big design. And since the sweater design has the highest priority, I started swatching for that.

But know what? I'm not even feeling bad about it. I have it all sorted in clear priorities, and I'm getting some progress on all. And maybe the sock toes won't grow in a while - but I know they will as soon as I'm not knitting on the other two for whatever reason. I'll never be a project hoarder, having dozens of lone socks lying around. My urge to knit on the things I have otn is just too big. And that feels good.

But now, how about some more pictures? The little swatch of the stitch pattern for my sweater design. I absolutely adore this texture! And it's easy to work, too!
(sorry for the bad pic. Sometimes the light situation just doesn't allow me to get good pics)

And the shawl in progress. It still looks boring at that stage, but the finished shawl will be constructed of several wedges in different angles, which looks really cool. I'm already loving this knit, and the yarn is heavenly! A mostly merino with some silk and cashmere from Dye for yarn. This yarn is really to die for! Or should I say dye for? They also have funny color names, this one is called "memory of a fearsome tale". It's purple in reality, but I must admit I was too lazy to edit the photo. My camera never gets purple right...