New Apron!

Pardon the mess, I'm just excited about my apron! Check out the pretty cute pattern matching on the pockets. 

I love little three-pocket aprons for when I'm selling somewhere, teaching, or just knitting around the house. 

The three pockets are awesome for when you want to knit with multiple colors. Simply put each color in its own pocket, and you're way less likely to get all tangled up in yourself. 

When I'm teaching, my apron is great because I can shove my little sample piece of knitting into a pocket while I help a student. It reduces the amount of time I spend chasing down the yarn and needles I set down somewhere, usually across the room. 

And, also around the house, when I'm chatting on the phone with my sister as I knit, fold laundry, or whatever, it's great to have somewhere to hold my phone while I use an earbud headset!

Craftsy Weekend Sale: Knitting in More Than One Color

Pssst, the end of August marks the end of summer (for those north of the equator). If you've been putting off learning how to make beautiful colorwork, now's the perfect time to try it. Patterns knit in more than one color are warmer than most single-color knitting and also open up a whole world of creative potential for your work.

This weekend, you can try any Colorwork Knitting class for $19.99 today with my affiliate link: http://www.craftsy.com/ext/LaraNeel_W7

Knitspiration via Tile

This in the entryway of The Third Bird in Minneapolis. Lovely!

More Paris Wallpaper Socks

This is the front of the sock.

The bulges in the socks are from me cramming my fist in to them, not a feature of the socks!

I don't knit the same pattern, over and over, very often. My Paris Wallpaper Socks are the exception. 

I worked them, first, in gorgeous Poste Yarn, Patina. The publications I offered it to turned it down, so I submitted it to Dream in Color. 

The combination of Cashmere and sparkles in Starry was amazing! 

My mom saw that pair, in the works, and begged me for some of her own. How could I refuse? I made them for her last year. (I think I still owe my sister Lisa a pair. Sorry, sis.)

Then, I made a pair in black and red for Dee. I chose the  yarn poorly - they wore out in just a few months. 

So, once again, into the breach. This time, I'm using Dream in Color's Smooshy with Cashmere for the red and Simply Socks Yarn Company solid for the black. I love them! (That weird little bunchy bit on the right side of the second photo will block out, don't worry.)

Chateau de Versailles Cowl

I was happy when Dream in Color said they wanted to publish one of my patterns, so imagine how excited I was when they took two!

The Chateau de Versailles Cowl is based, loosely, on some lovely tilework in the courtyard of, well, the palace at Versailles.

I'm saying "loosely" here because I think I can do better. I'm going to try to capture that sense of grandeur and order a little more closely next time. The grounds and the garden there made me feel like every other formal garden I'd ever seen was an imitation. 

I mean, really, the SCALE of the place is barely human. 

Here's my attempt at a slight imitation:

Chateau de Versailles Cowl

Very simple, symmetrical colorwork that's easy to memorize. If you are neat with your wrong side, you won't care that it shows a little. 

I can't overstate the incredible luxury I felt when knitting with these yarns. I don't normally go for really sparkly stuff, but I feel that Dream in Color really hit a good balance between pizazz and "where are my sunglasses?" And, well, cashmere is cashmere!

Paris Wallpaper Socks

I almost hate to say that I fell in love with Paris. It seems like such a cliche. Does every American who goes there have to follow in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson, Gertrude Stein, Julia Child and Ernest Hemingway? Anthony Bourdain basically says you have to be a complete dunce not to fall in love with it, though, so I have even that curmudgeon on my side.

Well, I did fall in love. We did. In May of 2013. The first draft of Sock Architecture was done, and most of the patterns were drafted out, too. I took a break from obsessing about my book to obsess about Paris. Anyone who was following me on Twitter at that time got to see a pair of little socks roam around the streets. I couldn't tell you why I had those particular socks, then.

Some obligatory Paris photos:

Anyway, when you're looking at everything in the way that travel forces you to, as if the whole world was made all over again for you last night, you sometimes look a little more closely at little details than usual. 

This was the wallpaper in our little hotel. Very simple. Very elegant. 

Months later, I saw a design call from Dream in Color for designs using two colors and bases of yarns, I knew I wanted to take design cues from the wallpaper. 

Voila. Paris Wallpaper Socks.

See? I Don't JUST Knit Socks

I forgot to take a good photo before I shipped it off, so please enjoy my (kind of bad) sketch!

I didn't have a chance to blog about it right away, but Juniper Moon Farm has just released a pattern from me: The Two-to-One Hat & Cowl. It's a very simple hat and cowl set that uses just a little bit of colorwork to jazz it up. The yarn is absolutely scrumptious! It really feels like butter on the needles.

I don't think I will ever get over how much fun it is to see something go from a sketch to a swatch to a finished thing that other people might knit.

Like it? You can buy it on Ravelry!

Random Colorwork Inspiration

These are all from a nice but ordinary hotel room. I love toying with ideas for knit stuff with these shapes/colors, even though I have no idea when or for what reason I am likely to use them. Anyway, great two-color schemes, no?

A Little Green Sweater

A few months ago, the charming Lore (I assume she is, she looks charming on Ravelry) knit up my Keys to the Castle Baby Sweater. It's still one of my all-time favorite designs, and I asked her if it was ok for me to use her project photo on my blog. She said "yes" and also included these notes.

"I modified a few things. First the contrast color I used was some leftover yarn and I wasn’t sure how far it would go. So I didn’t do the vertical stripes on the arms (although I still kept the CC cuffs). I also wasn’t sure if there would be enough of it for the front bands so I picked those up after I finished everything else. If I hadn’t had enough CC I would have picked up bands in the MC.

Second, I detest knitting I-cord and avoid it at all costs. So I decided to go with buttons instead.

Thanks for the pattern. I had fun knitting it. Out little baby boy should be arriving in June, although he’ll have some growing to do still before he gets to wear it."

There have been some photos of an adorable baby boy on her Ravelry page, so it looks like it all worked out!

Photo Notes for Colorwork

I find that my colorwork does change depending on which hand I use to carry which color. To make sure I don't switch when halfway through, I always take a photo of the position when I start. 

(The project has to be secret, for now...)