Yarn Porn & A Sneak Peek

Yes. Just yes.

That is Fyberspates Vivacious DK, and I'm working on a garment planned for late summer release. Should everything go according to schedule, that is!

I'm going to TNNA this weekend and wanted to bring a new project with me for my travel knitting. My stripey shawl is almost complete, and it's become unwieldy at this point. This is the only other planned warm-weather design I have, so I figured why not get it started! I've had the yarn in my stash for a bit and am pleased as punch to finally be working with it. That sunny yellow is so cheery and I love the crisp stitch definition. Happy yellow summer knitting!

Breckenridge Sweater

This year's special issue of Knitscene is called Knitscene Handmade, and it's full of all kinds of projects! Usually they drop the Accessories issue this time of year, so the Handmade issue is a nice change of pace. I designed the Breckenridge Sweater for men.

Photos by Harper Point Photography for Knitscene

My working title for the piece was 'Urban Woodsman' which I have to admit I am SUPREMELY disappointed they did not use. 'Breckenridge Sweater' is a little generic for my taste, but oh well. At least they chose a male model with a big, woodsman-y beard!

The yarn is Beaverslide Dry Goods Fisherman Weight 3-Ply, which I had heard of before but never felt. It's rustic, sheep-y and lanolin-y, and makes a weighty sweater. My proposal was for a versatile layering piece, something that a man could wear as an outer layer instead of a jacket or sweatshirt, so the character of the wool fits that goal perfectly. It's meant to have plenty of room to fit over multiple layers. If you or your intended recipient wants to wear it next to the skin or over just a thinner layer like a t-shirt, I'd choose a less heavy yarn and size down a little for a closer fit.

I don't usually design for men and this was a fun change of pace! I took advantage of the scale of this design and the fact that I wouldn't need to add body shaping to show off a large cable and garter pattern. The body is knit in the round up to the armholes, and set aside while the sleeves are knit. Everything is joined together to work the yoke in the round, then back and forth in rows after the placket shaping begins. Short rows shape the shawl collar. Huge thanks to my sample knitter Alison who rocked this out for me!

Ashland Bay Giveaway Winners

And the winners are...

• Rosie
• Linda
• Ryan Subocz

I've sent an email if you included one in your comment, and replied to each of your comments letting you know you're a winner. Please get in touch with your shipping address to receive your goodies, and thank you everyone for participating!

Two Unexpected FOs

In the midst of my crazy work schedule, I somehow managed to carve out the time to finish two entirely selfish projects!

First up is Laurus by Dianna Walla, a most excellent colorwork hat. I was tapped to do a Valley Yarns Colrain review video at work (well, I was asked what yarn I would want to review and I chose Colrain) and needed to have a Colrain project on the needles for it. I wanted something simple that I could bang out fast and that used 2 or more colors to show off a fun color pairing. I'm obsessed with this sienna, clay, orangey-red color. It's the same I used in my Kitsunetsuki Cardigan sample! A pop of blue gave it just the right contrast. I'm getting a New England collegiate preppy vibe from this, though don't ask me why! These colors will be right at home in my fall wardrobe though, and Colrain is always a pleasure to work with.

And I finally finished a stagnant spinning project! Two events dovetailed to inspire me to get back to my wheel. The first was that while shooting the Colrain video at my house, Lindsey was looking at my stash and well, made me feel a little bashful about all that I have, especially the often-forgotten fiber. The second was that last weekend was the annual Webs Tent Sale. Saturday is the one day everyone is required to work, and it's also the day that local farmers and artists sell their wares in the parking lot as part of the Fleece Market. Did I want to buy fiber at the Fleece Market? Yes. Have I spun the fleece or the batt I bought at last year's Fleece Market? .....No! Before I can start spinning that fleece, I needed to clear my bobbin and this was half-spun.

It's a Frabjous Fibers Three Feet of Sheep pack, 70% BFL/30% Tussah Silk in the limited edition colorway Autumn Leaves. Originally I split all the bumps in half planning to do a 2-ply gradient spin, but a) got lazy when I finished the first half and b) forgot what order I had spun them in. Oops. So I called it as-is, and I have about 732 yards of a fingering to laceweight yarn here (mostly thinner, but some parts are fingering weight thickness.) I've been enjoying knitting with singles yarn lately anyway, and I think I'll experiment with the second half the fiber. Maybe learn to Navajo ply or something! I'm really excited to see how this knits up, but I'm forcing myself to finish some existing projects first before I can cast on...

Ashland Bay Yarn Tasting + Giveaway

The awesome folks at Ashland Bay reached out to me a few months ago and asked if I wanted to try their yarns for a future design. I've spun their fiber before, since Webs only carries their fiber and not their yarn offerings, and had a great experience. (Especially with the Organic Polwarth! <3) I was intrigued to try some breed-specific yarns, and chose three different yarns to swatch with. Argentina is a 3-ply DK weight 85% Polwarth/15% Silk blend. Klickitat is a 4-ply DK weight, 100% Blue Faced Leicester. Dakota is a 3-ply worsted weight, 100% USA Targhee. I've spun BFL and Polwarth before, but I've never knit with either and have no previous experience with Targhee.

