Sketches. Used to capture and make more concrete the wispy impressions of design ideas. Or used to convey them to others in a third-party submission. Some of these morphed into something else, perhaps recognizable to you. Others, well, they were just thoughts. A look into a sketchbook.
Something big is happening on Ravelry, the 3rd annual Indie Design Gift-a-Long! The Gift-a-Long (GAL), a collaboration of 335 independent knit and crochet designers, features a week-long sale and a knit-a-long/crochet-a-long (KAL/CAL) through the end of the year. There are tons of prizes, for ongoing games throughout the GAL and, at the end of the GAL, random winners drawn from among those who have posted pictures of their finished objects.
All 335 designers are here. There’s one post per designer – most posts include a photo indicative of the designer’s style, and each post has a link to the designer’s Ravelry page.
This bundle shows all the sale patterns. The sale ends November 27, 2015 at 11:59 P.M. EST.
I love this infographic! It’s amazing the amount of effort, talent and enthusiasm being poured into this event!
I am hoping to have the time to make these lovely mitts, Carry On Fingerless Mitts, by Cheryl Chow:
I think these mitts are a lovely design, and I love the muted colors Cheryl used. The pattern is clearly written and the mitts look to be a fun project. I can’t wait to go hunt through the stash to find the right yarn. Also very cool, Cheryl is another Pacific North Westerner, hailing from North Bend, Washington!
Knitting friends, I hope you’ll come check out the Indie GAL. It’s lots of fun and is a wonderful way to meet some new designers.
These are my patterns which are on sale through 11/27/15 11:59 P.M. EST as part of the GAL (see details, here), and they’re also prize-eligible patterns:
See you at the GAL 😉 …
As you can see from the above picture, I am on my third go-round with the Colorwork Tee. You can read about the first two swatches here: What I Learned from the Swatch and here: Colorwork Tee Progress.
The tee now has a rolled neckline. The plan is to offer options to leave this neckline or to pick up and knit either a corrugated ribbed neckline or a regular ribbed neckline. Stitch counts and charts are looking good and I am champing at the bit to get back to knitting this!
It seems to me that I should be further along by now. But sometimes other things move up the priority chain and have to be finished first. Here are some of the other items:
I am teaching a basic sock class at Tangled Purls, our local yarn shop. The sock above is my shop/class sample. The Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 (20% Cashmere) yarn I used made knitting it up a joy. Then I was thrilled when I read the idea of making Kitchener kits for the knitters taking the class. It was great to provide a way to practice the Kitchener stitch on larger yarn and needles before tackling it on their socks.
Tomorrow is Part II of the class, so tonight I will finish this sample heel flap and heel shaping, using highly contrasting colors to highlight the sock construction. I always love blue and yellow together!!!
The pattern is Basic Sock by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. It’s a great pattern.
Basic Socks have been so much fun that next month it’s going to be Basic Christmas Stockings, pattern also by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. Last weekend was spent frantically knitting to finish the sample. Getting a good picture for the store’s newsletter was another story…but here we are and that can be put aside for awhile. I’ll make Kitchener kits for that class too…in Christmas colors, of course!!!
The Passport Mitts KAL continues in my Ravelry group, and I’m knitting along, as well. I’m working on a red pair, using Rowan Felted Tweed DK in the colorway Rage. I love love love this yarn! It is so light, yet warm, and the colorways are wonderful! Here is my progress as of the other morning:
The knitalong goes through November 15th, so there is plenty of time to join in. Did I mention that there were prizes? Lovely, yarny, prizes! And a knitting bag, too.
Finally, I started my Stroll Cardigan by Olive Knits, once again using the wonderful Rowan Felted Tweed DK. This colorway is Ginger. I finished 3 or 4 inches of it, but worked on it while watching football, and somehow got off on my raglan lines, so I frogged it. But I can’t wait to get back to it!!! (When? I don’t know!!!) I even found the perfect earrings to coordinate with the sweater.
I’d best get knitting now! Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope you have some time to knit – or to do something creative and beautiful!
This week my sisters and I took a short jaunt to the Metolius River. It is a stunning, beautiful river. We were surprised at the volume of water rushing by, and the fall colors were glorious. I can’t wait to go back sometime and explore the area more fully.
The surrounding area was quiet and peaceful. It would be a great place to knit! Not to mention fish, bike, hike, read…
I love how the sunlight filters through the water.
And these are the Metolius River Mitts:
They are so named as this colorway with its beautiful blues, greens, ginger, gold and browns made me think of sunlight filtering through water to the river rock below:
Finally, here they are worked in yet another colorway, Rusted. This picture was taken before the thumb was completed.
This pattern is one of my favorites because it looks great in a variety of sock yarns and works up quickly on size 5 needles. If you are looking for a pattern for a special skein of sock yarn, this could be it.
Thanks for joining me in this look at the Metolius – the river and the mitts!
Hi all! I hope you’ll take a moment to read this lovely post by Alex. She’s joined in the Passport Mitts knitalong on Ravelry and has already finished her first pair of mitts! The next pair is in an orange colorway, and I can’t wait to see how they turn out. Alex is a wonderful knitter and blogger; enjoy her post! 🙂 Thank you for the shout out, Alex!!!
