Ahhh, there she is.  My new design.  I awoke a few days ago to find a cloudy sky, so I jumped out of bed, made myself presentable, and took photos of my lovely new shawl.  I even beat the rain, it arrived about half an hour after I finished.

While it is still a bit steamy here, I can't wait for that crisp autumn air and snuggle inside this fuzzy warm wrap.  

I love putting colors together, so this design was so much fun to plan.  I used Knit Picks Aloft, and I must have stared at the color choices for an hour before deciding on these colors.  My colorway reminded me of a sunset.

Of course, it wasn't as easy as that to complete this design.  The true story is that this is actually my third sample.  Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right.  The first sample I made on a whim with a couple balls of Noro Kureyon I had in my stash.  My shawl was nice, but a bit small.  Two hundred yards of Aran weight yarn just doesn't go too far when you're making a triangle shawl.  But aren't the colors gorgeous??  They inspired the name- technidream.  I really thought Technicolor and that moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the door to Munchkinland and suddenly the world goes from brown to a rainbow.  But I'm pretty sure Technicolor is trademarked and I certainly didn't want to get into the murky world of copyright and trademark infringement.  So I made up my own word.  Artistic license, perhaps?

Here is version 2.  I used a discontinued color of Knit Picks Chroma Fingering.  It has long color changes, and I didn't realize that with a top down shawl the beginning sections will have much wider bands of color than at the bottom where the rows are longest.  I tried a different border and it ended up being too complicated and was overshadowed by the bright bands of colors.  Just not quite right. I wanted solid bands of color in even widths throughout the shawl.  Stripes was the answer.  But what yarn?  I'm a big fan of Knit Picks yarns, so I looked through my past projects and chose Aloft.  I used Aloft for my Mariposa Shawl and I just loved its softness and halo.  Such a warm shawl for being incredibly light.  

I chose Daisy, Koi, Fairy Tale and Mongoose.  I couldn't be more pleased with the results.  My pattern is now being tested and will soon be released.  If you are interested in testing, come on over to Free Pattern Testers on Ravelry, I have a few spots open!

Happy Knitting!

Here is a sneak peek at a new design coming to you soon.  It is worked in super soft and fluffy Knit Picks Aloft in four gorgeous colors.  

Tomorrow I'll get to work typing up the pattern and getting it ready for my testers.  So exciting to have a new design ready for the knitting world!!!

What's this?  A veil?  Is my garden getting married?  Nope, it is my version of a floating row cover.  My poor garden is being invaded by pests.  Let me tell you about this garden and my steep learning curve of being a gardener.  But first, a better view of my little plants.

Ah, that is better.  I moved to my new house the first week of June, which is a rather odd time to plant a garden.  I had brought some of my container garden plants from Georgia, my jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, and some herbs.  My husband built me this lovely raised bed, modeled after the square foot garden.  It was very hot at the time, so  figured a few tomato and pepper plants would be a good choice until the weather cooled.  I bought two tomato and two pepper plants and went home and stuck them in the ground.  Since they were rather big already (about 8" tall) I figured they would be ready to plant.  Wrong.  They all suffered transplant shock and wilted terribly.  I was able to save the two tomato plants but not the peppers.  I kept one tomato plant in the raised bed garden and put the other in a container with my patio container garden.  Both tomato plants were flowering like crazy but never set fruit.  I couldn't figure out why, so I did a google search.  I read there might be too much nitrogren in my soil and other high tech gardening jargon that I didn't understand.  Then I read that tomato plants self pollinate, and if there hadn't been enough wind they might need a little shake.  Seriously, the webpage (several of them actually) said to go out and shake my plants.  At the risk of looking like a crazy person to my neighbors, I went out and gave my plants a scolding and a gentle shake.  I laughed to myself at how silly I looked then went inside and continued on with my day.

Maybe not so silly.  It worked!  I have a dozen tomatoes on my raised bed garden plant and one little tomato on my patio plant.  