L to R: Klickitat, Argentina, Dakota

Look at those generous hanks! Ashland Bay is a wholesaler, so they don't sell directly to customers. Instead, retailers or hand-dyers often break these larger skeins up into the sizes they prefer to sell.

I decided for a fair tasting experiment, I would swatch each yarn in stockinette, a lace pattern and a cable pattern. I did use different needle sizes so each yarn would have a fair chance to shine, but I used my Knitter's Pride Royale needle set to ensure the same needle material was used for each. All the swatches were wet blocked with Eucalan and were pinned to blocking mats to dry.

Tsuki wanted to photobomb my swatches! Top row: Argentina. Middle row: Klickitat. Bottom row: Dakota.

Here are my impressions of each:

Klickitat, US 6: I wasn't feeling this one much as I wound it. I prefer very crisp stitch definition unless I'm purposely choosing a yarn with halo, and then I prefer going to the extreme and picking a kid mohair blend or similar. Klickitat does have a little bit of a halo going on, just enough to soften the stitches. However, it feels fantastic to knit with, much better than I expected. It's soft, cushy, and comforting. If you don't need super-duper defined cables or lace, then it performs well in multiple stitch patterns. I do like the slight sheen BFL has, it's not as intense as silk, bamboo or rayon.

View fullsize

Argentina, US 5: Argentina is smooth, but not soft. It's not scratchy or irritating by any means, just that softness isn't the main quality. Since it's only 15% silk I was surprised at how much the silk dominated the yarn. You know how silk yarns can sometimes feel...crunchy? Argentina isn't that textured, but I am reminded of that characteristic of silk when I stroke the swatches. I found it splitty periodically when working the cable and lace swatches. The stitch definition is really fantastic here, and I think the individual stitches look cleanest in Argentina than in the other two yarns.

View fullsize

Dakota, US 7: I admit...I was biased. I was looking forward to Dakota the most since I'm hoping to do a great cabled sweater in one of these yarns this fall and I wanted something that would rock those cables. Dakota did not disappoint. This is a nice, toothsome wool yarn. If you are used to plush merino yarns, Klickitat will feel softer to you than Dakota, but I like the texture here. It feels like a yarn that will wear really well without pilling quickly, and I like how bouncy the fabric is. It's the only one of the three that is closer to being pure white, as Argentina and Klickitat are noticeably yellower. (When viewed individually they all look natural, but together you can tell the shade difference.)

View fullsize

So which yarn is the winner? I'm not sure yet! Each would be great in different projects. I have some design ideas I'm working out the kinks with, so depending which way my inspiration goes will determine which yarn is most suitable. Many thanks to Ashland Bay for offering me yarn support and letting me test-drive these yarns!

Do you want to try them for yourself? I'm giving away three mini-skein bundles! You'll get approximately 40 yards each of Argentina, Klickitat and Dakota to play with.

To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me which yarn of the three you are most excited to try out. You have until end of day EDT on Friday, May 20th to enter. I will pick three winners randomly from the comments. Good luck!

Butter Mellow Cowl

New pattern time!

Photos by Lindsey Topham

Months ago I decided to start designing more from my stash. I think my stash is a manageable size compared to some peoples', but to me it feels overwhelming at times. I have good intentions when I buy yarn and try hard not to go overboard, though inevitably there's always a great deal or a limited edition something-or-other that's much harder to resist. I pulled a single skein of The Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet in this great bright yellow out of my stash and set about trying to do it justice. Thus we have the Butter Mellow Cowl!

I never considered myself a big fingering weight or lace knitter...until now. This project kicked off a stream of fingering weight projects that I'm still in the middle of! Usually fingering weight designs make me anxious or frustrate me because they take so long and seem so fussy. For whatever reason, I really zen'd out while knitting this and just enjoyed the process, no matter how long it took.

This is a shorter cowl, meant to act as more of a decorative accent to your ensemble than provide warmth in cold-weather. Since the length as shown only uses 300 yards, it's perfect for a luxury skein with less yardage than the traditional 400+ yards many fingering weight yarns are packaged as. If you've got plenty of yarn and want it loop it around twice, add repeats of the alternating lace panels until you've reached the length you prefer!

Check out the Butter Mellow Cowl on Ravelry here.

Playing with Color: Eucalipto

Imagine my surprise and delight when I was browsing Instagram earlier this week and came across this with no warning:

#makeitmonday with Eucalipto by @manosyarns! This gradient open cardi is created by mixing two colors of Lace. The end result is gorgeous! #kitterlykits #knitting #handcrafted #knitstagram

A photo posted by Kitterly (@officialkitterly) on Apr 25, 2016 at 1:07pm PDT

Yahoo! Kitterly's enthusiasm for this design, and their fun color combinations, inspired me to create another installment of the Playing with Color series.

