Sunday, September 26, 2010

NEW WEBSITE!


Hello everyone!

I now have an official website, thanks to my friend and former contractor cubicle-neighbor Josh.

Here it is.

And another thing: Andrea, who knit the majority of the Albers Shawl, has this really lovely interview with me and a GIVEAWAY for a copy of the ebook on her site, so check it out here!

So much going on; I'll be posting most days this week with more updates! Yay!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

MORE new designs! And info!

Hello everyone! My all-new website is THIS CLOSE to being up, hard copies of the book are on their way to me and should arrive tomorrow, and the nice folks at Ravelry are going to assemble the individual patterns there into an ebook. I was hoping to get everything all set tonight, but, frankly, I'm tired. So check it.


So here's more new! I did a design for the Sanguine Gryphon's fall Steampunk line of patterns. Here it is, the Possum Belly Hobo, a zippered jacket with tall asymmetrical collar, lots of buttons, and RIVETS. The pattern also includes full instructions and schematics for both man's and woman's versions, because this is a fitted piece and men and women have different proportions. It's knit in QED, which is 100% BFL worsted AMAZING.

So, not as cool in terms of styling, but here are a few photos of me wearing the woman's version that show the details. The color of this one is Imad Ul-Din.


On the woman's version, the rivets accent the body darts that shape the waist. Don't fear rivets! A rivet gun costs about $15, and you may just be inspired by other things you find in the hardware store. Note: Yes, this is the sweater Chris was grinding.

I didn't knit the man's sweater, Andrea did. Thanks, Andrea! Because I have no idea what I was thinking when I made a submission that involved two adult jackets knit in pieces with two completely different sets of calculations! Go me! Here's a back view; the rivets on the man's version are set in straight lines.

Here's the asymmetrical front! The color here is Tagmata. You have got to see these colors in person. They are to die for. And the twist of the yarn, oh, the twist. If anyone wants to buy me a present, I really enjoy Book Lungs, yup, I'm likin' it.


The jacket body is knit in one piece to the armholes, at which point the fronts and back are worked separately. The sleeves are worked in the round and joined to the body after the shoulders are seamed. I would rate this pattern "intermediate" because it does involve shaping, seaming, and assembly, but a lot of the knitting is simple back and forth, so go for it!

I loved the Sanguine Gryphon yarns and vision so much that I'm working on another design for their winter line, which is BOOK based!

One final note: I did not sufficiently thank Emily in my previous post for knitting the Death Race sweater. When I saw Death Race, the movie, on TV, I had already knit TWO of the other version of the pattern, called Le Mans and coming in the next post, one for the baby downstairs and one for the book, and just didn't have time or desire to make another. Thanks, Emily... your intarsia and finishing ROCKS!

Monday, September 20, 2010

Death Race and Albers Cowl

The next two designs from Craft Work Knit are:

Death Race: A baby jacket inspired by that jacket Jason Statham wears in the movie of the same name. It's knit in pieces, includes very simple intarsia, and is sized from 3 to 24 months.

Here Leo, our new downstairs neighbor who's just 3 months old, models it. The fact that Leo's parents were expecting was what got me thinking about designing stuff for babies!


He's a little sleepy in that second photo. As his dad said, "The star is fading."

Next, the Albers Cowl, modeled by my lovely mother:


It's the first in a series of patterns that were inspired by Josef Albers' Portrait of a Square paintings. I worked hard to get the proportions just like those of Albers' paintings. The cowl is created by knitting three squares and seaming them together.


This is all about going crazy with the color choices (and using up fingering weight yarn leftovers)!

It's coming soon. Any day now...

Saturday, September 18, 2010

CRAFT WORK KNIT: Go Dutch!


It starts with a whisper...

Behold, the first pattern in Craft Work Knit, the Go Dutch! mittens I started so long ago, made even more relevant by the Netherlands' performance in the 2010 World Cup! I just happened to be watching this match live in a pub in Rotterdam this summer. GO DUTCH!


These mittens are knit in the round, using stranded knitting that, for a few rows, involves three colors. I like the graphic effect of the traditional braid at the cuffs and the more modern arrow pattern (which I chose to indicate speed and momentum!).


Where can I get this book and pattern? you may ask. My website will be live in the next week and books will be available for order! Ebooks and individual patterns will be available for download soon after. For now, just... get excited. I have 11 projects to show you and will post one every day or two until it's all out there!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Brave New Knits trunk show Saturday!

If anyone's in the Boston area, I'll be part of a trunk show for the book Brave New Knits this Saturday, September 11, from 12-3 at Windsor Button. Come see all the samples, try them on, talk to Julie, me, and probably some other Boston-area designers, and the vast selection of yarn at Windsor Button.

Now that the book samples are done, I found the time to knit some socks! They're my adaptation of Nancy Bush's Hiiumaa Mismatched Mates, striped in such a way as to use remnants of two skeins of sock yarn. They're a gift and are out the door this afternoon... I owe a lot of people a lot of things for helping me with the book!


Did you know: In addition to being a graphic designer, my Lil Sis creates crocheted accessories and garments without patterns? I'm working with her to write down some of her notes so that maybe others can make them, too. I mean, look at this!