I didn’t expect to be blogging again so soon…2 days in a row, unusual for me!  Yesterday evening I went out for a few hours and came home to a new Knitty!  Lots of fun stuff in this issue, I love the lace back of Milly and Mythos is a really flattering sock weight cardigan.  My contribution to this issue is Iced.

I got a few balls of Drops Ice a couple of years ago.  It is an unusual yarn, a bulky cotton/acrylic blend that has almost a velvety rope texture (if you can imagine that!).  I began by knitting several swatches in different stitch patterns but they really didn’t work with the yarn.  It sat for several months unused until I picked it up again and realized that it really need something simple.  So Iced was born..I knit it in time for a Florida holiday, simple and casual.  Neutral enough to be worn with everything (I pack light and didn’t bring anything else warm!).  This is good TV knitting, top down with raglan shoulder shaping.  The front shawl collar is knit in garter stitch with a little short row shaping at the back. (As with almost all of my designs there is of course some waist shaping!)

When we arrived in Florida we met my sister in law (Nicki in the photo) and she tried the cardigan on and fell in love.  It was made for me so it was a little large on her but that kind of suits here style.

Here is a photo of me half asleep on the beach wearing the cardigan.

I still love the cardigan as a great everyday staple, Torya ( thank you!) has made a second version for me in green that just arrived this morning that fits wonderfully.  When I put some buttons on it and block it I’ll share a few photos.  This version is in the smaller size so there is no ease, if you feel the fit is too loose it works well with little to no ease also.  Anyone inn Knit Camp in Scotland will be able to see this version in the Knitty Fashion Show.

The gently draped material of Azami and delicate lace lends itself to simple styling that allow the lacework to shine.

A sleek charcoal grey turtle neck dress with chunky court shoes and geometric silver jewelry provides a perfect combination with the Azami sweater.

Playing around with styling ideas for Azami made me really think hard about how this sweater would look best.  The open lace panel at the neckline needs to be taken into consideration when wearing this sweater.  By providing a darker turtleneck backdrop the lacework will really pop and you won’t have the neckline of the undergarment draw attention away from your knitting.  The v-neck opening of the sweater lends itself to showcasing an interesting necklace, although it should be kept simple to avoid being too busy.

My previous styled version, Azami in White, has a lighter, summer feel.  Neckline of the top underneath is kept low so it will not detract from the lacework at the neckline.

The sample for this sweater was knit using Valley Yarns Southwick.  This yarn is a blend of Pima Cotton and Bamboo, both fibers have a great deal of drape which complements the style of Azami well.  When working with bamboo I would strongly suggest swatching and washing your swatch as it does tend to grow.  If necessary change your needle size so that you get the required gauge.  A 100% cotton version of Azami would create a similar effect as it will also drape well.

For a cold weather version of Azami it could also be knit in wool.  This will however change the look of the sweater somewhat, you would have to take care when blocking to ensure you had nice open lacework and good drape.

I have admired Woolly Wormhead’s work for many years and watching her go from strength to strength in the beauty of her designs. In her latest book ‘Twisted Woolly Toppers’ she has produced a superb book with innovative, ‘must-knit’ designs. I love the clean lines, simple layout and huge range of sizes that makes her books a pleasure to work from. These days I don’t seem to have a whole lot of time to knit other people’s designs but there are several in this book that I’m just itching to cast on for!

I have had the good fortune to meet Woolly Wormhead several times in the past year (one of which she just happened to be passing my house!!) and it is always a pleasure to talk with her. In particular I really enjoy talking about the design process. Perhaps you would also like to hear a few answers from her about how that woolly brain of hers works!

In this interview I wanted to focus on just a couple of the designs, the two I have chosen ‘Aeonium’ and ‘Medici’. Both hats are beret style rather than snug fitting but are not overly slouchy. Both hats have delicate, subtle twisted stitches making either hat ideal for everyday use.

Woolly do you think in hats? When inspiration hits is it always in the shape of a hat?

Yes, I think I do think in Hats! I certainly think in 3D, so whenever an idea starts to develop it normally starts with a structure, a 3D form of some sort, and then before I even realise it I’m working out how to make it into a Hat.

