Dickensian Winter

Happy 2011! We are deep into winter now, with feet of snow outside here in the frozen northeast. Temps below zero last night, which meant hot water bottles for the kitties where they sleep in their down sleeping bag nest. But we are all cozy and warm, especially because I have been knitting a lot with lovely, soft Malabrigo Yarns.

January brought the new year, and the release of my eBook, made in cooperation with Malabrigo Yarn, The Best of Times, A Dickensian Winter Collection.

This is the first in a series of eBooks that Malabrigo Yarns is making in cooperation with independent knitting designers, and I was very flattered to be asked to create the first book in the series. I created 6 new designs for the collection – 2 neckwarmers, 2 shawls with lace and beads, a beret style hat, and beaded mittens – all named after characters in the novels of Charles Dickens.

In addition the collection is full of not only full color photographs of the designs, but lots of Victorian era artwork, quotes from Dickens novels, and other goodies that strongly evoke the settings and characters of his novels, and the times they are set in, the mid to later 19th century.

OK, that one’s not in the book, but I love it so much I had to include it. What is in the book are lots of other wonderful Victorian art like this and 6 beautiful new patterns. They can be purchased as an eBook here

Or individually:

THE NINETTA NECKWARMER:

This ruffley neckwarmer can be worn in many different ways. Reminiscent of a Victorian high collar, the Ninetta makes a glamorous statement while keeping you warm and cozy. One fan of this design described it as a “wooly cravat” which I think captured the feeling of it beautifully! Made out of Malabrigo Merino Worsted.

THE MADELINE SHAWL & SCARF:

A mix of elegance and practicality, the Madeline Shawl mixes the warmth of garter stitch with the sparkle of beaded lace. Pattern contains both written and charted instructions. Made with the DK weight Malabrigo Silky Merino this shawl/scarf keep you warm while adding a bit of glamour to your winter.

THE MISS LACREEVY SHAWL:

Knit out of Malabrigo Sock yarn, the Miss LaCreevy Shawl uses a simple stockinette body to off set the beaded lace edging. Shaped to stay on your shoulders with minimal effort, this pattern contains both charted and written instructions.

THE JULIA NECKWARMER:

Reminiscent of a high-necked Victorian blouse the Julia Neckwarmer is a great showcase for special buttons. Twisted stitches create a lattice pattern, and ruffles add a feminine touch. Knit out of DK weight Malabrigo Silky Merino, it is warm and beautiful.

ESTELLA HAT:

Available in three sizes to fit children to adult large, the Estella Hat, a slouchy beret, uses twisted stitches and small cables to create an intricate design that tapes into the crown of the hat. The Estella Hat contains charted and written instructions, and uses 1 skein of Malabrigo Merino Worsted.

TILDA MITTENS:

Made in Malabrigo Merino Worsted, and available in 4 sizes to fit children up through Adult Large these mittens have a contrasting color cuff and beaded ribbing that add a touch of sparkle to your winter.

I had such a wonderful time designing this collection, and working with Malabrigo. I’m off to take some photos of designs in progress. Next up some sneak peeks at twisted stitches that I’m playing with these days…Happy knitting!

End of summer musings…

How is it possible that the end of summer if just around the corner. A tree down the road has started turning (it is always confused and explodes in gorgeous reds and golds before any other trees in the neighborhood) so the occasional red leaf drifts across the lawn and reminds me that the days of knitting on the porch are coming to an end for another year, and that I need to get on with all the fall patterns brewing in my knitting basket (and under the table, and in the corner, and piled on the bookshelves). There are large piles of things to block and photograph all over, my needles all seem all filled with bright colors, and swatches cover all available surfaces that aren’t already covered with buttons and beads.

In other words, I am feeling very happy and creative these days.

In other news, I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by the charming and talented Hannah Thiessen for the Malabrigo Yarns Blog. Many of this fall’s designs will be in beautiful Malabrigo Yarns (and a few others in some of my other faves: String Theory and madelinetosh) We had a great time talking design for about 45 minutes, and generally solving all the problems of the universe. I had a great time. Thank you, Hannah!

Let me know what you think!

