Do you remember this cardigan?

This is my version of the Leitmotif Cardigan. This pattern was published in the Fall 2010 issue of Interweave Knits.  Just after I sent their version off I started this one for myself in Cascade Eco+.    I made good progress for a little while and got the first half of the back done that summer.  Then work caught up with me and there was no time for selfish knitting so it sat for several months…..I picked it up again later that winter and got the second side finished.  And then it sat…for a whole year!  Last September I picked it up again and put it in the car.  I intended it to be my ‘waiting in the car project’.  That didn’t work out too well, I managed a sleeve cap and perhaps 2-3 inches of the sleeve. So, I’m almost at the end of my deadline knitting and we’ve had another cold snap.  I’m really mad at myself that I don’t have this cardigan to wear so I started back on it yesterday and finished the sleeve.  This morning I did the second sleeve cap and hopefully I’ll have the sleeve finished tonight so that I’ll have a cardigan to wear tomorrow before it gets warm again!  See that pretty shawl pin, great and useful gift from my Knitmas Gift exchange.

Please tell me that I’m not the only one who lets non-deadline knitting languish for 18 months?  I never finish deadline knitting late but when it’s for yourself then no one is going to come screaming at you!

Happy New Year to you all! I know it’s a week after the fact but as the kids just went back to school today it now feels like the New Year. Has anyone made any New Year’s resolutions? I started the year as always promising myself that I’d actually start exercising (beyond walking) this year :) – I’m assuming I’m not the only person this year promising that to themselves!

However the past few days I was sick again. Not sick enough to go to the doctor, just a runny nose, sore throat and low energy. As I started thinking about the previous few months I realise that this low grade illness has been plaguing me for a while. It seems like nearly every second week I had to stop walking/running due to being sick. I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard the last year and I think it’s starting to wear me down. From mid-November to the end of January I have 8 deadlines. I’m working my way through them without a problem but I haven’t let myself relax in a really long time.

So my new year resolution is to take on a little less outside work and to allow myself to experiment a bit more. I want to play and have fun with yarn and needles again, to spend weeks swatching with different yarns and stitch patterns. My creative juices need a little reviving and perhaps my physical well being will follow?

So does anyone want to join me on this journey? Let’s go play with yarn together!

This last month has just passed in a blur, I’m kind of in shock that we’re already in October!  We’re trying to get ready for another potentially cold winter here so I can hear the plumber banging away behind me upgrading our heating system.  We’ll now actually have thermostats and controls, how fancy are we!!

For anyone in the Cork area I’d really love if you could come along to Vibes & Scribes on Saturday 15th of October.  I’m going to be in the wool section of their shop (on Lavitt’s Quay) from 10.30 until 1 just hanging out.  I’ll have the samples from my book with me so if you want to try them on, ask about construction or modification I’m happy to chat!  If charts or cables make you a little nervous I’d be happy to talk through how they work with you.  So if you’re around come on in!

I’m finding the results of the survey really interesting, if you haven’t taken it yet I’d really appreciate if you could take a few minutes to fill it in.  You can find it here.  Once I get around 20 more responses I’ll post the results up here on the blog for everyone to see.  There were a few surprises!

We’re over halfway through the CIK book tour now.  Yesterday Ann Hanson posted a great review here with lots of photos from the book, and a chance to win the book if you comment before Thursday.  If you’ve missed a stop on the tour you can see the full list again below.  (You can even hear me chatting about the book with Marly Bird on her podcast!)

Tour details:
15/9/2011 Stephen West
17/9/2011 Hoxton Handmade
21/9/2011 Shannon Okey
23/9/2011 Rosemary Hill
25/9/2011 Ann Kingstone
27/9/2011 Marly Bird
29/9/2011 JC Briar
1/10/2011 Woolly Wormhead
3/10/2011 Anne Hanson
7/10/2011 Stephannie Tallent
11/10/2011 Alice Yu
13/10/2011 Michelle Miller
15/10/2011 Deirdre Thornton
17/10/2011 Ilga Leja

All the boys are home this week on mid-term break.  I used to dread long holidays as there was such chaos at home making it really hard to get any work done.  However somehow it was different this week.  I’m not sure why that is; it may be that term time has become so mad with different activities and running around that a week of just staying at home is bliss or perhaps it is just that they are getting older and are capable of leaving me work for a few hours uninterrupted in the morning!

Whatever the reason we’ve settled into a nice schedule, everyone leaves me in peace for a few hours then I come out of the office and check that they have actually eaten something and we go do something for the day.  That way everyone wins.  I’m working my way through all of the book edits that I’ve been sent.  After my initial panic at all of the different color marks and potential changes I’m now really enjoying the process.  It is far less mentally taxing to review edits than write patterns, but at the same time I’m getting a very defined set of work finished.  I have just finished all the patterns so now it’s onto the essays.