Now back to the two hats in question, firstly let’s look at ‘Medici’. Did the idea for this hat come while you were playing around with the yarn or did you begin with a vision of those stitch arches?

This is one design that definitely came from the yarn. Medici is the 10th design, the last design I worked on for TWT and was going to be something else entirely but the yarn and design just weren’t getting along. After searching through my stash, I chanced across the skein of Wollmeise (worsted) and from there Medici quickly took shape.

‘Medici’ is fast becoming very popular, and already has several projects made from it. Do you ever have any idea what is going to end up most knit/popular from your books?

No, no idea at all, but then I think it is impossible to predict which designs will be popular. I usually have my own idea of which designs will be made the most, and I’m usually wrong

I think I am very in love with your hat ‘Aeonium’. Did that wonderful crown work first time or was it trial and error?

It took locking myself away in a quiet room for several hours to get it right! I knew how I wanted it to look and had it pretty much charted out, yet tweaking took a few attempts. I was determined to have the lattice crossing right up until the very end; my partner bet me that I couldn’t do it which was his way of encouraging me!

How difficult is it to translate such a seemingly complex crown pattern into a multi-sized chart?

For designs like Aeonium, where the crown pattern appears quite complicated, I’ve developed a method of working whereby a single chart or repeat works for up to 3 or 4 sizes without additional grading. It would take quite a while to explain how it works technically but planned ahead with a fair bit of maths, it makes the grading for a Hat much, much easier.

How often does a hat turn out perfect first time?

Fewer and fewer designs get abandoned because they don’t work out, but how much work it takes to get it right varies. Some designs work straight off, from my initial idea right through to finishing, yet others take more experimenting to get the effect I’m after. I’ve noticed that the designs that are most likely to fail are those that I’m less passionate for or convinced about, so I tend to follow my instincts. More often than not I’ll have the construction mapped out in my head before I start, which helps with the success rate.

For either of these designs was the yarn the initial inspiration for the design?

The structure for Aeonium was the inspiration – I wanted the challenge of working that crown, and chose the yarn to suit the design. It was completely the other way around for Medici.

I know that your preference is for wool yarn, do other fibers ever inspire you to knit with them?

Rarely do other fibres inspire me, although often a silk or alpaca blend will grab my attention. I love cotton as a fibre to wear but can’t bear to knit with it, likewise with other plant fibres. I’m afraid I am a bit of a fibre snob and tend to avoid man-made fibres as much as is humanly possible. I’ve studied the nature and manufacturing of textiles as well as the creative side, so you could blame that for my preferences

Next week’s stop is at Knit With KT and the complete blog tour calendar is as follows:

• 18 March – Just Call Me Ruby
• 25 March – Baby Long Legs
• 1 April – Binge Knitter
• 8 April – Stolen Stitches
• 15 April – Knit With KT
• 22 April – Faina’s Knitting Mode
• 29 April – Tot Toppers
• 6 May – The Independent Stitch
• 13 May – The BeeBonnet Report
• 20 May – Knit Circus

My latest design has just been published in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of the Twist Collective.

I began thinking about this design several months ago and it started with the stitch pattern, an open ‘star’ lace pattern.  In fact when I was working on the design I always called it ‘Starry Night ‘ when I referred to it!  This is one of the original swatches I put together with this lace pattern using Malabrigo Lace in ‘Glazed Carrot’.

You can already see in this swatch how I was working on a decreasing/increasing the width of the lace pattern.  In the final design I used this idea at the sleeve cuffs, along the sides of the hips and also around the neckline.  I love the effect of lace worked across an otherwise simple fabric that moves across the material.

With the hood I wanted to create an allover lace material that expanded to fit the head without having to increase the stitches, by increasing the needle size and creating a more open lace at the top of the hood it fits without interrupting the flow of the lace.

As you can see when I was originally envisioning this piece I was thinking about using a laceweight yarn at a loose gauge.  Although this would have produced a lovely fabric it does take an age to work and Kate from the Twist Collective got me thinking about using different weight yarns.  I loved working with the yarn we finally choose, Southwick from Valley yarns.  It is a dk weight yarn that is a mixture of both cotton and bamboo so creates a super drapy fabric.  Although you do need to make sure to block your swatch to make sure that you take account of any stretch you will get after it is blocked.

This is a sketch of the final design idea, you can see that the end product looks pretty similar (I’m always amazed when that happens!!) please forgive the poorly drawn face, I just can’t resist drawing faces on my sketches – must be the child in me…

As with most of my designs this sweater is made seamlessly.  The body is knit in the round from the bottom up (with the shoulders joined using a 3-needle bind off).  The sleeves are picked up from the armhole and worked down using short rows to create a set-in sleeve.  In Barbara Walkers knitting from the top she suggests not picking up the wraps when you work sleeves like this as the wraps create a neat ‘seam’ at the top of the sleeve.  I’ve been too much of a chicken to try this before but I gave it a shot and it really works beautifully.  It has the added benefit that you don’t have to mess around with picking up any wraps!

There is gentle waist shaping created using dart lines on the front and the back and all edging is kept nice and simple with garter stitch.  It was a pleasure as always to work with the twist collective.  You can see there much nicer photos of the finished garment here and please make sure to check out the full magazine, even their ads deserve a lot of attention.

Since the start of the month all the UK knit classes are up for sale at

http://www.britishyarn.org.uk/

I’m so  looking forward to teaching at this camp, I’ll be teaching two full day classes and two half day classes and you can find them all here.  To book them you need to go to here and can book them by day.  So go check them out!

It has been a very busy week and this is the first chance I’ve had to post since running the knitting workshop in Vibes and Scribes. I had so much fun teaching this class, all of the knitters were beginners or almost beginners and everyone caught on so fast! They all walked out of the shop with the basics and really happy.
If there are any of you out there that were at the class – well done you!

I have a mountain of knitting work related items to finish but for the last 24 hours I’ve run off with a knitting mini-escape. I had been using a hank of Fleece artist ‘Sea Wool’ in a lovely Moss color for a test swatch and I didn’t want to stop knitting with it. So to indulge myself I’ve been using the rest of the hank to knit a little shawlette. It feels so beautiful, I can’t stop knitting, should be finished it tomorrow!
Meanwhile the other related working I have been shrugging off because of this…reformatting a pattern, finishing a pdf, start another pattern for a new project, finish a mountain of submissions (I think I have 10 I need to get out in the next week!) and start planning a class for a couple of months time.
Myself and Sue Cullen are going to do a day of classes on Saturday the 21st of November. We have booked in the SMA centre in Wilton in Cork so put the day in your calender! We will have 2 different 3 hour morning classes and 2 afternoon classes, with a discount if you want to book the complete day. We are putting the final details together for the class titles but it should be a very enjoyable day.

You may have noticed, my website has had a complete face lift! My wonderfully talented husband has been working hard on it (I am somewhat deficient when it comes to web design!).

So a big thank you Joe

I have a pattern coming out in Issue 12 of Yarn Forward.  Now I realise that as my last post was of the Necco Wafer Hoodie that it must seem that I’ve been doing nothing but knitting for the last few weeks.  However this top was actually knitted last year so it has been with me for a while!  For anyone here in Ireland/UK/Europe this yarn is easily replaced with any DK (22 sts and 30 rows per 4 inches) cotton yarn.  This yarn was mercerized cotton, meaning it went through a chemical process making it hold the dye better.  It does tend to make for a shinier slightly stiffer yarn.  In fact I think Wendy ‘Supreme’ would be very similar.

For anyone who lives in Cork you can get Yarn Forward in Eason’s on Patrick’s Street – however you might want to wait a few days as I’m not sure if this issue is in yet.  I think that Kerrie Allman’s plant-dyed tank Brazilwood has me tempted to get knitting.  Unfortunately that is one of the downsides of spending most of your knitting time designing – you don’t really have much extra time left over for knitting all the other wonderful patterns out there.

I want to thank anyone who has been waiting for this pattern for their patience.  I just put it up on Ravelry and it is available for purchase for $5.  It is a 7 page booklet with detailed instructions  on different increase types so you can add some variety to your hat knitting.  All of the hats are knit from the top down so you can make sure that you have a hat that will fit the intended head!
Click for more photos of the hats