2016 Retrospective

I'm back from my self-imposed 'winter vacation' (reduced social media presence and less design knitting), which was great! I really enjoyed the extra time to relax, work on some personal projects, and play Rise of the Tomb Raider. I know, I'm behind in my video game releases. I don't even try to play things right when they come out, I just get to them when I get to them! Like Fallout 4, which I still haven't finished... Any gamers in the audience, by the way? Comment and tell me your faves!

Ok, back to knitting which is what most of you are here for! At the beginning of 2016, I was working part-time in order to devote more time to my design business in hopes of growing it. Then I was offered a promotion to a full-time position and I decided to take it, which threw quite the wrench in my business plans for the year. Ultimately, I'm really satisfied to be back in the workforce and I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish this year as a nights-and-weekends-only designer.

• I released 11 self-published designs and saw 11 designs released from third parties for a grand total of 22 new designs!

Self published designs:

Third party designs: 

• I ran another successful Instagram KAL in conjunction with Spun Right Round in the fall.
• I started my weekly newsletter.
• I grew my Instagram following to 1k.
• I hired Knit Fitch to design my beautiful new logo & brand package.
• And I came up with some great creative content this year, like EmSweWeMo and hosting my first ever sweater auction for charity.

I have a bad habit of never feeling like I am doing enough, but looking back at 2016: I did enough. I did MORE than enough.

What are you hoping to see from me in 2017? I have some ideas up my sleeve, but I'm also open to suggestion! 

Mirth Tunic in Knitscene Winter 2016

I have a new design in the latest issue of Knitscene! Meet the Mirth Tunic.

Sleeveless seems kind of weird for a winter issue, doesn't it? I proposed this piece as a design in a winter issue that includes people knitting in warmer climates who don't need full ski sweaters. I'm also partial to tank top-y shells being worn as vests, and I think this one will look just dandy with a button-down beneath it, or a blazer layered over it.

It's hard to see in the photos, but all the waist shaping takes place on the back in the same formation as princess seam shaping. It helps bring a nice tailored shape to the tunic without distorting the edges of the front cable and lace pattern.

The lace and cable panel is simple to knit, yet it creates a big visual impact in worsted weight yarn (more on that later.) If you prefer a cowl neck with more drape, pick up more stitches or increase until the neck is the width you want. You can knit it shorter for a roll-neck look or go extra long for a really dramatic cowl!

So...about that yarn. It's Mountain Meadow Wool in Salem, a springy wool yarn wrapped in silk thread. As my sample knitter worded it, "In swatch form, the yarn looked rather rustic, but I was pleasantly surprised as well at how well it worked in the garment." If you choose to use Salem, have some faith! It does appear very wooly and naturally textured at first, but it relaxes gorgeously when blocked revealing a hidden elegance. However, Mountain Meadow Wool calls this a DK weight which I disagree with. Both my sample knitter and I were able to achieve a worsted weight gauge on a US 6 without any struggle. When compared next to other worsted weight yarns I had handy, you can see how the yarn works at such a gauge.

From L to R: Salem; Valley Yarns Northampton; Fibre Company Cumbria

I would suggest swatching with a light worsted, worsted or aran weight yarn for this project. Throw the label of 'DK weight' out of your mind and go with a yarn and needle combination that will give you the listed gauge without creating an overly loose or overly tight fabric. I held a small swatch of the lace panel up to the window so you can attempt to judge the tension of the fabric.

If the tunic was completely stockinette and didn't have the lace panel in front, I would feel comfortable wearing it without a layer underneath (ie, I don't find the stockinette fabric inherently open or revealing.) If I had a stockinette swatch to demonstrate this alongside the lace swatch I would have, but it's not anywhere I can easily find! What can I say, my office is not entirely as organized as it should be.

You can find the Mirth Tunic here on Ravelry to add to your queue, or to purchase the individual pattern from Interweave, a new option they've started offering for magazine patterns.

Breckenridge Sweater

This year's special issue of Knitscene is called Knitscene Handmade, and it's full of all kinds of projects! Usually they drop the Accessories issue this time of year, so the Handmade issue is a nice change of pace. I designed the Breckenridge Sweater for men.

