Blog RSS
A Shawl Experience 65 million years in the making
I really really really love Shawl collar sweaters. And at this point you might be thinking yes, but what about the dinosaur shawl? We will get to that, for sure, but the beginning of this design really has it's roots in the shawl collar sweater. We all know that keeping the head and neck warm make the whole body warm, and above and beyond the need for warmth having something soft wrapped around the neck is soothing and comforting. So this design actually started as the desire for a shawl collar sweater... without the sweater.. so more shawl, but with...
An Obnoxious Optimist Versus The Stash
I have a hard time buying yarn, I mean really, it's kind of silly because I knit for a living and I can claim every material I purchase and use for my business. So one would think that buying yarn would be easy right? Kind of like a free pass to purchase? Not for me, somewhere in the intersection of knowing that I have to use the yarn for my business in order to claim it, then needing a pattern plan in mind before I consider it being a part of my business. Then realizing that at the moment I...
Extra Sensory Parental Guilt Abilities and the Baby Alpaca
I have something pretty special for you today, and if it looks a little familiar then you shouldn't be surprised. This new pattern release is an upsize of the Petite Panache Pattern that was released waaaay back in 2010. The original Petite Panache was an investigation into pleating and texture, it was my entry into the Jimmy Beans Wool design contest and although it did not win the first prize it was well received as a finalist. I have had numerous requests in the past 5 years to create an upsized version as many of the children who had the sweater...
Before I was born, my Mother rode an Ostrich and my Father was too afraid.
In the very beginning of their marriage my parents spent a couple of years in South Africa, my Dad worked as a percussionist for the Cape Town Symphony and my Mom worked for a shipping company. They had many adventures including chasing wild dogs backwards in a broken rental that wouldn't shift gears right, being way. too. close. to several elephants, and mistakenly thinking that hippos were bullfrogs (thanks to Dad for saving Mom and ensuring my existence). The Africa stories became an integral part of my imagination, they set the stage for my perspective on adventure, travel, and possibility. Of...
Who wants a WOW moment?
One of the ways that I approach a design is creating a pattern based on a specific yarn. This differs from a response to a mood board or a designing to make a certain item because it really is all about making the pattern a perfect canvas for that exact particular type of yarn. It's usually the yarn company that has provided the yarn support and I want to create a terrific pattern for them so that they can sell more yarn and in turn, my pattern will also receive more attention. I sometimes spend hours turning ideas around in...
Tags
- All
- Adult designs
- Ancient Arts
- Baby
- Baby designs
- Beaded
- Beads
- Bobbles
- Book Review
- Bulky knit
- Cables
- Cables and Lace
- Cascade 220
- charts
- Child
- Color Changing yarn
- Color Theory
- Colorwork
- Cowl
- Cowls
- Creative Knitting
- DK weight
- Easy knit
- handspun
- Hikoo yarns
- How to
- Independent Designs
- Infinity Scarf
- Interweave Knits
- Knitpicks
- Knits for Men
- Knitting fever international
- Lace
- Lace Shawls
- Lark Crafts
- Malabrigo
- MalabrigoRios
- Men
- Mittens
- Mosaic Knitting
- New Pattern Release
- Noroyarns
- ParadiseFibersYarnClub
- Plymouth yarn
- Porifera
- Prism Yarns
- Shawl
- Sock Yarn
- socks
- Stranded patterning
- Technique Tuesday
- Test Knits
- Texture
- Toddler
- Toddler to Preschooler
- Tube Gathers
- Tutorial
- Twist Collective
- Unisex
- Wrap
