How The West Was Spun

Pattern Release: Red Barn Set, Covered Bridge Cowl and Two-Horse Hitch Socks

Today I'm going to do a final pattern release for the remaining three patterns in the fall collection.  These are all accessory-sized pieces, and all of which are unisex pieces.

First up, the Red Barn Hat/Mittens set.  These are very simple, straightforward pieces knit in a soft, squishy Aran organic merino, the Brigit Worsted in my shop.  They are worked with a random ribbing.  The hat can be worn with the brim folded up, like a watchcap, or pull it back on your head to wear it more like a slouch. 

And a close-up of the mittens for you: 

Next!, the Two-Horse Hitch Socks features two sizes with  twisted stitch cable motifs down the leg and onto the foot. 

The smaller size was knit from one skein of The Woolen Rabbit's Harmony Sock yarn in the Birch Beer colorway.

The larger size was knit in Wooly Wonka Fibers Rhiannon Sock in the Bittersweet colorway. 

Finally, the Covered Bridge cowl, which comes in a small, snug-fitting style, and a longer, scarf/wrap-around style.   I loved working with the Brooklyn Tweed Shelter - such a great lofty yarn and it comes in a ton of wonderful colors!  The small cowl is knit in the Wool Socks colorway, and the longer cowl is knit in Nest.

More great photos from Kristen Brooks Photography and details on yardage, sizing, etc. on the respective project pages.  A huge thank you as well to my test knitters!

All for now....

New Pattern Release: Fallow Fields Pullover

This is the second project in my Fall in Vermont collection release.  The Fallow Fields Pullover is a unisex sweater with lots of interesting twisted stitch patterning and an occasional cable to keep you interested.  It's knitted in a lovely, soft alpaca/merino sportweight yarn from Trinity Ridge Alpacas in Texas, but any soft drapey sportweight yarn would work.  (I've suggested Berroco's Ultra Alpaca Light as a good substitute.)

While I blocked this version normally, I was really pleasantly surprised to find that, left unblocked, it completely changed this nice basic men's-shaped sweater into a gorgeously fitted, sophisticated silhouette due to the ribbing in the pattern.  The pattern is knit in pieces and seamed together, and then the twisted-stitch neckline is picked up and knit in the round.  

I wanted to convey the linear tracks left in the fields once the summer crops had been plowed under for the winter.  In fact, if you'd like to see my inspiration for this and the other designs in the collection, you can check out my Pinterest 

Next release in the collection up tomorrow!

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: September 19, 2012

First up - I have finished the final Fall in Vermont collection sample - the unisex sweater.  It's ready to go for the photo shoot.  I'm still working on finishing up the last details on charts and instructions for the tech editor.  (I find I need to be brain-fresh to do this, and realistically after spending an entire day on the computer at work, the evenings are not brain-fresh times for me).  But with a little bit of luck, this'll head off this week to get reviewed.

I am in the home stretch on my little beaded shawlette.  I think one more evening of knitting and it'll be off the needles and ready to block.  Test knitters are busily working on this one, so I believe it'll be ready for an early October release!

With my big sweater project off the needles, I decided what I needed was a fairly brainless project, something pretty simple, pretty quick, and just for me.  I've done a lot of knitting this year, but haven't really knit anything that's gone into my wardrobe.  I will have the women's sweater from the fall collection for myself, but there is NO WAY I'm putting it on before the photos are taken - that's just asking for trouble.  So I decided to dig in the stash, find some yarn and a pattern and go to town.

Enter the Lore Hoodie, which I've had my eye on for a while now.  I had bought the Vampire Knits book specifically for this pattern and I had the called-for yarn marinating in stash.  Now... I have to admit, I don't believe I have ever knit something with bulky yarn.  I tend to be more of a small needle/thin yarn sorta gal, but on size 11 needles, this sucker is knitting up FAST.  (Why did I not realize this before?  Bulky yarn where have you been all my life?).  I'm knitting it in a really dark wine color, which I like very much for fall.

This is the result of just a couple of nights of knitting.  Hard to tell since it's sort of scrunched up, but it's all but 2 rows of the 17" skirt of the jacket finished (obviously pre-blocking).  I opted to start with the skirt first, rather than the sleeves, as the instructions have you do, but I'm going to finish the body up to the point the sleeves are joined, then set the body aside, work on the sleeves, and then get everything attached at that point.