Photos by Harper Point Photography for Knitscene

My working title for the piece was 'Urban Woodsman' which I have to admit I am SUPREMELY disappointed they did not use. 'Breckenridge Sweater' is a little generic for my taste, but oh well. At least they chose a male model with a big, woodsman-y beard!

The yarn is Beaverslide Dry Goods Fisherman Weight 3-Ply, which I had heard of before but never felt. It's rustic, sheep-y and lanolin-y, and makes a weighty sweater. My proposal was for a versatile layering piece, something that a man could wear as an outer layer instead of a jacket or sweatshirt, so the character of the wool fits that goal perfectly. It's meant to have plenty of room to fit over multiple layers. If you or your intended recipient wants to wear it next to the skin or over just a thinner layer like a t-shirt, I'd choose a less heavy yarn and size down a little for a closer fit.

I don't usually design for men and this was a fun change of pace! I took advantage of the scale of this design and the fact that I wouldn't need to add body shaping to show off a large cable and garter pattern. The body is knit in the round up to the armholes, and set aside while the sleeves are knit. Everything is joined together to work the yoke in the round, then back and forth in rows after the placket shaping begins. Short rows shape the shawl collar. Huge thanks to my sample knitter Alison who rocked this out for me!

Playing with Color: Gilt Sweater

One of my favorite things to do in my part-time gig as LYS employee is to help customers pick out color combinations for multicolor projects. I feel like I have good color sense and my coworkers ask for my opinion on colors which helps reinforce this idea, even if it is all in my head! I tend to go by instinct and don't follow a strict set of rules, though I do keep the varying values of the colors in mind when picking 3 or more for a project. Since I love color, a good number of my designs feature multiple colors and as far as I'm concerned, the quirkier the better! I know a lot of people don't trust their color sense or can have a hard time envisioning a design in other colors, so I thought I'd introduce a mini series on playing with color. Each post will examine a colorful design of mine and I'll showcase some other potential color combinations that I think would work along with tips on how to approach choosing colors for that particular project. Up first is the Gilt Sweater! Since this design relies heavily on an ombre effect, you really need to pick two yarns that are closely related in order to duplicate this same effect. If you always order your yarns online, this can be really hard to do! I would suggest picking out several possible color combinations and then looking at other people's projects on Ravelry in those colors to see how the color reads across multiple cameras and lighting situations. I definitely suggest using a hand-dyed yarn to enhance the color blending, which also means that you have variation across dyelots to contend with. If at all possible, I'd visit a LYS or two and check out colors in person to find the best combination.

Let's take a look at Malabrigo Lace, the yarn called for in the pattern. Malabrigo arranges their colors by family, which really helps in choosing for this project since all the blues are next to each other, the yellows in a separate section, etc. Take a look at the blues.

Often you'll see a perfect combo right next to each other, like Blue Surf & Jewel Blue, Bobby Blue & Tuareg or Tuareg & Azul Profundo (for a darker usage of Tuareg). Other times you'll want to mentally rearrange the colors to find a better pairing, but you can also do so in a computer program like Photoshop or Paint if you're having trouble seeing the two together. Stone Blue & Paris Night are separated on the website and look great together!

Stone Blue & Paris Night

Try identifying the primary hue in a color that draws your eye, and then look for a lighter or darker version of a color that carries the same hue. IE, if you're attracted to blues that lean green/almost teal, look for another blue that contains green rather than a purpley blue.

Here is a rainbow of color combinations for a rainbow of Gilt Sweaters!

Apricot & Tiger Lily

Cactus Flower & Molly

Verde Esperanza & Cypress

Jacinto & Purple Mystery

Cognac & Marron Oscuro

Notice that I chose the semi-solid, less crazy colors of Malabrigo. While I think you could successfully make a Gilt Sweater using a more variegated colorway and a coordinating semi-solid, it will be harder to pull off (especially without buying the yarn in person) and the end result will likely be a different looking sweater. That's ok! Just be aware of what look you are creating and swatch heavily, especially if you are trying to avoid an obvious transition line between colors.