A Big Thank You, And A Few Introductions

First and foremost, thank you so, so much to everyone who bought one of my patterns during the fundraiser for Haitian earthquake relief. I was able to send a check to Doctors Without Borders that was considerably higher than my family would have been able to send without your help, and I am very, very grateful. It was incredibly moving to me to see how the entire knitting community came together to help, and I was very proud to be a part such a community. Thanks also, from the bottom of my heart, to The Powers That Be on Ravelry, and especially to Casey and Jess, for giving designers the tags and the opportunity to raise money with our pattern there. Knitter are amazing!!

Secondly, and continuing with the Why-I-love-Casey-and-Jess theme, Ravelry’s Code Monkey Casey have made it possible for designers selling their patterns there to have their pattern store accessible by non-Ravelry members. So now, even if you aren’t a member of Ravelry, you can check out my Ravelry pattern store, look through all the designs I have currently available for download, and purchase patterns that you want. I am resisting saying that if you knit (which I assume that you must or you wouldn’t be reading my blog) you must, must, MUST be a member of Ravelry because it is truly the best thing since sliced bread. Oops! I said it, so while I’m saying it I’ll just add that while you’re there checking out my store, sign up for a free Ravelry account, because of the sliced bread thing, mentioned above. Trust me on this one. You’ll thank me. Check out my shop by clicking here.

Next up – 2 new designs released last week. I’m very excited about them both, so without further ado, may I present Daphne and Bridewell!

First up is the Daphne Hat:

I love the leaf edging on this hat. When on it looks like a cloche, with a 1920′s feel to it, with the leaves framing the face. It is named after a story from Greek mythology: The god Apollo fell madly in love with a nymph named Daphne. Unfortunately for him (and due to some interference by Cupid) she did not return his affection, and ran from him into the woods. She begged the gods and her father (a minor river god) to save her from Apollo’s advances. In response they turned Daphne into a Laurel tree the moment Apollo wrapped his arms around her. Broken hearted, Apollo swore to care for the tree she had become for the rest of all time, and to always honor her by wearing a crown of Laurel leaves around his head. Legend says it is due to his care that the Bay Laurel tree never withers in winter.

I just love this story, and couldn’t resist the idea of designing a hat that mimicked Apollo’s laurel wreath. You can check it out on Ravelry here or for those of you who are already convinced:

Next up is the Bridewell Hat:

I must admit that I am really taken with the look of this hat. The pattern contains 3 sizes, from Child up to Adult Large (which should fit a woman with a big head like mine, or most men). I designed it as a first color work project, with a few friends in mind (yes, MishaMonet – this does mean you!) who were timid to try color work. This pattern uses a technique called Slip Stitch Knitting (sometimes called Mosaic Knitting) which is a way of knitting with two colors, using only one color at a time. Really. So, except for the two color braid that is at the brim, and again where the vertical stripes of the hat body divide from the circular stiripes of the crown (which the pattern explains in complete and total detail – I promise: I’ll hold you hand the entire time!), you are actually only knitting with one strand of yarn at a time. All the details are in the pattern, and it is really a very cool technique to add to your knitting toolbox! There is more information here, or:

And speaking of knitting toolboxes leave me a comment and let me know what you would like me to talk about here. I have spent so many year teaching knitting and design, often from a position of “Tell me what you want to learn next!” Do you want knitting techniques? Do you want to hear about my design process? Do you want practical things like How To Do A Garter Stitch Tab For A Shawl or Where To Find Grading Resources, or shall we examine where inspiration comes from, and the philosophy of knitting? I promise to get to every single suggestion eventually, so let me know.

I have a couple of neck warmer patterns that are due for release, hopefully within the next couple of weeks, one of which has beads (I loooove beads!), 2 sweaters on the needles, and 3 more hats almost ready to go, so stay tuned for more soon!

See, I’m blogging more often.

Of New Year’s Resolutions and Haiti

OK, I’ll admit it. There are lots of things I do well – knit, teach, design, write. I am a good archivist, a good Mom, a good wife, and, I have been told, a good friend. Here is what I am not good at: driving (I don’t do it), being high up in the air (shudder), riding a two-wheeler (I never learned) and blogging. Probably another hundred things as well, but having gotten to the crux of the matter let’s stop the list right there and talk about it.

