Category Archives: designing

Insta-January

Insta january

January was a bit of a whirlwind for me. Knit-wise, I started off by photographing and releasing my hat pattern, Borlänge, and I made some nice progress on a few upcoming designs. Travel-wise, there was a super quick weekend trip to Texas Hill Country to visit with some dear friends and Joey took a weeklong music trip to NYC during the coldest week ever. In our downtime, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner party with good friends that ended with lots of laughs and even a bit of singing and dancing. There was also a nice long Saturday afternoon spent at Redwood studio: me knitting, Joey working on guitar parts for a friend’s record, and Henry lounging around on the cozy shag rug. Unfortunately, January ended on a sad note with the loss of our sweet, sweet Daisy and my parents’ gentle dog Fly. We’ve all been a bit broken hearted this week as we had to unexpectedly say goodbye to these wonderful dogs that brought so much love and happiness to our lives. But as Elizabeth Zimmerman says, “properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit, either.”

and I’ve got some knitting to do….

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Gettin Zippy With It

I’ve been working on a design for a little zig zag bag since before Christmas and I’ve been putting off the finishing- sewing in a zipper and a fabric lining.  I have to admit I have always been a little intimidated by finishing things.  You spend so much time knitting something and if you do a shoddy job at finishing, it can ruin the whole thing.  (See here for the story of the Five Year Sweater that literally sat around unfinished for years because I was too afraid to sew in the sleeves.)

Well today, I armed myself with needle and thread and just dived right in.

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I unzipped the zipper and pinned one side of the tape to the inside edge of the bag and just stitched away.  Then I pinned the other side and stitched that down too.  And lo and behold, I sewed in that entire zipper in with no major catastrophes.

zigzagbagzipped

 

Now on to the lining!  And finishing up the pattern I’m writing for this 🙂

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Psst….

Just wanted to share the sneak peek teaser that Pom Pom Quarterly have released for their upcoming Spring Issue:

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image source: Pom Pom Quarterly

I have a travelogue article featured in this issue and maybe even a teensy little pattern to go along with it!  I’m very excited to be a part of this issue, as Pom Pom is such an exciting new publication for the knitting community.

PRE ORDER  Issue 4 or SUBSCRIBE to the next four issues.

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New Pattern: Borlänge

Borlänge is a fitted beanie knitted with three sea-inspired shades of Rowan Felted Tweed DK and embellished with a pom pom and an anchor motif.


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Borlänge was inspired by Joey’s travels through Sweden and Norway. During his time there, he was struck by the prevalence of anchors in Scandinavian culture.  The anchor is a strong symbol of hope, stability, and steadfastness, and it was in Borlänge, Sweden where he played the Peace & Love Music Festival that he got a tattoo of an anchor to memorialize his travels and to celebrate the stable and anchored feeling that our love gives him when we are apart.  I knitted my love into this hat, with an anchor of my own to keep us connected when he is away.

Borlange 3

Materials

Three shades of DK or sport weight yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed DK suggested; 191 yards of Clay, 50 yards of Camel, and 2 yards of Seasalter)

1 set of US 4 (3.5 mm) 40″ circular needles for magic loop method

1 set of US 5 (3.75 mm) double pointed needles or

1 set of US 5 (3.75 mm) 40″ circular needles for magic loop method

tapestry needle

6 stitch markers

Finished Size

One Size; to comfortably fit an adult head of 19-23 inch circumference.  Finished hat has a circumference of 19 inches and a depth of 8.75 inches

BUY NOW or view the pattern page on Ravelry

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Insta-December

Insta december

December was a great way to finish off the year.  There were piano serenades, scooter rides with my love, fancy cocktails, dog snuggles, walks in the woods, more music, “fireside” cuddles with Henry, warm chunky-knit sweaters, family time at the ranch, SNOW, a trip to a cabin in the woods with some good friends, a little bit of knitting, and a toast to good things to come.

Happy New Year- 2013 is going to be a good one!

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A Walk in the Woods

Today Joey and I went for a walk at a nature preserve near our house.  It was so amazing walking down a winding trail covered in fallen leaves while looking up at massive trees arching over our heads.  It was just what I needed to make me feel centered again.

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We also took advantage of our beautiful surroundings to take photos for my newest design.  I’m working on the pattern now and having it test knitted.  I can’t wait to share it with you.  Here’s a sneak peek:

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New Pattern: Bushwick Beanie

The Bushwick Beanie is an easy to knit cabled hat that can be knitted as a classic-fitting beanie or with a bit of Brooklyn-inspired slouch.

Both versions knit up quickly with bulky weight yarn (110 yards for the classic version or 130 yards for the slouchy version) on size US 10 ½ (6.5 mm) double pointed needles (or appropriate needle size to obtain gauge at 3.75 stiches per inch). The pattern includes charted and line-by-line instructions for each version and can be purchased via Ravelry by clicking the link below.

Buy it Now  or View Pattern Page on Ravelry

I knit the original slouchy version about a year ago when Joey and I were living in Bushwick and he needed a warm hat. Since then, it has traveled with him on tour and kept him warm in NYC, Texas, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Ireland, England and Portugal. When a hat sees that kind of mileage, sometimes you need a backup (or two!) and so I decided to knit another one for him with a more classic look and fit.

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Free Pattern: Infinity Cowl

I’ve recently updated my Infinity Cowl pattern to have a cleaner layout and more detailed instructions and I hope you’ll take a peek because its FREE!

Download here

This is an easy pattern for a cute and quick cowl that can be highly customizable.  If you want to take it beyond  basic stockinette this pattern is a great jumping off point.  You could knit it in a classy allover textured pattern stitch or even add some trendy stripes or a fun argyle!

I’m excited to say that I have another pattern coming soon that I have been working on behind the scenes.  Something warm and cable-y.

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Hill Country Hat

Just popping in to show you all how the hat turned out after a few days of leisurely knitting.  Not bad for just winging it without a pattern, I think 🙂

Please pardon the cheesy bathroom mirror cell phone pic- Joey and Henry are still down in Hill Country this week. (Not that Henry could take a pic for me, but you know!)

 

St Joseph Hat

I wanted to knit Joey something special for our anniversary.  It was supposed to be a surprise but here we are, still a couple of weeks before the actual anniversary, taking pictures for the blog.  I was never very good at keeping surprises.  In fact, I spilled the beans and told him I was knitting it the day after I cast on.

I was just so excited to tell him about it because he had found a hat he liked at Allsaints and I told him I could knit him one just like it.  Then I sat down and charted out a pattern and gave it a go.  It came out pretty great.

The brim can be folded up for a less slouchy look, but this is his favorite way to wear it.  The alpaca in the yarn I used (Blue Sky’s Techno) makes it super soft and warm.

Warmth and love for our ten year anniversary for my dear Joseph.  A saint if I ever knew one.