Now go out there and show me some fabulous ombre color combinations of your own!

Golden

The Spring 2015 issue of Knitscene will be out shortly and I have two contributions this time around. One is a fun article about warm-weather knitting projects and the other is the Gilt Sweater.

All photos by Knitscene/Harper Point Photography

This was sparked by the 'golden' color story on the mood boards. As I've mentioned before, sometimes I have ideas that just come to me rather than being drawn from specific photos or references and this sweater was one of those lightbulb ideas. I wanted to create a relaxed layering sweater, a transitional piece that was cozy like a sweatshirt but a little more refined. Hence my working title--Luxe$hirt! I think I said to Amy in my proposal that 'the $ is like Ke$ha', ha. It also explains my seemingly random designer blurb at the end of the pattern. I've been having fun with writing those lately, and I at least laugh at myself even if no one else finds them funny!

The most striking part about the sweater is the gradient color transition, made possible by two gorgeous colors of Malabrigo Lace held double. The bottom is two strands of Color A, the middle is one strand each of Color A & Color B, and the yoke is two strands of Color B. It created a super luxurious fabric that's warm without being heavy--like a golden cloud! Extra deep ribbing on the sleeves, a boxy cropped fit and the raglan sleeves are all meant to keep it casual and sweatshirt-like. The small lace detail at the collar is supposed to mimic old school sweatshirts with the triangle insert at the neckline.

The styling and setting for these photos is super cute and I couldn't be happier!

Armored

Now that the Winter issue of Knitscene is hitting newstands and mailboxes, let's take a look at my featured designer collection! Because oh yeah....if you didn't notice, I'm the featured designer of this issue. :) Yay! From the beginning I decided I wanted to design thematically as opposed to separate pieces--partially for that Project Runway, fashion designer type experience but also because it excited me to create a body of work meant to be shown together. I really like thinking thematically, it turns out, so I have several collections in the works for the future (aka, stay tuned!) The inspiration for this collection is medieval armor and the story of its inception is interesting. Last year I spent a lot of time online dating and as it was the first time in my life I was actively dating and not relationshipping, I purposely set the bar low in terms of who I would accept dates from in order to expose myself to as many different types of people and experiences as possible. I had my general standards, for sure, but I wanted to avoid falling into the trap of only dating my 'type' (men similar to those I had previous relationships with.) Anyways, I wound up accepting a date with a guy and we went to the Higgins Armory Museum, which is now closed so I'm glad I had a chance to see it then! We took a swordfighting workshop and looked at the collection, wherein I got really excited about all the details on the armor and took a bunch of pictures with the express purpose of turning them into designs and he probably thought I was a freak. (But that's okay because for reasons that had everything to do with him and nothing to do with my knitting freakiness, there was no second date.)

All fancy photos by Knitscene/Harper Point Photography, armory photos by me

The Haubergeon Sweater is most directly inspired by a specific piece I saw at the Higgins Armory, this suit of armor featuring a lattice-like pauldron (shoulder armor). I instantly saw a lattice cable pattern! I played with different shoulder placements of a cable design but threw some of them out the window for being too bulky, or for encroaching too much on the chest which I knew had the possibility of looking weird on someone with a larger bust than I. Ultimately I mashed up the idea of cabled arms/shoulders with the silhouette of a haubergeon (or hauberk), which is a chain mail shirt, giving this sweater its longer tunic length and the cropped sleeves.

I played more fast and loose with the Gothic Gloves, historically speaking. They aren't directly linked to a specific style of armor, though I drew inspiration from more decorative, mixed-metal pieces and jousting gloves. The cuff shape is very recognizable as being medieval-ish and I approached the mixed metal aspect with two different colors, some stripes and a small colorwork motif. I want to thank Carina Spencer for her Sugar Maple pattern--knitting that piece, with its paired increases and decreases to form the pointed hem without increasing the overall number of stitches, helped me figure out how to shape the point of the cuffs and keep the stitch count consistent.