I am not sure why I am not proving to be good at this blogging thing. I’m generally good at written communication, and have many ideas for interesting posts to write, but somehow fingers never make it to keyboard, illustrative photos never get taken, and the most interesting blog posts only make it as far as a post on Ravelry or they get communicated verbally to my students and friends. My time is inhaled by knitting, designing, tackling the learning curve of Adobe Illustrator (and just when I got so happy with my charts in Excel!). And then there is also the business of life. So I am left with a long list of blog posts never written – explanations of techniques, how to wear shawls (see Kelly, I didn’t forget, even though you have figured it our for yourself by now!), designs in progress, where I get inspiration from….the list goes on for pages in my design notebook.

2009 was a great year for me design-wise, but you didn’t read about it here. So despite the amount of time designing is now asking from me I have made a New Years Resolution to blog about it all more regularly, and not just in my head. Since it is one of only 2 resolutions this year (the other to set up and use the Wii Fit Plus that my Mom and our friend Bill were nice enough to give us for Christmas and actually exercize this year!) it stands a decent chance of getting done.

So first up, instead of all those ideas waiting in the wings, is the fact that in the wake of the terrible earthquake in Haiti for the rest of this month 50% from all my pattern sales until January 31st will be donated to Doctors Without Borders to help with their relief efforts in Haiti. Those who know me already know that Haiti holds an important personal connection for me. My favorite aunt, Aunt Eva (96 and still going strong!), was, for many, many years until his death, married to the Haitian novelist Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, who wrote about Haiti and Haitians in all his books. The story of how a Sicilian woman from upstate NY and a Haitian novelist met in Washinton DC and lived their lives together is a romantic and interesting one, and one I will write more about in a project I am working on that combines my love of genealogy with knitting design, but in the mean time, aren’t they cute?

As neither my mother nor father had any brothers my Uncle “Phito” was the only uncle I had growing up, and his presence in my life brought with it much love and happiness. Although he lived his life after marrying here in the US he and Eva visited his family in Haiti often (and they visited here), and my Aunt took his ashes there after his death. My donation will be made in his memory, and in the hopes that we can help in some small way with the devastation being suffered through in Haiti in the wake of this disaster.

So if you are looking for a way to treat yourself and to give to Haitian earthquake relief please buy one of my patterns, or one of the many patterns that other designers are putting up to benefit Haitian earthquake relief. Knitters are amazing, and the response to this program has been incredible.

Some of my designs included in this program are:

Faberge Cowl

Faberge Neck Warmer

Faberge Mittens

Dean Street Mitts

Orvieto Hat

Medici Hat

Vita Cloche

Squib Hill Hat

Warwick Hat

Kettering Hat

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read. And thanks for all the support that you have shown for my designing throughout 2009. I am very grateful. Look for some great new stuff coming in 2010. Oh yeah, and I promise to be a better blogger, so stop back again soon – I promise it won’t be a year before the next post!

Wishing you all a new year filled with love and laughter, and lots of knitting!

Kettering Hat

It’s finally out! The long awaited Kettering hat is finally released – only about a month after I said it would be, but the best laid plans, and all of that. I am learning that it ALWAYS takes considerably longer than I intend it to for patterns to make it from the finished prototype to release, so hopefully can better predict this in future. Sorry for the delays, and to those who queued it.  Here are some photos:

I really like this design – it looks great on people, and I love the way the pattern weaves over and under itself. And the top of a top down hat always pleases me with that lovely spiral.

Here’s the link to the Kettering Hat pattern page on Ravelry, for those of you who cannot wait to cast on.  I’m giving a lots of these for the holidays.

Coming soon – Faberge Mittens and Dean Street Mitts.  Pics soon, stayed tuned!

Of Dean Street and Ravelry

Somewhere in the middle of last March I decided to enter the Malabrigo March design contest in the Malabrigo Junkies group on Ravelry. The pattern had to be available before the end of the month, so I picked up a skein of Malabrigo, some needles, and out came The Dean Street Hat.

I wish I could say I sweated and struggled over it, but like many of the best designs it emerged with a smoothness that amazed me. The decreases for which I have been praised simply worked magically (or perhaps I should say mathematically, which is almost the same thing). This is not to say I didn’t work hard – it was virtually all I did for the rest of the month, between being my own test knitter for all the sizes (with only two weeks I couldn’t risk doing otherwise), getting the pattern written up, the photographs for the pattern and the photo tutorial taken. But somehow it flowed smoothly – everything about creating this pattern was satisfying; nothing about it was frustrating or needed the usual tweaking.