The second FO I have to share today is my first pair of Passport Mitts! I’ve posted here before about this pattern and the designer, but I want to say a little more. Specifically, if you’re looking for an awesome and supportive group of people to “hang out” with on ravelry, please go check out the group at Carol E. Herman Designs. Carol (cehermanator) and many of the group members have been so welcoming to me that, even though I hadn’t yet knit any of her designs, I still felt comfortable just jumping in and chatting with people. There’s currently a KAL going on for the Passport Mitts. It’s the first time I’ve participated in one, and it’s been really fun so far! It just started a couple of days ago so there’s plenty of time to come join in if you’d like. There’s great chatting, camaraderie…
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The Salishan Cowl is another pattern which lends itself to a look into the design process. In this case, it was a matter of being immersed in a place as well as spending time pondering the building blocks of knit design, the stitches.
The place:
I’ve lived in Oregon for 25 years now, and have known of the Salishan Spa & Golf Resort since shortly after we moved here. I’ve driven by it numerous times, but it wasn’t until last August that I finally stayed there.
When I arrived, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found that the grounds were quiet and peaceful. The room was spacious; there was a choice of restaurants and the food was delicious. The atmosphere was that of a mountain lodge even though the ocean was within walking distance.
This was to be one of my retreats at the beach, where I spend time knitting, resting, designing. I spent the first few days knitting, taking walks and puttering around. I threw a bunch of yarn (collected over the years) on a table, hoping that color combinations would jump out at me and inspire some designs:
The yarn led me down dead end paths. Perhaps they were dead end at the time and may yet lead to new designs. Time will tell.
As it turned out, though, the inspiration came from the place itself.
The resort is situated so that the lodge, restaurants and accommodations are on the east side of Highway 101. It’s about 1/4 mile walk from the rooms to the highway, which you cross to the golf course, spa and shops.
There’s even a lovely yarn shop in The Shops, In The Wind Yarns. It was new to me then, but now it’s a must-stop place whenever I go to the Coast. I love to visit and see all the new things they are working on and what new yarns they’re bringing in. There’s always something fun going on!
But I digress! At last I was going to explore the Salishan Spit, which I had always been curious about. Viewing across the Siletz Bay from Highway 101, there is a thin slice of land with houses on it. How does one get there? During my stay, I learned that The Spit is accessible by car only to residents of the gated community or to guests of the resort. Otherwise, it may be accessed by foot on a trail which begins next to the shops and golf course.
It’s a long hike to traverse the length of the spit. As I approached the end of the spit, I turned a corner and was shocked to discover that we had black (or dark gray) sand on an Oregon beach! It was one of those amazing moments when you find something completely unexpected. I had absolutely no idea we had a dark sand beach in Oregon.
You can see the dark sand over the light here:
And these organic shapes and lines:
It was all hauntingly beautiful.
The building blocks:
Also during my stay at Salishan, I spent time poring over my stitch dictionaries. One stitch in particular, the Japanese Feather, struck me as very beautiful and elegant. An added bonus: as far as lace stitches go, it’s pretty straightforward and easy. And it’s apparent to me that my subconscious zeroed in on that stitch pattern as a representation of all the lovely lines and shapes I had seen during my wanderings – even including that “S” in the Salishan signs.
The process and the pattern:
During the next six months, the impressions from Salishan and the thoughts of that stitch remained with me. Sometime in December of 2014 or early January 2015, I found the perfect edging for the cowl: the Herringbone Stitch. It would create a pleasing contrast of a highly structured edging with the organic shape of the Japanese Feather. Additionally, it was a stitch that wasn’t being used by a large number of designers, so it would create a unique look. And finally, it’s a fun stitch to work, albeit time consuming.
The pattern also includes the option of working a Seed Stitch border. It is easier and quicker than the Herringbone Stitch border, and it still creates an elegant look.
Worked in Malabrigo Silky Merino, this cowl just floats! It also is lovely in Rowan Felted Tweed.
This design is really one of my favorites. Not only do I feel like a million bucks whenever I wear this cowl, but I have the treasured memory of finding this beautiful and unexpected, somewhat hard-to-reach beach, which I hope to visit many, many more times in the future.
The Challenge:
This week’s theme: Autumn Lane
1. the season after summer and before winter, in the northern hemisphere from September to November and in the southern hemisphere from March to May.
2. a division of a road marked off with painted lines and intended to separate single lines of traffic according to speed or direction.
This week your challenge is to interpret autumn…the lane that separates the end of summer and the beginning of fall. Capture the beautiful colours of trees…the ripe and tasty autumn harvest…the fine cross line between worlds that are so close but so far apart…
The possibilities are endless…show your artistic side and be bold…try different perspectives and share your own personal take on one of the most beautiful seasons that transforms nature into an unforgettable painting.
This is my most autumnal pattern yet. I went out at dusk one November evening last year to find some leaves and some light. The fall colors were amazing, and I have some pictures of this little pumpkin in and amongst beautiful red and golden leaves, but this photo is my favorite for this photo challenge. I love that it’s an almost literal rendering of the challenge.
I have to add that I love fall. I love the colors. I love days like yesterday, when it was cool enough to bundle up in a warm sweater, yet I could still feel some warmth from the sun. I love looking forward to Halloween, my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the flavors of pumpkin, apple cider, hot cocoa. I even love football! Mostly I love the warm light of the autumn sun’s slanting rays and the way it turns everything golden in the evening.
Check out Julia’s My Red Page‘s weekly Camera Lucida Photo Challenge.
Julia’s instructions state:
The content of the post is completely down to you, share just the photo or be even more creative and tell us the story behind the scene, make it your own.
#cameralucida, Autumn Lane
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!
x0x0 knitequalsjoy
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.
To purchase this pattern online, click here: 
knit equals joy 