Pelican Lake in July

Blue, white, green, and a touch of red. The perfect view of summer!

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.

Random Thrift-Store Sweater That is Sadly a Tiny Size

Isn't the colorwork to die for? I love the use of negative space!

A Fun Idea

I don't usually see a lot to inspire me at the Gap, but I love this raglan idea: plain front and back, patterned sleeves. :) This would be fun with colorwork or even a little lace.

Design Inspiration: Almost Spring Hat

A friend of mine contacted me some time ago. She wanted a hat that would be easy to knit and look good on both adults and kids. I came up with the Almost Spring hat, complete with a "tendril growing up and looking for the sun."

I made mine in Encore Worsted, but I also love the version a test knitter made in Plymouth Yarn's Worsted Merino Superwash Kettle Dyed. I guess we both like Plymouth yarns!

Design Inspiration: Sherwood Slippers

Sherwood Slippers started out as a design feature I wanted to try.

I had an idea for easy slippers knit from the toe up with a beyond-easy heel that closed in the back. I shopped it around to two or three publications and was rejected.

For 2013, I promised myself that I was going to get at least one other person to "sign on" to a design idea before wool hit the needles. I still really liked the design, so what else could I do?

I read on Ravelry that Cascade, a company I already love, is great about offering yarn support for indy designers like me. So, I wrote them an email outlining my idea for slippers. They wrote back the next day!

I knit up the slippers and I knew they would be a hit when my lovely model refused to part with them. I had to buy more yarn to knit a pair for myself. :)

Sadly, the yarn I used to knit the originals has been discontinued. But, they work in any yarn that will produce a gauge of 15 stitches in 4 inches (10 cm) after felting.

Design Inspiration: Chicken Dinner Socks

Yes, I am such a geek that I knew about a candy bar called Chicken Dinner. I heard about it a long time ago, I think on This American Life. I knit up a version of these socks in white and brown (which my sweetie wears with pride to this day) and named them after the long-lost candy.

I photographed the socks I made and sent in a submission to Sockupied, an eMag by Interweave Press. I was really psyched when they said they wanted to use it! They arranged for me to knit the socks, again, in Louet Gems, a yarn I hadn't used before. This pair was in cream and deep purple. A lot of designers aren't crazy about this part of the process, but I love trying out new yarns and different color combinations. (So far, they have always looked great to me.)

It's a simple pattern, but not so easy that it becomes boring to knit.

Design Inspiration: Magic Trick Baby Sweater

Depending on how you look at it, the Magic Trick Baby Sweater is either one of my most challenging designs, or one of my easiest. It started from a conversation on Twitter. I was going on about The Principles of Knitting, and the charming Kate Atherley mentioned War and Peace - and the fact that she knows (and teaches) how to knit two socks in one.

I kind of freaked out about how cool that is, then I wrote, “Wait, what if it were a baby sweater?” The exchange basically turned into a dare/wish for me to make it, so I did. 

Since this sweater starts at the cuffs and works its way in, you have a little while to get used to the way double-knitting feels before you get to the body.

The first version I made kind of drove me crazy, because after I was finished with the “main” knitting, I had a lot of edges, borders and ribbing to add. This version is more simple, with hems already knit onto most of the edges, and minimal finishing.

Luckily for me, one of my co-worker friends had a baby the right age, so I used him as model. (Note to pregnant, local friends, I AM watching your facebook feed to see when I can borrow your kid.)

I sent the design in to Petite Purls and they published it in issue #14. So, go get it! It's free!

Design Inspiration: Bellybutton Baby Blanket

 

The “bellybutton” in the Bellybutton Baby Blanket refers to the shape of the center of the blanket. I knit it when I found out my younger sister was pregnant. The lovely Allison of Simply Socks Yarn Company let me borrow her adorable son for the photos.

The bellybutton is formed when the plain knit section hits the patterned ridges. I love it as a symbol of a child’s connection to the four sets of families that came before him or her, since a new baby is the heart, root, and hope for everyone involved.

This is a very simple knit that takes advantage of the wonderfully unpredictable and lovely variations in Malabrigo Rios. (It could even be a great stash buster, as long as you keep the type and weight of the yarns used the same.)

Design Inspiration: Firebird Flight Shawl

I was inspired to knit my Firebird Flight Shawl by the silky drape and color shifts of Panda Silk in Firebird.

This is a fingering-weight yarn that is 52% bamboo, 43% Merino wool and 5% silk. It is 204 yards in 1.76 oz per skein or 187 meters in 50 grams. It is gorgeous!

The shawl’s unusual shape is part yarn-saving triangle, and part figure-flattering hexagon, with fun scalloped edges, too.

Luckily, when it was ready for photography, I was visiting my sister and my baby niece. I took the chance to include this special moment in their lives in the shawl's photographs.

Design Inspiration: Schaad Hat

I always need a Christmas present for my dad, Schaad. He's not an easy man to knit for (are any of them?)

He lives in a warm-ish climate, has enormous feet (so no socks), and when I made him golf club covers years ago he decided they were too nice to use and put them in a shadowbox.

A compliment, of a sort, but I want to knit things people will use. So, I turned out this hat.

This is an easy,ribbed hat in two sizes - one to fit adults and one for babies. There is a lot of stretch in the ribbing, so the “adult” hat will fit most children, too.

If making it for a child, consider making the hat about an inch (2.5 cm) shorter, before the crown shaping.

The end of the pattern has notes for making a hat in almost any gauge, which was fun.

Design Inspiration: Hold Me Close Shawl

Almost exactly a year ago, I knit this shawl out of my own handspun Jacob yarn. It uses a lot of the same techniques as the Eulalia Shawl. But, instead of curling stockinette at the beginning and end, I made sure the shawl has a smooth, double-knit edge all of the way around. It is also worked at a much larger gauge and has a little extra detail at the top, by the neck. Test knitters helped me work out some issues with the instructions and the pattern was pretty much ready to go.

