Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a chance to knit, relax and eat lots of yummy foods!

For the last week, Mr. Monkey Pants has been featured on the Gina Brown's Facebook page and the Ravelry group. Here he and Baby Monkey are hanging out, wishing everyone a great day!

The Bolete Beret

I've just released my latest hat pattern - The Bolete Beret! (Available for purchase, here or on Ravelry and Patternfish). It's made out of the lovely Done Roving Kidding Ewe - the colors shown are Appropriately Pewter and Old Sturbridge. The brim of the hat is knit as a corrugated ribbing - one of my favorites to use with yarns that are variegated/self striping because of the way that the colors just seems to pop out more. The pattern stitch for the top of the hat is using the waffle stitch. It's a great slouch hat that's not too slouchy but very trendy! Thanks to Paula at Done Roving Yarns for providing such amazingly, beautiful yarns and David for taking some great photos.

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

I had the whole day planned out.  I wanted to sit around the house and knit and work on patterns and blog and eat my wonderful smelling pot roast (that is currently making the house smell amazing!) and watch/listen to some TV and clean the house (well I didn't really want to do that but . . .) and do laundry . . .etc. (best run on sentence ever, but also very accurate in how I felt the day should go). Scratch that. Washing machine died. Thus I found myself hauling a bunch of laundry to the laundry mat - a scenario that I hate having to participate in. Not that laundry mats are a bad thing, just that I don't want to leave my house on my only day off! While I was there I started to play on David's new iTouch that I bought him for his birthday. Felt the only way to make the day a bit better is to take a photo of the amazingly old school game right beside the seating area with my knitting as a fun, yarnie juxtaposition. I'm making two pairs of the Ohh La La Fingerless Mittens as a custom order. I'll post more about these later . . .

Complete!

There has been a lot of custom knitting this fall as two of the stores' knitters are moving and no longer knitting for us. One day we recieved a phone call from a lady asking about custom knitting and I told her to bring it all in and we would give her a quote. She came in later that day and the result was 3 baby blankets and a baby sweater. Two of them were knit with Debbie Bliss Bella & Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK and the sweater/blanket set was done with Bernat.

I knit the baby sweater first as it was very cute and easy to knit. The pattern is Infant Set 1 - Ann Norling #36 by Heather Finch. The blanket was quite a bit more tidious. It did start to feel that I had 5 inches left every time I measured! The upside to all this knitting is that Connie (the lady interested in the custom knitting) decided to retire and start to knit again!

Flowers, Flowers and more Flowers!

This is by far the busiest time of the year for me. I am always doing something, whether it's working full time and teaching every night or working on patterns and custom orders etc. Let's just put it this way I either have a distorted view of how much it's actually possible to get done in a day or I'm a sucker for punishment :) or perhaps a bit of both!

One of the ladies I know is doing a craft fair this weekend and needed a whole bunch of flowers and corkscrews for the tops of some of the cutest little hats! So I made quite a few flowers and over 20 corkscrews. They were so fun to make but it just reminds me that I need to get organized and publish my flowered baby headband pattern for crochet. Every since I did the knitted version, I've wanted to do a crochet one. These flowers were neat and easy to make. They were crochet with Sandnesgarn Alfa and a 9mm crochet hook.

The ones I will do for the Flowered Baby Headbands in Crochet will be using double knit yarn and a 4mm crochet hook for a wee bit of a more delicate look to them. They are so cute!

Berroco is 'Crazy for Cowls!'

I recently got a Ravelry message from Amanda at Berroco asking if they could have permission to use my photos in one of their blog posts talking about independant designers who are designing with Berroco's yarns. You can check out Berroco's Blog here. They have interesting posts about all things Berroco - new yarns and patterns etc! As you can probably imagine - I was pretty excited!!

My latest cowl pattern, The Potentilla Cowl, is crochet out of Berroco Vintage. It is available for purchase here. I also made a sample in Berroco Ultra Alpaca to test my pattern - the green version in the photo above. I love Berroco's yarns. They are very affordable and have a lovely hand to work with. The colors are by far the best part - everything from solids to heather etc. Yum!

