Category Archives: pattern design

Created in Oregon, and OFFF

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 7 comments

Last year, Deb Accuardi of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks asked me if I’d like to design a pattern for her new calendar project. Yes, of course! The datebook was to feature 12 patterns in Pico Accuardi Dyeworks yarns, and 12 areas in Oregon. I asked for blue yarn and the Oregon Coast for my project, which is the Rockaway 2-Way Beach Beanie/Cowl (Ravelry link). It’s the August pattern in the datebook, Created in Oregon: A Knitter’s Datebook 2012.

Other contributors include Leigh Radford, Sivia Harding, Kristin Spurkland, Judy Becker, Larissa Brown, Shannon Squire and Emily Williams. The datebook is now available from Pico Accuardi Dyeworks, and through several yarn stores in the Portland area. I know Twisted and Urban Fiber Arts has them. They’ll also be available at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival this weekend in the Carolina Homespun booth, along with yarn kits for the calendar projects. You can get your datebook signed by Deb from 3-5 at the Carolina Homespun booth, and for even more fun, there’s a reception with authors and contributors for this book and several other new knitting books from Oregon authors on the lawn at 5 p.m. I’ll be there, and hope to see you then.

Here’s the backstory on my design. I go to Rockaway, Oregon at the coast every year with a group of friends for Crafty Moms weekend. There’s nothing like a sea breeze and a perfect view to clear the mind and inspire creativity!

Hat shown in Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Worsted, Rodgie’s Midnight Dancing on the left; cowl shown in Dream in Color Classy, Deep Seaflower Blue on the right.

The lacy pattern at the top and bottom edges creates a scalloped edge reminiscent of the Pacific Ocean’s waves. The elongated lattice pattern at the center makes the most of the hand-dyed yarn’s variegated loveliness. At the coast, you never know if you’ll need a little warmth or a lot, so this piece can be worn as a hat, or as a cowl.

Please excuse my semi-stern look; the sun was very bright on this February day. Many thanks to Laurie Nelesen for taking my picture; I can’t be the model and the photographer at the same time! (None of the other Crafty Moms wanted to model for me. Go figure…)

Are you coming to OFFF? I hope to see you there! I’ll be helping Lorajean of Knitted Wit set up her booth on Friday, and I’ll be around on Saturday and maybe Sunday, too. You can find my patterns and a new design (more on that tomorrow) in the Knitted Wit booth!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Created in Oregon, Rockaway Beach Beanie/Cowl

Swiftly winding away

Posted on September 13, 2011 | 15 comments

I’ve resisted buying a swift and ball winder for a long time. I usually have my yarn wound at my local yarn store, a skein at a time. (Fear of commitment? wouldn’t want to wind them all, in case they don’t cooperate with my vision for them.) But when my Aunt Rose visited this summer, she insisted on buying both of these for me. And I have to say, I’ve used them a lot this week!

Since CollegeDude2 is off to university on the other side of the country, I thought I’d use his room as a knitting studio. His futon bed has converted into a comfortable sofa, and his desk is now my desk, which doubles as a winding station. (There’s a lot more clearing out to do, but half of the room is now mine.)

Lorajean at Knitted Wit had a brainstorm for a project: She asked me to design a toddler vest to go in a kit with her yarn. Check out the cute colors! And the swift and winder turned them into this.

The first vest is done; here’s a sneak peek at the edging. Full reveal after I get some cute action shots!

So thanks to Aunt Rose for the great tools, to Lorajean for the opportunity to come up with something fun, and to CollegeDude2 for the use of his room! I’m getting a lot more done now that I have this cool corner office in the house. What’s inspiring you these days?

15 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

lace triangles

Posted on August 28, 2011 | 5 comments

I took at class at Twisted on Saturday, Designing Lace Triangle Shawls with Sivia Harding. Sivia is the queen of lace, and beads. I took a one hour wonder beading class with her at Sock Summit 2009. This class was six times better, because it was a 6 hour class! And there was some beading, too. We learned about basic triangle shawl construction, choosing a pattern, stitch dictionaries, how to chart our lace, swatching, transitioning between lace patterns, edgings, and beads. Whew! I came home inspired, and spent part of this afternoon working on a design.

Alas, it didn’t quite work out to be what I wanted, but I’m not done yet.

I also played with my camera the other morning; Franklin Habit’s class has inspired me to take more pictures. My camera is just a point & shoot Panasonic Lumix; it doesn’t have a very fast lens. I wanted to see if I could get it to play with depth of field. I’m still not quite sure how to make it happen with this camera. (I miss my film SLR…) I just kept playing with macro and zoom until I got these. I loved the way the sun was lighting the flowers of the dandelions, while the ground was still in shade. It looked like fairy lights, just magical.

Somehow weeds look so much better with a little bokeh!

Have you learned any new skills this summer? How are you using them?