I had a small problem, however. I didn't know what to name it.

Some relatives were visiting from out of town, and they agreed to pose with the shawl for photos. When I handed it to my sister-in-law, she immediately wrapped it around herself and gave me a 10,000-watt smile. The Hold Me Close shawl was born!

Design Inspiration: Square Route Mitts

Part of the story of my Square Route Mitts is really about the awesomeness level of Shannon Okey. (Hint: It's a high level of awesome.)

I sent the pattern notes to her with some photos of a version of these smocked mitts in a worsted-weight yarn. She emailed me back: Great idea! The gauge, maybe, is not the best, though. 

I love that she saw potential in the idea, encouraged me to pursue it, and published the final pattern.

I made up a version in the scrummy Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino. 

Well, not only did Shannon publish it, she made it the cover of the second issue of Knit Edge magazine.

Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Design Inspiration: Für Eloise Shawl

Fur Eloise is another pattern that started out as a pattern in a kit for Simply Socks Yarn Company. Sadly, you can't buy more of the yarn it was designed for, individually. But, you can buy the pattern from me. 

This easy, top-down shawl shows off handpainted yarns perfectly. Increases and decreases create zigzags within the fabric.

Where the yarn colors line up and would normally create pools, the stitch pattern transforms them into intricate-looking pops of color.

With that said, sometimes yarn + pattern produces effects that are hard to predict. (But that's what makes it fun!)

Kath Gordon, one of my testers, used a great yarn that I've never seen before  (probably because it's German). It's called Superba Poems and it's by Rico Design. It has super-long color repeats, which make the shawl she made look almost as if it was knit with stripes of yarn. 

Photo by Kath Gordon. Used with her permission.

Another tester, Jan, used all but three yards of a skein (yikes!) of Cascade Yarns Heritage 150 Paints to make her version. 

Jan doesn't mess around when blocking!

Another great yarn for this pattern would be Friea Handpaint's Flux Fingering Weight. It would take three skeins to work, but it would be very worth it.

I would also love to see it in 4 skeins of Painter's Palette Premium Merino by Koigu, 2 skeins of Socks that Rock Lightweight by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, or a very subtle 2 skeins of tosh merino light by madelinetosh. I will probably never have time to knit more versions of this shawl, but a girl can dream...

Design Inspiration: Mediety

“Mediety” means one of two mostly equal parts. I made it as a test to see how far I could take modular knitting and also because I love the way garter stitch looks when it is sideways.

This sweater is made in two halves that are then joined. Both halves start at the top of the shoulder, then raglan increases create the beginning of the sleeves and part of the fronts and backs. Sleeves are knit seamlessly, in the round.

Finally, stitches are picked up and short-rows in garter stitch are made to bring the fronts and backs together, provide waist shaping and create an interesting neckline. I think that garter stitch removes the need for wrap-and-turn or other techniques that reduce holes at short-row turning points.

A knitter who is already comfortable with working  raglan shaping with ribbing, short rows, and  garter grafting will, hopefully, find this to be a very easy project. Knitters who want to have those skills could use this as a learning project.

I used a bunch of test knitters on this pattern. The tech editor I wanted to use wasn’t available at the time, so I released the pattern in “beta.” If you buy it and find a mistake, let me know and I’ll refund your money.

Design Inspiration: Sweetest Heart Socks

I designed my Sweetest Heart Socks as part of a kit for Simply Socks Yarn Company in February of 2012. Six months after its release, the rights reverted to me. I re-released it myself after I had a few test knitters try it out.

It was a fun design to make. Allison assumed that I'd written a ton of top-down sock patterns before, but in fact I had only done one - and that was for a Christmas stocking! We talked about how she wanted the pattern to look and a drew a few sketches. I was originally going to stretch a single heart all of the way across the top/front of the sock.

When I knit the swatch, that turned out not to show up very well. The curve of the foot/leg made it hard to make out the heart shape. I again tried with hearts that were half as wide, and I was very happy with the result.

I added one last heart, centered, on the toe, to be worked during the toe decreases. It made the design feel pretty clever to me.

On Ravelry, I saw a great pair made from this pattern by a lady, Anna-Mia Heikkinen, in Finland. I will never get over how exciting it is to see someone knit a pattern of mine from so many thousands of miles away. She used Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids & Quatro Colors and I think it looks great! I messaged her and she gave me permission to use her photo here.

Copr. Anna-Mia Heikkinen, 2012

Design Inspiration: PB&J Cowl

When I saw the Hello Purl batts on the shelf, I knew I had to buy one. I had only been spinning for a few months, but they were just too awesome to pass up.

I brought it home, split it in half and spun it on my loaner Kiwi wheel.

I ended up with a nice, two-ply yarn that was roughly worsted-weight. 

My mom loves purple and sparkle, so I decided that it had to be something for her. There wasn't enough yarn for a shawl and she doesn't wear a lot of hats, so I played around a little bit and came up with a simple cowl shape that could work either with a lot or a little handspun yarn. 

I sent an email to the Ennea Collective about publishing my pattern. They said yes! They were a fun group. 

The result is the PB&J Cowl, named after the first art batt I ever spun. 

OK, enabling time:

Even for people who don't spin or aren't into art batts, I think this is a pretty awesome, easy pattern. 

2 skeins of Manos Del Uruguay Wool Clasica Space-Dyed Yarn would be more than enough.

2 skeins of Malabrigo Chunky would be gorgeous and super warm.

Or, ooooh, Marble Chunky would be awesome. Just one skein would work.