What's New?

I had a wonderful summer ... the weather was so warm and sunny and my family took a vacation to Europe. So much to see in Italy, I can't wait to go back and spend more time in Rome. It's now November and reality is setting in that Thanksgiving (here in the USA) is next week and Christmas will follow quickly on it's heals. 

I've been busy creating new designs for you to knit and crochet over the last few months.

Yorkshire Throw is a crocheted blanket available from I Like Crochet, an online magazine with many wonderful designs available every 2 months. There's a yearly subscription fee, but you get so many patterns and articles for that small price.

Yorkshire Throw from I Like Crochet

 This blanket is worked with Cascade 220 100% wool yarn in colors Yakima Heather (11 balls) and Antiqued Heather (3 balls) using hook size 7 (4.5mm).

Pattypan is part of a collaboration of talented designers and available exclusively on Ravelry through Stranded Magazine. 

©Andi Satterlund -  Pattypan

The asymmetrical pattern of Pattypan is inspired by the spokes of a ferris wheel. The intricate stitch pattern is balanced by stockinette stitch making this sport-weight cardigan the ideal combination of simple and complex knitting.


Finally, just released this week, is Grand Forks Pullover. Available in Interweave Knits Winter 2018 magazine on the Interweave website or through your local yarn store.

©Harper Point Photography - Grand Forks Pullover

This stranded colorwork pullover is worked with 3 colors of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair and US8 (5.0mm) needles, top down and in the round. 

And one last note .... the 5th annual Indie Design Gift-A-Long starts on November 21st at 8pm EST. I'm participating again this year and I hope you will join all the very talented designers for heaps of friendly chatter, hundreds of prizes, and beautiful projects. Find out more on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

5 Tips for Choosing Yarn Colours

If you are planning on knitting/crocheting a garment or accessory that uses more than one colour of yarn, how do you go about choosing which colours go together? I find it much easier to choose if there are only two colurs in my project. Complicated fair-isle or stranded colourwork patterns can seem very daunting unless you work with the exact colours used in the sample.

Here are some tips to help you choose yarn for your next stranded colourwork project.

1. Use a colour wheel

One way to choose colours is to use a colour wheel. On the wheel you can choose whether you want bright, paste., or a more grey colour palette (shade, tint, tone).

Use a colour wheel

Once you've decided on shade, tint, or tone, choose the colour combination you would like. Often technical words like complementary, split-complementary, analogous, and triadic are used when choosing colours. You can use these methods for color choice (and I think it's good to know what they mean), but there's an easier way to choose.


2. Use your favourite shirt

I really like to use fabrics to choose colours. Someone has already done the hard work for me and I can choose fabrics that appeal to me.

Use fabric to choose yarn colours

Take a look at your clothing. I'm sure you have a favourite patterned shirt or skirt. What colours are in it? Can you seehow they work together?

The next time you are out shopping, be sure to look at the patterns and colours of the clothes you like. Maybe even take a few photos to analyze later when you are stuck on which colours of yarn to combine.

Use photos from pinterest

Alternately, look online (specifically pinterest) for those colour charts where the colours are taken out of a picture and combined for you. Harrisville yarn company does a fantastic job at this.


3. Add some drama

Colours on opposite sides of the wheel are complimentary and often cause drama or tension in you project. Choosing two colours that have one colour separating them (like green and blue) and then adding in their compliment (red-orange) makes for an exciting knitting garment. This is called split-complimentary. 

Add a pop of colour

This fair isle sweater is a good example with green, blue and white as the main colours and peachy/pink which is opposite on the colour wheel from the green and blue. Adds just a bit of pop to the design.


4. Vary the values

Vary the values of the colours you choose. If you use all dark colours they just blend together and the pattern doesn't stand out. By choosing a light, medium, and dark colour you are really able to see the 3 colours of yarn work together to make a pattern. You can also add white and/or black to the colour mix.

Vary the values

5. Take a black and white photo

Finally, to see if you have enough contrast between your yarns, take a photo and convert it to black and white. If all the yarns are a similar shade of grey you know that the yarn choice needs to be altered a bit. Try adding a darker or lighter yarn and retake the photo.

Use a black and white photo

In the photo to the right, the teal and peach yarns are similar in shade (as seen in the black and white photo). They work in this design though because they are opposite in colour. That is, they are complimentary or opposite on the colour wheel.

If you are looking for a small knit project to try out these tips you can check out my Stranded Flower Hat knitting pattern.

Stranded Flower Hat knit pattern

Or a crochet pattern to try could be Falling Leaves Baby Blanket which uses 4 colours of yarn.

Falling Leaves Baby Blanket

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Charlestown Pullover

Photography @harperpointadventures | Stylist @tinamgill | Hair/Makeup @janierocek

This is my latest design ...

Charlestown Pullover published in Interweave Knits Spring 2017. 

Are you feeling adventurous in your knitting? Looking for a challenge? This highly textured pullover will provide the knitter with a challenge of multiple cables and textures being worked on the body and sleeves. Features include saddle shoulder, twisted stitches, cables, and is worked top down.

