Hello! If you’re new here after having seen my article in Interweave Knits, it’s good to see you!. Please feel free to leave a comment to this post — I’m curious to see how many people are coming in after reading IK. I didn’t realize it was out already until I started hearing kudos from subscribers.
I’ve also been getting a number of questions asking after patterns pictured in the article. Since it’s evidently not clear, let me just reiterate: All the patterns you’ve seen in the article and most of the ones you can see on this blog (except those for which I expressly say otherwise) will be published in the book. If you want to be among the first to know when the book is ready for pre-order (and when it’s shipping), you can join my mailing list in the upper right corner of this blog.
I promised I’d show this when it was far enough along to get photographed, so here it is, in progress. This pattern will be called Shuti, after the Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a two-feathered headdress. Yeah, it doesn’t look like said hieroglyph, but given that it’s a two-sided feather-and-fan hat, it’s appropriate.
This is done in Artyarns Ensemble, as mentioned in my last post, and is slated for submission to a book they’re working on. The deadline is Sept 1, and I’m sure I’ll have the knitting done well before then. The pattern will be a change for me — entirely in text, not charted, because it’s just a lace pattern. OK, it’s just a lace pattern adapted to double-knitting.
Here’s a neat thing about double-knitting lace. I can make both sides the same color but the nature of the yarn-overs means that the two sides are locked together at the yarn-overs — not at the color-changes, as with normal double-knitting. Sure, I can make the yarn-overs not lock the sides together, but then why would you double-knit it?
More on this pattern later. In the meantime, I’ve been blogged about by Audrey of Audknits.com, who I met at TNNA! I promise not to post every time I get blogged about, but I’m excited!
It’s been a few weeks since TNNA, and the book is still in progress. On target? I’m not sure. In any case, it’ll be out before the big October events. While I’m waiting for word from my publisher, I’m also working on some new patterns.
I mentioned earlier that I had approached Artyarns with interest in submitting a pattern for one of their upcoming one-skein pattern books, this one specifically on hats. Iris was immediately enthusiastic about a submission from me — I have had in mind a concept for a double-knit lace hat, and since Artyarns is often associated with gorgeous lace patterns (but Iris clearly aspires to have more reversible patterns in her yarns), I thought it would be ideal to try one of her yarns for this project.
I chose Ensemble — a luxurious silk-cashmere “blend” (really just a strand of each held together) because I wanted something without so much “aura” and I wasn’t sure I could get a full hat out of a skein of Ultramerino 4. The latter yarn will be great for more traditional double-knit patterns, but the Ensemble lends itself well to the sort of work I wanted to submit. While at TNNA, I selected a couple of skeins of each, deciding to try the Ensemble first and if it didn’t work out, try the Ultramerino afterward.
Yarn for artistic inspiration!
But that wasn’t the end of it! Iris emailed me about a week after TNNA and told me she’d sent me some other yarn to play with, and get inspired by. A little while later, I got this in the mail. The 4 horizontal ones are Ensemble, and the rest are Ultramerino 4.
Iris, I am so grateful that you’re so enthusiastic about my work, and thankful that you value my artistic integrity enough to give me free rein with so much lovely fiber — and I am so looking forward to incorporating more of your yarn into my future designs. The selection you sent me is gorgeous, and I’m already having so much fun with the ensemble of Ensemble I got at TNNA. It’s wonderful stuff, and unexpectedly extremely durable in addition to being softer than anything I’ve ever designed with before.
I don’t have a photo of the piece I’m working on yet — actually, I had to rip it out last night (next time: lifelines! but here’s an unexpected bonus — the yarn doesn’t “kink” after being ripped out!) but I’m really happy with the way it’s coming out and I’ll be posting it up here once I’ve gotten far enough to show off the pattern well.