The first week of August the weather cooled and it was time to plant my fall garden.  Now, if you noticed a bunch of holes in my little plants I'll tell you about those.  Pests have invaded my garden, hence the veil.  I had such lovely little seedlings, seeds that I sowed directly into the soil, and one day I found them chewed up and full of holes and broken stems.  I also found a bunch of black worms with yellow stripes.  After doing a bit of online searching (which I found quite nauseating after looking at page after page of worms) I finally found the culprit.  A yellow striped armyworm.  I find the name amusing seeing that I'm right next to Ft. Bragg and can't seem to get away from everything Army.  But sadly, my research told me that armyworms are hard to get rid of and there are no pesticides for them.  Not that I would want to use a pesticide, one of the reasons I grow my own vegetables is to try to keep my food as natural as possible.  I read these worms like to munch on the leaves at night, and my dear husband didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked him to grab a flashlight and help me smash worms out in the yard.  After six years of knowing me, he is hardly ever surprised by any of my strange requests.  We went out and smashed away, then did a bit more smashing the next morning.  I went to Joann's Fabrics and bought 4 yards of tulle and threw it over as a floating row cover to keep any other bugs out.  The chicken wire cover is to keep birds and rabbits out as well.  Now my plants have perked up quite a bit, especially the cabbage.  The worms have practically destroyed the swiss chard, I don't think any will survive.  I have already enjoyed a few radishes and sampled a tiny green tomato.  I couldn't help it, they looked so tasty.  

On the knitting front, I am three rows and a bind off away from finishing a new design.  This one really flew off the needles, but mostly because I have quite a few secret projects lined up and don't have time to waste.  Hopefully later on, either this afternoon or tomorrow I will have a few photos of it blocking to post.  

In a couple days the new issue of Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2012 will be available in print and digital download.  I am very happy to write that I have a pattern in this issue, Cranberry Mitts.

On Saturday I was happy to receive a package in the mail from Amazon.  One of the books inside was Cast On Bind Off: 54 Step-by-Step Methods by Leslie Ann Bestor.  I am always looking for new knitting books and this one looked interesting.  I have more than a few books that explain various cast ons and bind offs, but this one has them arranged by category of use.  Cast ons for: all-purpose, ribbing, end-of-row, stretchy, decorative, temporary and hems, etc.  Bind offs for: all-purpose, lace, decorative, ribbed, etc.  This is really useful when designing so that you end up with a finished object that isn't too tight or doesn't stretch out.  While designing a few of my early hat designs I learned the hard way which cast ons and bind offs NOT to use.  How disappointing is it to make a hat only to find the brim won't stretch enough to fit over your head?

The actual size of this book is rather small, which is great because it is small enough to fit into a knitting bag.  It is spiral bound so it lays flat while you are following the instructions.  Each step has a clear photo and written instructions, so everything is easy to understand.   Each cast on or bind off has a description, list of characteristics, and suggestions for what it is good for.


I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to expand their knowledge of cast ons and bind offs beyond the basics.  You can find it on Amazon here.

Now I know I promised a peek at the design I'm working on, but I seem to have hit a snag.  Somehow I keep ending up with two extra stitches and I can't figure out why.  I'm thinking I will have to knit up a second sample to figure out where the problem is, which won't be too bad since I was planning on knitting a heavier weight version anyway.  It will just take a bit longer for me to get it to you, dear Knitters.  

But in other news, after I finish up my current commission, I have a design lined up for Knit Picks using their Aloft yarn in 4 gorgeous colors.  I can't wait to get it started!  I've already used Aloft in my Mariposa Shawl design, and it is heavenly soft and WARM.  I couldn't believe how warm this lightweight lace shawl kept me.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

I'm working on embroidering the second block of my crazy quilt and have learned a few important lessons.

1.  Random piecing can make you accidentally sew yourself into a corner.  The idea of crazy quilting is to sew down an initial piece, then add a piece to a common edge, then add another piece that fits across a common edge on the first two pieces, etc, etc.  But as the block progresses, the pieces you add on need to get bigger and bigger.  What if I don't have a scrap that big?  Well, I tried to do some crazy maneuvering that involved folding back edges on the right side and trying to add in some stealthy stitching as if I was sewing a needle turned applique Didn't work out so well.  So how do you fix it?  Well, to make bigger pieces I learned to sew a few smaller scraps together before adding them onto the block.  But it sort of ruined the lines on the block.  Which brings me to point #2.

2.  12" square blocks are just too big.  I'm thinking 10" would be better.  Then hopefully I won't need to have such large pieces as I get to the outer edges.