Socks 101

This October I am teaching the Monday Night Sock Club's Socks 101 class. I'm so excited to teach this class again - it's one of my favorites. For the last few classes I have been handing out many handouts that I have written about knitting socks and I've decided to just put it all together in a perfectly easy Socks 101 Pattern. It's using worsted weight yarn - quicker to knit for a class sample as there is less homework between classes. My sample was knit in Berroco Vintage. I love Berroco Vintage. It's perfect for socks as it is a blend of wool, acrylic and nylon.

The great part about knitting socks in thicker yarn for the first pair is that you learn all of the necessary skills but you can progress quickly and feel like you are accomplishing something! The pattern will be available at the end of the class - I'll post when it's up!

Beginner Crochet - Part 2

I've been preparing for the second class of my Beginner Crochet class and I wanted to do something fun. They were very quick at catching on so I thought I would up the ante by designing a slouchy hat for them to make. It will be available as a pattern pretty quickly but I thought I would give you a preview! The pattern is worked from the crown to the brim. I quite like the detail on the brim - you could leave it plain or put a nice ribbon through it! Within the next few weeks I will be finalizing this pattern and will release it for purchase on Ravelry and here. Well off to teach my beginners! What fun :)

Freiburg Fingerless Mittens

Yay! Another new pattern all finished up. I introduce to you: Freiburg - Fingerless Mittens which is  available HERE and through stockists of Done Roving Yarns. They were knit with Done Roving's Fancy Footwork - a luscious blend of 80% SW Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. So soft and yummy! The color is Purple Magic.

I love the detail of the lacey pattern. It's created using a fairly simple form of ribbing with a few yarn overs added! They were inspired by the openwork spires in the Freiburg Minster.

This cathedral is in Freiburg, Germany. I love the architecture of openwork spires and totally make me think of lace! David and I went to a Ukrainian Church to take the photos and there was a million little lady bugs than were swarming the church! The green version of the mittens was knit from Diamond Luxury Collection Footloose. I always do an extra sample just to test my work a bit more thoughly. I think this pair is going to be my car mittens.

David was having fun creating "arty" shots!

There was even an audience to our little photo shoot! He was pretty interested at first, but once he realized we weren't going to eat him, he fell asleep.

Miss Maggie - A Slouchy Hat

I wanted to introduce my latest design - Miss Maggie. It is available for purchase HERE. I have been meaning to design a cabley slouchy hat. I was so inspired by a secret design that I have been working on. It is worked flat for the cable band, then joined in the round and the stitches are picked up!

I love the buttons! They were from a elderly friend that left me her very special button collection that I used to play with as a wee child.

It has 2 levels of slouchy-ness. - there is "A Little Bit of Slouch Miss Maggie" and "The Most Slouchy Miss Maggie. I am wearing "The Most Slouchy Miss Maggie." I have modeled the hat in a 22" size.

David and I took the photos at the Ukrainian Church up in Bridgeland. I love the architecture of this place! Especially during the sunset when the sun's light reflects off of the copper roof. So pretty.

Fall knitting already?

The newest of my patterns is coming out this week. I've been working on so many different projects lately - it's almost confusing! Today I have decided to let go of my latest design - which really isn't all that new. I designed it in spring of 2010 for a beginner crochet class I was teaching. I wanted the student to learn how to do shells and to follow a harder pattern then the previous ones in the class. I'm always able to come up with a neat idea, write it out and make the sample but as soon as it gets to actually putting the pattern out for sale, I seem to stall. It's always that I could change something etc but I have to stop trying to tweek things until they become new patterns. So today I present to you - The Potentilla Cowl. It is available for purchase here.

An upclose shot of the stitches!

I've been working on quite a few designs lately and while I absolutely love it - sometimes it's pretty crazy to wake up with ideas in my mind that I just HAVE to make NOW! Today I wanted to show you a quick preview of a pattern that I have been finalizing for quite some time.

The Potentilla Cowl:

It's a quick, warm cowl that is crochet within a few days. The sample above is crochet from Berroco Ultra Alpaca. This pattern should be available in the next week or so!

New Pattern - Ooh La La Headband and Ear Warmer

Ooh La La Headband and Ear Warmer

by Sarah Grieve

Materials:

Silver Version: (two strands held together) Shown at the bottom.

