Category Archives: pattern design

Keeping the faith?

Posted on June 12, 2022 | 4 comments

The linen knitting continues.

The little 50g balls go pretty quickly. The knitting looks loose and crinkly, but I have this previously blocked swatch to remind me of how swingy, smooth, and drapey it’s going to be.

Do I have it in me to carry on? MAYBE! This is my ”for fun” knitting, which has nothing to do with work or publishing a pattern. That means there’s no deadline, and no reason to finish it…unless I really want to. We’ll see if I get distracted! I do have a design to work on, with this yarn…

Knit Picks Hawthorne in Spark Speckle, and Slate and Compass Kettle Dye
iPhone

Do you know the trick for checking your tonal contrast? Put your camera phone into monochrome, and that will give you a good idea if your yarns are contrasty enough. On an iPhone, use the carat at the top to change the menu at the bottom. The 3 overlapping circles (middle picture) indicate color choices. Swipe right until you get to MONO (that’s what it says in the 3rd picture; sorry it’s fuzzy). You can also do this after taking a picture too, using the edit feature when looking at your pictures. You’ll get something that looks like this.

Here I have a light and two mid-range. The gray surprised me; I thought the gold would be darker of the two mid-tones. I think I’ll aim to use each of the kettle dyes with the speckle, but not necessarily with each other. I don’t really know yet, though. Swatching is in order! I think it’s either a shawl or a shawlish cowl like Cosette, and I’d like it to have a bee theme, because of the honey colors.

Onward!

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Crowning glory

Posted on May 17, 2022 | 4 comments

I have crowns on my mind. More hat crowns.

For Better or Worsted MCN from Anzula Luxury Yarns, yum

I love a pretty crown on a hat. This one hits all the right notes. It’s for the hat and cowl pattern that I’m designing for the class I’m teaching on the Vogue Knitting Cruise in August. The class covers beginning 2 color brioche rib in the round, and brioche increases and decreases. Does this sound like Brioche Pastiche? Yes and no! This set includes a cowl, for non-hat wearers. An a nautical theme!

Malabrigo Rios, a favorite yarn for brioche

This crown is slightly simpler, but the overall effect is the same. I just sent the pattern off to my tech editor, and I’m looking forward to moving on with these designs.

There are a few spots left on this cruise. Do you have to cruise with us to knit this hat and/or cowl? Of course not. But it would be really fun! Here’s a list of the places we’re going.

I’ll show you the whole set soon, after tech editing. I love them!

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Brioche Pastiche, even pastichier

Posted on May 17, 2022 | 4 comments

I had a fabulous time in Minnesota last month, teaching for the Minnesota Knitters Guild Yarn Over event. This was supposed to happen in 2020, and it finally happened in 2022. It was a whirlwind event; I flew in on Friday, taught on Saturday, and flew home on Sunday.

Brioche Pastiche

One of the classes I taught was Brioche Pastiche, a three hour introduction to two color brioche rib, increases and decreases. I originally designed this hat with a spiffy four section crown. I thought it would be fun to update the pattern with an alternate crown, but first I had to design it. I was still knitting it at the retreat; I finished it when I got home.

I made it one leaf taller before beginning the crown shaping

and gave it a swirlier, flowery top. It’s just a tiny bit taller than the original hat (more leaf rounds, fewer decrease rounds).

I’ve updated the pattern and run it past my new tech editor. I’ve also updated the language in the pattern to be a little closer to standard. If you previously purchased Brioche Pastiche, you should be receiving a message through email and/or Ravelry that there’s an update available. This will give you both the original crown and the new crown. If you’re interested in purchasing this pattern, use coupon code GLORY for 15% off through May 22 on Ravelry and Payhip.

And! It’s also part of the Brioche Hat Trick ebook on Ravelry, in case you want a LOT more brioche. (The ebook is only available through Ravelry for now. If you’ve already purchased the ebook, you’ll get the Pastiche update without needing to repurchase.)