Like the Gilt Sweater, Eucalipto mixes two colors of laceweight yarns to create a gradient effect. You can always travel back to the Gilt Playing with Color post to see those color combos as a jumping off point, and to read my original points about how to best choose colors for this type of project. TLDR for those of you not interested in reading that older post: Easy approach is choosing 2 color similar to each other, hard mode is choosing 2 different colors & seeing if they will blend.

Here are a few easy mode palettes in Manos del Uruguay Lace:

L2349 Gelsey & L2439 Yokai

L2183 Gloriana & L2121 Dryad

Getting a little spicier:

L2196 Okiku & L2605 Tennin

L2590 Natural & L2040 Puck

Supa dupa spicy!

L2552 Yosei & L7088 Enenra

L2354 Dolia & L9622 Nixie

There you have it! I hope these color palettes inspire you to pick out a fresh and exciting color combo for your very own Eucalipto. I look forward to seeing them!

Yarn Porn: Destash Edition

Time to come to terms with some of my stash. These babies need new homes! If you're interested, follow the links to see more details on my Ravelry destash page. If you're not in the market for new yarn, just enjoy the pretty pictures.

Madelinetosh Pashmina in Opaline

Madelinetosh Pashmina in Celadon

Madelinetosh 80/10/10 MCN Worsted in Flashdance

Berroco Folio lot, mixed colors

Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in #349

Spud & Chloe Sweater in #7502

Yarn Porn: Chester Farms Pride of the Flock

One of the many perks of working in a yarn store is we all put our destashes up for grabs in the kitchen, which is how I wound up yesterday with 9 skeins of this:

Oh HELL yes! That beauty is Chester Farms Pride of the Flock. According to Ravelry it's discontinued, and Chester Farms rebranded to Cestari. It's made in the United States which is an extra bonus! I'm finding as time goes on, I am appreciating more and more these natural, woolly, old school yarns. Of course I still love me some hand dyed superwash, but this type of yarn just FEELS like sheep. I like sheep.

The label only gives the weight of the skeins, but if Ravelry's database is correct I have 1890 yards to play with in color Dark Opal. I'm thinking a gorgeous cabled textural oversized sweater from Brooklyn Tweed. Going clockwise from top left: Cordova, Larus, Stonecutter & Ondawa.

Fall sweater goals! Just got to finish my Tinder before I can allow myself to cast on for another selfish sweater project aka professional development.

Billabong Tee

I've got a new design in Knitscene Summer 2016, the Billabong Tee! Side note: I hate that name. My working title for it was 'Chlorine' which I like a whole lot more, but such are the sacrifices when working with third party publishers! It's still a great easy summery knit, no matter what the heck it's named.

All images by Harper Point Photography for Knitscene.

The tee is knit flat in two pieces and seamed. Small V's of dropped stitches adorn the front and back neck, with the V in the back going down lower than the one in the front. The neck edges are unfinished to allow it to roll, while garter stitch trims the sleeve openings.

The simple eyelet lace edging on the hem is worked from the cast-on edge before you proceed into the bulk of the garment, so no picking up of stitches required! The only place you pick up stitches is around the armhole edges.

Rowan Panama was my suggested yarn and I'm happy that Knitscene agreed. It has a great texture from the linen so it looks super interesting in stockinette, no fancy stitch patterns needed.

This is the quintessential Knitscene garment--easy, fast, fun and really wearable. Check it out on Ravelry and add it to your queue if it strikes your fancy!

Allbirds: Wool Sneaker Review

Edit: Scroll to the bottom for updated pictures on the wear as of September 2017!

I first heard about Allbirds, a company that makes merino wool sneakers, from Clara Parkes' Knitter's Review. I immediately bought a pair, I was that intrigued. I consider myself a reformed sneakerhead. I've pared my collection down significantly because really, who needs a pair of knee-high purple animal print Converse All-Stars? Deep down, however, I want ALL THE SNEAKERS.

First of all: I love the packaging. Bad packaging isn't a dealbreaker to me but really excellent packaging enhances the experience and influences my feelings about a product. This is how my sneakers arrived, minus two of those plastic zippy things strapped around it that I cut through. That box directly holds the shoes, none of this 'shoebox shipped inside another, bigger box' crap.

I chose the Dark Kea Green color in my usual size 7. Interestingly enough, the eyelets and small details on the tongue and heel are shown in black on the Allbirds website but mine are a lighter teal color. I much prefer this pop of color so I'm happy with the switcheroo, though it's a little strange!

The color range is...odd. For women there's this color, a gray, a light blue and an orange-red. You'd expect me to gravitate towards the orange, but it's a completely monochrome shoe and I don't dig that look. Sole, laces, everything is the same color! I was hoping the Dark Kea Green would be neutral enough to go with everything while being a little more exciting than gray. Luckily I was right.

I've worn them all day yesterday and today, so these are my first impressions. I tried them once briefly with socks but otherwise, I've been wearing sans socks as Allbirds suggests. I will admit that I smelled my shoes yesterday after wearing them all day at work and they don't smell like feet. We'll see how long that lasts! I'm a bit dubious of their odor reduction claim.