1 Ball Schoppel Wolle Cashmere Queen - 35% Cashmere - 45% Merino Wool - 20% Silk, 153yards / 139 meters per 50 gram/ 1.75oz ball. (Shown in Color # 5723 Azure)

1 Ball Schulana Kid Seta - 70% Kid Mohair - 30% Silk, 231 yards / 211 Meters  per 25 gram / .88oz  ball. (Shown in Color #1 Silver)

Grey Version: (single strand) Shown in the picture at the top.

1 Ball Berroco Peruvia - 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 174 yds / 160 m per 100 gram/3.5oz ball (Shown in Color # 7106 Granito)

OR:

40 grams of Aran Weight Yarn.

5mm / 8US Needles

3 Buttons - approx. .5"/1.3cm
Darning Needle

Sizes:

Length:

     Child                Teen             Adult - Small      Adult - Large
16"/ 41cm         18"/46cm             20"/51cm           22" / 56cm

*When deciding on the size to make, measure around circumference of your head. Use this measurement to customize the length of the headband making sure a perfect fit!

Width: 2.5" / 6cm

Gauge:

 22 sts = 4" on 5mm/8US Needles in pattern.

Instructions:

Cast on 14 sts using two strands held together. (Using only one strand of yarn, if using aran weight yarn.)

Row 1: K4, P2, K2, P2, K4.

Row 2: K2, *P2, K2 Repeat from * to end of row.

Row 3: K2, *K1, YO, K1, P2. Repeat from * 1 more times. K1, YO, K1, K2.

Row 4: K2, *P3, K2. Repeat from * 2 more times.

Row 5: K2, *K3, P2. Repeat from * 1 more time. K5.

Row 6: Repeat row 4.

Row 7: K2, *K3, pass the first st of these knit sts over the last 2 sts. (decreases 1 st), p2, rep from * 1 more time. K3, pass the first st of these knit sts. over the last 2 sts. K2.

Row 8: K2, P2 to last 2 sts. K2

Repeat rows 3-8 until work measures 18( 20, 22") / 46 (51, 56) cm or until desired length ending with a Row 8.

Repeat rows 1-2.

Cast off.

Finishing:

Sew in all ends with a darning needle. Block headband to show off cables. Sew buttons onto cast off edge. Enjoy!

Abbreviations:

K - Knit
P - Purl
Sts - Stitches
YO - Yarn Over

Notes:

*The Silver version is knit holding two strands together - a light weight mohair and a supersoft cashmere.

*The Grey version is knit using a single strand of 100% aran weight wool.

*There are no button holes as the slip stitch pattern creates holes at the beginning of the work. Sew the buttons opposite of the pre-made holes.

A 4 Ply Hat

I realized the other day, that there are not nearly as many patterns for 4 ply / fingering / sock weight yarn. I quite like knitting with a gauge that fine. It can make things looks very polished and pro. So I've decided to write a wee series of patterns for hats all using 4 ply. I've just started to mess around with a beautiful ball of Fleece Artist Trail Socks.

My friend had tried winding this ball by hand, got it into quite the mess and decided that she would like to donate the yarn to my mother's charity (Giving Hands). Once this proto type hat is knit up it's going to Giving Hands where hopefully it will warm someone up in the Kootenays. Then I'll make up another one as a sample. There will be a beanie, a tam and a fisherman hat!

Mr. MonkeyPants

I finally finished up Mr. MonkeyPants. Sometimes when I am working on too many projects at once, I tend to leave things for way too long!

As you may remember Mr. Monkey Pants made his debut when I taught the sock monkey class. I was bothered by the size of his tail as per the pattern. It seemed a bit large . . .and a wee bit  . . .phallic. So, I decided to only increase to half of the amount of stitches that the pattern required - which, by the way, is from the Patons Monkey Business Book # 800875. I also made his tail 2 inches longer than the pattern. He was made with Cascade 220. I can't wait to start making the baby monkey. I think this will make the cutest display in the store!

Patternfish has Flowered Baby Headbands!

Yay! I've launch my first pattern with Patternfish. They are now selling my Flowered Baby Headbands pattern.

I'm so excited that I finally got on board. Every year at TNNA, Julia would say I really should - I'm glad I finally have. I will be adding more patterns to Patternfish soon!

A Quick Neck Job. . .

Today I spend the day trying to finish up more custom work. This project involved finishing the front, knitting the collar and sew it all together. The pattern was quite old (I think from the 70's). There were 5 stitches that were cast off  right at the tops of the raglans that needed to be sew into the edge of the sleeves, somewhat like a wee saddle shoulder.

