Passport Mitts, my new design, is now available on Ravelry. This pattern was originally written as an exclusive design for Tangled Purls’ Passport program. The exclusivity period is now over and so I am able to offer the pattern for sale to everyone.
The mitts are long and elegant with details that make them a great additon to your fall wardrobe. They make a perfect project for your holiday gift giving! The pattern is written in two sizes.
To celebrate, I am offering a discount to readers of this blog. For 20% off the $4.50 purchase price through September 30, 2015, use the coupon code PMblog20. Click here to purchase the pattern now, and enter the coupon code at checkout. You do have to belong to Ravelry to purchase patterns, but it is free and easy to join, and it is an amazing website with a huge database of patterns (among other fantastic features)!
We’re also having a knit-a-long (KAL) in my Ravelry group starting October 1st. A KAL is great fun. We discuss our progress, ask questions, post pictures – and at the end, there are prizes. I’ve found some gorgeous yarns that will be the KAL prizes. Winners are chosen from among the finished projects randomly. We truly have so much fun! I hope you will join us! You can sign up for the KAL here.
Some of the Prizes:
Thanks for letting me share my latest design with you!
Hi everyone! It has been a busy week as I’ve been working behind the scenes getting the Passport Mitts pattern ready for general release.
I’ve been working with the large size to get that motif centered on the back of the hand, and I’m very happy with the solution. Now to finish up the rewriting and to send the draft to the tech editor tonight.
I will announce the release here as well as on Ravelry. I can’t wait!!! We’re also having a knitalong in my Ravelry group starting October 1st. Look for more information here in the days to come!
Although it has taken a backseat for a few days, here is the progress on the Colorwork Tee:
This weekend I will be playing with numbers, measurements, calculations, and ordering some more Sunday Knits yarn. I can’t wait to move ahead with this!
I hope you all have a great weekend and I’ll catch up with you soon!
I love fall. It is my favorite season of the year. I love fall colors. I love the way the slanting rays of the dwindling sun cast a golden glow over everything. I love pumpkins, gourds, many-colored ornamental corn, fall apples, fresh apple cider. I love the crisp evening air that signals fall’s arrival. I love trips to the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, pumpkin bars. Truly, I love everything about fall. And even though we’re not quite there yet, something about today’s weather made me think about fall. Which made me think about fall decorating.
Last year, I wrote this little pattern for fall. Of course, I didn’t see my inspiration for it until fall was already in full swing, so the pattern was released late, right around Halloween. This year, I want to share it now so knitters will have time to make the pumpkin, or several, in time for Halloween and/or fall decorating.
Inspiration for the Mini Colorwork Pumpkins. When I saw this in the store, I realized that knitting patterns featuring the motifs right on the pumpkin itself were few to none.
Colorwork pumpkin in black and gold. I love this color combination:
Jen made this fun colorwork pumpkin with spider. I love how she integrated it into her fall decorating! Several spider charts are included in the pattern.
Meg made this lovely pumpkin with tonal yarns:
Pattern details:
Quick and easy, Mini Colorwork Pumpkins are perfect for Fall, whether you want to decorate for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Make several in different colors and yarn weights, and choose from 6 different charted designs. At about 3 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter, they knit up very quickly.
Charts include Mini Spiders, Mini Spiders Alternating, Booooooo, Art Nouveau Leaves, Tall Spiders and More Tall Spiders.
My Sense of Direction Mitts is a good candidate for looking into the design process, as I can directly connect many of its design features with a specific influence or inspiration. I am approaching this as an observer of my own particular experience in design.
The Conversation
In April 2014, I was working on this design, the Route 66 Driving Mitts:
One day after work, I showed my prototype to a couple of coworkers. One drolly asked, “How do you know which hand the mitt goes on?” I was of course thinking that it’s worn so that the design is on the back of your hand. His next question: “Why don’t they put left and right on mittens so you know which hand to wear them on?” Immediately I wondered whether there existed any patterns indicating left and right.
The Process
Racing home, I went right to Ravelry and looked at the existing patterns. There may have been one children’s pattern with left- and right-hand labels. I was so surprised that there weren’t more! So I grabbed my sketchbook and drew this (please excuse my sketching skills):
My first thought was that the letters would be like old typewriter keys.
However, in playing around with the charting, it became clear that it would be difficult to create a nice round chart representing them that would work up nicely.
The next step involved browsing through stitch dictionaries and design books:
It was in Mary Jane Mucklestone’s 200 Fair Isle Motifs that I found the lovely linked border around the letters.
In these books I also found the arrow designs for the palms:
These lovely mitts and photo by Jill.
Finally, I charted letters for upper case and lower case L and R. The form of these letters changed very little from the original sketch.
A Word About Color:
The colors I used in my mitts were inspired by this piece of Polish pottery, a cherished coffee mug:
I also tried the mitts in this color combination, which I did not like at all:
It Seems to Me
It seems to me that a major part of the design process, for me, is keeping my eyes and ears open: seeing color and pattern in the things around me and listening to what interests and intrigues others. Then, it is a process of narrowing down what works and what doesn’t work. Trial and error through sketching, charting, and swatching are part of this winnowing process. Somewhere along the way in this design process, I realized that I very rarely wear mittens here in Oregon, but I love fingerless mitts and can wear them indoors when my fingers get cold.
Also important in my design process are the questions I ask: Can I make this happen? Could I design round, typewriter key-like charts? No, I couldn’t. Can I make arrows that point in the correct direction on each palm? Yes! How can I solve this problem? That is a question that comes up in nearly every design.
Finally, and this may be the most important element in my design process, is allowing myself time to think and to allow different ideas to coalesce. Some ideas occur in a flash, like the idea to make left- and right-hand mitts, while others take some time to work out. And, after allowing some time to pass, sometimes new ideas occur in way that imitates intuition. But I think the intuitive flashes are disparate ideas that have been working toward each other in my subconscious and finally they connect, as a Golden Spike. I love when that happens, although sometimes I don’t want to wait!
Just for fun, working on the mitts at the beach:
Thanks for taking the time to read about this adventure in design! I hope to see you next time!
Note: Featured photo (on home page) and mitts by stamura.
knit equals joy 