The Cuirassier's Cardigan is another more artistic rendition, if you will. I saw several lovely cable-like details on suits of armor at the Higgins Armory and sought to create a simple, everyday cardigan with a few special touches. Something that was less Ren Faire than perhaps the gloves! As such, the only tie this piece has to armor are the flowing lines and small cables which grow out of an otherwise plain background. I-cord edgings are among my favorite because of how clean they are, and I felt that paired with a zipper closure instead of buttons, they helped keep this from looking too knitting-y (where a ribbed buttonband would have taken it away from the original intent.) I like the jacket/blazer feel of this piece, which was entirely unintentional!

And now, my absolute favorite piece of the collection: Ornate Greaves! Greaves (leg armor) could be quite plain but I followed in the footsteps of more decorative pairs with the kneecap cable design and purl ridges along the calves. This was extra special because I used my friend Laura's yarn, Gynx Yarns Merino DK. I love the above-the-knee length for these, partially because of my love for thigh high socks and stockings! Practically speaking though, it's a great choice for extra warmth and it gave me more space to play with the cable design.

In terms of yarn choice, I had two purposes. The first was to pick companies that represented something to me as a designer, and the second was to create a cohesive color story.

• The Haubergeon Pullover is knit in The Fibre Company Organik, as I used another of their yarns for my first ever Knitscene pattern (the Mountain Nettle Shawl, in Acadia.)
• The Gothic Gloves are knit in Brooklyn Tweed Loft, a company on my knitting bucket list to design for--maybe this will be the first step towards a future collaboration? ;)
• The Cuirassier's Cardigan is knit in Valley Yarns Colrain, as a thank you to Webs and the Elkins. Without my job there I might not be a designer at all, let alone the one I am today with the friends, fans and industry connections I can directly attribute to Webs.
• And the Ornate Greaves are in Gynx Yarns Merino DK, because Laura deserved to be in Knitscene for taking a chance on me in our multiple collaborations, and I wanted the world to be exposed to her beautiful yarn.

When I first envisioned the collection, grey was the color that popped to mind because duh, metal. While a monochromatic, all-grey collection would be really beautiful, I am first and foremost a person that loves color and I wanted to showcase something more 'me', and an all-grey palette would not be fitting. The gloves use a neutral oatmeal and a gold for a warmer play on the silver and gold of mixed metals, and the copper of the cardigan is to represent a different metal--the warmer half of the collection. On the cooler side, we have grey legwarmers because I HAD to have one grey piece and felt a neutral color was more wearable for an accessory like this. The pullover color is a bit of a reach, but I was looking for a cool, elegant color that fit with the rest of the palette rather than being a bright pop. Purple was a sought-after color in medieval Europe, after all!

My biggest goal for the collection was to draw inspiration from armor while creating modern and wearable pieces as opposed to costume items. Because of that, it's not a 100% historically accurate look at medieval armor but I am beyond pleased with the end result. What do you think--did I pull it off? Can you see yourself or someone you know wearing these pieces?

(Many thanks to Amy Palmer at Knitscene for accepting my proposal, the other folks at Knitscene for the fabulous styling of these garments, the yarn companies listed above for their excellent yarn support, and Robin Shroyer for writing a great article about me and for creating possibly the best interview ever!)

Prickly in name only

Knitscene Accessories 2012 is now out, which includes my first pattern for a physical magazine, the Mountain Nettle Shawl! Photos courtesy of Knitscene.

This is actually my second design, right on the heels of my Gnomey Earflap Hat for Webs which started my mini design career. I felt like a superstar (and like a little kid eating at the adult table) when I found out that my first professional submission had been accepted.

The shawl features bands of diagonal ribbing on a stockinette stitch background, which creates subtle texture only further enhanced by the gorgeous, lightly slubby nature of Fibre Company's Acadia. The knitted on lace edging is mirrored, so you knit from one edge to the center point, put those stitches on hold, and then work from the other edge to the center point before finishing it off. Knit on size 6 needles, it goes surprisingly fast and has great drape. A sample I definitely didn't want to give up, but I took pictures before sending it off so I'll remember it fondly.