It never fails. Sometimes months after a pattern was released, a kind knitter will email me with a question. Surely it’s not because of a mistake in the pattern? After all, dozens have knit the design by now. And friends and colleagues have helped to proofread.

Sigh.

In this case, Asking for Roses is the offender. I’d mistakenly exchanged some of the written-out decreases, even though the charts were correct.

The good thing – although the mistake is on about 8 rows of the pattern, it mostly impacts just the single decrease at the beginning and end of row. AND, if the knitter is working from charts, there’s no mistake at all.

As a designer, I hate hate hate publishing errors, and it really bugs me when they’re only caught several months later.

In any case, I’ve published the corrections here and on Ravelry, and will issue an updated version when my computer’s fixed. But that’s another story, for another day.

Happy knitting!

I’ve been busy this weekend, working up two patterns I’ve had off the needles for some time. “Meadowlark” will be released next weekend, but “Foxhollow” – shown above – will be out either tonight or tomorrow.

What do you think?

UPDATED – Pattern now available! Go get it! ravelry.com/patterns/library/foxhollow

It’s not fall anymore, but will you forgive me for publishing an autumn-themed pattern?

Just released, after much delay, Koyo, a delicate shawl for delicate yarn.

The orange shawl is knit with Helen’s Lace from Lorna’s Laces, in the colourway “Satsuma”. A perfect color name for a Japanese-inspired shawl, don’t you think?

Technically, though, this isn’t a new design. I originally designed this for the Year of Lace in 2010, using Indigodragonfly’s gorgeous Merino-Silk Lace in a custom colourway.

Among the things I love about this design: the delicate top border, the gentle deconstruction of leaves into an organic ripple, and the inset details at the points and corners.

I also love the size. At 70″ x 34″ after blocking, it’s just big enough without overwhelming the wearer.

In this way, Koyo is an ideal accent piece for any season, not just fall.

More photos and detailed information available here.

Happy holidays, everyone!

$5.00 US

Oops.

Well, I fixed it a few weeks ago by clearing out my server and reinstalling everything from scratch.

Unfortunately, I forgot one file – the template required by my Toe-Up Sock Pattern Generator.

Oops.

Thanks to a message on Facebook, I’ve fixed the issue, and everything should be working again.

In case you haven’t seen the Toe-Up Sock Pattern Generator yet, it’s kind of cool. I built it a year or two ago, and it’s based on my Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula (from Knitty). Input your yarn gauge, needle size and shoe size and you’ll get a customized pattern.

Of course, if you want to add any fancy schmancy stitch patterning, you’ll need to tweak a few of the numbers for your repeat to work. But it’s a good place to start, and I hope you enjoy!

This morning, I woke up at 5am to let the dogs out. Instead of going back to bed, and maybe getting another restless hour of sleep, I sat in the dining room with my computer and finished the last touches on this pattern.

I’ve been overloaded these past few weeks. My job is thrilling me – but it’s also consuming a lot of my thoughts in the hours I normally spend knitting or designing. Time to blog? Non-existent. And yet, I wanted to knit my mom something for her birthday on August 27th. Several years ago, I’d gifted her a Charlotte’s Web, and she’s always exclaimed over the colors and how it looks over a plain black coat.

So when this birthday rolled around – her first without dad in 40 years – I wanted to craft something really special. My lack of time has made it just a wee bit late… but more on that in a bit.

Contorno is a shawl/wrap/scarf that uses 3 colorways of Koigu, and short rows to shape the ripple edging into a curving kind of crescent. It can be scrunched around your neck, or wrapped over your shoulders.

The thing I loved about this design was how the handpaints play so well together. The yarns do coordinate, but so often with Koigu, it’s fun to add in quite a bit of contrast. The result? A spicy, ziggy-zaggy, cacophony of colors.

Full Pattern information >

Next week, I’m going to be teaching at Vogue Knitting Live in LA! I’m flying down for just a few days; teaching on Saturday and Sunday, and then heading to Santa Barbara to teach a sold-out Cloud Chaser class on Monday. After that? I’m swinging through Chicago so I can deliver Contorno in person.

Originally, I was just going overnight. Now, I’m staying with mom through the following Saturday. While it’s going to be lovely to spend time with her, the reason isn’t so lovely. A few weeks ago, Mom was diagnosed with Diffuse Large B-Cell Type Non-Hodgskins Lymphoma. It has spread to her bone marrow, so she’s classified as Stage 4. She’ll begin her first round of chemotheraphy on September 26, and I’ll be there for the days after to help out and keep her company as she goes through the first of 6 treatments.

Many people have asked what they can do. My answer? I don’t know.