Speaking of essays – I’ve realized how rusty my writing has gotten but between the book and various articles/book copy reviews (and of course blog posts) I’m being forced to dredge up skills that I haven’t used in many, many years.  They’re slow coming back but it feels good when you eventually get a flow going!

I found my book on Amazon last week much to my delight but I’m not going to link it yet as on some Amazon sites the name isn’t quite right yet (being changed!) and the copy is being updated.  Plus the cover won’t be up until April so you don’t ACTUALLY have anything to look at yet….doesn’t stop me getting excited though at being able to find myself on Amazon!

As well as book edits I’ve got a few more design projects at various stages of completion.  Some secret, some not so…a little peek here of a cardigan coming this weekend (if I can figure out the name!) in some lovely Fyberspates 4-ply.  Think there will be some more of that in the near future.  This is possibly one of my all time favorites, I knit my first trial version in Felted Tweed DK that has not come off since I sewed on the last button.

It’s starting to feel like spring these days…mornings are brighter the weather doesn’t seem as cold (shame about the wet part!) and I’m feeling that springtime buzz.

I’m trying to be very organised in my knitting and designs these days and actually have some sort of a plan, lets see how long that lasts.  Here is my little stack of knits in various stages of progress.  The top cardigan will be the first to be released – this is the first version but the next (and hopefully final!) version should be ready to photograph this week.  This design had a pretty organic design process, it started for myself at Christmas and just evolved as I went along.  This of course meant that it wasn’t yet 100%, hence the redo! If everything goes well here it should be ready for release at the end of the month.

The middle one in the stack if from Euroflax linen.  I have had this for a couple of years and couldn’t decide what to use it for.  I love the drapy quality of linen so I have been swatching with it on and off in the hopes of finding just the right fit.  I’m very happy with this vest/sleeveless cardigan that it ended up being.  It is simple, drapey and had a somewhat deconstructed look that seems to suit linen.

The bottom one on the stack is still in progress.  This accidentally ended up being a new design!  I started out reworking Raspberry Layers pattern in a lighter weight yarn.  However as the accent slip stitch rows looked less dramatic in a lighter weight yarn I started experimenting and we now have  trinity/bramble stitch accent panels rather than slip stitch.  I’ve been wanting to work with this pattern stitch for a while, I love the textured open fabric it creates.  I think it’ll be somewhere in my future again!

Since last week I’ve been working on my ‘Author Review’ for the book.  This is so much more editing than I’ve ever done at one time before.  Normally I’m just reviewing a single pattern on its own, or perhaps 2.  This volume of patterns together really requires some serious head space.  I think I’m starting to get into the rhythm now though, hopefully it’ll keep chugging along without too many hiccups!  I can’t wait to get to next stage now and actually get to see the whole design put together, it’s all a little bit surreal.

Please forgive me if my post is a little rambling today.  My youngest son has been sick for a couple of days, nothing very severe but enough that he’s been running a temperature since Saturday.  Anyone with a small (or smallish!) child will know that this involves broken sleep and a babbling child.  As he is usually a talker a fever added to mix means that by 9.30 in the morning you head is ready to explode already from being talked at.  I’m now just waiting for him to talk himself out and crash in an hour or so!

In the meantime while I listen to his continuous talk I’ll tell you a little about my Draped Vest from Interweave Spring 2011.

This vest was an interesting design to put together.  I wanted to shape a vest using so that it could all be worked in one continuous piece.  It started at the back of the neck with a tube, works down each side (one side at a time) and then you have a short row ‘wedge’ that turns the corner to the back. Finally you knit across the back to the center where it is grafted together.  The yarn the sample is knit in is a heavy recycled silk. It would also work well in another heavy drapey yarn, perhaps a linen or linen blend worked at a loose gauge?
The sample is designed to be work with the fronts just touching and with a gather at the top of the back where it is attached to the neckband (that is why it shows several inches of ease).

This vest was really an further extension of my love of short rows. Being able to shape and even change direction in your knitting while still working it all in one piece is just pure magic.  I’ve got a cardigan idea that I can’t wait to get working on that uses the same general idea for turning the front corner.  I’m dying to get started on it but I’m going to resist – I’m in wait for some secret project yarn to come so I’m being very good and not starting on another larger project right now that will compete with it!

(c) Interweave Press

Spring must really be in the air, I’m bursting with ideas and my office desk is completely cluttered with swatches.  There are two designs working through the final stages that I’m dying to share, they’re a little lighter weight so perfect for the coming milder weather.