• They are extremely lightweight and I feel like I'm not wearing any kind of shoe. It feels very minimal and not at all invasive. However, this could be a drawback when walking on rough terrain. I do feel every little texture change and bump through the soles.
• My feet feel cozy, not sweaty. I wonder if your feet tend to run hot if they would feel uncomfortably warm?
• There is some arch support but not a lot? To be honest I don't really pay attention to this, though I should since my feet pronate. I wore Converse, Vans, and other support-less shoes exclusively for years so arch support is not something I instinctively notice. I would not wear these running or doing any kind of high impact activity.
• I suspect the wool upper will attract dust bunnies and cat hair. I've brushed a few fuzzballs off the toes already. Guess I need to start sweeping more regularly!
• This colorway has black soles and interestingly enough, dust/dirt seems to stick easily to the sides of the soles, or maybe it's just particularly noticeable. Granted, I am paying attention to these shoes a lot, more than I usually do for shoes. I am making a concerted effort to keep these shoes nice because...

...they're $95. Not terrible in the world of shoes, but at the moment these are an unknown and I don't know how they will hold up in the long-term.

Allbirds has a generous return policy that helps take the edge off that uncertainty. You have 30 days to test the sneakers out and can return them even if you've worn them outside.

I'm reserving full judgement until I've spent more time in them but so far, very happy with my purchase! If you have the petty cash and want to try something unique I highly recommend picking up a pair and telling me what you think. It's been fun making my coworkers guess what shoes are made of!

Update as of September 2017

You can see in the photo above that the shoe has stretched/sagged a little from accommodating my foot (specifically on the inside of the top shoe--my feet are pronated, aka they roll inwards, so this is normal for me). This is only visible when unworn, it's not like there are pools of fabric sagging around my toes when worn!

I haven't ever removed the insoles for washing and these are the original insoles, no need for a replacement yet.

Here's what the wear to the soles looks like. I do scuff/drag my feet sometimes when I walk.

Overall, I am very happy with my Allbirds purchase and these are my only pair of everyday/casual sneakers. I have separate shoes for working out, and I don't wear these in heavy rain.

Hat Addict

Did you ever read this book as a kid, Caps for Sale?

Hats are like potato chips...or M&Ms...or other easily poppable snack foods. They're quick to knit, low-commitment, and a satisfying way to try a technique, style or color you don't want to commit to in a sweater. My coworkers and I were talking recently about how many hats we have. No matter how many we knit, there are still more hat patterns in our queue! I decided to photograph my hat collection today and I felt like the man in the illustration above when I pulled them out of their drawer.

This & successive photos taken with my Nikon D3200

I decided to take things one step further and lay them out in order from oldest to newest, starting at the top row and moving from left to right. Let's meet the gang!

Top Row, L to R

• Gretel by Ysolda Teague in Malabrigo Worsted: Ysolda was one of the first designers I found online once I learned how to knit, and Malabrigo was the first 'cult' yarn I'd ever read about. I hadn't discovered any local yarn stores at that point, so I ordered it from the internet not realizing how the hand-dyed color would look knit up. I was also too lazy to block it over a plate for a beret shape like Ysolda suggests, so it's a sad, awkward beanie instead.
• Grace Lace Beret by Loop Knits in Adrienne Vittadini Martina (I think): I found this yarn in the warehouse at Webs. Like Gretel, I failed to block it properly so it's a weird and unflattering shape.
• Acorns by Melissa LaBarre in Madelinetosh Vintage: I made this right after I started working at Webs. Melissa worked there at the time and I remember being awestruck that I knew a famous designer! She gifted me this pattern which I thought was so cool of her. This was at the beginning of my Madelinetosh craze. I had just bought enough Tosh DK & Tosh Vintage for two sweater projects but wanted a smaller Tosh project right away. I purposely didn't block it because I love the nubbly texture.
• Brambles Beret by Amanda Muscha in Berroco Ultra Alpaca held with Rowan Kidsilk Haze: I started noticing my coworkers knitting 'normal' yarns held together with Kidsilk Haze and I loved the soft halo effect. I chose my favorite shade of pea green!

First Middle Row, L to R

• Ida's Kitchen by Kirsten Kapur in Madelinetosh Sport: I had started to get really into Ravelry at this point, and joined a Madelinetosh group. We wound up doing a swap for this hat where each person bought a skein of sport, broke it up into mini skeins and sent it to other people in the group. I got to try all kinds of colors I had never seen in person before!
• Little Whiskers Hat by Kirsten Hipsky in Valley Yarns Greenwich: My very first pompom :) This hat got famous in the Sh*t Knitters Say video!
• Free Cecily Hat by Emma Welford in Cascade 220 Sport: Ah, the beginnings of my design career. I was so proud of myself for making up my own cable panel for that hat.
• Striated by Emma Welford in Malabrigo Chunky: Another early design. This was the first pattern that I worked with Lindsey on (my current & forever, ride or die photographer), and the first time I did my own pattern layout. I've tweaked my layout style a little since then but it's still the same basic format!

