Monthly Archives: February 2020

New Pattern: U-District Pullover

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It’s the perfect day for a new pattern- especially this one!

It’s cold, gross, and I’ve just about had it up to here* with this February weather.

(*My eyebrows)

It’s the perfect time for my most ridiculous sweater yet!

Introducing, the U-District Pullover!52774220_08

Why is it ridiculous, you ask?

Well, it’s super oversized- meant to be worn with at least 6 inches of positive ease, but, really just about as much as you want.  It’s made from super-soft, bulky merino and beautiful laceweight alpaca held double (color blocking!), so it knits up in about fifteen minutes (give or take) and is super cozy.

And, the sleeves!  The sleeves might be the most ridiculous part.  There’s zero shaping on the sleeves until you get to the cuffs, when you decrease all the way down, which leaves you with big, poofy, ridiculous (and ridiculously cozy) 80’s-style sleeves.

The pattern is beyond simple (perfect Movie Knitting), but the finished effect is super fun, if I say so myself.

52774220_02Don’t get me wrong, this might be a ridiculous sweater, but dang if I don’t love it.  It’s one of my more out-there designs and I gotta say I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

Oh! And by the way, it’s part of the “Better Together” collection from Knit Picks!  I’m currently considering making myself a Riant Pullover or maybe a Continuation Blanket with some of my stash yarn.33761

Head on over to Knit Picks to pick up a copy of my U-District Pullover!

7 and counting

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It’s funny.  Had you asked me 7 years ago if I’d still be writing patterns and blogging, I probably would have laughed at you.  Heck, had you asked me two years ago (with the kid just around the corner) if I’d still be writing today, I’d be kinda skeptical.  But, here we are- still cruising along. IMG_2674

I know that knitting is definitely one of those things that I will always do, in one way or another.  It’s my favorite way to get my creative juices flowing.  It lets me express myself and clothe my family (and myself).  It gives me something to do with my hands while I’m binging the next Netflix show (by the way, Next in Fashion is a delight).  It’s so much a part of me that I don’t know what I would do with myself if I (for some reason) was not able to knit.

But, I always thought that knitting would be “just” a hobby.  Something I did for fun, on the weekends, and while waiting in boring meetings.  I never thought it would become the thing that I defined my professional life by.  It’s been a wild ride.

Anyway, thank you for following with me on this crazy 7-year-long project.  It’s probably (definitely) the longest I’ve worked on a single thing, and while it’s nice to see the follows and the likes on my posts, the satisfaction I get from seeing my body of work is even better.

It’s been 7 years, I’ve written (almost) 900 posts, published 88 patterns (with a few more in the works),  been featured in 25 collections, 1 magazine, and I’ve written my own sock book (which just got re-printed, by the way!).  I’m not usually comfortable tooting my own horn, but after 7 years, well… Toot toot!

Better Late Than Never

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It’s been a week.  Between the kid teething, skipping naps, starting potty training, and generally stretching his “toddler” legs, I’m exhausted.  I had plans to rip back my Stonecroft Shawl and get it finished, but I just couldn’t get it together.

Instead, I pulled out a project that hasn’t been touched in literally years.  I busted out my spinning wheel.

(To be fair, the spinning wheel sees a lot of action when we have playdates- there’s nothing toddlers loves more than large, slightly dangerous machinery, especially if there’s a wheel involved.)

I pulled out the roving I purchased and started spinning in (Are you ready?) 2016!  That’s 4 years ago.  I got two-thirds of the way through the roving (and it wasn’t a big chunk of roving either!) and just stopped.  I couldn’t tell you why- must have just gotten bored or something.

Anyway, I pulled it out again, and got spinning.  It’s looking good, I think, and the actual spinning seems to be coming back faster than I expected.  I guess it’s like riding a bike!

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I’ll be curious to see what the yarn looks like when I’m done (since I don’t really have a plan for it), and if I can see a difference between the freshly-spun yarn and the sitting-on-the-shelf-since-the-Obama-administration yarn.

What projects have you resurrected after a long hibernation?

Good news/bad news

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So, I’ve got good news and bad news about my shawl.

Good news: I’ve made it almost to the end.  I finally decided to stop adding repeats and start the border.  It’s a nice size, and I love how the pattern looks all worked up in this yarn.  I think it’s going to look even more fabulous when I’ve blocked it out.IMG_2611

Other good news: The border is looking good.  I love the way the faux-cable ends so crisply and the border takes over.

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Still more good news: I really enjoyed the stretchy bind-off the pattern calls for.  It looks a bit messy now, but I think it’ll block up like a dream.  I’m going to keep it in mind for future projects.

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And here’s the bad news:  I totally lost at yarn chicken.  And, since this is the only skein I have of this yarn, I can’t just grab a couple yards of yarn from somewhere else.  So I’ve got two options:  undo the bind-off and the last couple rows and re-knit an even narrower border. (The border is already more narrow than called for in the pattern because I procrastinated starting the border in the first place.)  Or, I can rip all the way back to the body of the shawl, remove the last faux-cable repeat, and start the whole border earlier, make it wider and (hopefully) not run out of yarn before I’m ready.  I’m not super stoked about either choice.

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What would you do?