Cooperative Press is kicking off a Kickstarter campaign during the month of April to help bring the Fresh Designs series to market faster. These books are a 10 book series featuring patterns by a number of different designers, myself included. If you would like to help, please visit Kickstarter and check it out. Two of the designs in the video are mine.
Be sure to check out the side-bar for the treats available with different levels of pledges. There are a bunch of really good things on offer.
The Capillary fingerless mittens are finished and have been released. They are also part of the Seven Fingerless Mittens collection. These were a fun knit, and a way for me to combine fingerless mittens with lace. The lace pattern is a wave-pattern that goes around the cuff and continues up on the back of the hand.
And while the cuffs are fancy all around, the palm is plain stockinette to make them more practical and wearable.
I used about 1/2 a skein of Skinny Bugga! from the Sanguine Gryphon for the medium size gloves, and had enough to make a small size as well. The colourway is Longhorned Beetle. I really like this colour – a dark, complex wine red. And the funny thing is that I noticed that it’s very similar to the colour I used for my Orchid View shawl – except that one was knit in Tush from Saffron Dyeworks.
It’s been a busy week as usual here. I’ve finished and blocked one shawl and written up the pattern – it won’t be out for a little while yet, but still – I’m happy to be able to cross that off my list.
I’ve also just about finished my Capillary fingerless gloves – just a few stray ends to sew in, and then I have to get some nice pictures taken. If only the weather will cooperate, I should be able to have that done over the weekend. The pattern is written and tested, so as soon as I have pictures, it’s ready to go.
I’m also making a second pair of the Capillary gloves in a smaller size, and as you can see, I’m about halfway done with the first glove. It’s exactly the same yarn and stitch-count, but a much tighter gauge.
Aside from knitting gloves, I also had the chance to go to the Ottawa Knitting Guild on Monday evening. The topic of the evening was gauge, and how one can adjust sweater patterns to different sizes by playing with gauge, plus the pitfalls to watch out for (e.g. even though you may be larger around your body than the pattern suggests doesn’t mean that your arms are necessarily a lot longer). Laurie’s presentation was both educational and funny, sprinkled with anecdotes of failed sweaters, and the path to the perfect fit.
And on Thursday I spent the morning knitting in a coffee shop – both fun and relaxing. The knitting itself was a little frustrating though, because I was casting on for a new lace shawl, and needed 300+ stitches. It took forever. But at least that’s done now. It was actually more fun to look at what the others were knitting – a lovely lace sweater, and an entrelac-sample.
Since yesterday morning, I’ve gotten a few rows into the project, and it’s definitely more fun to knit than to cast on. Knitted/cable cast ons are so much slower for me than long-tail, but they look so much nicer as a lace edge, so I guess it’s worth it.
The second shawl in the Folk Song KAL is based on a Canadian folk song from the Maritimes.
She’s like the swallow that flies so high
She’s like the river that never runs dry
She’s like the sunshine on the lee shore
I love my love and love is no more.
Twas out in the garden this fair maid did go
A-picking the beautiful prim-rose
The more she plucked, the more she pulled
Until she got her apron full.
It’s out of those roses she made a bed
A stony pillow for her head
She laid her down, no word she spoke
Until this fair maid’s heart was broke.
She’s like the swallow that flies so high
She’s like the river that never runs dry
She’s like the sunshine on the lee shore
I love my love and love is no more.
There are many versions of this song available on Youtube, if you search. I liked this one which is just an instrumental version (and not on Youtube).
Some versions have a few more verses, but these three (or four – however you want to count) are the first ones I heard, and the ones that have stayed with me.
As for the shawl pattern – it will be available on April 15. It’s knit out of two skeins of Perfection Sport from No Two Snowflakes in the very aptly named colourway Roses Fading Away. The yarn is sport-weight and contains 75% merino, 15% silk and 10% cashmere, for a soft and luxurious feel. 355 yds/4 oz skein, and you’ll need two skeins.
