What I'm working on
This year I gave myself the ambitious goal of publishing eleven knitting patterns, one a month. We'll see if I can keep up, but for now, here's where I am.
The design I'm putting out in February, Hjarta (aka Hjartalopi) is going to be live on Ravelry on February 16th. My testers have been amazingly patient with the handful of hitches they've run into and we've ironed out all the kinks. Here are a few of their lovely versions:
And there are several more on the way! I've got a tester working on one in all shades of green, and a pair of purples. It's so exciting to see everyone's sweaters turn out and see what sort of colors everyone chooses.
I think Best Friend will shine in that pattern, don't you? I'm really excited for it!
That's all for now, friends! What are you planning for the next few months? (Knit or otherwise?)
February: Hjarta
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| My version of Hjarta Lopi! |
The design I'm putting out in February, Hjarta (aka Hjartalopi) is going to be live on Ravelry on February 16th. My testers have been amazingly patient with the handful of hitches they've run into and we've ironed out all the kinks. Here are a few of their lovely versions:
And there are several more on the way! I've got a tester working on one in all shades of green, and a pair of purples. It's so exciting to see everyone's sweaters turn out and see what sort of colors everyone chooses.
March: Weslary
If you've been following me on the Instagram, you'll have seen my in-the-works pattern that I'd like to release in March. I designed it for a friend's wedding and encoded some bits special to them into the lace using Naomi Parkhurst's technique, albeit a bit modified to suit my own design process. She keeps hers literal from the word so you could actually reverse translate it if you tried. I use it as more of an inspiration and then sometimes tweak the pattern to make it more to my liking. It's beaded, but I refuse to pre-string beads, so they're added to individual stitches using a teeeensy crochet hook. It's way, WAY less awful than pre-stringing. And I made sure to space out the beaded rounds to prevent insanity and/or murderous rage. 😊 I'm not sure what to call it yet, so the working title is "Weslary"...which...is...their couple name. hehehe.
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| Magically found a round table at the hotel in Tuscon the morning of the wedding. :) |
I finished it with some quick nupp-loops and stacked increases, also beaded. The nupp-loops have crystals dangling in them. I'd put crystals on everything if it weren't impractical. 😜 I always worry about crystals tearing through yarn with their sharp, glassy holes, so these are prestrung on some silk beading thread that's then carried along with the knitting yarn. It's the only time you have to pre-string, and it's only 24 crystals, so it's totally doable!
I don't really want to do a test-knit, but I think it might be wise...so I probably will. Still have to get the pattern all written up, though.
So I was pretty excited when he asked me to make him a sweater...since I like to knit for people so much! (this is a lie. I really really don't like knitting for other people because I'm selfish. I want all the knits!) And, of course, because I'm a damn overachiever, I had to spin the yarn, too. Okay, I didn't have to, but Brooklyn Tweed hadn't come out with their newsprint version of shelter and Spincycle's Suit and Tie was too fine a gauge (not that that stopped me from buying a sweater's worth of it.... 😁). So I spun a whole sweater's worth of black merino plied with naturally-colored, mixed BFL.
And then I started knitting. I'll spare you the boredom of the play by play.
Suffice to say I've finished the sweater something like four or five times now and had to rip it out. A few Amy Herzog classes later, and I'm getting closer. I knitted the latest version in pieces and ended up adding a 2" panel in between each front and back piece so that I wouldn't have to re-knit the whole body again when it was too small (after I knitted the medium and he said it was too big, so I knitted the small ugh and it was too small. such a princessbeast!). And now I'm finally working on the collar. So there IS light at the end of this tunnel! It's dim, but it's THERE! 😓
...and Husbeast Sweater...
I'm not planning on releasing a pattern for this one...since I'm not super confident in its design, but I really, really need to finish it. *sigh* I started the damn thing in February of 2016. Husbeast said, "Hey, you know my favorite sweater? It's getting kind of threadbare. Would you make me a replacement?" You should know he does not wear knits, not really. Commercially made ones, yes, but he has princess skin: extremely sensitive to all sorts of weird things, including clothing. So he even thinks some merino shirts I got him are too scratchy. He asked me for a hat once, but I refused because 1) he never wears hats and 2) he's careful about his hair, so if he's going outside, it's hat-less.So I was pretty excited when he asked me to make him a sweater...since I like to knit for people so much! (this is a lie. I really really don't like knitting for other people because I'm selfish. I want all the knits!) And, of course, because I'm a damn overachiever, I had to spin the yarn, too. Okay, I didn't have to, but Brooklyn Tweed hadn't come out with their newsprint version of shelter and Spincycle's Suit and Tie was too fine a gauge (not that that stopped me from buying a sweater's worth of it.... 😁). So I spun a whole sweater's worth of black merino plied with naturally-colored, mixed BFL.
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| ALL the spinning!! |
And then I started knitting. I'll spare you the boredom of the play by play.
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| An attempt. Not sure which... |
Suffice to say I've finished the sweater something like four or five times now and had to rip it out. A few Amy Herzog classes later, and I'm getting closer. I knitted the latest version in pieces and ended up adding a 2" panel in between each front and back piece so that I wouldn't have to re-knit the whole body again when it was too small (after I knitted the medium and he said it was too big, so I knitted the small ugh and it was too small. such a princessbeast!). And now I'm finally working on the collar. So there IS light at the end of this tunnel! It's dim, but it's THERE! 😓
April: Mother
In the queue for hopeful release in April, in time to knit for Mother's day, is a diagonally-increasing rectangle wrap called..."Mother". I'm planning to use YOTH Mother...and the lace pattern is also made using the word "mother". Too symbolic? DON'T CARE! I will pour as much symbolism as I like into my patterns and YOU CAN'T STOP ME! 😘
I was originally trying to make it a shawl that you knit in the round and then cut open and add a a border to...but the swatch I was playing around with is looking a biiiit weird... The border was supposed to be double-thick and encase the steeked edge, but it ends up being much thicker than I'd like and the diagonal part makes it warp strangely.
Soooo I'm going to stop bothering with that and just suck up the every-other-row purling. I tried to save you, but it's just not working. Maybe some other time.
AND there will be beads. I found some lovely ones to go with the YOTH puppy I have. I'm quite pleased with myself. 😁
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| Weird warpy weirdness in some leftover Purl Soho Line Weight |
Soooo I'm going to stop bothering with that and just suck up the every-other-row purling. I tried to save you, but it's just not working. Maybe some other time.
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| Swatch post serger-operation to remove weirdo border. |
AND there will be beads. I found some lovely ones to go with the YOTH puppy I have. I'm quite pleased with myself. 😁
May: Best Friend
AAAAAnnnnd in more YOTH news, I bought two skeins of Best Friend at Vogue Knitting Live back in November, and I have a lovely, open, lacey top in mind. A coworker of mine has a sweater she wears occasionally that I finally asked to borrow because the lace pattern is SO cool. I'll be analyzing it more to write it into a chart and then I think this one will basically fly because I want the construction to be nice and simple to balance out the pattern.
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| Wrong side |
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| Right side |
I think Best Friend will shine in that pattern, don't you? I'm really excited for it!
That's all for now, friends! What are you planning for the next few months? (Knit or otherwise?)
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