How The West Was Spun

WIP Wednesday - February 6, 2013

Not much to report on this week - or at least not much I can give you details on right now.

I did finish up the sample for the June Heroines Shawl club.  Still putting final touches on the pattern instructions so that can go off to be test knit, but it is nice to have that project off the needles. 

I got my yarn for the 3 Sekret Knitting deadline projects I've got to have done by March 13th.  I started on the first one, which is a sweater, and finished 1 sleeve over the weekend and started on the body.  This is a big project and I'm knitting on this in every spare moment of my day right now.  I have one other smaller project that I'll use if I need a mental break, or just try to sprint through when the sweater is done, and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have Most Excellent Knitter Friends since one of those MEKF's volunteered to help me out and knit the third project that's also due at the same time.   Otherwise I feel pretty sure I'd not get everything done or I'd be in the loony bin - or both - by the end of the month.   (I should come clean and say, yes, I submitted 3 proposals, but the editors never take everything, and I thought that'd be fine and maybe have one or two at the most, so no one to blame for this but myself while I knit until my needles catch on fire).

You'll guess WIP photos will be sparse until the projects are actually published, but that should be July or so of this year and I'm really excited about this publication and thrilled to be included. 

(I will have a bookshelf post sometime this week - tomorrow maybe?  I am at the point that I've knit enough repeats on the sweater I can read while I knit now, so I'm enjoying a new book that's set in AZ over near Winslow, which we drive thru whenever we head to the Grand Canyon, which makes it kind of fun!)

All for now.....

 

WIP Wednesday: January 30, 2013

We haven't had one of these in a while, have we?

I'm still working along on the re-knit of my Lupine Cardi patttern.  I've got five pattern repeats to work for the main portion of the body (before everything gets joined together and the raglan shaping starts).  I've finished 3 repeats and it currently looks like: 

I'm not setting any real goals for this. It's just my "whenever I have a minute" project right now. 

On the Sekret Knitting list, I'm just about finished the June shawl sample for the Heroines Shawl Club.  I'm working on the final edging and hoping to have that finished and blocked this week, so it can go for testing. Into the mix, I found out three separate patterns were accepted for publication, all with a sample/pattern deadline of March 13th, so once the yarns for those arrive, I'll be knitting like crazy.  (And thank goodness for sample knitters.  I'd be sweating it even more without getting by with a little help from my friends!)

And since I'm a tease, I have started work on a new pattern collection.  This will be a fairly large group of 24 items, but I'll be dividing them up into three 8-pattern ebooks so I can manage getting them tech edited, sample knit, photographed and ready for debuts a little more mangeably.  These will be rolled out over the next 15 to 18 months (it's a whole lotta knitting!!).  I did some shopping this weekend for styling fabrics and I'm currently deciding on a couple of different venues to shoot the first third of the collection.  Tons of work, but I'm really excited about the theme and the overall mental picture I've got.  I do have one piece already finished, and I started work on the first of the women's sweaters last week!

All for now......

Actual Knitting Content

Shocking, I tell ya!

Thanks to some focused knitting, I finished up my deadline project.  It's had a bath and a block, and it'll go in the mail the first of the week.  A few tweaks for the pattern and it'll be ready then too.  

With that off my plate, I looked at the schedule and decided that I'd like to try to get a sample knitted for the Dallas/Ft. Worth Fiber Festival, which is the 1st weekend in April, where I'm vending again this year.  (Also planning on Estes Park in June, and possibly Taos in October, for anyone in the vicinity of those!).

I have a brand-new yarn I'll be debuting at DFW, which is a great fingering-weight single-spun SW merino.  It's got a gorgeous drape and it takes dye really nicely.  I have another project which one of my completely wonderful and totally awesome sample knitters is doing for me.  (She's a trooper - she took on several things for me, so I'd be freed up to concentrate on some other things I have to do myself.)  With that pressure off me to crank out a bunch of other things, I decided I would reknit my Lupine Cardigan to have for Dallas.

I love this little summer/layering piece.  A bit of lace, minimal finishing, and a fairly quick knit. This is where I stand (the colorway is Columbine) right now.

I'm not putting too much pressure on myself to get this done - it'll be great if it happens for Dallas, but if not, I'll take it to Estes with me.  I'm working on another Sekret Knitting Project that I have a little bit of time on, but does need to move along to go to the test knitter, so I'll devote some time to both of these and see how they go.

All for now...