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged lace triangle shawl, sivia harding

Pre-Sock Summit cocktail party

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 7 comments

Pico Accuardi Dyeworks hosted a pre-summit cocktail party, and I attended as a local designer.

I love a party where you can sit down and knit!

Marisol made this gorgeous shawl with her handspun for Deb’s birthday.

I ran into Erica from Kollage last night at Twisted when I was teaching, and sent her and Carrie to Lucca for dinner. Today I saw her at the pre-summit luncheon, and then again this evening at the cocktail party. I think that means we need a picture since we’re shadowing each other.

I saw someone wearing this beautiful shawl, but I can’t remember her name.

I had my first peek at this 2012 datebook project from Pico Accuardi. Twelve knitting patterns from Oregon designers, twelve recipes using local ingredients, lots of Oregon stories and facts.

It’s officially out, so now I can tell you that I have a project in it! It’s the Rockaway 2-Way Beach Beanie/Cowl. You can wear it either way.

There will be a limited number of calendars available in Twisted‘s booth beginning Friday, and a bigger print run is coming in a few weeks. I’m really happy to be part of this project! I’ll blog the datebook later when I have a copy.

Oh! There were drawings for door prizes, and Erica won this bag of spinning fibers. Luckily, she’s been bitten by the spinning bug, and has a wheel at home, and her drop spindle here.

But she did let Noriko and Rachel fondle the fiber.

And she even shared some with Marisol (who made Deb’s shawl, above).

Full day! And now I have to go to sleep. I’m helping Lorajean set up her booth in the morning, and taking Photographing Your Fiber with Franklin Habit in the afternoon. Looking forward to it all.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged rockaway beanie/cowl, sock summit

Introducing…Zen Rain

Posted on May 25, 2011 | 12 comments

When I learned that there would be a Sock Summit in 2011, I knew that I wanted to design something special with sock yarn to commemorate the occasion. I wanted a shawl that would be a souvenir of Portland, where it rains, and rains, and rains. I asked Lorajean Kelley of Knitted Wit to dye a cloudy gray sky for me, and she did it with Bling, which is merino, silk, and silver.

This is Zen Rain. I was inspired by rain running down a window.

It’s shallow, and really wide, with a girly-girl ruffle. The extra wingspan lets the ends twist in a riot of ruffles, if you’re inclined to wear it that way.

You can also knit it with a more sedate ruffle, if you insist.

You can purchase this pattern through Ravelry on the pattern page now, or at the Knitted Wit booth at Sock Summit in July. I’m hoping the only rain we see at Sock Summit is Zen Rain!

Would you like to do a Knitalong? I’m thinking it would be a fun June project. The pattern will be $6, but if you’d like to participate in a KAL, let me know in the comments and I’ll send you a coupon code for $1 off the pattern, now through June 4.

Thanks to Rachel Nichols, Tami Hawes, and Christina Morales for test knitting for me.

12 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged kal, zen rain shawl

Sakura to Hanami, and Japan

Posted on May 19, 2011 | 8 comments

I’ve made some tweaks on the design formerly known as Sakura, making it shallower and wider. I like the way it fits me, and it looks great on Bobbi, too.

I’ve decided that I want to publish this two ways: One, through Ravelry, featuring the beautiful Sakura Silky n Single yarn that Knitted Wit dyed as a fundraiser for Japan disaster relief. This pattern is ready now; you can go to the pattern page here.

I also plan to publish this through the Knit Picks Independent Designer Program, which means that I need to re-knit it in Knit Picks yarn. Almost done! I also need to re-name the pattern; there’s already a Sakura in the IDP. Sakura thus becomes Hanami, which is Japanese for enjoying the beauty of flowers, traditionally through cherry blossom parties. Who doesn’t love a party? Alas, the cherry blossoms are all gone now, so I’ll have to find a different backdrop for the IDP version of this pattern.

In other news, I sold 90 copies of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April, which is $534. I have sent $534 to the American Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. Thanks so much for purchasing the pattern. Now I want to see your projects on Ravelry!

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged hanami cowl, Knit, sakura cowl

Surfacing…

Posted on May 6, 2011 | 11 comments

It’s been a busy few weeks around here: holidays, a women’s retreat…but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been knitting. I’m finally happy with my lace shawl project, having knit it to completion, twice. Well, three times, if you count the first one that I completely frogged! Here’s the second version:

It’s a very shallow, wide piece of knitting, and there are a lot of ways to wear it. Scarf? Shawlette? Whatever suits your fancy. Thanks to Bobbi for modeling!