Thanks to the Minnesota Knitters for inspiring me to get this done! (If you were in my class, you’ll get this update, too.)

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Goldilocks hat, Take 3: Success!

Posted on April 27, 2022 | 6 comments

Knowing all that I learned from the two previous hats made this an easy knit for me. The yarn is Anzula For Better or Worsted, 80/10/10 superwash merino, cashmere, and nylon.

A quick selfie for proof of concept. It fits the way I want it to. Now to work on a cowl version for non-hat wearers.

It’s coming along nicely. I’ll also need to work up a smaller version of the hat. And two options for crown shaping, too. So many options for this class project!

I’m writing the pattern in modular units (chart and written instructions) for each motif. And I’m trying to decide for the charts: a separate chart/page each for small hat, large hat, and cowl? Or just chart the motifs with instructions on how to set it up? That would take fewer pages, and that’s how I want to do the written instructions to avoid a 15 page pattern. It’s pretty obvious which motif you’re working, based on stitch count between markers. What do you think?

Onward!

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Goldilocks, Take 2

Posted on April 24, 2022 | 1 comment

To make the hat shorter? I made the whale tail taller, so I could use fewer repeats. From 3 tails to two. They have more visual pop, too. I put the whale tails on both front and back; that’s visually pleasing.

I added waves to each side of the whale tails. From one side the waves are breaking towards the tail, and from the other side they’re breaking away. Symmetry!

But I don’t like the waves being vertical instead of horizontal; they’re perpendicular to the whale tails. Nope. That’s not how whales swim. (You’d think I would have thought of this while knitting an entire hat, but nooooo.)

On to Take Three!

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Goldilocks hat syndrome

Posted on April 23, 2022 | Comments Off on Goldilocks hat syndrome

I’m designing a hat for a class I’m teaching on the Vogue Knitting Cruise at the end of August. It’s a quickstart brioche class, with brioche rib, increases, and decreases.

Brioche Pastiche

I usually use Brioche Pastiche to teach a class like this. It’s a lovely hat, and it does teach all the thngs you need to know, but we don’t get to the right leaning decreases until late in the class, and I’d like to have more practice time before sending students off.

When I teach increases and decreases separately from brioche rib, I use my Deep End hat or cowl, or Madrona Cowl.

Deep End and Madrona

But those don’t start with brioche rib, so they’re not quite right for the 3 hour class, either.

New hat above, Deep End below

Piece of cake, right? I’ll design a hat with a whale tail motif (how nautical), beginning with brioche rib, and then working into increases and decreases. And! I’d make the back with a choice of all gulls like Deep End, or a mix of gulls and plain rib, so there’s not as much to overwhelm a new brioche knitter on the first patterning round. The stitch count is the same as for Deep End. Why, this hat would practically design itself. Sounds great!

Massive fail. the hat is enormous, because the plain rib is much wider than the gulls, over the same number of stitches. And it’s a little too tall, too, because of the added brioche rib at the beginning.

Back to the drawing board. I’ll be back…

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Introducing Cosette

Posted on April 6, 2022 | 8 comments
Cosette

Cosette is a cross between a cowl and a shawlette. A cowlette? It starts out as a round cowl, knit from the top down. After the cowl is finished, knitting continues with triangular shawl shaping in the round. This cowl/shawette combo provides great coverage, and it won’t slip off your shoulders! It’s fuss-free wear.

Here’s Cosette in its unscrunched glory. I really love how this turned out, and I enjoyed all the mathy bits that made it work!

Cosette is knit with 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn. I used Knitted Wit Sock in Kiss and Teal and The Future is Bright (variegated). I love how the quilted lattice stitch shines in a variegated yarn. Other stitches in this pattern include my favorite lacy flower, and a shell lace stitch that uses elongated stitches with extra yarnovers that are dropped on the next round. There’s a video tutorial for the shell lace stitch.

Cosette ends with either brioche rib or k1p1 ribbing; it’s your choice. I love the way the contrast color peeks through the brioche rib. There are brioche video tutorials linked in the pattern, too.