The Orchid View shawl pattern I designed during the fall is now available for purchase. This quickly became one of my favourite shawls, and I think it’s been the one I’ve worn the most in the past several months. It’s knit using one or two skeins of Tush from Saffron Dyeworks, which is a really fabulous yarn. The colours are truly amazing. My shawl was knit with one skein of Tush in the colour Red Sumac, which is a really nice deep wine red. The colour has a lot of depth to it, and I’ve always been fond of deep reds. Dee at Saffron Dyeworks actually picked the colour for me, and I was amazed at how she managed to pick one of my favourites. Although, so far, I haven’t seen a colourway of hers that I didn’t like….. The shawl has already been knit up in several different colours, and if you’re on Ravelry you can see some pictures here.
The pattern comes in two different sizes – one for 1 skein of Tush and one for 2 skeins. The shawl has a number of Orchid flowers and buds spreading out over the back. I particularly like the Orchid flowers, and am very pleased with how they resemble the actual flower.
The pattern also comes with both charted and written instructions.
In the Swedish medieval ballad Havsfrun, Herr Olof rides to the realm of the Sea Witch. She welcomes him and says she’s been waiting for him for 15 years. She asks where he is from and where his fields are, and his parents and his beloved. He answers they are all in the king’s realm. The Sea Witch then offers him the clearest wine from her jug and then asks all the same questions again. Herr Olof now answers that his fields and his home are here in the realm of the Sea Witch. She is his beloved and he would like to live and die with her.
The stole shows the flowing, swirling waters of the Sea Witch’s realm, and in the centre the waters separate to make way for her lands and fields. When I was designing it, I really wanted the flowing waters to be a central feature of the stole, so the waves continue from end to end. When the water separates to show the fields, the waves still undulate in a sine-wave on each side of the fields.
The yarn I used was a decadent 100% cashmere lace from Hedgehog Fibres in a colourway called Ink. Ink is a dark blue/black colour that I thought captured the dark alluring waters in the realm of the Sea Witch.
Blocking the Havsfrun stole was a little bit more time-consuming than many of my other designs, because the long edges had to be pinned out in curves. But I think the result was totally worth it. The waves look so alluring.
Havsfrun is the first shawl in the Folk Song KAL that is just starting up this week. There will be two more patterns – one in April and one in May – based on different folk songs. Next we are headed to the Maritimes with a Canadian Folk Song. But more on that a different day.
I do take my obsessions seriously. Especially when it comes to knitting. Yesterday was actually a build-up to the big announcement today.
I’ve decided to take my fingerless mitten patterns and publish them as a collection. Seven Fingerless Mittens, all released during 2011.
The first two patterns in the series were previewed yesterday – Stalactite and Ice Dancing. As we progress throughout the year, there will be a variety of designs and techniques explored in this fabulous format called fingerless mittens / fingerless gloves.
Each pattern will be available for purchase separately, or as a part of the ebook. The ebook is priced at only $20 CDN, so it’s a substantial saving over purchasing the patterns individually.
I hope you’ll enjoy the patterns as much as I do. Happy knitting!
I have recently become addicted to knitting fingerless mittens, because they are such a wonderful garment for exploring textures and colours – small enough to take anywhere, and the finished object can be worn and admired easily (unlike socks, which tend to hide in shoes).
The most recent to come off my needles are the Stalactite gloves to the left. I was playing around with Bavarian twisted cables, and came up with this pattern resembling stalactite formations in caves, ending with a drop (dripping down towards the cave floor). These gloves have a fitted thumb gusset, and are designed to have a small amount of negative ease, and fit snugly. The cuff is patterned all around, but the palm of the hand is all stockinette (as are the fingers).
Before that I was working on a pair of plain fingerless mitts, which were made more interesting by using a yarn with long colour-runs. These ones have already been claimed by my daughter, and I think she may have worn them close to 24 hours a day since she got them. Well, except for our vacation to Jamaica – swimming in fingerless gloves was too uncool even for her. But now that we’re back home, the mitts are back on her hands.
The gloves have a plain ribbed cuff and then continue in stockinette. There is a fitted thumb gusset and half-length fingers.
And the pair that started it all are my Ice Dancing mitts. These were designed so that I wouldn’t have to freeze my hands off while knitting during my kids’ hockey practices. All three children play hockey, so there is a lot of time spent at the arenas for us parents every week. It’s really a perfect opportunity to knit, except it’s tends to get rather cold.
These mitts have no fingers at all to allow me to snake the yarn between my fingers to keep the tension while knitting. They work wonders and I’ve been using them a lot since I finished them.
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