Photography @harperpointadventures | Stylist @tinamgill | Hair/Makeup @janierocek

Starting at the shoulders, two saddles are worked, stitches are picked up on either side of saddles and front/back are worked downwards to the hem. Stitches are picked up around the arm scythe and the sleeve is also worked downward to the cuff.

A few tips ....

* To help keep track of where each pattern starts and stops, place a marker between each chart. Any mistakes can be easily caught before working to the end of the row or round.

* Make a note of which row you've started the front neck shaping and also the armhole shaping. Then the charts will match correctly when the fronts and back are joined in the round.

Find a tutorial for this stitch in this blog post

Charlestown Pullover ~ Interweave Knits Spring 2017

Charlestown Pullover ~ Interweave Knits Spring 2017

Happy Knitting!

Gift-A-Long 2016

It's starting ... this years gift-a-long on Ravelry and it's something I look forward to at the end of each year. So many indie designers come together for a fun time connecting with our customers through knitting and crochet. And of course there's the SALE and PRIZES that are an incentive for you to join us!

20 of my Patterns on SALE with CODE giftalong2016

What is the Indie Design Gift-A-Long? 

It’s prepping for the holidays as only fiber folks can, with special deals from tons of indie designers!

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by hundreds of independent designers. From November 22nd at 8pm (US-EST) through November 30th at 11:59 pm (US-EST) these indie designers will be discounting between 5 - 20 of their patterns 25% for this event.

There are eight KAL/CALs to participate in, prizes of all sorts given out, games, and generally a lot of fun! The Gift-A-Long KAL/CALs will run from November 22nd at 8pm US EST through - December 31, 2016 at 11:59pm US EST. All patterns by the participating designers are eligible for the KAL/CALs and all not-free patterns by the participating designers are eligible to win prizes.

Which Designers are participating? 

There's a list of participating designers with photos here. 
My discounted patterns can be found here.

How do I get the discount?

Just purchase the patterns you want directly from the designers' Ravelry shops between 8pm US EST on Tuesday, November 22nd and 11:59 pm on Friday, November 30th. Put them in your cart and enter the COUPON CODE giftalong2016 at checkout and 25% will be automatically taken off the total price.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Knitscene Winter 2016

Have you seen the latest Knitscene magazine? Winter 2016 edition has Fête Cardigan designed by me, pictured on page 26 and 27. 

Knitscene Winter 2016

It's a top down, raglan sleeved cardigan with lots of pretty cables and a touch of lace too.

Fête Cardigan

If you plan to knit this cardigan, I've created a tutorial for the pkyk stitch that is only available to newsletter subscribers. Sign up for my newsletter and you will find a link to the tutorial inside the October edition emailed on October 12th.

Photo by KLMPhotos.com

There are lots of beautiful patterns in this magazine, so I hope you check them all out!

Happy Knitting!

Two New Hats

September has been a busy month for me ... Not only organizing my 2 teenagers to get them ready to go back to college, but also on the knitting front.

Two new hat patterns are available on Ravelry and Love Knitting websites.

First up is Strolling Hat ... a pretty leaf and cable pattern is worked on this slouchy hat. I used cashmere fingering weight yarn so the hat is super soft. My daughter stole it from me already!

Strolling Hat

This is Burghal Hat .... I used to do a lot of quilting and still do a bit of sewing occasionally, but knitting has taken over my life. I saw this beautiful, modern quilt and thought it would make a bold knit hat. Worked in 4 colours of fingering weight yarn, I used Blacker Yarns 4ply Classic for this version. Head over to Ravelry to see the colours two of my testers used.  

Burgal Hat

Happy Knitting!

Working Cables In The Round

Have you ever tried working a simple cable in the round? How do you keep track of which round you are on so the cables are crossed consistently? 

I've tried counting rounds but could never figure out exactly which round the cable was crossed on. I've also tried those "click" type row/round counters and would get a few stitches past the beginning of the round and think .... "Did I click it or not" (I have a very, very short memory)!

Following are a couple of ways I keep track ....

If I'm working a hat for example with multiple cables that all cross on the same round I usually use this funky row/round counter (I found it on Etsy a long time ago). Each ring counts one round and the beaded loop counts each 10th round for a total of 100 rounds.

Row/Round counter found on Etsy

If, for instance, the pattern I'm using crosses the cables every 5th round, I would do so when the counter is at 5, 10, 15, 20, etc. rounds. Not too difficult? 

Place marker on first ring after first cable cross.

Work rounds in pattern until fifth ring is on the needle.
Cross cables on this round.

Work even until 10th ring on needle ... cross cables again on this round.
Continue in this manner and your cables will be even.

What if I have cables that all cross at different times? It could be very confusing to figure out which rounds to cross a specific cable. 

For example, the cable on the sleeves (worked in the round) of this pullover has a cable that crosses at odd intervals. 

Cable on sleeve worked at odd intervals

In this case, I use a removable marker to keep track of how many rounds I've worked since the last cable cross. 

Insert marker through stitch on round cable is crossed

Work even and count rounds worked from the marker to the current round
(2 rounds worked above)

Here 7 rounds worked and ready to work cable round

After cable is worked, remove marker and insert it into the new stitch

Work even until round for next cable cross
(1 round worked above)

After cable worked, remove marker and insert it into the new stitch

Continue in this manner (working cable cross and inserting marker into new stitch) and you won't have to wonder if it's time to cross that cable.