Second Middle Row, L to R

• Wolfbait by Alex Tinsley in Schachenmayr Bravo Big Color: Free yarn, free pattern, enough said. Alex looked SO COOL in her hat photos but I looked SO DUMB wearing this myself, so I don't actually wear it.
• Rhinebeck Bus Hat in Berroco Lodge: I knit this on the bus to Rhinebeck one year and made the pattern up as I went. I wear this one a ton, even though it's plain. The color goes with a lot of my wardrobe and the amount of slouch is perfect.
• Goshen by Amanda Keep Williams in Berroco Brio: Technically I did not knit this exact hat. My best friend Kerry and I did a hat swap. She knit this Goshen for me, and I knit her Goshen in the colorway of choice, then we swapped! But since I don't have a photo of her hat, this is the closest we're going to get.
• Tamborim by Emma Welford in Gynx Merino DK: From my yarn & pattern club collaboration with Gynx Yarns. I love Laura's yarns, they're so great to work with. My only regret on this one is that I didn't do a bigger pompom. Maybe some day I will make a new one for it!

Bottom Row, L to R

• Random made-up hat in handspun from Etsy: I bought this handspun before I learned how to spin. I tried making legwarmers from it and that didn't work out. I frogged and made this hat, but I was so impatient I didn't really do a proper gauge swatch and the hat got super big when I blocked it. I need to rip this out, un-kink the yarn and give it the respect it deserves!
• Shock Star Slouch by Emma Welford in Spun Right Round Squish DK: I love this hat. One of my current favorites.
• Equal Measure (hat only) by Emma Welford in Anzula For Better or Worsted: Sensing a trend in my hat making as of late? All designs!
• Fidra by Gudrun Johnston in Valley Yarns Valley Superwash Bulky: So this was a not-on-purpose knit. We were doing a Superwash Bulky review video at work and wanted a hat to be worn in it, but there weren't any existing store samples. I volunteered to make Fidra since I secretly wanted to make it, but needed an excuse! I know, boo hoo hoo, life is hard. Forced to knit ;)

Of course, there are more hats I've knit over the years that aren't pictured. My first ever hats, hats I've given as gifts, or hats I've lost in some box somewhere and forgot about. And I know my little hat family will get bigger...there are always more hats to knit!

Old House, New to Us

Howdy, strangers! Apologies for the unannounced hiatus, three events dovetailed into a firestorm of No Free Time and Other Excuses.

The first and most fun one is...in mid February we closed on our first house! Which means for the past month, I've been working and then coming home to pack/move/unpack/clean/cry.

The second and sort of fun one is...I got offered a promotion at Webs to full time, to manage their social media accounts! I started the week we closed, which meant I was moving...and training...and suddenly back to working 40 hours a week.

The third and not remotely fun one is...my work computer had two fans that didn't work and I needed to send it back for repairs while it was still under warranty. It just came back home today! (We do have another computer but it's a stripped-down, internet-only laptop at this point and I don't like to exhaust it too much.)

Enough excuses. If you are hoping for a knitting related post, please check back soon, nothing yarn-related to see here, etc. I took some photos of the house the day after closing before we moved a bunch of stuff in because it's definitely a fixer upper and I wanted to be able to catalog our progress. I also had just bought a shoe flash for my camera and wanted to play with it! Now that I have my computer (and Lightroom) back in my hot little hands, I was able to edit these and now I can share some choice picks with you. All photos taken with my Nikon D3200.

The kitchen has a pantry!! So adorable! The house was built in 1931, for reference. Coming from an apartment severely lacking in storage, that pantry has been a godsend now that we've unpacked our kitchen wares. It holds much more than I thought physically possible and I love being able to see all our dry and canned goods at once. Definitely a bonus in using the food we have instead of buying more that we don't need! Also please excuse the box of tissues. These were not fancy staged home modeling photos, haha.

What is now our living room! The next room it connects to is the entry room, and there is another opening with those amazing pillars connecting the entry room to the dining room. That striped thing peeking through the window is an old couch on the front enclosed porch that the owner left there. I can't wait to sit on the porch in the summer knitting and let the kitties out there with us!

The cuuutest sweetest plaque on the front door. We were lucky enough to talk to our neighbor Gordon after we moved in, who has lived on the street for 63 years. He said a woman named Geraldine lived in the house first, and the Marsh's moved in during the 50s.

Let's head upstairs!

One of the four bedrooms upstairs. Unfortunately the floors are in much worse shape on the second floor. We've already refinished the hardwood floors downstairs, excepting the kitchen because we are going to do a total overhaul there later and might do tile or stone for the floor. We'll get to the floors upstairs eventually though!

The upstairs is also home to...outdated wallpaper! I chose a pretty shot that did not show the peeling sections, but it's there. Eventually that will all come down.

While this won't turn into a full fledged DIY home renovation blog, I'll be periodically posting house goings-on because hey, it's crafty! Just a different kind.