WIP Wednesday: November 7, 2012

Kind of a busy week around here, so I haven't had much fun and interesting to blog about, but here's what I'm working on currently:

Multinomah:  Thanks to some doctor appointments and some time this weekend, I'm making great progress on this.  I've got 3 more 4-row repeats to work on the feather and fan border and it'll be done as far as the pattern goes. I may have enough yardage to squeak one more repeat out, but I'll have to weigh my working yarn when I get there and see.  If not, that'll be okay, but if I've got the yarn, I'll just use it up.

North Shore sweater:  Not a single stitch.  I will have quite a bit of knitting time this weekend tho, so I will probably at least try to get another couple of inches worked on the body. 

Project submissions:  I'm almost done the current want-to-do list.  I have one more project to submit, but I'm waiting on a skein of yarn to work on the swatch.  It's not due until December, so I've got time on that. 

I also started working on the socks I'm designing for the Heroines accessory club for next year, and the yarn for my design for the shawl club should be here this week, and I'd like to at least get the sample skeins dyed for that. 

All for now.....

New Pattern Release: Kellynch Tunic

I'm very excited to announce the release of my pattern, the Kellynch Tunic, in the Fall 2012 edition of Jane Austen Knits from Interweave.

This is a feminine cardigan sweater with lace detail at the skirt hem and on the bodice.  It features a slightly raised waistline, a V-neckline and slightly gathered sleeves.  The front of the cardigan wraps and is tied with a ribbon threaded through a band of eyelets (and is also secured on the interior with a set of snaps). 

The sample is knit in Classic Elite's Soft Linen in the "Blue Grotto" colorway, a yarn which I love, and was happy to have an excuse to work with.  It drapes nicely and is a great multiseasonal DK weight yarn.  (Tune in later this month for a chance to win a yarn pack for this sweater, courtesy of Classic Elite!).

The issue is currently available for downloadable copies through the Interweave website, and you can also pre-order yourself a printed copy, which I believe will be mailed out in another 3 to 4 weeks.  

All photos above and on the design page are courtesy of Christa Tippman and Interweave Press.

All for now.... 

WIP Wednesday: October 3, 2012

Lots of things on the needles this week!

First up, two stealth projects:  I'm working along on Kim's fiber club pattern sample.  The test knitter has a copy and I'm busy working on my version as well. I also finally crunched some numbers for a cabled hat I've been thinking about and got those all worked out correctly, so I was able to frog what I had knit and reknit the ribbing, and that's on track now, I think.

I also have been looking for a pattern that would work well with my Aerten DK yarn for a sweater for myself.  I love this yarn - super bouncy and soft - and I fell in love with the North Shore pullover.  This is a pretty basic colorwork yoke pullover, but the gauge was spot-on for this yarn, and I dyed it up in similar colors to the sample.  I picked Peacock, which is a pretty blue-green/green-blue for the main color.  I dyed up smaller skeins of dark forest green, chestnut brown and a blue-gray (and there's also a bit of white used in the yoke) for the trees, mountains, and waves, respectively.

I started on the first sleeve this past weekend.  I'm not really setting any goals for this.  It'll be my mindless knitting project for a while, as both the sleeves and the body, which is knit from the waist hem upwards are pretty much all stockinette.  So whatever I get done will be good enough for me each week.

All for now.....

FOs: Earl Grey Mitts and Lore Hoodie

A 2-for-1 FO post for y'all today.

First up, the Earl Grey Mitts.  My WIP progress picture really was pretty close to being done, so they won't really come as visual surprise in the finished version. 

Again, I knit these out of the leftovers of the 50/50 cormo wool/yak yarn from Bijou Basin I used for my Sweetwater shawl.  I modified the pattern a bit by not working all the decreases for the wrists since I have large hands, comparatively, and needed a bit of extra circumference.

A quick, easy, warm project.  I could see these becoming addictive and a great way to use up bits of handspun too.

Next up is the Lore Hoodie sweater. Crazy-quick to knit using bulky yarn.  I really love how this came out. It's like a big squishy bathrobe but ... you know... a little more stylish. 

I love this over jeans and a T-shirt right now, but it's big enough that I suspect I may wear it as an overlayer over turtlenecks and/or fine-gauge sweaters this winter as an outer layer.  (And no, the hemline isn't really that uneven - I must have yanked it oddly when I rotated the dressform).

I had been trying to decide on closures - I had found some nifty painted toggles on Etsy, but couldn't get the shop owner to respond, so in the end I went with a copper "full moon" pin that I like very much and will probably wear on some other things (like shawls) too.

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......

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....