May 2nd - June 13th

I have a lot to show for the last month, so I will give you a list:

1. I finally started a line of project bags, featuring one in pink and one in lavender. More to come.

2. I finished designing and knitting a black and gray sweater for my husband; photos and pattern to come.

3. I designed and knit a teddy bear plushie; pattern listed here.

4. I finished knitting my Surprise Jacket, based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's extraordinary pattern. Gorgeous! I've worn it three times now (thanks to the cool, rainy weather we've been having) and I've probably gotten more compliments on it than anything I've ever knit for myself.

5. And in other news, I sewed a dress. I don't think I've ever sewn a dress before (though I've knit them). How about that? I had to sew the zipper on by hand, which was a bit tedious, but I rather like the pattern and I think I'll make more.

Weeks of April 5th - May 1st

I've been hard at work in one capacity or another for the past couple of weeks, but what else is new? To a certain extent, I live for my work. Much of my life is devoted to creativity, and always has been - I know I'm not alone in that.

Last week I was excited to see my Afghans for Afghans sweater pictured in their blog. When it was posted, I had already pooled my wool and alpaca yarns once more and was almost finished with another sweater, this time in a more subdued color scheme:



So now my leftover wool stash is sufficiently depleted and I can move on to other things.

I'd been wanting to do some more crochet designs, so I came up with a pattern for a small blanket using three colors of Vickie Howell Sheep(ish). It was originally meant to be a baby blanket, but then Teddy claimed it as his own, placing his handsome self right in the middle of the photo I was taking. What else could I do but make it a cat blanket?



I have one more design to show for April - a knitted cloche-style hat. I'd picked up some lovely tagua nut buttons at Fine Points a while back and was looking for a way to integrate them into a design. I liked the idea of taking an adornment and building a garment around it. It's a fun and simple pattern, and I might go on to make some similar hats for sale later.



And it occurs to me that I should post more photos of my sewing projects, especially as they seem to be getting better these days! I finished this skirt last week (sorry for the lousy picture):

March 21st - April 4th

I successfully finished my entirely destashed Afghans for Afghans sweater, and I'll send it off as soon as I finish a pair of socks to send with it.



It's funny - I had a great time blending all the colors together and I would wear this sweater myself without hesitation, but this time around I found myself worrying it might be too loud for the tastes of a discerning Afghan teenager. Not everyone shares my addiction to bright colors, and I doubt that living in a war zone means you lack an interest in fashion. I probably worry about these things too much. I'll never know, but I think if I'd love wearing this sweater, there should be another girl out there who would also.

In my dad's shop, we have a beautiful new set of notecards featuring his paintings:



And in other news, I've been working on my sewing-machine skills. Teddy likes to "help":



Of course he picks the Enterprise fabric to lie on. He has a real affinity for Star Trek and other sci fi shows - I think he likes all the pretty flashing lights. This weekend he was particularly enamored with the new Doctor Who intro. He's such a precious little dork!

Week of March 13th-20th

Afghans for Afghans has just listed a new campaign; they're asking for 500 sweaters, mittens, socks and hats for schoolgirls for this coming winter. I was yearning for a large project anyway, so I got together a box of wool bits and I'm knitting another A4A Destash Sweater based on the pattern I put together in 2011. This time I'm not letting myself buy any new yarn for it - it's all got to come from my stash. As it turns out, that's not going to be a problem. I have so much wool and alpaca stashed that I can make a few pairs of socks as well, if not a second sweater!

I don't have any new listings myself, but my dad does at RulemanArt. Here's another of my favorites of his, "Bradford Pear Tree In Autumn":

Weeks of November 7th - 27th

I've been working hard this entire month, both in my shop and at Joann, and it has certainly paid off. It's been a great month for business. It also doesn't hurt that I often have my cat friend napping by my side while I work, interrupting me periodically to be petted. Having lived with us for over a month now, Teddy is settled in and seems perfectly happy with his new life as an apartment cat. Since he used to be a stray, I was a little afraid he'd try to escape, but so far he's expressed no desire to slip out the doors and only a little interest in looking out the windows. He seems quite content as long as he gets his daily doses of play time and affection. And he enjoys my cat blankets. :)

In knitting news, I finished a new baby sweater using Ella Rae Amity Prints:

Otherwise, it's been lots and lots of hats and gloves!