Yarn Porn: Mountain Meadow Wool Salem

Sometimes you just want to look at pretty pictures of yarn. From time to time I'll be posting yarn porn--yarn photos only, with no explanation needed!

Photos taken with a Nikon D3200.

Inside My Manos Spring 2016 Collection

I still suffer from impostor syndrome--I think most creative types do. Thus, it's extra gratifying and reassuring when I get approached to design for someone (vs the other way around.) I was thrilled to bits when Fairmount Fibers, the US distributor of Manos del Uruguay yarns, asked me to be the featured designer for their Spring 2016 pattern collection. I've worked with them before and they are lovely people to do business with--and the yarn's pretty darn nice too!

Lisa said, "Our focus continues to be on items for women that are accessible in both senses:  to wear and to knit." I really love and appreciate that sentiment because that's what I strive for as both a knitter and a designer. While I do design on those intense, gotta-have-that-thing urges, I dislike pieces that are boring to knit even when they do produce stunning results. I am both a process and a product designer, of varying degrees depending on the individual design. I get bored knitting and grading the same construction or styles of garments, which is probably why my portfolio is so...diverse? Fragmented?

I strove to channel those urges into a collection that explored various textures and construction methods while unifying everything under a central color palette. I didn't have a set mood in my head at the time, but upon viewing my proposal Lisa described them as 'streamlined and elegant,' which I think dovetails nicely with the aesthetic of Manos yarns. When working for a yarn company, my designs should still 'look like me' (since they obviously like my work), but my goal is also to showcase the yarns to their full range and not force them to be something they aren't.

Coronilla is a top-down tee worked in Serena, which I've worked with before and just adore. The floaty, A-line shape of the body makes this shirt versatile for being dressed up or down. Interestingly enough, the lace yoke pattern is a bit of a happy accident, a rearranging of the traditional Oriel lace pattern. I'm not at the point in my talent (or confidence) that I can create an original lace pattern from scratch!

Jazmin is a striped two-color cowl, also worked in Serena. Are stripes passé? I don't mind if they are! I think stripes will always be appealing even if they aren't outrageously popular--there's something so responsive about the neat geometric lines and it's such a fun, easy way to play with multiple colors. Here, graduated stripes of varying thicknesses help transition between the two colors. Serena comes in multicolors too, and I think a multi + solid combination would be great here.

I love knitting cowls as a tube in the round with the ends grafted together. Partially because it's enjoyable to knit (no wrong side rows!) and partially because the execution is so crisp and clean.

Pitanga is a long, open front vest worked in Silk Blend. I wanted a sleek layering piece with muted texture. Cables are traditionally flanked by purl stitches so they 'pop', but here I played with laying them on stockinette fabric so the cables gently carve in and out of the surface. I could see this over a pretty printed sleeveless blouse or a dress with a waist detail you want to show off.

Oh, and the back of the neck? I DIE.

Yasss! So clean! This piece is worked in one piece from the bottom up with the cabled section incorporated into the body. Once the shoulder area shaping starts, the cabled bands are set aside and worked separately before being seamed onto the back of the neck. I love this detail!

Azucena is a cabled/textured/fringed asymmetrical shawl worked in Fino. It's worked sideways from tip to tip, starting smaller and then increasing to get larger. The shape looks something like this:

It's kind of a hybrid between a shawl, a wrap and a scarf, so I think you could style it as a combo of all three! I was really inspired by some of the more unusual shawl shapes I've been seeing from designers like Hunter Hammersen and Courtney Spainhower. And you know, fringe. The fringe is created from dropped stitches at the end so that's right--no attaching a million pieces of fringe after the fact with a crochet hook!

It's my favorite piece from the collection and I can't wait to have one of my very own.

Lastly, Eucalipto is a cardigan/shrug hybrid knit with Manos Lace held double. I call it a hybrid because it looks like a nice, normal open front cardigan from the front. Turn around and it's got a cropped back, like a shrug:

I had already designed the Gilt Sweater at this point in time and clearly was still feeling the laceweight held doubled, colorshift ombre thing. Unlike Gilt, which uses two similar colors to create a seamless transition, Eucalipto has a marled effect in the transition zone due to using two totally different shades. Same technique, different results!

It's knit sideways in one piece from front edge to front edge, with the sleeves added after using the short row sleeve cap method for top down sleeves. The drape of Lace is perfect for those waterfall fronts and adds some nice elegance to the piece.

Huge thanks to Fairmount Fibers for trusting me to design the core of their Spring 2016 collection and a million infinity thanks to my amazing sample knitters Joni, Alison and Chaitanya. None of this would have been possible without you, because I would have died from exhaustion trying to knit it all myself!

2016: The Year of the Bullet Journal

While I'm a decently organized person, I have one huge flaw--I tend to store everything inside my head, which inevitably means I forget something. I went through a kick of writing my to-do lists on Post-It Notes and other small scraps of paper...which get lost or forgotten at work or stolen by a cat.

