Category: design

Amelia!

So busy. Just enough time to blog a little before I head out for the day!

My Amelia pattern is up in Winter Knitty! I knit this one back in September and even wore it at Rhinebeck (without buttons – see?) so people there got a bit of a sneak peak! (Sorry I never sent the pattern to you cassie – oops.)

I love, love, love the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Worsted I used for this pattern (and would certainly be amenable if someone wanted to send me some more to design with…not that I think I’m entitled!) – it’s so soft and squishy, especially the garter stitch cuffs. The stitch definition is awesome so the bits of twisted ribbing really pop!

Natalie, who works with me at lettuce knit, is an awesome model, no? It was totally freezing out and she was willing to stand through quite a few snaps. Also she is super cute. (Her hat is Princess Diana’s memorial tartan, or something.)

I’m stalling out on the Christmas present thing, although my grandfather’s vest is very nearly done. I’m just finding it really tough to motivate myself to pick up stitches and stuff! Instead I cast on for a new Lucy in the Sky for myself, out of some nearly-black Dream in Color. I really want to get it knit over the holidays…

…so that I can have something new to take along on a trip in the new year! A friend and I have gone a little cuckoo-nuts and are planning a long trip basically around the world starting January 18. I’m only going for six weeks while he’s planning to stay a bit longer, but we’re still in the planning stages and looking for places to stay (recommendations for cheap+decent places or couch crashing!) or people to meet up with (because some English-speaking help would be really appreciated) in the following places:

– Tokyo, Japan (around Jan 18-22)
– Shanghai and Beijing (to 2/1)
– Singapore (2/1 = 2/6)

After that we’ll be headed to India to stay with his family in Chennai (Madras) and Delhi, along with some other internal side-trips. Then I’m coming home with a stop in Europe, either Rome, Amsterdam or maybe Edinburgh to visit Ys again!

There’s so much to do to plan for this trip! Yikes! It’s seriously freaking me out. But it’s true, no one ever regretted traveling. Whew. Now what kind of knitting do I take for 6 weeks?!

December 12, 2008
Vino Reissue!

It’s back, bigger and brighter!

I’ve reformatted, upsized, and expanded the Vino Cardigan pattern – it now comes in sizes up to 56 inches! I also corrected some stitch counts and rejiggered a few portions of the pattern as well as expanding the directions for the Front sections. Also new in this version are new photos of Dr. Steph in her gorgeous version.

Finished Size
Bust: 32 [36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56] inches around fullest part of bust
Length: 36 [38, 38, 41, 41, 41, 41] inches from top of shoulder to hem

Materials
– 6 [7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10] skeins Dream in Color “Classy” (Worsted), 250 yards/4 oz skein;
Shown colour November Muse
– 5.5 mm/US 9 32-inch circular needles or size needed to achieve gauge
– spare needle for Three-Needle Bind-off
– 5 to 7 1-inch buttons (depending on preference!) OR 3-4 toggles (shown)
– tapestry needle

Gauge
18 stitches/28 rows = 10 cm square in stockinette stitch

All knitters who purchased this pattern previously can get a new copy of it through their Ravelry Library or by emailing me at cosmicpluto@cosmicpluto.com!

If you purchased the pattern not through Ravelry, an approximate date of when you purchased the pattern as well as the Paypal address used, would be useful so I can locate your receipt. People who downloaded through Ravelry should have received an email update notification, and you can download the new version through your Ravelry download library!

TO BUY

This updated 4-page pattern is 1.5 MB and is available for download through Ravelry. Payment is through Paypal, credit card or balance. No registration is required for either!

$6.50 CAD

Note: As of July 5, 2010, sales tax will be added to this price for all Canadian residents only. The rates are: British Columbia 12%; Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador 13%; Nova Scotia 15%; and everywhere else in Canada 5% GST. Tax will be added in the Paypal payment process.

November 26, 2008
success…and rippage

I managed to finally, FINALLY finish the yoke of my brown Casbah sweater – it’s taken me so many rips to work this out!

This is the bottom-up set in sleeve from Knitting Workshop, and it fits! No fault of EZ’s that I had to rip so many times, I just clearly wasn’t paying enough attention or y’know, planning ahead. For those that wondered, I’m attempted to knit this sweater with 3 skeins of Handmaiden Casbah (heavy fingering weight merino, cashmere, and nylon). I’m knitting it at quite a loose gauge, 6 stitches per inch, and I’ve used up just two skeins of it to the end of the yoke. So I’ve got one skein to do the button bands and then knit both sleeves as long as I can get!

Some more of this colour, although it’s a bit different seeing as how it’s handdyed, came into the store a few weeks ago so I just might opt to do the button bands in that and use the rest of the matching yarn to do the sleeves. I’m a big fan of 3/4 length sleeves anyway, so we’ll see how it works out!

I also finished up those socks that were going so quickly before:

They’re knit with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock (which is one of my favourites!) in Cedar, 68 stitches on 2mm needles, top down, heel flap. They’re for a gift, and although they went so fast at first (I knit the first sock in only 2 days) they slowed down a bit and I finished the pair in maybe a week and a half or two weeks, something like that.

Of course, for all the knitting success, there’s always some downside! This handspun sweater wasn’t working out, so I finally ripped it.

Of course, since it was all striped, that means that I ended up with wee little balls of yarn – oh well. I’m sure they’ll find something else to live as.

For now they’re just sitting prettily!

November 24, 2008