knitting design – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Busy, Busy, Busy!

This has been quite a busy time period since my last posting. Since then I have been knitting a number of hats, and writing up patterns. I even won a free copy of a pattern, and that has been a fun project as well – but to do the author justice, I will devote a separate post with pictures, once I am done with it.

Anyway, here is the new hat pattern: Checkerboard.

This hat is made out of Dale of Norway’s Falk, which is a wool yarn with a lot of bounce, is comfortable to wear, reasonably priced, and comes in a lot of different colors. If you are allergic to wool, or find it uncomfortable, a washable wool may be a good substitute.

I designed this hat to use up leftovers of yarn, as well as to have something to do with some color in it. Lately, I have been knitting a lot of textured patterns, enjoying the challenges and the pleasures of seeing a hat grow in texture, rather than color, which has been my historical preference. You wouldn’t believe that, seeing the patterns here, but it really is the truth!

Checkerboard is a very good project for the knitter who is ready to try stranded knitting. The 4×4 squares of color don’t require much work when it comes to knitting them up – they are really easy to do because you don’t have to count stitches. Instead, you just watch the colors. Row counting – well, most of us can count 4 rows of stockinette.

If you are a beginning stranded knitter, remember one very simple thing: carry the unused yarn loosely across the back of the knitting. This is very easily accomplished by periodically stretching out your knitting on the right needle as you go along.

Enjoy!

Old Vines Scarf: Pattern & Process

Friday was a really big day for me! I decided to post to Ravelry, and to here, my first “pay for” pattern. It is the that I wrote about last March. You can find it on the “Patterns for Sale” page. Please give some consideration to buying this pattern!

Writing up a pattern takes some time, as does creating the knitting schematic, shooting the pictures, doing a layout, and finally creating the PDF file that goes along with it! It really is a major process, far more than I anticipated. And the thing is, the item has to be knitted before you can photograph it.

I used Knit Visualizer for the pattern schematic. It is a fairly expensive piece of software, but it is really worth the price paid because it is so easy to use.

My camera is a Casio Exilim, and I can get pretty decent pictures with it. My preferred settings are with all 9 sensors being used, along with soft flash and a +1 light setting.

For the PDF, I begin in MS Publisher, and then create the document using text boxes, clip art, my photos, and Knit Visualizer schematics saved in a PNG format, and then imported to Paint Shop, and saved as a JPEG. Once I am happy with my Publisher file, I save it, and then, beginning on the first page, I “save as” and create a PNG file. Finally, I use Acrobat Pro to create the PDF by choosing “create PDF from multiple files.” My preferred PDF is “highest quality” for better detail. It works very well.

Photos are really odd creatures. You think you have a good one, but you don’t. This is why I love digital pictures and software. Cutting, editing, whatever – all can be done pretty readily. Fonts and so on are also important, for headers, subheads, and content. Everything needs to work well together. The direction of a model in the layout leads the eye in, or out, of the page. Busy-ness is distracting. Too-much-of-the-same, in density and visual rhythm creates a visual yawn.

Anyway, there you go. Here are some of the more than 40 pictures I took for the photo shoot. These were some I liked, in addition to the ones you will find in the Old Vines Scarf pattern itself.

Freedom from the Albatross*

I think I am getting stuck on Albatross* this, Albatross* that. It just feels so good to let go of an annoying project in such a constructive way – writing up a pattern that may be of some benefit to someone else. Although I have not gotten a lot of comments on the Albatross Socks*, a lot of people have clicked on the pattern, so I guess that is good news.

With the encroaching graduation of my students, I am looking for something to do, and have settled on to designing a lightweight sweater in cotton. I’ve had this yarn lying around since 2005 (found the receipt in the bag), and to break the boredom of the being Connected to the Cold Pack, I decided to dig out a few knitting books. In particular, I dug out Eva Weichmann’s Simple Stitches, and began working on one of the sweaters. Unfortunately, the yarn I am using is not going to get anywhere near any of her gauges, so I decided to use a few elements of one sweater in particular to build one of my own creation.

I have about 1440 yards of this stuff, called “Second Time Cotton,” which can make a substantial sweater. According to the label, on US 8, the gauge is 17 st / inch. On US size 6, I get about 4.5.

Things I am considering in the design of this sweater is the material – cotton – and the fact that I don’t want to seam more than necessary. 3/4 length sleeves are also appealing. I want a cardigan or jacket which can be worn by itself, or over a lightweight knit top. The fact that cotton sweaters can look baggy and messy means I want stitches which will help maintain the sweater’s shape. And I want something rather mindless, but still interesting to do, and something which will have a rather tailored appearance, yet still fit close to the body (and the bulges!). And something which can be easily worked into a 1-piece, no sew, pattern.

Flight of the Albatross*

Whew! What a relief it is to get those socks out of my life! I’m glad I did them, but the frustration – combined with guilt – about finishing them was a burden. I had no energy to do anything. And now they are gone I’ve been on sort of a rampage – cleaning house – gardening – and finishing up a heap of UFOs. I’ve got a number of berets and a pair of socks now, with loose ends woven in and toes woven shut, and a dropped stitched secured. That makes me feel really productive, and here are the results:

A grey Meret for a birthday last February:

Two berets for a friend’s May birthday:

A Porom for myself, out of handspun grey yarn plied with an orange (sounds ghastly, but really very nice!):

A watch cap for a different February baby, to match Christmas mittens:

And socks for me – or maybe a gift for someone with the same size tootsies:

And finally, a model for a pattern which I may post, or submit to a magazine . . . . but that picture will remain a secret for now!

Ah . . .

A Foray into Toe-Up Socks: The Pattern, Version I

I haven’t quite finished the socks, but thought I would create a rough pattern for those who might like to have it. It is just too hot to knit wool socks, and as it is also summer, the urge to be outdoors and wandering around is far more attractive than sitting still.

I think that, overall, the socks are rather pretty. Will I become a toe-up convert? Not sure.

Given that, you may find it in the Patterns section of this blog! Or, just click here.