by Shannon on January 3, 2009
What can I say? First Fetlock and now Dissolve, I’ve been going through all my I’ll-get-around-to-writing-it-up stuff and — well — writing them up!
I developed the Dissolve stranded colorwork hat pattern as a good introduction to colorwork (Fair Isle) knitting for people who don’t want to dive right in with a sweater or do something fiddly and small-gauge to start. It takes part of a skein of Noro Kureyon and part of a skein of Cascade 220, and it’s a great small project for using up leftovers while learning a new technique.
You can substitute with any other multicolor and solid yarn you like, the important point is that you have one of each. The crocheted bottom edge is optional. Ideally, your multicolor yarn will have the solid color in it somewhere, making them “dissolve” into each other (and hence the pattern name).
Give it your Ravelry-love here. I’ve got some new Noro + Cascade to make another one, I want to play with it a little more — maybe add a felting option, too. If you buy the pattern now and I do add a felted option later, you’ll receive it as an update.
Dissolve hat now available, $4!
by Shannon on January 2, 2009
My Friday-that-feels-like-a-Monday workday:
- Wake up and take Tamas to the train.
- Pour coffee, log on.
- Commission designs for upcoming Yarn Forward issues
- Catch glimpse of self huddled in scarf because it’s cold and realize… hey! warp and weft match the violet and blonde in my new hair! And the lavender stripe in the Fair Isle cardigan matches the lighter bits!
- Photos, photos, photos…in front of an art piece by my Dad, previously seen here a post ago
The results?
Can I just say I love this color? Also, this violet has been approved by Miss Violet, and she know from shades of purple. We all need a little extra color here in the middle of winter, don’t you think?
by Shannon on January 2, 2009
Interweave’s fiber arts magazine Fiberarts is having a fantastic contest and the deadline is 15 January, so heads up!
Fiberarts magazine is published in Loveland, Colorado, and we want to share the LOVE. Let us help you turn your fiber postcards into fiber valentines. Since 1947, the Loveland post office has been re-mailing valentines from around the world, adding its own special poem and cancellation mark. Fabric postcards, which are highly popular among quilters and fiber artists, are perfect for this special touch. Read more about fiber postcards in the article Fiber in the Mailbox, by Maureen Egan, which appeared in our April/May 2006 issue.
Excellent prizes, too. Once upon a time I dated a guy from Loveland — this was in college, long before I started doing anything with Interweave. But I was an ABBA fan even then (much to my parents’ horror), and I used to sing their song “Tropical Loveland” to him somewhat sarcastically, imagining Colorado to be anything but…
by Shannon on December 31, 2008
I stopped at my parents’ house to grab the sauerkraut balls my mom made for us (and let me tell you, she makes the best ones on earth), and her cockatiel Zinnia decided my newly-violet-striped hair was perhaps a landing pad.
Things learned today: knit designer Chellie Pingree (author of several really lovely knitting books) is now the congresswoman-elect for Maine’s 1st district. A knitter in the House! What could be better than that?
by Shannon on December 30, 2008
Alt Fiber is the winner of the PETA 6th annual Proggy Award for Most Animal-Friendly Craft Book.
What do you get when you cross a love of animals with a love of knitting? You get Shannon Okey’s new cruelty-free craft book! Packed with fun and unique knitting projects suitable for newbie knitters and pro purlers alike, Alt Fiber focuses on alternative animal- and eco-friendly fibers, including seaweed, hemp, and soy-based yarn (a tofu byproduct). Tailor-made for people who want to knit but don’t want to hurt sheep, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in joining the cruelty-free craft community.
Buy Alt Fiber: 25 Projects for Knitting Green with Bamboo, Soy, Hemp, and More
from Amazon or direct from the publisher here.
by Shannon on December 30, 2008
Stefanie has posted a really lovely tutorial on how to enlarge a sweater’s neckline once you’ve (whoops) made it too small. This is why I almost always cast on provisionally at the neck, though. I have an immense skull and having the ability to easily rip out without picking apart a cast on edge is such a bonus.