I love the way this looks - when the sweater is lying down, it looks like there are already fitted shoulders with in the sweater! I'm going to have to remember this when I want to do another raglan.

Mary's Cardi - New Pattern Now Available!

Today is the day that I am launching my new pattern: Mary's Cardi. I have added it to Ravelry and it is available for purchase in pdf download form here or through LYS' that carry the Done Roving Yarns.

This is a fun sweater to knit as it is knit in one piece to the sleeve openings, then you add the sleeves and work a raglan yoke. I wanted to create a sweater that was more multi-use.

So many times I see ladies at the store that say, "Well this baby is going to be a spring/summer baby  . . ." Therefore they won't knit something other than a baby blanket. This sweater is for all year round - during a mid-summer's night or worn with a long sleeve top underneath.

It's designed to use 1 skein of Frolicking Feet from the Done Roving Yarn company. It was such a pleasure working with this yarn! Incredibly soft and has wonderful drape! Thanks to Paula at Done Roving Yarn for providing yarn for this pattern!

I will be releasing a toddlers-teen version and an adult version of this pattern in different weights of yarn. So keep tuning in - I will definately post about it!

I teamed up with Cheryl (and Mary!) to have her take some very sweet pictures for this new pattern. Huge thanks to Cheryl for taking the time to help me out!

Silk & Cashmere Pillow

Sewing took up the morning today. I took some photos of the latest pillow that I've sewn.

Diana had some really nice samples of cashmere from a sample shade card that she used to sell cashmere blankets from the now defunct Needful Yarns. She didn't want to just throw out all that nice cashmere! So I told her that I would do something useful with it. I ripped out all of the sample squares and trimmed them to the same size. Then I sewed them all together. I couldn't decide what fabric to put around the outside . . so I took a gander through all of the fabric that I have in my yarn office (which, apparently, there is way more fabric then I thought!)


I found a piece of fabric that was left to me from David's Granny. It was a silk fabric that slightly shimmered when it moved in the light. I'm not normally such a fan of red, but this was just the perfect application for it! It has an envelope opening for the back as it will be easy to get on and off.

All Sewn Up!

Just finished sewing up this cute little sweater for one of our customers. I had to finish knitting the collar on it and there was exactly enough yarn to finish! Oh the stress! I find it quite funny that people always start to knit faster as if that will make the yarn go farther or that you could out knit it the length. Although I shouldn't laugh too hard as that was me trying to see if there would be enough. I ended up with 2 inches remaining!

The Moss Stitch Cowl is Now Available on Ravelry

The Moss Stitch Cowl!

 I just uploaded The Moss Stitch Cowl pattern for purchase here and on Ravelry! I've been putting this off for 2 years - why? I have no idea . . .
This pattern was designed for my beginner knitting class for their second project. I wanted them to knit something that was

A) Something fuctional but fashion forward.

B) Something that would help them to identify the difference between knits and purls.

C) Something that would have both moss stitch and stocking stitch.

D) Something that would introduce them to knitting with nice yarn at an affordable price point - because no matter what your level of knitting (beginner to expert) you deserve to have decent yarn that doesn't make your skin crawl while you are knitting it. And yes, it does exist at all different price points! :)

It's a basic moss & stocking stitch cowl made from luxurious baby alpaca. The pattern includes instructions for working flat and in the round so when my students decided to tackle working in the round they already had a pattern that they were familiar with. It only takes one skein of yarn and a few hours of time to make. This cowl will be an instant hit in anyone's wardrobe. Enjoy!

Off to Olds!

This time of year has yet again snuck up on me and I forgot that Fibre Week at Olds College was this weekend. For some reason I always think it is after Stampede instead of just after TNNA. I drove up to Olds to check out the Merchant Mall. There were new vendors there that I hadn't seen in previous years and some of the ones that I am familiar with didn't come again this year.

I found some lovely roving from West Coast Fibre Works . It's made from s.w. merino. It's a dream to touch and I just couldn't resist that color! I love the way hand dyed rovings look spun into yarn. *irresistible*

I also found some very reasonably priced merino top in solid colors from Legacy Studio. I chose the Wintergreen and the Indigo. So beautiful and soft!

The rest of the day I will spend spinning - I can't wait!