Tag Archives: Knitting & Spinning

City Tweed is my favorite Knit Picks yarn.  I love the tweedy-ness and the softness.  It’s lovely for both colorwork and cables.

With the Cabled Faux Argyle Cardi (let’s just call it CFA cardi, shall we, for the rest of this post?), I wanted to design a cardi that had enough interest with the cables and saddle straps but still be something that, if not TV knitting, is great for relaxing knitting and really lets the yarn shine.

It’s available at Knit Picks as both an individual pattern and as part of the absolutely lovely City Tweed Collection.  I recommend the latter — the other patterns are so gorgeous.

Pertinent Info

The sweater is knit from the top down, with stitches picked up from the shoulder straps, fronts and back joined at the armholes, and continued in one piece.

It’s easy to customize shaping as needed.

The sleeves are worked by picking up stitches along the armhole, working short rows for the cap shaping, then continuing in the round.

Finished Measurements

29 (32.75, 37.25, 41.25, 45, 48.75, 53.5, 57.25, 61, 64.75)” finished bust measurement; garment is meant to be worn with 0.75”-1.5” of positive ease.

Yarn

Knit Picks City Tweed DK (55% Merino, 25% Alpaca, Acrylic, Rayon; 123 yds/50gm): Desert Sage 24539, 9 (10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) balls.

Needles

US 5 (3.75mm) 24″ or longer circular needles, or size to obtain gauge

US 4 (3.5mm) 24″ or longer circular needles, or 1 size smaller than needles used to obtain gauge

Gauge

21 sts and 32 rows = 4″ in St st, blocked. Cabled stitch motifs average 8 sts in 1″.

Notions

Yarn Needle Stitch Markers Cable Needle Scrap Yarn or Stitch Holders Five ¾” Buttons

Skills

Cabling, chart reading, picking up stitches, short rows.

Hitch: Patterns Inspired by the Films of Alfred Hitchcock is now up for preorders! If you preorder, you’ll get a copy of my Exakta Cowl, full of lovely cable-y goodness (and a few more twists & turns).  You’ll also get one more surprise pattern from Karin Wilmouth. You can see all the patterns from the book on Ravelry here. We have a Ravelry group here – join for announcements, KALs, etc. I’ve already heard back from some of our fabulous yarnies — yes, there will be some KAL prizes to covet! Starting the end of the month, Hitch will go on tour!  The blog tour schedule will be posted here and of course in the Rav group.  Expect interviews, giveaways, reviews, and more!

Oh, I’m so excited about this one.  And now it’s out!  Rafters Cardi on Ravelry, but make sure you check out the entire Fall Twist Collective.  I love they chose an older model — she looks lovely, strong, & accomplished.

My favorite part?  The shawl collar. I love deep shawl collars, and with this pattern, I really wanted to accentuate that.

I loved working with SHELTER.  I loved that I could do a very cabled, very textured cardi but, because the yarn is woolen, not worsted, the cardi isn’t too heavy or bulky.

Details:

This cozy cardi is worked top down in one piece. It features subtle waist shaping and a deep shawl collar.

Saddle straps on worked first, with stitches picked up for the back, left front & right front. All pieces are joined & worked flat once armhole shaping is completed.

The sleeves are worked top down. Pick up stitches around the armhole, shape the sleeve caps with short rows, then continue in the round.

Pick up stitches for the button band & shawl collar. The deep shawl collar is shaped with short rows.

Bust: 32 (36, 39 ¼, 43 ¼, 47 ¾, 50 ¼, 54 ¾)” / 81.5 (91.5, 99.5, 110, 121.5, 127.5, 139)cm.  I’d intended several inches of positive ease, but the model is wearing it with no ease & it looks fantastic.

Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed SHELTER in Embers, 1400 – 2250 yards (1280 – 2057 m)

Needles: US6 / 4mm & US7 / 4.5mm

Gauge: 20 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches in Stockinette Stitch

Notions: Stitch markers, cable needle, waste yarn or spare circular needle, yarn needle.

Skills: Short rows, charts, picking up stitches, cabling

Congrats to Sheila!  I’ve emailed you.

Awhile back Knit Picks did a call for subs for their upcoming Fall 2013 collection.  None of my submissions made it into that, but they did ask if they could use some of them for other collections. Of course I said YES!

So here are my Arrow Mitts & Hat for the Wool of the Andes booklet.

These mitts and hat are great for beginners in stranded knitting. Like all my stranding projects that I consider beginning-stranding-friendly, the motif is simple, with no long floats, and easy to memorize over each round. The worsted weight wool is also great to work with if you just want to focus on stranding rather than worrying about a smaller gauge AND stranding.

The motif is strong, graphic & punchy; you can have a lot of fun with color choices.  (It would also be a nice motif to use in other projects:  pillows, throws, along the border of a sweater, and so on.)

The picot hems & brim add a bit of femininity.  If you wanted to make these unisex, just sub in ribbing instead.

The mitts also feature an anatomically correct, offset thumb gusset (makes the fit so comfy!).

The slouchy hat is worked up from the picot brim to the crown.  The decreases also give a strong graphic line for added impact.

Would you like to win a copy of the ebook & yarn to make up the mitts and hat?  Leave a comment on this post by midnight PST August 11 2013 with what colors you would choose.

What happened in July? What happened to July?

The Carex Cowl was published.  Zen Yarn Garden has kits available for pre-order.  I’ll have the sample at Stitches Midwest at the Zen Yarn Garden booth (you know, if you’d like to squish it).

I have a pattern in Dreaming of Shetland that’s coming out soon — it’s the poppy mitts worked in Jamieson’s Spindrift, shown below (this is just a snapshot I took before sending them in for the photography for the book).

This ebook is a project to raise funds for Deb Robson’s study of Shetland sheep.  Deb is a fantastic scholar and person;  I adore her Fleece & Fiber Sourcebook (review here).  The patterns for this book are AMAZING — you can see preview pics here of all of them.

The mitts are stranded, with duplicate stitch details for the poppies.  The pattern will get its own post, with more pics & details, when the ebook is published.

Other stuff:  Hitch is progressing.  We’re down to the last tech edit review, schematics, and me writing the essay.  I’m thinking of setting up a webpage just for Hitch which the various designers can access & post to as well.

I’m also working like a madwoman on projects for my next collection. Currently in the works is a beaded shawl with Sweet Georgia Merino Silk, a cowl in Shibui Alpaca Cloud, fingerless mitts in Elemental Affects, a sweater in Anzula Oasis, and socks in Knitting Notions sport.

If you’re going to Stitches Midwest, you can find me at either the Verdant Gryphon booth (I’ll be doing signings on Friday & Saturday) or at the Cooperative Press booth (part of the Cephalopod booth).

Meet Carex!

Carex is the class project (along with a pair of coordinating cuffs) for my Twisted Stitches class.  I wanted a pattern that utilized traditional twisted stitch patterns that would include the different permutations of stitch patterns you’ll commonly see.

Note:  There are still spots for this class at Taos!

I used to use my Twist Mitts for the class, but worsted weight yarn will be much easier to work with than fingering or sport weight!

Finished Measurements
Cowl
Height: 7” / 18cm
Circumference: 243/4” / 63cm
Cuffs
Height: 3” / 7.5cm
Circumference: 5” / 12.5cm (will stretch to fit 8” / 20.5cm)

Yarn
Zen Yarn Garden ‘Serenity Worsted’, 80% superwash merino/ 10% cashmere/ 10% nylon (175 yds/100g), 2 skeins, shown in Frosted Jade. The cowl takes about 1.5 skeins itself.

Needles
US6 / 4.0mm circular needles or size needed to obtain gauge

Gauge
Approx 32 sts and 32 rows = 4” / 10cm in twisted stitch patterns

Notions
(3) stitch markers (1 unique for beginning of round)
yarn needle

Skills
working in the round
knitting through the back loop
cabling

Going on now!  Each day different classes are on sale.  Craftsy Sweet Summer Sale 7/17-7/21

Going on now!  Each day different classes are on sale.  Craftsy Sweet Summer Sale 7/17-7/21

Congrats to #9, Doreen!  I’ve emailed you.