While I have no specific deadlines/goals on this, it moves along so quickly, I'd like to think I'll get a quite a bit more done on it this week after I get the shawl off the needles.

My next deadline/design project is for Kim at The Woolen Rabbit, and the yarn she's sent me for that is beautiful!, so that'll go on the needles once the shawlette is off!

All for now.....

Early WIP Wednesday Post: September 11, 2012

Today you get to be entertained with an early WIP Wednesday post - since tomorrow I'm scheduled up on the blog tour for the fall Holla Knits! collection.  (Be sure to come back and visit and leave me a comment then - I'll be having a giveaway to a randomly selected reader!).

(fanfare of trumpets and general huzzahing!!)  I have finished the second and final sweater for the Fall in Vermont collection!  It's blocked and all put together, and ends are darned in.  So I am officially ready to pack the box to head to my photographer in another couple of weeks!  I am going to work on final number crunching for the pattern this week and try to get the pattern draft to my tech editor by no later than next week, so she's got time to work on it. 

With that off my plate, I've been working on the little beaded shawlette a bit so far this week, and I'm about a third finished with that.  I'm knitting it in a dark blood-red colorway, and my test knitter is using a dark midnight blue colorway, and it's really pretty in both of those, so I think it'll be a nice, versatile piece, no matter what is in your wardrobe that you want to coordinate it with.

Otherwise, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of working on dye orders and getting my patterns updated.  If you are a Patternfish newsletter subscriber, you might have noticed I'm one of their featured new designers for the month of September, so I'm working busily on getting all my patterns "upgraded" into the pretty new format, and you'll find several of those listed with the Patternfish site already, with more to come!

All for now......

Fall in Vermont Collection Sneak Peak

It's not officially fall yet, but I am SO ready for it!  I'm about a month away from having the Fall in Vermont knitwear collection photographed - my photographer has models selected, and we are fortunate enough to be allowed to do a weekend shoot at the alpaca farm from whence one of the yarns in the collection comes from, so I am really excited about it!  All the patterns (fingers crossed... mumbling protective juju at the gremlins in the walls) should be done with tech editing/test knitting by the time the photos are ready in mid-October, so I can just pop the pictures into the patterns and they will be ready to make their debut.

But before we get to that, I thought you might like a quick preview of the pieces.

If you like fun stitch patterns, this is definitely the group for you - lots of twisted stitches, some cables, some staggered rib patterns, and a bit of easy slip-stitch colorwork! 

Now... if I can just get this last sleeve done......

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: September 5, 2012

A quick in-passing update on my knit projects.

First up, the second fall collection sweater: I'm working on sleeve #2.  I've gotten the cuff and 2 of the 11 pattern repeats done.  That's my focus this week as my October 1st shipping deadline is creeping up on me.  It was sort of a frustrating weekend.  I thought I had finished sleeve #1, but when I tried it out into the armscye of the finished body of the sweater - nope.  Not right.  It took two frogging trips but I finally finished that up, and could move on to the second sleeve.  The body is put together, and sleeve 1 is sewn up, so it's "just" getting sleeve 2 knit, put in place, and the collar picked up and knit.  If I can stick to the plan of a chart repeat a night, minimum, I should have this piece completely done in no more than 2 weeks. 

I also have been working on a single-skein beaded shawl design.  I had written the pattern, knit several inches of it.  Ripped that, re-wrote the pattern.  Knit it again.  Ripped it again, re-wrote the pattern, and now I think finally have it to where I'm happy.  That'll be my need-a-break pattern this week!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: August 22, 2012

It probably sums thing up if I tell you that I was trying to type a date in July for today's post. Where on EARTH has time gone?

I have no new spinning to show y'all, but I think maybe tomorrow I'll bust out some photos of a sewing project or two now that I have a working camera, so stay tuned.

In terms of my knitting and designing projects, I've gotten one of 2 swatches/proposals that need to go in the mail in the next 10 days done and I think finally FINALLY after a bunch of attempts and a lot of frogging, have the second one in the works to where I'm happy with it. 