The third version has a less ruffly ruffle, and is currently on the blocking wires. The pattern is out to test knitters right now; we’ll see if I made sense! The impetus for this design is the upcoming Sock Summit. I wanted to do something with sock yarn, that wasn’t a sock! I asked my friend Lorajean Kelley (Knitted Wit) to dye a cloudy Portland sky, thinking that the yarn/pattern combination would make a great Sock Summit souvenir. This design will be called Zen Rain; I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Speaking of Sock Summit, I am registered for three 3 hour classes, plus the Anna Zilboorg lecture and the opening night reception. My classes will be Photographing Your Fiber, Designing with Japanese Stitch Dictionaries, and Choosing Among Choices (sock design). Looking forward to all of it! I’ll also be roaming the marketplace and perhaps helping LJ a bit in her booth, too.

I didn’t take many pictures on retreat, too busy working! But here are a few. The labyrinth at Menucha Retreat and Conference Center in Corbett, OR is a great place to contemplate one’s life.

And the late afternoon light was absolutely magical.

I hope your weekend was grand, too. And here we are, on the verge of another one. Happy spring!

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, Menucha, sock summit, zen rain shawl

sakura

Posted on April 15, 2011 | 8 comments

Sorry for the radio silence; I’ve been knitting! I just finished a little something.

This is Sakura, a cowl and wristlet set. It was inspired by the lovely yarns that Lorajean (Knitted Wit) dyed as a fundraiser for Japan earthquake relief. When I saw the luminous Silky n Single (60/40 wool/silk single ply worsted weight), I knew just what it should be. It took a few tries to get it right, though.

Knitting with this yarn is like knitting with a cloud. It’s light, and airy, and sturdy and delicate at the same time. Sturdy to knit with, but it doesn’t particularly like being frogged! So I’ve done all the experimenting with it so you don’t have to. You can knit this set with other worsted weight yarns, but it’s so pretty in this pink, and if you buy this particular yarn from Knitted Wit, $10 from the skein goes to Mercy Corps.

Pattern will be up next week, I think. I’m sending a few copies with Lorajean to the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival today, along with the sample cowl and wristlets, but I’m waiting for the gorgeous weeping cherry at the school across the street to bloom so I can use it as a backdrop for better photos. We’ll see if the weather cooperates, and if they chase me off the lawn. Crazy knitting lady is out there draping hand-knits in the trees, and taking pictures!

Collaborating with Lorajean is fun, and a pleasure. I have another knit to show you soon…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged knit cowl, knitted wit, sakura

ruffles…

Posted on April 7, 2011 | 11 comments

or not. Remember this?

I nearly finished it. Do you know that a ruffle formed by decreases, like the one above, won’t match a ruffle formed by increases at the other end of the knitting? At least, mine didn’t. Guess I should have swatched all portions of this project before jumping in head first! It’s all been ripped, and I’ve started over, sans ruffle. The good news is that it’s really quick knitting in this Knitted Wit Silky & Single Worsted, so it will be done in a couple days. Pictures later.

My Aunt Rose is in town visiting. She’s the person who taught me to knit, way back when. Of course, we went yarn shopping. We stopped at Twisted, where she and Uncle P perused the patterns.

Cousin S found the Malabrigo Rios.

This is going home with her.

We went to the iconic Voodoo Donuts. This was my first trip there; it’s fun to have out of town guests so you can be a tourist in your own town. The wait was only about 10 minutes, unlike on the weekends. It’s counter service only; you take your pink box of donuts and go elsewhere.

We bought bacon maple bars. Sounds weird, but think of Saturday breakfast with bacon and pancakes with maple syrup. They were quite tasty!

And finally, an update: I’m donating all proceeds from online sales of my Pacific Shawl pattern in March and April to the Red Cross for Japan disaster relief. So far I’ve sold 57 patterns, so $342 will be going to the Red Cross. Thanks so much for being a part of this. I’m waiting until the end of April before sending the money, so there’s still time if you want to participate.

Back to work today, and knitting.

11 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, pacific shawl, sakura

Mad Knitting Skills: 1 Up!

Posted on March 29, 2011 | 8 comments

Knitting skills: They’re cumulative! Each new skilled learned is another tool in the toolkit, leading to another idea. What else can I do with this skill? I love that!

One new skill that I’ve learned this past year is adding beads to my knitting. Actually, I learned the basics of this at a “one hour wonder” workshop with Sivia Harding at Sock Summit in 2009, but the new skill languished until I wanted to embellish a shawl I was designing, Pacific.

I love this method of adding beads as you go. It’s a little fiddly, but you only do it when you need to. That works for me. I once started a project that began with pre-stringing a hundred beads. I didn’t like the way it felt with the beads hanging on the working yarn, and I never finished it.

In case you’re interested, I’m donating 100% of my proceeds from now until April 30 from online sales of my Pacific shawl pattern to the Red Cross for Japan Earthquake/Tsunami relief. I’m paying the Ravelry and paypal fees myself; 100% of the purchase price is going towards disaster relief. I’m hoping the gentle waves on this shawl will help bring healing to our neighbors across the Pacific.

2KCBWDAY2

8 Comments

Posted in beading, Blogging, Knit, pattern design

Tagged 2KCBW, 2KCBWDAY2