Weeks of October 3rd - 16th

I've put in a lot of hours at Joann Fabrics lately, mostly at the cutting counter - it has been so busy there! At home I've done a couple of custom orders, most notably this cute toddler sweater:

It's made with my new favorite non-wool yarn, Lion Brand Cotton Ease; it's for a two-year-old living in the deep South, so wool wasn't really an option! I borrowed the basic shape and added the wildflower knot design to the body to keep things interesting and to add a feminine touch. The adorable pink buttons are from my workplace.

Otherwise I've been stocking up on shop staples - gloves and such. I'm giving myself a refresher course in Spanish, since I'll be going to Guatemala for a week in December and I want to be somewhat functional! I know it's just a week, but I want to make the most of it. And it's good manners.

Week of September 26th - October 2nd

Fun stuff first. I spent a while going through the Mother Bear Project photo gallery and was rewarded for my efforts with three new photos of my bears with their children. These are in South Africa, Togo, and Mali:

Now the boring stuff. I was dedicated over the weekend and listed patterns for my red lace sweater (finally!) and my knitted necktie. Here's the red sweater on a real person - namely, me - and now I have to sign off and go work on a custom order. The holidays are coming!

Weeks of September 4th - 18th

I put off blogging last week because I didn't have any interesting pictures or new listings to show. Now I do. I was almost out of headband/cowls in my shop, so I got out a few pretty oddballs left over from my Mossy Jackets and knit three headbands in pink/orange, multi, and forest green. They're great for the fall and winter.

I have a new men's sweater design on the agenda, as well as a line of knitted neckties, which I'm working on now. I've never been a fan of machine-knit ties; while some guys can make anything look awesome, I think on most men they're irredeemably dorky (and this is coming from me). Hand-knit ties are a different matter entirely. There's a fine line between dorky and geek chic, and they tend to fall in with the latter. I seem to have found a good combination of gauge and stitch pattern for neckties, so I should have photos by next week.

Week of July 31st - August 6th

The red sweater pattern is typed up, but I didn't get to the photos yet. However, I do have two sweaters that I completed this week. The first is a unisex baby sweater I did as a custom order. I used 3 balls of Vickie Howell Sheep(ish) in Yellow(ish). The cute cow buttons came from Fine Points.

After putting it aside briefly to complete the baby sweater, I finished my newest Mossy Jacket, also a custom order for a family member. This is the 5th one I've made, but since the yarn comes in so many pretty colorways, I haven't gotten bored with them yet! This one is in Trendsetter Tonalita color #2349 Bright Multi.

Week of July 24th - 30th

I mostly worked on the red lace sweater for the past week. It's finally finished, and I have a picture:

It's oversized and, meaning no offense to my dressmaker's dummy, generally looks better on someone with arms. I'll try to get some photos of myself in it this week while I write up the pattern.

Speaking of patterns, I FINALLY sat myself down and finished the men's vest pattern I've been sitting on for a while. It's listed here.

I have two custom orders on the needles right now: another Mossy Jacket for a family member and a baby sweater. The baby sweater is taking precedence right now; I'm hurrying to get it done by Friday.

All in all, I've been having an exceptionally good few weeks, sales-wise, for the summer. Most of my sales lately have come from Australia, where of course it's winter. I'm very grateful.

I sometimes worry about my international pattern buyers because I write all my patterns American-style, using the silly, antiquated English system of measurements. I've considered adding metric measurements, but I'm not mathematically-minded and the metric system is daunting. I didn't learn it very well in school and I don't understand it well. Also, every country has its own way of writing knitting patterns, so how can I accomodate every method? So I make sure to clarify US sizes and hope that my fellow knitters don't mind converting from inches to centimeters.

Week of July 16th - 23rd

This week I have one new addition to my shop: a skein of handspun wool made from Bluefaced Leicester top, soft white, 94 yards. It's a lovely, squishy yarn and very soft.

Otherwise I've been plugging away at the red lace sweater. Last week I got a last-call email from the current Afghans for Afghans campaign, so I put the sweater on hold and knit up two more hats. That's pretty much the end of my scrap wool stash, and two more people will have warm hats this winter!

Week of July 9th - 15th

Dealing with photo-editing software this morning has made me irrationally cranky, so I'll keep things short and sweet. I'm pleased to have completed and listed three new infinity scarves in Ocean, Salsa and Cerulean:

I was also very excited to learn last week that the legendary Ohio Knitting Mills has a summer pop-up store in Ohio City. It's only open for a few weeks, so on Wednesday I braved a trip to the west side to visit.* I was thrilled to get to see all the vintage, never-before-worn sweaters they had for sale there. I expected them to be prohibitively expensive, but while there were some that were out of my price range, I was pleased to find that many weren't. Since sample garments tend to be in the smallest size, a lot of the early pieces (1940s and '50s) were too small for me; they would probably be XS according to today's measurements. The later pieces were generally larger, and I came home with two attractive ones from the '70s:

They're vintage without being too dated, they fit well, and - most importantly - I'll wear them both!

*As is probably true of many cities, there's a strange divide between the east and west side of Cleveland. Though I'm far from a native Clevelander, I fell right into it when I moved here. If you live on the east side, you may never go to the west side unless maybe you work there, or vice versa. "Your" side is familiar; the "other" side is uncharted territory.

Week of June 18th-24th

Despite the sluggish heat, I managed to knit two infinity scarves in teal and rust:





Also got five new bears knit up, but I don't have pictures because they're not yet assembled. At the moment I'm starting a lace cotton sweater design, which I would much rather work on now than blog, so I'm going call it a day.

Afghans for Afghans Destash Sweater Knitting Pattern

I designed this sweater specifically for the January 2012 Afghans for Afghans youth campaign. Like most wool-loving knitters, I've accumulated quite a stash of beautiful wool oddballs, and this piece is a great way to put them to use (especially for us A4A knitters who'd love to make sweaters for kids but find it hard to spring for the cost of all that wool!). If your yarn is in all different colors, I recommend alternating colors every two rows. I bought a couple of balls of variegated Patons Classic Wool specifically for this project, alternating rows with leftover wool yarns; the "base" yarn helped keep some continuity in the colors. Whether or not you decide to buy new yarn is entirely up to you.

I adapted this pattern from the yoke sweater templates found in "The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns" by Ann Budd. It's knit from the bottom-up and joined as you go, with garter stitch borders. So raid your stash and have fun!

Size: Small adult/teenager
Finished chest circumference: 34"

Gauge: 5 sts/inch in St st. (Since the campaign is for youths ages 7-16, your gauge doesn't have to be perfect as long as your sweater will fit someone that age range.)

32" long US 6 circular, five US 6 double-pointed needles
Stitch markers
A whole lot of worsted weight wool (about 920 yds) (you can also use sport or DK weight wool held double)

Body:
With circular needle, CO 172. Place marker (pm) and join in round. Work in garter stitch for 2" (knit one round, purl one round). Work in St st (knit every round) until sweater body measures 14" from CO, ending 4 sts before marker.
Divide:
(BO 8, k 78) 2 times. There will be 78 sts for the front of the sweater and 78 for the back.

Sleeves: (make 2)
With double-pointed needles, CO 40. Pm and join in round. Work in garter stitch for 2".
Increases:
Working in St st, increase 1 stitch on each side of marker every 6 rounds 11 times - 62 sts.
Work in St st until sleeve measures 15.5" from CO, ending 4 sts before marker.
BO 8 and work to end of round - 54 sts.

Join body and sleeves:
K 54 from left sleeve, pm; k 78 from body front, pm; k 54 from right sleeve, pm; k 78 from back, pm to mark end of round - 264 sts total.