My fall collection sweater is trundling along too.  I have half of one chart repeat to finish and I'm ready to cast off for the underarm set-ins.  That's a good feeling.  Can I finish it up before the end of the month?  I'd sure like to try - and then I'd just have the sleeve to do.  My tech editor can work on the numbers while it's being photographed that way.  We'll see, but I'm going to try anyway!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: August 8, 2012

SPINNING PROJECTS:

Believe it or not, I finished plying the singles that have been languishing for a couple of weeks now!  Look for a spiffy Spinning Friday post on those on... uh... Friday. 

I currently (gasp!) don't have anything on the wheels right now.  Still working on an insane amount of dyeing for the Texas store, and in the bits and pieces of free time that I do have right now, I've gotten bitten by the sewing bug, and I have a few things to show you there, but I think my spinning is going to take a break for a bit.  The insane August heat isn't helping my spinning mojo either, to be honest!

DESIGNING/KNITTING PROJECTS:

I finished up my Whosian Scarf!  That's off the needles, all the ends woven in and it's ready for photos.  The battery issue my little camera had apparently isn't really the battery but rather the camera itself, so until I get a replacement for that (hopefully next week), I don't have a much in the way of pictures to share.

I finished the first half of the body of the final fall collection sweater.  I went ahead and blocked it, to double-check my numbers and those look in good shape, so I've cast on for the other half as of last night.  My plan for this week is to get the waist ribbing done and get at least the first full chart repeat completed, which should put me at about 5" or so up the body.  I haven't knit a men's-sized sweater in so long, I forgot how much knitting is involved in that!

Otherwise, I have some swatches I'm working on, but I've been flipping thru my idea notebooks and trying to decide what will be next on the needles.  I'm thinking maybe of a small shawl for the fall, something fairly simple, but with some lace, so I'm also planning to spend some time with my stitch dictionaries this weekend while D is on travel and see what sparks my imagination for that!

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: August 1, 2012

SPINNING PROJECTS

Nothing to see here, sadly.  STILL have not gotten my patiently-waiting singles plied up.  I am doing that this week, no matter what.  Geez.

DESIGNING/KNITTING PROJECTS

Making steady progress on the sweater.  I have back section of the body knit up to where I'm now ready to cast off a few stitches for where the sleeves will live.  I'm trying to get thru one cable repeat a night, which gives me about 2-1/4 inches of length each evening, so while it's sort of slow, it is progress.

My Whosian Scarf is headed into the home stretch.  I pick that up and do a few rows now and then, which obviously have been adding up.  I'm just under 3/4 of the way finished with this and hoping to have it off the needles in the next week for a photo shoot!

All for now....

WIP Wednesday: July 25, 2012

The bad news this week is that I've become the world's most boring blogger!  The good news is that I've been up to my eyeballs dyeing, dyeing, dyeing for a big new wholesale client.  (Psst... if you are in the Fort Worth/Dallas area, please take a tour up to Denton and visit The Woolie Ewe, which is now under new ownership and carrying a truckload of my yarns.  I think Andy's got about 300 skeins right now and I'm working on more!).  But at least y'all will know why I've been so quiet.  And why I have very little to show for my world this week.

Spinning Projects:

Nada.  The big donut.  I have done nothing with my singles in the last week.  I AM having a "me" day this weekend, however, so I will get some spinning time in.  My hope is enough time to actually ply up the 4 oz of singles I've got waiting for me.

Knitting/Designing Projects:

I did finish up the first sleeve in the second sweater for the fall collection.  That's been blocked and I cast on for the front.  I think the sleeve will be okay now that it's blocked.  The design has a fair amount of ribbing, so it looked pretty small coming off the needles, but it did block out to the right measurements, so hopefully that will be good as it stands and I won't wind up frogging an entire sleeve.  D gets to be the guinea pig to try it on once I get the underarm sleeve sewn up.

I've also been working along on the Whosian Scarf.  That's maybe a quarter finished - it's a long one - but I'm chipping away at it when I'm too tired to work on cables on the big sweater project. 

I'll keep both of these in the rotation for this week and we'll see how I do.  I'd like to at least get to about the halfway mark on the sweater front, but that'll be close.  Stay tuned....

All for now....