My sisters over at AerysSports have started up several Light The Night groups to walk for Lymphoma and Leukemia research. Consider joining the Aerys team on a walk. I’m incredibly honoured that they’d organize this to support Mom and our family.

Right now I’m trying to process this news, and attempt to understand how life can be so cruel to hit us with this new challenge, so soon after losing Dad.

Lymphoma – even stage 4 – is treatable, and often responds very well to chemo. Still, there are no guarantees, and it’s going to be a tough 5 months, if not more.

Will giving my mom this design help make things easier? Probably not. But it can’t hurt for her to have a new reminder of my constant love.

I swear I cast on about seventeen times for this ‘simple’ project. Remember yesterday, when I said that I only write down what I need to get started?

It’s true. However, the flip side of the coin is that the first few inches of knitting act like a swatch, and so, often get frogged.

What got me stuck yesterday was the ripple shape. My first pattern attempt would have made one peak and two valleys; not intense enough of a design. My second? The peaks and valleys were too far apart and the border band was too wide. I then somehow forgot how to count when adding up the stitches I’d need for the provisional cast on – twice. On the last attempt? I got it right.

(In the meantime, I tried three different needle sizes, ultimately ending up with a US 6 / 4.0mm. Slightly smaller than I’d predicted before beginning.)

I settled on a ripple pattern with 2 peaks and 3 valleys, and couldn’t be happier how it’s turning out.

As planned, I’m switching colours every RS row, alternating between the three colours of Koigu. The extra yardage I get to work with is worth the slight pain of untangling the balls as I knit. 525 yards will get me much further than 350!

Take a look at the sketch in the top photograph. That’s the shape I’m going for, more or less. The ripple band you see here is actually the bottom part of the wrap. The provisional cast on starts at the center of the bottom. It’s worked like a scarf even for a bit, but then needs some kind of shaping to help turn the corner of the crescent.

Et voila!

No, that’s no optical illusion. The band is laid flat on my front deck to show how the short rows are turning the corner. I couldn’t be happier how this part has worked out. I was initially worried that, by working a single colour only for each short row section, it would disrupt the striping pattern.

As it turns out, I didn’t need to worry. It looks just fine.

From the looks of this picture, I need about 3 more short row segments so that the live sts will naturally sit at the proper angle for picking up along the edge of the band. The sts will then go on holders so I can work the other side.

This morning, as with most weekend mornings, I got up early to attempt to get caught up with emails and responsibilities, with responses and projects. I’m working on three ‘secret’ designs right now; one for a book, one for a yarn company, and one for myself. I can’t photograph them, or talk about them, despite how much I’m happy with the results and the process.

This morning, while writing up some pattern instructions and charts, I had a New Idea for something to knit. My mom’s birthday is coming up (no, she doesn’t read this), and I wanted to make her something new for fall. Years ago, when the Kogiu Charlotte’s Web project was quite the thing, I’d gifted her one. She loved the colours, the texture, and the warmth. I loved knitting it; switching from colourway to colourway, enjoying the unexpected combinations.

But, I’ve been there, and done that. Twice. And yet, my stash has so many single skeins of the Painter’s Palette Merino.

So I got to thinking. I’ve had this idea in my head for awhile of another short row shaped shawl, but with a simple ripple pattern that can showcase Koigu’s impressionistic colors.

Why don’t I blog the design process? Start to finish?

Process
Here’s the start of almost any project. I write out a pseudo-pattern.

In the programming world, it’s common to use what’s called “pseudo-code” to work through a bit of logic or a part of the program before the programmer gets sucked into the nitty-gritty of syntax and formatting. I use the same practice for my pattern design.

In this case, I’ve written out my two row garter stitch ripple pattern, just to give me a place to start.

The sketch is part of the pseudo-pattern. I document the intended shape, and add in directional arrows and lines to give me an idea of how the stitches will work.

And yes, for an accessory, I nearly always do this before worrying about gauge or exact needle size. It lets me start knitting while the idea is fresh; a key part of the second point I want to make.

Play

Although I do occasionally write out a large portion of the pattern ahead of time, I prefer to just give myself enough to start with. Keeping things open and loose invites me to play with the pattern, the yarn, and the concept. And it also keeps it fun.

This design job isn’t really a ‘job’ in the conventional sense of the word. It’s how I pour my love for the craft into something that I can share with others. And yet, it’s sometimes easy for these kinds of ‘hobby industries’ to become obligations.

For me, combining the Play with the Process ensures this can’t happen. My patterns have to be fun to knit, or I’m not going to finish them. (And you probably won’t either.) This is one reason I incorporate directional twists and turns into many of my designs, or just change up the stitch pattern before it gets to be tedious.