Holiday gift report! The amazing and fabulous Tamas got me an Alyssa Ettinger knitwear tumbler, but now I am seriously craving one of her vases, too. (She’s having a seconds sale on Etsy, though he got mine from Cog and Pearl).
Also, a coffee table book (Vivienne Westwood: Shoes
) to follow up on last years’ Vivienne Westwood retrospective
. What can I say? He knows what I like. (The raven puppet
went perfectly with the comic book about Vikings his best friend bought me). Hurray for boyfriends who read your Amazon wish list and follow it.
Meanwhile: I knit. Deadline city. In response to some questions on Ravelry, I started a worsted/DK-ish-weight Exploded View and have both sleeves finished thus far. The thought occurs to me that I could wimp out and say LOOK IT’S A SHRUG, but I’m not going to, I’ll finish it after my new design, Copine, which is headed for an issue of Yarn Forward. What is it about big needles that slows me down? Slow, slow, slow. You’d think you’d knit faster, but no. In addition, my index finger is now covered in paper cuts from filing away old bills, so it’s even ouchier. Ah, well. What can you do? I’m on an organizational kick just in time for the new year.
How were your holidays?
by Shannon on December 22, 2008
I am a pattern-writing machine this week! (Or trying to be, anyway).
Now available! Fetlock wristwarmers, $2.50. These stylish horseshoe-cable wristwarmers were designed as a simple, quick knit that will also show you how to read a chart and compare it to written directions. The word directions for the cable even line up directly with the same line in the chart! They’ve been really popular in my LYS, River Colors Studio, and truth be told, if I hadn’t written them up sooner rather than later, there was going to be a rebellion!
Their name is a bit of an equine joke — the fetlock is roughly equivalent, on a horse, to the area these would cover on a human.
Want to buy it on Ravelry instead? Click here. Want to add it to your Ravelry queue? Here’s its page there.
by Shannon on December 21, 2008
(shown flat…some people at the shop were tempted to wrap it around themselves like an octopus stole)
(shown pre-seaming on a dressmaker’s dummy)
So, as noted on Exploded View’s Ravelry page and in the Knitgrrl pattern shop…
Some people see a knitted dissected frog and say “ew!” Some people end up designing a sweater because it gave them an idea. (Note: I am one of the latter)
Exploded View is based on the principle of, what else? exploded view. Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees when you’re in the middle of knitting a sweater, and I wanted to create a design that would be…
- easy to knit
- a good ‘transitional’ pattern for people coming to the world of sweater knitting from, say, scarf knitting
- a flexible template for you to make your own design decisions
- flattering and fun
- a good way to use up stash yarn
Because you’re only working on any one section at a time after you’ve knit the yoke, this sweater not only knits up fast but it can even accommodate different stitch patterns in each panel if you like. This sample was done in Cascade 109 bulky and I’m currently working on a worsted-weight one as well. I may even do a felted version because I have some other ideas…hmm.
Thoughts?
Pattern for this and Rivulet are coming soon, I promise — I’ve had my hands full! Though, if you want proof that Rivulet looks good on plus-size, take a gander at its Rav page, I’ve just uploaded a shot of myself with horrifically windblown hair modeling it for you. If it looks good on me, trust me, it’ll look good on you!
by Shannon on December 19, 2008
Check this out! My friend Julia’s lovely site Patternfish is now offering gift certificates. So if you have some knitters who are impossible to shop for, you can just send them these and know they can pick out something they will love.
Me, I’m partial to this one. I wonder why… 
by Shannon on December 18, 2008
I’m having a bad day today, despite having just finished the Exploded View cardigan (new pattern, coming soon). So I bought myself a present — dig it:
It’s a new t-shirt from Stefanie Japel, and they’re for sale in her Etsy shop.
(My idea of retail therapy is somewhat different than most — after seeing the preview for that shopaholic movie last week, I’m thinking “shoes, hell — do you know how much yarn one pair of Manolos will get you?”)