Happy Knitting!

Note: Here's a similar row/round counter on Etsy (Knitting Row Counter by WychwoodDreams). It counts up to 110 rows/rounds.

Newsletter Signup

I'm starting a newsletter ... yeah! Or maybe your thinking "Oh no, not more email"! 

Newsletter Example

I promise not to send out many emails ... at most one or two per month and probably fewer than that, if my blog writing in the past is any indication.

What will be in the newsletter ... 

Updates on new patterns and where they've been published, probably a coupon code for a discount on a pattern exclusively for you as a subscriber, maybe even free patterns.

Caprea Hat on Ravelry

As a thank you for signing up I will email you a code to 

receive my Caprea Hat pattern for free on Ravelry. 

You don't need an account there to use the code and get the pattern emailed to you.

Sign up below to get your free pattern (first 500 subscribers).

Subscribe to my Newsletter

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Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Updated Patterns

I've finally updated my Carry On Hat and Fingerless Mitts patterns with new, easier to read charts and my updated layout. 

These patterns were created in 2013 and I didn't have any charting software at that time so I used excel which isn't really optimal for charts.

Find these patterns on Ravelry, Patternfish, and LoveKnitting websites.

Happy Knitting!

Vacation

With July half over and August not too far away, vacation time in the northern hemisphere is well underway for most of us. Maybe this sums it up for you ....
Do you take a knitting or crochet project with you on vacation? Do you get much time to work on it?

I usually have lofty ideas of sitting on the beach for hours on end working on my knitting and bring a huge bagful of yarn/needles just in case. Of course when it comes right down to it, I don't get much time at all. I come home with only a fraction of what I had intended to complete.

Where is your favourite place to vacation?

I love the beach ... any beach ... though here in the pacific northwest even the beach in summer is not warm. We recently went to Seaside, Oregon for the first time. It is a beautiful little community with a 3 mile boardwalk along the beach. Perfect for strolling and looking at all the beautiful gardens (maybe dreaming of living here).

Cannon Beach, Oregon is only 20 minutes away and there is a little yarn shop called Coastal Yarns. Lots of gorgeous yarn and some locally dyed skeins as well. Of course I picked up a skein of sock yarn (S)

And crepes (gluten/dairy free options) ....

A wonderful vacation for us ... but now back to reality!

Hope you all have a great summer and some good knitting/crocheting time!

Yarn Weight Frustrations

I've had this frustration for a while now, but most recently with my latest cardigan design. Yarn labels that don't correctly label a yarn as the correct weight. What do I mean ....

Gorgeous Hazel Knits Lively DK in Frost

Here's a couple of examples:

Cascade 220 has 220 yards in 100g and is listed as worsted weight

Hazel Knits Lively DK has 275 yards in 130g and is listed as DK weight

Louet Gems Fingering weight has 185 yards in 50g and is listed as fingering weight

Quince & Co. Chickadee has 181 yards in 50g and is listed as sport weight

How do you then successfully substitute yarns in a pattern if the weights are all over the place?

Crafty Yarn Council yarn weight chart

You could look at this yarn weight chart found on the Crafty Yarn Council's website which looks a bit daunting to me or you could just go by the yards (or meters if you like metric) in a 50g ball.

Another example .... I used Hazel Knits DK Lively yarn which mentioned about has 275 yards in 130g. Doing the math this works out to be (275/130*50) 105 yards in 50g.

When substituting I look for something similar like maybe Cascade 220 which has 110 yards in 50g or Madelinetosh Vintage which has 100 yards in 50g or even Jo Sharp's Classic DK Wool with 107 yards in 50g. 

To me, looking at yards to figure out a substitution is much easier than looking at other options like stitches per inch or the yarn companies weight designation.

My latest knitting pattern, Strolling Cardigan can be purchased on Ravelry.

Strolling Cardigan Photo © KLM Photography

Happy Knitting!

Japanese Lace Stitch

In a few of my designs I use this pretty lace stitch that I found in a couple of Japanese stitch dictionaries. It's really easy to work and creates a different fabric depending on if you work only one stitch or multiple stitches in a row. 

I call it the pkyk stitch for Pass Knit Yarnover Knit

On my Strolling Cardigan it is worked multiple times in a row to create a lacy lattice.

On this grey cable and lace cardigan it is worked once in a column with 2 purl stitches on either side to create a faux cable.

To work this stitch (pkyk):
Worked over 3 stitches.

• Pass the third stitch on the LH needle over the first two stitches and off the needle
• Knit one stitch
• Yarn over
• Knit the second stitch

Work to where you want to create the pkyk stitch

  

Slip 3rd stitch purlwise  

Slip stitch over first 2 stitches and off the needle

Creates a "bar" across the first 2 stitches

Knit one stitch

Yarn over

Knit one stitch

Result of finished pkyk stitch

Knit to end of row

Pkyk stitch with 3 rows of stickinette in between on a stockinette background

Happy Knitting!