Keeping things loose in the beginning sometimes means I have to start over a few times. In this case, the ripple pattern I’ve written may be too wide, or too narrow. It may not be ripply enough. It may be too ripply. I’ll find out within a few inches whether or not it’s as I imagined. If not? Back to the notebook.

So, for this wrap, I’m getting ready to cast on this afternoon.

Tomorrow? I’ll show you how it’s going as I begin to work the edging.

It’s TNNA Day, and I’m thrilled to be able to announce this new pattern. “Asking for Roses” is a shawl with a crescent shape, knit with short rows and just enough lace to keep things exciting.

You know by now that I have a lovely relationship with the folks at Lorna’s Laces. When they let me know they’d be introducing a new series of tonally dyed colourways, I knew I had to get my hands on whatever I could, as soon as possible.

This color immediately jumped out at me as a must knit. Called “The Skyway”, it reminded me of deeply planted vines in a shady yard.

It took me awhile to figure out what to do with it. I mean, the yarn is just gorgeous and sometimes it takes a bit of mental marinating to determine what it wants to be.

I decided on a crescent shawl shaped with short rows because I wanted a vine-like effect when worn. I didn’t want the more standard shawl shape that hangs down to the waist (or longer). Rather, I wanted something that could hug the shoulders, or be worn more scrunched up around the neck.

And I wanted to use just 400 yards.

To me, 400 yards is kind of the magical number in my stash. I have lots of 2 balls of this, 2 balls of that. Sock yarn often comes in giant 400 yard hanks too. Not that I have much of that. Ahem.

400 yards is also exactly 2 skeins of Shepherd Sport. Personally, I think this is an under-appreciated yarn from Lorna’s Laces. It’s buttery soft, machine washable, and holds up so well to wear. It’s also the perfect gauge for accessories like this; thin enough to drape but just a wee bit thicker than sock yarn, allowing the knitting to go wonderfully fast. (Seriously, if you haven’t yet tried it out, what are you waiting for?)

The name of the shawl has a story too. I generally cast off and have a name already in mind, almost as if the project names itself.

But for this one, and maybe because the idea had been so strong, I felt it was nameless.

Last week, I was interviewed by Lee Ann Dalton from Vogue Knitting for a future column. We got to talking about the new project, and I sent her some early photos. Her first reaction was to point out the two paths; the shawl has a lower lace border and a top eyelet and icord edge, and to her, it looked like Robert Frost’s poem about two paths diverging in the woods.

I loved it.

You know I’m a writer. And a reader. And so the literary link would be appropriate.

But the construction just doesn’t lend itself to the ‘two paths diverging’ metaphor. After all, the shawl begins with the cast on at the lower lace edge, then works itself up in short rows before working the final top edging.

I began looking through Robert Frost’s body of work on Wikipedia. It didn’t take long to find what I needed.

The title “Asking for Roses” stuck in my head. Have you read the poem? If not, go read it now. I’ll wait.

Are you back?

Good.

I hadn’t read this poem before, but I felt immediately that it was the right aesthetic for this design. To me, the shawl feels like overgrown vines on an abandoned house, like the one in the poem. It also feels like something Mary could wear on the romantic walk that led her there.

I hope you enjoy this one. It’s a fun summer project; not too involved, not too dull.

Of course, you can see all the details – and far more photos – on the Pattern Page.

The pattern is available in both written and charted formats, and is $5.00 US for PDF download.

Yesterday, I conned my beautiful coworker Marcella into helping me with a few new photos of older projects. I don’t always have the chance to re-shoot months (or years) later, but I was sent this gorgeous Karen Shawl sample, knit by the wonderful folks at Lorna’s Laces.

And so, I couldn’t resist taking a few more photos.

What I really love about this version is that it’s solid and not black. As you know, I’ve finished two of these. One in a wild purple version of Socks That Rock, and the other in a soft angora blend… in black. But here, the caramel color of “Echo” really highlights the lace work, and stands up to the pointed edging too.

In short, I love it.

I may keep it.

(Just kidding, Lorna’s Laces! I’ll send it back – I promise!)

But it’s got me thinking of new things to knit. I’ve been kind of stuck for the last month. I’ve had a lot of work going on, and planning for some of the events I’m doing here in March. And I’ve been marinating over one new design in particular. But haven’t had a lot of direction in my own work.

I find that designing has a flow to it. I go through a period of hyper-productivity followed by a few slower months. I think both part of the cycles are absolutely necessary for me, to recharge, and to really have the chance to move on to new projects.

In this case, the slower months have me looking back as well, taking the time to review previous work, rethink what I like… and what I could improve next time.

So here’s a new look for you at the Karen Shawl. It uses very little yarn, knits up in a flash, and is way easier than it looks. Have you knit one yet?

Read More or Buy Pattern >

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