Thanks for your patience

Tags

cables, designing, free pattern, Knitting, New Zealand yarn, Strong Heart, Zealana

I know.  It has been a long time coming.

I finally got up the courage/found the heart to finish writing, editing and testing Strong Heart.  It’s ironic that in a pattern I’ve named “Strong Heart”, I sort of lost heart in finishing it.  I still find releasing patterns a terrifying business.

There were also a couple of things I did not like about the original design.  I thought I could ‘let it go’, but the perfectionist freak in me could not.  Instead, I sat on the design for a while.

This week, sternly telling myself that if I did not get the thing finished, I’d miss winter entirely, I finally picked up my needles and began a third version.

I am really, really happy with this version!

I have finally ironed out the thumb detail that I wanted.

I’m going to test out some small details one more time just to make sure I have it right, but the pattern is in final editing stages now.

Won’t be long (truly!)

In case you’re wondering, this test version is in Zealana’s amazing Rimu.  This colourway is called Riverbank (R03).  I swear, it’s utterly, and totally gorgeous.  So incredibly silky soft, so warm, so…  why did it take so long for me to actually knit a proper thing in Rimu!!??  (I know why… it’s because I’ve been hoarding it! )

I anticipate it will be the weekend’ish when the pattern is out, depending on how my week goes.

There will be a small contest to celebrate me getting up the courage to release another pattern.  I bought several balls of Rimu because I love it so much.  Perhaps I might share…

Guess I’d better get back to pattern writing!

The Cables and Lace Hoodie

Tags

Alpaca, cables, FO, Knitting, lace, New Zealand yarn, yarn

Sometimes a project seems to take forever to finish.  16 balls of yarn: one back, two fronts, two sleeves and a hood later, I finally found myself with a set of pieces that were ready to be sewn together!

Last night, I sat down to start the sewing together.  I forgot how much fun seaming is.  :-)  I stayed up to 1am because I couldn’t put this down until the very last stitch was done… and now, the hoodie is finished!

They’re terrible photos I’m afraid.  It is very difficult to photograph this thing – even more so when they’re self-taken.  I’ve tried to give you an idea of the sizing and detail as best I can!

I’m really pleased with it as I’ve made quite a few modifications to get it to fit correctly and look how I wanted – among other things, I changed the cables as I didn’t like the original puffy ones.  The details are Ravelled here.

This is a lovely warm addition to the winter wardrobe!! I used a naturally coloured New Zealand alpaca yarn that came from a small producer and that I have been saving for the right project.  This is one of the reasons I kept the knitting in pieces and didn’t knit the body as one.  I felt that the seams would contribute some structure in case the yarn decided to stretch.

So… what’s next?  Well… there’s this very pretty fresh green chunky merino…

I’ve wanted to do something with it for ages.  It’s hand-dyed by Happy Go Knitty and I think I’ve just settled on something cute.  More on it later!

Strong heart

Tags

cables, fingerless gloves, free pattern, Knitting, mittens, New Zealand wool, New Zealand yarn, Stansborough, Wool

Today, dear readers, I introduce Strong Heart.

Originally conceptualised many months ago, after I’d been reading quite a few blog posts about life’s challenges, I thought it would be nice to knit something as a reminder of the nicer things in life, and as my gift to my knitting sisters, who find life a struggle on occasion.

These gloves are dedicated to my dear friend, Kb, who is going through some tremendous changes in her life right now.

It feels nice to finally have wrapped around my arms what I’ve had in my head for so long.  The cabled motif is a continuous string of hearts.  As I knitted them, I reflected on how much you could read into the hearts – a love of knitting; a love for the person you might be knitting the gloves for; a love for all things cabled – the list goes on!  In this case, the hearts represent “heart”.  The ability to take strength; to take heart, and go on, to take on the good and the bad, opportunity and disappointment, and continue to enjoy all that life has to offer.  Hence the name “Strong Heart”.

But wait, there’s more! This is the mitten version.

I’ve used the wonderful Stansborough Mythral yarn, (DK weight, 100% New Zealand Stansborough Grey wool), in the Rata colourway for the long, fingerless version.  The mittens are in Kokako Grey – the natural colour of the sheep.

The pattern is of course, free and it will be released in about a week.  (I have some major work on at the moment that will prevent me from writing the pattern up too quickly).  Thanks to my son Tim, for the great pics today.

I hope you are having a marvellous, relaxing weekend.  :-)

The cable thing

Tags

cables, inspiration, kids, Knitting, vintage

I was salivating over a vintage kids’ pattern book from Patons the other day.  The general styling looks like it might be from the 60′s? (There’s no date on the cover).

I decided I simply had to knit this for the young mister.  I took the booklet to him, where he was busy playing a computer game.  ”Do you like this pattern?  Can I knit it for you?”

He glanced at it quickly, went back to his game and said, “Yup….” I started to walk away, happily plotting what yarn I would use, when …”But I don’t like the neck.  It looks like it could be itchy.”

Crest-fallen!  But… the cabling…!!  The lovely pattern…!! I went back to him, and turned the page.  ”What about this one then?”

A quick glance, “OK.  It won’t be too hot.”

I still rather like the look of that first jumper, but if he won’t wear it, there’s no point in knitting it.

This one is also really nice:

I want it for me!  The polo neck on this one definitely disqualifies it for consideration for knitting for a certain young man.  Unless I adapt it into a v-neck.

There were a few other patterns that I liked the look of.  This one for a girl looks sweet, although don’t they look like they forgot to put on their tights or at least skirts or jeans!?  (I do recall my mother wearing similar things in the 70′s and even at my tender age, I thought she’d forgotten to wear half her outfit that day!)

Here’s another pattern that I’m quite liking for an adult-sized project:

There’s something about those pockets that particularly grab me.  I think I’d make a looser neck though, and have it longer.

In many respects, those jumpers look quite modern, and could easily be knitted for a kid these days.   The cardigan is probably the only ‘dated’ item from my point of view.  I guess I’ll need to think about whether I should knit it for him or not, as he’s starting to be conscious of appearance.  I don’t want to traumatise him by making him feel ‘uncool’.  He might never wear my knits again!

There’s nothing like good cabling though – it’s timeless!

All I can think of now is which yarn to knit them in.  I’m thinking 100% wool would be best, but oh, the possibilities!!  Or maybe an alpaca/wool blend?  Or a possum merino??

Do you find you do that?  Look at a pattern and start to imagine what yarn you’d like to knit it in?