Not anymore! I've started a bullet journal this year and hands down it is the BEST thing I have tried to stay organized. I really prefer pen and paper organization to digital, as it's too easy for me to forget to update an app. (Also I hate typing on my phone for long periods of time.)

I'm using an Arc notebook from Staples, which is a pretty neat system I hadn't heard of until I went looking for my perfect journal. You buy a notebook that already has standard lined pages in it, but the pages are interchangeable and you can buy all kinds of other page formats to add to your notebook. I chose one with a nice (hot pink!!) leather cover which feels sturdy, and added a weekly organizer page set that includes a calendar spread at the beginning of each month.

I was really inspired by some of the pretty, doodled, artistic bullet journals I saw online but let's be real--I don't have time to do that! So mine is very utilitarian and sparse. I'm mainly using it to track my workflow, but I am including 'real life' events and to-dos as needed, like appointments.

I included the key at the front for reference, and tucked a business card in the front pocket in case it ever goes missing.

A lot of people include 'good habit tracker' type pages which I think is genius! I'm tracking my exercise every month to remind myself to get more. I used to workout 3-4 days a week but lately I've been so focused on getting everything else on my to-do list done and I'm not prioritizing my health. As you can see, I am hopefully going to do a 30 days of yoga challenge...we'll see!

This is what my weekly pages usually look like:

Top: I write my tasks out for a day either the night before or that morning. I'm trying to strike a balance of planning ahead and leaving myself some flexibility to work around my mood, or in case other things come up. Like last night, when I was supposed to do pattern layouts but instead had a manic urge to clean the house which never happens--so I went with that!

Middle: I had to be cute and write our date night into my plans, haha.

Bottom: My latest addition is to document my hours and total them up at the end of the week and keep tabs on exactly how much time I'm spending on work. I plan to do this for a few months and then evaluate my hours, decide if I'm accomplishing an amount I feel happy with or if I want to try and increase my time commitment. (I also work 20 hours/week outside the house in my 'day job'.)

I'm very pleased with my bullet journal so far! I think the simple act of being able to cross things off a list is helping me feel much more accomplished, which in turn fuels me to work harder and do more. I'm looking forward to a very productive year!

Gauge is Good (Or How to Properly Break the Rules)

It's my professional obligation as a designer to tell you that swatching is important because I want you to swatch. I want you to check your gauge when you knit one of my designs so your project comes out the size you want and you're a happy customer!

My work has changed my relationship with swatching. We designers have it pretty easy, in that any patterns we write are based on our own personal gauges. Once we have a fabric we like, we're golden! Let's go do some math! Knitting from other people's patterns (OPP from here on out), however, means I have to (or at least am supposed to) swatch for realsies. If my gauge doesn't match, I have to keep trying if I want to knit that pattern.

Such was the case with Tinder, my first planned OPP project of the year. I've had 11 balls of Valley Yarns Greenwich stashed away for...several years. A friend of mine on Ravelry gifted me the pattern in December 2013. You do the math!

Like a good, dutiful, knitter I started my merry swatching with a US 8 as called for in the pattern. I felt confident, and excited. Finally I would have my grey sweater I had been dreaming of! The swatch was....too big. Like 1 st PER INCH too big. I dropped down to size 7 needles and tried again. Still too big, but getting closer--16 sts over 4" vs the called-for 18 sts over 4". The fabric looked great, much better than on size 8's.

1st attempt on top, 2nd attempt on bottom

I was cranky at this point, though my troubles made sense. Shelter, the yarn called for in the pattern, is technically a worsted weight and Greenwich is technically a slightly thicker aran. Not really apples to oranges in my book....clementines to oranges?

I tried to be good and swatch once more on size 6 needles, but quit about 3 rows in when I realized I hated the knitting experience of using small-ish needles with that yarn. Ultimately, while I really really want my awesome grey sweater, I need to enjoy knitting it too!

So I wound up cheating and casting on for a smaller size than I would normally choose, because with my gauge on US 7's it will come out to be the size I want.

There is a way to do this with more certainty though, as opposed to just guessing. Don't guess, especially not with a garment!

I looked through the pattern and found the stitch counts of each piece at the bust area. I'm not going to list the actual numbers here to protect the integrity of the pattern, but for example, let's say each front was 30 sts for the smallest size and 60 sts for the back piece. Subtract 2 sts from each piece to account for seaming the sides together and picking up sts along the front for the button bands--28 and 58, respectively. 28 + 58 + 28 =114 sts. If the pattern gauge calls for say, 3 sts per inch, that would turn out to be 38" around. Add in a 1" buttonband and you've got a 39" finished bust measurement. But if your gauge is 3.5 sts per inch, you'd wind up with a 33.5" bust (32.5" body + 1" buttonband). Big difference! That's why gauge is so important.

While I would have aimed for the 34.25" size if I was on point with my gauge, with my new gauge I'm going to be following the directions for the 31.5" size. If my math is correct, I'll wind up with a 34.25" anyways, which will give me just enough ease with my 33" bust. Yay!