3.  Don't be so random, work off a paper pattern until I get the hang of piecing.  I'm trying to be all cool and just make it up as I go, but I end up scratching my head and grumbling trying to get it all to work.  Ok, I'll draw a paper pattern.  Pffft.

4.  Embroidery floss is probably not the best embellishing thread for me.  I have tons of it, therefore thought it would be a good idea to use some of it up.  But using all 6 strands was too thick, so I separated off two strands and started embroidering with that.  The stitching was nice and delicate, but I had a problem with the strands splitting and just not laying nicely on the fabric.  My embroidery inexperience didn't help either.  After a trip to Joann's, I have decided to switch to pearl cotton.  Embroidery floss is made up of 6 strands loosely twisted together, meant to be split apart for various types of embroidery.  Pearl cotton is two strands tightly twisted together and not meant to come apart.  The individual balls of size 10 pearl cotton were pretty boring colors (black, ecru, navy) but I happened to find a package of thicker pearl cotton in some nice and bright colors.

So what else?  Well I wanted more information on piecing and more ideas for embroidery embellishments.  While at Joanns I saw this booklet, and thought it would be a good place to start.  There was a big book on crazy quilting, but it had some super facing embellishments using silk ribbon (which I couldn't find) and beads and appliques, which are pretty but would make this project not as relaxing as I want it to be.








But wait, isn't this a knitting blog?  When are you ever going to write about knitting?  Normally I would write about knitting, and a few other things too.  But it seems that lately all the knitting I have going on is the secret kind that I have to wait to show everyone.  I'm finishing up the secret knitting and will get back to self publishing.  I have a personal project that I've been working on during the Monday night knit group, so I'll share it in the next post.  Promise.  Until then, Happy Knitting!

Over the weekend I decided that I need to have a more defined working schedule for designing and some non-knitting projects to work on at night during my 'free time'.  It needs to be something I can just pick up and work on for a bit before going to bed.  At first I considered all the sewing projects I have waiting for me (pants, a long skirt, dresses, etc), but setting up the sewing table and ironing board takes up a lot of space and time and I would really want to have a big chunk of sewing time for going to all that trouble.  So sewing clothes was nixed.  I have two quilts in various stages of completeness but again the sewing table problem.  I have been collecting a bag of fabric scraps from my sewing projects and decided that a crazy quilt would be fun.  I can make one block at a time and work on it while sitting on the sofa.

I found basic instructions in "How to Sew A Button: And Other Nifty Things your Grandmother Knew."  This is an awesome book and I would recommend it to any crafty person that likes to do things the old-fashioned way.

But back to quilting.  I cut a piece of muslin into a 12" square and dug into my scrap bag.  It is all bits of quilting fabric leftover from quilts and dresses.  I sewed them on by hand which didn't take nearly as much time as I thought it would.  After a few hours I had the whole thing all sewn up.  I don't think I quite did it right; most of the edges I sewed down with a running stitch, but some edges came together at odd angles that I had to fold back and sew with a hem stitch.  Hopefully the next block will turn out better.  This afternoon was spent embroidering along all the seams.  It has been many years since I've attempted to embroider, so my skills are very much lacking.  I think it would have been best to use perle cotton, but I didn't have any.  Instead I used two plys of embroidery floss.  I have an old Victorian quilting book that demonstrated lots of fancy embroidery stitches.  Most were too intimidating for me to try, so mostly I stuck with blanket stitch, chain stitch, herringbone and chicken feet.  I had to throw in a few lazy daisies too.  Not too bad for an amateur, eh?  

What's this?  A new website???  Yes, I have finally come out of the stone age and made myself a website.  It's been a little over a year since I started knitting design as my 'full time' job and there is still so much to do!  Building a website has been on my list for quite some time and I figured I should just plunge right in and get to it.  I tend to put things off because I want them to be perfect, but then I never get around to doing it.  Well, here it is!  Not too bad so far.

I am hoping that this blog platform will be easier to work with than Blogger.  I never could figure out how to format the pictures to all sit together in a nice little row.  And the text just wouldn't format right sometimes.  Perhaps the problem had more to do with the operator than the program, hmmm???  

If you want to read my previous blog posts, you can see them here.