I have been having a very hard time getting around to blogging at the moment.  After the lovely lull of the Christmas holidays it feels like life has gone into fast forward again.  Somehow the amount of activities the boys do after school seems to have multiplied again making an afternoon at home just doing homework a rarity.  Now if only we managed to get up on time in the morning we might just about manage to keep this whole circus on the road.

In book news – I just submitted the final portion of my work to the publisher so now comes the editing part!  I’ve gotten so used to self-publishing it’s fun to have someone else who cares as much as I do about the book and to have someone to discuss the decisions with.  It makes it a less isolating process.  Joe has take some truly amazing photographs, it’s very tough not to be able to share them with you yet.  It’ll be quite an experience to have so many patterns to share with you all at once.  As this book was worked on over a relatively long time period and we were traveling around the country to visit the mills we managed to get a good variety of Ireland shown in the photos.

Now back to work – I’ve got lots of exciting projects on the go over the next few months, sometimes it would be great to be able to double myself so that I’d have enough time to knit and design everything I’ve got in my head.

I’m not very fond of Winter, I don’t like the dark and I don’t like the cold.  As silly as it may sound, even though I’ve been producing huge quantities of knitted garments I rarely knit for myself.  There are only so many knitting hours in the day and I need to keep most of my knitting in good condition so they can be used a samples for display.

However this cardigan is different, I knit it just for me!  I used snuggly warm Donegal Yarns Aran Tweed and it has a nice high collar to keep my neck warm and snug.  I find jumpers (or sweaters!) warmer as it covers across the front but when I spend so much time going in and out of cars, shopping centers and schools I wanted it to be easier to take off.  So this is as warm as a jumper due to a side closure but much easier to take off due to the snaps.

As this was just for me I went ahead and experimented with a technique that I haven’t used before – steeking.  For anyone who hasn’t come across this term before it involves CUTTING your knitting.  Sounds really scary but it’s actually not!  I used a crochet steek (great details on Eunny’s Blog), which as I discovered even a non-crocheter can master.  It creates a wonderful neat finish that just folds into place (you should be able to see from the photos the slip stitch edge I used for a neat fold).  This yarn is great for a crochet steek as it has a good amount of ‘stick’ to help the yarn hold itself together.

Usually I have a terrible time coming up with design names but this time it just fell in place  – Carrageen.  The ribbing stitch I am using in the cardigan is a variation on the Seaweed Rib from Barbara Walker and as Carrageen is after all seaweed it seemed like a good match.

This cardigan won’t be released for a little while (needs to join the queue!) but I wanted to put some photos up before I started wearing it into the ground.  It uses one of my favourite constructions methods, it is worked from the bottom up in the round, joined at the shoulder seam and then set-in sleeves worked from the top down using short rows.

This gives you the simplicity of one-piece construction with the flattering effect of a set-in sleeve, which really can’t be beat!

I wanted to thank anyone who bought Captiva Wrap over the last few weeks , donations from the sales came to $154 which I was very happy to send to MSF this morning.  I am very glad to be able to send a little more.

I seem to be juggling a lot of different projects at the moment, all at different stages.  I send off another secret project last week, however I think I might start a new version of it for myself with some cascade eco + I have here from last year.  It is a lovely deep purple, it would be wonderful for everyday wear but I think too dark to photograph well.  I wish I got more time to knit for myself, I am almost afraid to wear anything I do finish on the off chance that I might need it for display!  I think that it’s about time my knits got a bit more wearing.

Before Christmas I finished a lightweight sweater for my sister.  She recently returned to office work and was looking for a stylish lightweight top for everyday wear.  I know that she loves turquoise and I found the most perfect shade of Turquoise in Cascade Heritage sock yarn.

I know it is knit in sock yarn…BUT it is at a loose gauge (for lovely stretch and drape) and the 36 inch size takes just under 3 skeins.  Not a bad price for a new sweater!

It is knit in one piece (body knit from the hem up), with set-in sleeves knit from the top down in the round after the body if finished.  Lots of fun and not too complex so a good one for knitting on the go.

It will be a couple more weeks before we finish the final layout but it has been tech edited so it is getting close to being ready to release.

The wrap that I knit at Christmas when I was in holiday is Florida is almost ready to release.  The charts are done, it has been tech edited and we are working on the final layout.  However I am having a hard time with a name.  While I was working on it I always described it as my ‘Wave Wrap’ or the ‘Scalloped Wave wrap’ but somehow they don’t fully convey the feel of the wrap.

If you want to give a go at naming the wrap I’ll love some suggestions, and if I choose your name I’ll send a copy of the final pattern pdf to you when it is releases (hopefully this weekend!).

Here are some photos of the wrap: