I’ve got one last scarf pattern for this season, and it’s something a bit different: a generous scarf with a slipped stitch texture, knit sideways to allow for lovely, long stripes.
Snowchaser uses stitches slipped with the yarn in front to create a subtle texture that is pleasing on both sides of the fabric. Continue reading
As a fan of woolly wool, I really like Brooklyn Tweed‘s yarns. I’ve noodled around with Shelter and Loft, and just love the light, spongy, cohesive fabric these woolen-spun yarns create, and the wide range of lovely, heathered colours are a colourwork fan’s dream. It pleases me that these beautiful yarns are made sheep to skein here in North America. (I love the house yarns by the mill they use, Harrisville Designs, for all the same reasons.) So when Brooklyn Tweed released Quarry late last year, just as I was finishing the next round of samples for photography, I had to try it. A bulky weight yarn at 200 yds/100g? I could get a hat out of that in no time at all, and have one more sample ready to go. When the skein arrived, I played around with stitch patterns to see what it could do, and it turned out that what Quarry does really well is texture. Ribs and cables turned out beautifully. I didn’t want to stop knitting with it: I wanted a big, generous scarf out of this stuff. Not the most practical thing for the South, but fie on that. Sometimes you just have to go where the inspiration takes you. I ordered more skeins, and knit. And knit. And very soon I had a scarf. And it was exactly what I’d pictured. It’s warm and cozy and the pattern reminded me of runnels of melting ice water, so I called it Meltwater.
I’ve been sick as a pike, dearies, with a lovely head cold/flu thing that left me very tired and cranky, with the distinct impression that gnomes had come in the night and replaced my brain with soggy cotton batting. Too stupid to work, even on simple things, unless I wanted to go back and check every single detail later to make sure I hadn’t decided that 2+2=146 or done eleventy hours of knitting on needles that were .5mm too large. One thing I could do, though, was spin. I’d been working on the same spin since May 2015: ~330g of Southern Cross Fibre 60/40 Bond/silk in Vetinari, from last year’s Discworld MegaSAL. Continue reading
Well, my cunning plan for this year worked out. Having knit like a demon all spring and summer, by the first week in December I’d almost finished all the samples for this season and had no immediate deadlines reaching over my shoulder with their sharp, deadliney claws. I was feeling pretty damned pleased with myself. All that was left was the gifts for the niece and nephews–the special fun knitting I’d been saving until now–and I had plenty of time…oh, crap. Mailing times. To Canada. Why do they always sneak up on me? Gah. As it turned out, everything I’d chosen could be made quickly–the first two took a day each–so all was not completely lost. If you’re in a last minute panic, fellow knitter, maybe these ideas will help you, too. They’re not even child-specific, in my humble opinion. Continue reading
I’ve been a fan of Twist Collective since they started out in 2008. An online-only knitting magazine, Twist Collective has always been about treating their designers and writers well while producing a magazine that people will enjoy reading from the first virtual page to the last. The result is a beautiful publication with a reputation for excellent writing and interesting, high quality knitting patterns.
When I started designing, one of my goals was to get a piece published in Twist Collective. ‘This one might be Twist-worthy’ became shorthand in our home for a design idea I found especially pleasing. Then, last spring, they put out a call for submissions that fit perfectly with an idea I’d been working on. I thought this design might be Twist-worthy, and it turns out that they agreed with me: my latest design, the Ready Steady Go set, is in the new edition of Twist Collective. You get all three patterns together for $6 USD, which is a pretty good deal, no? Continue reading
Contrariwise actually started as an idea for a cowl: squishy, double loop cowl in stranded colourwork, which evolved to include bands of texture made with slipped stitches. As it happens, it took longer to get the cowl ready for release, so here it is, the first started and the last finished: Circular Reasoning. Continue reading
Well, SAFF was wonderful. Of course. I only tasted a bit of it, because I didn’t get it together to book classes and my non-fibre-obsessed friend had taken the weekend off for my visit, so I mostly wandered around on Friday and took everything in and got a feel for the thing. The thing, let me tell you, can be pretty overwhelming. A lot of the classes looked amazing, though: the schedule’s gone from the site now, but I remember seeing spinning instructors like Abby Franquemont and Judith MacKenzie, and a colour theory class with Franklin Habit, so that should give you some idea of the lineup. Fortunately, the fleece judging was open to all attendees, so I spent a very happy hour watching Judith MacKenzie walk us through many, many primitive breed fleeces.
When Jill Zielinski (a.k.a. Knitterella) did my snazzy new pattern layout, I decided to redo some of my previously published patterns with the new look. I’d be selective about it—redoing layout takes more time than one would think (at least, if I’m doing it), and that time often would be better spent making shiny new patterns—but there some of my earlier patterns are still pretty popular, and I’d like the good people who buy them to have the best version I can give them.
On the top of the list was Gyre: my swirly, colourwork cowl with the optional striped lining. This pattern needed new photos, though, and it took a while to get that together. Now the new photos are here, and they’re fabulous (in my not-unbiased opinion, and thanks entirely to the talented Gale Zucker and model Ariana McLean), and it’s time. The new version of Gyre is now on Ravelry, and it’s 30% off until November 10. You don’t need a coupon code: the discount will be applied at checkout.
The revision turned out to be more work than I expected (surprise!); I think the results are worth it. For one thing, look at these photos:
Dear past me:
If you feel like a yarn combination isn’t going to work in the first couple of rounds, and then again 18 rounds later, and you keep stretching your work out and squinting at it to see if it’s finally started to work, maybe it’s time to stop and rip the thing out. Do not press on for another 30 rounds just because you really want it to work. It’s not working. Stop it.
Love, present me, who has to clean up your mess.
E. Elliott Knits 