You can use this technique even if your gauge is on point, but maybe your personal measurements don't jive with the sizes offered. If it's a sweater worked in pieces and seamed, you can even combine pieces from different sizes to get a custom size, like following the directions for size M for the cardigan fronts and size L for the cardigan back. Some adjustments might need to be made in length-based areas, like the body length of the piece or the armhole depth, since those measurements don't always stay consistent over multiple sizes. You'll just have to make some design choices and maybe rework some increase or decrease sections to fit your new franken-garment. If you're used to modifying patterns, you have the skills to tackle this technique!

2015 FOs

As a designer, knitting something from a pattern you did not design is affectionately termed as knitting "other people's patterns." Depending on how much one designs, those OPPs can be few and far between, or more frequent. Andrea Rangel calls it "professional development" and I like that term too.

Here are my two resulting piece of professional development from 2015! If I knit anything else last year that wasn't for work, I have subsequently blocked it out of my mind. I tried to knit a Chuck but failed disastrously and need to start all over again.

My one successful knitting FO was a riff on Purl Bee's Short Row Sweater.

I followed peoplecake's instructions for modifying the back to match the front, rather than have the crossover back in the original pattern. Like her, I knit the smaller size and chose the same yarn, Madelinetosh Tosh Sport--seen here in the Spectrum colorway which I adore. Now that it's winter I layer this over long-sleeved tops as shown but I can't wait for summer when I can wear it with a tank top and a cute skirt!

My crochet FO of the year was the Sunday Shawl by Alia Bland.

I used Berroco Folio because I love the color range of that yarn and thought all those delicious sorbet colors should be used in one project! As a bonus, I have enough leftover that I think I can make a striped sweater.

I don't consider myself a very skilled crocheter--I have to remind myself what the different stitches are if I don't crochet for awhile, for example--but I found this pretty easy even though I had never worked any of those border stitches before. It's warm but lightweight and adds great color to a monochrome outfit.

I would like to finish one knitting and one crochet project from OPP in 2016, so that's my goal. I've had the yarn and pattern for Tinder for a loooong time....let's get knitting!

Recent Customer FOs

One of the more fun parts of being a designer is getting to see other people's versions of my designs. (What, you thought I was going to say the math part was the fun part?) When I worked the floor at Webs, I always enjoyed seeing people's planning stages of their next project--what yarn they picked out, what modifications they planned to make--and then viewing the end result if they came back to the store wearing their newly finished work. The internet is a wonderful thing though, because now I get to have that same experience with my customers without having to ever leave my house! Here are some fabulous and recently finished FOs I wanted to share.

Craftylikeasheep modified my Shock Star Slouch by working the brim in a solid coordinating color and adding some sparkly beads for the magpie in us all!

Not only do these socks coordinate spectacularly with the background, but Kerppa chose a great variegated green colorway for her version of The Dauphine's Stockings which creates a totally different effect than the colors in my sample.

A fellow designer who participated in this year's Gift-Along, anneh asked if I would be willing to gift her a copy of my Brooklyn Bridge Mitts so she could make them as one of her GAL KAL projects. To my surprise, she turned them into a pair of full mittens--a clever and easy modification!

Tantu's thick and wooly Ornate Greaves are the perfect extra layer for outdoor activities. Love that she photographed them with her bike to really set the scene.

A pattern like my Dark Rainbow Sweater is really exciting to see knit up by others, because I get a chance to live vicariously through other color combinations! In this case, I got to see how andyrox's chosen contrast color evolved in the triangle intarsia sections.

If you want me to see your FOs, make sure to post them to Ravelry or you can post them to Instagram and either use the hashtag #emmawelford or mention my username in the caption (@emmawelford.) I always look forward to seeing what you've created!

Indie Design Gift-A-Long 2015

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a fabulous 6-week long KAL event of all indie designer patterns that kicks off with a sale to get everyone started! This is my first year participating as a designer, but I've watch the hubbub for the past few years and I think it's a great idea! Essentially, hundreds of indie designers sign up and agree to put their work on sale for a week. Knitters (and crocheters!) can purchase patterns at a 25% discount and if they like, work on those patterns during the themed KALs that follow in the successive weeks. Prizes are given out on a regular basis and it's a big social event too with lots of chatter on Ravelry!

If you're on the fence about joining this year, maybe I can sway you? Here are some of the KAL categories and some of my designs that fit.

Hats/Head Things

Tamborim & Shock Star Slouch

Cowls/Neck Things

Triangle Inception & Elektrocute

Hand/Arm Things

Brooklyn Bridge Mitts

Foot/Leg Things

Canephora

Kids/Baby Things

Paglia Baby Blanket

Sweaters/Garments

Clockwise from top left: Praline Pullover, Dreamer's Braided Pullover, Stripe Quartet, Cables 'n Cats

If you're not feeling any of those, I have all my eligible designs in a Ravelry bundle for easy browsing, or you could check out all the other participating designers! Just head on over to the GAL forum and join the fun. The pattern sale starts tonight at 8pm EST and ends on 11/27, using coupon code giftalong2015. Happy gifting and knitting!