The Cosette pattern is available through my Ravelry shop here, and my Payhip shop here. Use coupon code QUILT for 15% off through April 14 in either shop.

Thanks to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, model Sharon Hsu, and test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, Karen Cunningham, Jesse Hodgden, Jacqueline Lydston, Marilee Reinhart-Davieau, and Andrea Roosth.

Happy knitting!

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On the needles

Posted on April 4, 2022 | 2 comments

Cosette is finished except for the publishing. I’ve also knitted three versions of another design for a June release (no pictures yet). My needles were empty, so it’s time for another project! I’m designing a new hat/cowl project for my class on the Vogue Knitting cruise in August. (Come cruise with me!)

Look at the color of that water. It inspired me to choose this yarn.

Mmmmm, Malabrigo

This is Malabrigo Rios in Azul Profundo and Cian. So pretty! My class is a brioche class, and I’m trying to make it as user friendly as possible. It’s just a 3 hour class, so I have to think about pacing and how to cover everything I want. (You may be thinking about my Deep End hat and cowl, but that’s too much of a quick start for brioche newbies.)

I have this design all planned out, and now I just have to knit and see if it really does what I want, at the pace I want. Wish me luck!

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Coming soon: Cosette

Posted on March 10, 2022 | 9 comments

Cosette is a cowl that didn’t stop when the cowl was done. It continued on into a triangular shawl shape so I could use more of this pretty variegated yarn from Knitted Wit. That’s the yarn that called my name first! It took me a while to figure out how to let it shine best. I think I’ve got it.

The edging is brioche rib, but there’s an option to work the edging in K1P1 ribbing instead. Brioche rib is just glorified ribbing, right? The whole thing goes over your head like a cowl, but looks like a shawlette when it’s on. And it doesn’t fall off. This is my new favorite shape, a mashup of cowl and shawl.

I’m looking for a few test knitters. Let me know if you’re interested! You’d need 2 skeins fingering weight yarn in contrasting colors, and I’d need you to finish in about 2 weeks? Three weeks max. This one just flew off my needles.

We’ve come a long way from this little mishap!

I woke up from a dream the other morning, with three design ideas in my head, but could only remember two of them when I wrote them down. I’m on a roll, though…still can’t get excited about doing my 2021 bookkeeping, though! I do need to finish that. Soon.

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Introducing: Camellia Wrap

Posted on March 1, 2022 | 1 comment

I’ve been working on a project for Knit Picks IDP (Independent Designer Partnership) program. They’ve begun doing monthly IDP showcases, and I applied to feature my Cherry Blossom Wrapture for their March “green” showcase. This meant that all I needed to do was to knit a sample in Knit Picks yarn. Easy, right?

The colors I chose didn’t want to play along. I think the stronger colors I chose required a simpler, less busy layout. I ended up writing a new pattern, Camellia Wrap. Camellia Wrap is a streamlined version of Cherry Blossom Wrapture. It’s simpler in that there’s just one way to lay out the colors, and there’s only one lace motif for the logs. I did all the thinking so you don’t have to; you just get to knit!

I chose the name Camellia Wrap because I envisioned photographing the wrap in front of a friend’s camellia hedge. Apparently the hedge didn’t want to cooperate either; it will probably be in full bloom in mid-March. See the single blossom above Sharon’s head?

The pattern is available for purchase through the Knit Picks Independent Design Partnership here.

The pattern is also available for purchase through Ravelry downloads, link here.

The pattern is also available through this link to my Payhip store, link here.

On Ravelry and Payhip, you can use the coupon code blooms for 15% off your purchase.

If you previously purchased Cherry Blossom Wrapture, you can get the Camellia Wrap pattern for free! I sent out an update to previous buyers with a special code.

pdxknitterati rosaria

In case you’re wondering, this is what the camellia hedge looks like in full bloom. This is Rosaria, my design for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL in 2014. I was working with Knit Picks for a March 1 launch, so I couldn’t wait for the mass bloom effect. Maybe later…

Just keep knitting…

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