Yoke:
(K to 1 st past marker, k2tog) 4x - 260 sts.
Work even in St st until yoke measures 2".
Decrease round 1: (k3, k2tog), repeat across - 208 sts.
Work even until yoke measures 4".
Decrease round 2: (k2, k2tog), repeat across - 156 sts.
Work even until yoke measures 6".
Decrease round 3: (k1, k2tog), repeat across - 104 sts.
Work even until yoke measures 7.75".

Shape neck:
Make 2 short rows: K to left shoulder line, wrap st, turn;
P to right shoulder line, wrap st, turn;
k to 1" before previously wrapped st, wrap st, turn;
p to 1" before previously wrapped st, wrap st, turn;
K to end of round.
K one round even, knitting the wrapped stitches together to hide them.
Decrease round 4: (k1, k2tog), repeat across - 69 sts.

Neckband:
Work in garter st for 3/4". BO.
Sew underarm seams.
Weave in all ends.

Afghans for Afghans child's sweater

So my old netbook suddenly broke down a few days ago, completely throwing off my work schedule. Luckily my husband's a techie and had kept his older but quite functional Mac laptop on hand, so I now have a working computer and can get back to business!
Here's the finished Afghans for Afghans destash sweater I mentioned earlier. I used wool colors I don't have much use for in my shop - light pinks and blues, for instance - and mixed them in with the variegated yarn I had leftover from my cardigan. I knit it top-down according to the pattern, but I think in the future I'll go for bottom-up sweaters; this one is nice and was fun to do, but I liked the bottom-up raglan shaping better. Soon it'll be in the mail heading to San Francisco and then to Afghanistan.
Next up: I'm back into my cat blankets. I have three of them planned out, and with luck I'll get them done by the end of the month.

The yoke sweater, finally

Here's the promised picture of my yoke sweater, finally! Warm, comfy, pretty - that sums it up. I used two balls of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool and one of Ella Rae Classic Sand Art in "Grey, Charcoal, Beige"; the style is traditional, using Elizabeth Zimmermann's yoke sweater percentage system (EPS, for you knitters), except instead of the usual Fair Isle yoke pattern I used a variegated yarn (the Ella Rae). I'm in love with this sweater and don't want to take it off - ever!
Hastily getting ready for the craft sale at Jewel Heart Cleveland as well...

New hat pattern

Sometimes I get so busy working on my knitting that I completely forget about blogging - which is what happened last week. After much time and willpower, I finished my yoke sweater on Saturday and happily wore it that night. As soon as I get a chance, I'll have my husband take a picture of me in it so I can show the world my work.
In other news, I'm thrilled to death to have a steady job again - especially one that I like! What could be better than walking a bunch of sweet dogs? (One at a time, naturally - I'm not sure if I could walk five dogs at once...)
And I finally dug up the pattern for this hat, which I've been meaning to list for a while. Simple design, pretty yarn, fun to make.

My busy weekend

Three hats - that's what I achieved from Friday through Sunday last weekend. All three are for my men's Fair Isle line. And yesterday and today, between a couple of job interviews, I've been working steadily on a yoke sweater (for myself, for once!) while watching my way through Buffy on Netflix. Awesome show - it's the second time I've watched it through - and a great sweater-knitting companion. Next up - a jacket pattern for Etsy and a sweater for my husband.

Pretty sweater!

I have to allow myself a quick brag before I go off to visit one of my favorite dog friends. Here we have the completed sweater I made for my grandmother-in-law, following a pattern from Tahki Stacy Charles and using the tweed yarn Shannon, which unfortunately seems to have been discontinued, since I can't find it in the online shop. So pretty, though, isn't it? It's fun to follow a pattern for once, as opposed to the trial-and-error method of designing my own! (Though if I knit this sweater again, I think I'd alter the pattern to where I'd knit the sleeves in the round and the body in one piece so I wouldn't have to sew so many seams.)

Dad's sweater, finished at last

After lots of postponing, I'm finally at the stage of sewing the buttons onto Dad's sweater. I would be completely finished now except that my cat friend decided to help "break in" the sweater, which means I'll have to finish it and wash it tomorrow, since Dad is slightly allergic to cats. Isn't it nice-looking, though?