It didn’t win the contest, which – if I’m going to be really honest here – really disappointed me. Not because I wanted to win so much as I desperately wanted the skein of Malabrigo sock yarn, at that point unreleased, that came as the prize for winning. I had made the mistake of dreaming endlessly about what I would do with it before finally deciding it would be a Flared Smoke Ring Cowl by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer. So much for the best laid plans…

So now it’s 8 months later, I have a ton of Malabrigo sock yarn (but that’s another post entirely, perhaps called Malabrigo Sock Crack, or something similar), I made a Flared Smoke Ring Cowl out of it, and it turns out I won something much bigger, or at least much more important to me.

I have been lucky enough to have had some small success as a designer and knitting teacher before Ravelry, but nothing had prepared me for how incredible it is to look at photos of this humble little hat that people all over the world are making – not to mention reading their thoughts about making it! And that is the really great thing that Ravelry has given designers: even more than the ability to easily and affordably deliver my patterns to a quarter of a million people all over the world, Ravelry has given me the ability to actually connect with the people who are knitting my patterns directly. It is one thing to sell pattern out of stores – you know they are selling, but they disappear into the ether, never to be heard from again, unless you sell them locally and happen to see someone wearing something you designed. Or maybe if you teach a class using it you see people’s versions that way. If a pattern is published you know people are seeing it but….

But with Ravelry I have the amazing ability to see almost 90 Dean Street Hats that people from California to Finland have made – not to mention read their thoughts on it all. I have been able to see the hundreds and hundreds of people who are favoriting my designs or are queuing it up to make it. I have been accessible to people who want to talk about it with me, whether to tell me they loved it, or ask about something they didn’t understand. I am able to get immediate feedback on my designs and know which things I should more to the top of the design pile, and which can wait a while. And this is one of the many amazing things that Jess and Casey did when they gave us Ravelry. That I can now sell my designs directly to my customers, and interact with them directly about them is an enormous gift to a designer, and for me it all started with my dear little Dean Street Hat – the first pattern I chose to released on Ravelry as a download. It’s a free pattern, so go knit a Dean Street Hat today! As I type this there are 89 Dean Street Hats on Ravelry. I want to do something for the 100^th Dean Street – maybe a contest of some sort? All suggestions gladly listened to!

I’m working on some Dean Street Mitts at the moment (because several people asked me to – see what I mean?) and Dean Street Socks, and several more items in the Faberge beaded series, and about a dozen new hats, several sweaters, and…and…

Off to knit. And to check Ravelry. Back soon!

Hello world!

I know.

I was the last person in the world who was going to have a blog. And I almost made it. But then again, I was also the person who was never going to move out of NYC and we all know how that one went. After spending my first 34 years as a New Yorker born and bred I relocated to the beautiful Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts, and have lived happily ever since (possible because of the proximity of Webs, but that’s another post entirely).

But the thing of it is, it turns out I am good at explaining knitting things, which is why my students are kind enough to attach words like “Knitting Doctor” and “Lace Guru” to my name, and those titles mean way more to me than any letters I ever got after my name from schools, so I take them seriously.

And then there’s the designing thing. Ravelry has given me (and all other designers) the ability to sell our patterns to the public ourselves, rather than through middlemen like magazines or other publishers. But that means that we need a forum to promote them in, to let people know what’s being worked on, and what’s coming out when.

And then there’s the fact that knitting just somehow calls out to be shared. That those of us who share this addiction to fiber and the things we can create with it seem to feel the need to share our projects with others, and to investigate their ideas and creativity. Which means that I am reading other peoples thoughts on their knitting, and am feeling the need to tell them about mine.

So here I am. Barack Obama was elected as out 44th president, to my utter delight, a few days ago, and with him comes, to me at least, and overwhelming feeling of hope renewed. As if we are not only living through an incredibly significant time in history, but as if all new things are possible. So it seemed the time to take the leap. To ignore my previous insistence that I would never have a blog because “who in the world would want to read about my knitting”. A good time to start something new.

So here I am.

I’m glad to be here.