Citius, Altius, Fortius

For this year's Ravelympics, I decided to challenge myself to knit the sample and write the pattern for one of my upcoming Knit Picks patterns. And I did it! Mostly while watching women's curling (yeah Sweden!). So here is my project for both the Designer Original Dance and the Sweaterboard Cross:



Pattern: Kimono Wrap Cardigan
Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk, 10 skeins of Merryweather and 2 of Cranberry
Needles: US 7 circs
Start to Finish: February 12-28, 2009



This sweater is knit in pieces and has belled sleeves and a linen stitch sash. The pattern needs a few finishing touches, but the calculations are done as well as all the explanations. According to the official Ravelympics guidelines for my events, I've won gold!

And now I need to go take a nap.

Gemma Cardigan

I am very excited to announce that my first ever for-sale knitting pattern has just been published. Last month, I submitted three sweater designs to Knit Picks to be considered for their Independent Designer Program, and all three were accepted! Since then, I have been knitting, size-grading, and pattern-writing like madwoman. Gemma was the first to be finished, and it went live on the Knit Picks website this morning.

Gemma Cardigan - $5 at Knit Picks and Ravelry (no account required)


Sizes: XS (S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL) (The sample is a size S with about 1/2" of negative ease.)
Finished Measurements: 28” (32”, 36”, 40”, 44”, 48”, 52”) bust
Yarn Requirements: 7 (8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 12) balls of Knit Picks Swish DK in Tidepool Heather (or 770 (880, 990, 1100, 1210, 1320, 1430) yards of a similar DK weight yarn)
Needles: US 5 (3.75mm) circular needles and same size of needles preferred for working sleeves in the round (e.g. DPNs, two circular needles, or circular needle long enough to use Magic Loop)
Gauge: 21 stitches x 26 rows = 4” in Stockinette stitch



Gemma is a fitted cardigan with a circular yoke, waist shaping and simple lace at the collar and cuffs. There is also some subtle shaping going on right before the lace sleeve cuff in the form of some increases that create a tiny little puff. The lace is an adaptation of the Diamond Mesh Lace from Barbara Walker's (first) Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

This is one of those knits that is pretty simple, won't necessarily show off your intarsia/cabling/nupp-making skills, and, yes, contains a lot of Stockinette, but I'm pretty sure you can wear it with just about anything.



And being part of this new Independent Designer Program? A wonderful experience all around. Knit Picks was a joy to work with. They were responsive, fast, and extremely encouraging. Plus...the yarn rocks. I loved working with the Swish DK on this project.

Also, doing a for-sale pattern meant I was able to hire a Tech Editor, which was fantastic. I don't think I will ever go back to trying to edit patterns alone.



My amazing friend, Lefteris Tsironis, helped out with the photos when I made a visit to Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago. We had a lot of fun doing the shoot, and he spent who-knows-how-long processing and editing the photos that same evening. There are about one million more pictures of this sweater on my Flickr page. (And, yes, I'm smirking in almost all of them. It's because I'm self conscious, not because I'm feeling particularly pleased with myself, as a smirk often denotes.)



Also, a big thank you to everyone who reads and/or comments on this blog. Your encouragement and general warm-fuzziness are a big part of how I was able to muster up the courage to start trying to get my work out there!

And stay tuned for a couple more pattern releases in the next few weeks...

Res Completa: Maximus

Though San Francisco doesn't even get all that chilly during the chillier months, this winter I have been completely obsessed with all the big, chunky, cozy-looking neckwarmer type things I've been seeing around. And once I found the perfect pattern, I did not stop knitting until I had a giant, head-eating cowl of my own.


Thanks, Mom, for modeling.

Pattern: Maximus, by Bonne Marie Burns
Yarn: Yanabey Merino Worsted, 1.5 skeins of light blue (held double)
Needles: US 17 straights
Start to Finish: January 14-15, 2010

Notes: Very simple, very quick. I love the cool texture of the stitch pattern and I think holding the yarn double added even more texture. Knitting this on such ginormous needles was not, in fact, very easy to do on public transportation (I kept elbowing the lady to my left and hitting the window with the needle in my right hand), but I only had to do that once because it was done in a flash.

And I love it. It hasn't been so practical for walking around the city (I'm freezing when I leave the house, yes, but after getting the blood pumping after walking about a block, I start shedding layers), but it is extremely cozy and has been great for snowy mountain visits and the like. Plus, I think giant chunky knits are so cool! Maybe next time I'll go even bigger...

Res Completa: Golden Aestlight

So this next finished object technically falls under the "Christmas Crafting" category (dona nativitatis matri), but I'm so embarrassed that it's taken me this long to blog about it that I'm just going to label it as usual.

Back around Thanksgiving when the shopping season was just beginning, my mom mentioned that she would really like something to wear to (or while watching) Cal games. (She had the blue covered pretty well but was somewhat lacking in the gold department). I immediately logged on to Ravelry, we browsed through various scarf and shawl patterns, and it was clear she had a favorite. And I was quite pleased with her choice.



Pattern: Aestlight, by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Koigu Premium Merino, 2.75 skeins of a color that looks more orange than gold in these photos...
Needles: US 6 circs
Start to Finish: December 9-13, 2009



Mods: As with the first one of these that I made, I left off the pretty edging. My mom wanted something simple and decided that straight edges would be best for her. I did add a row of eyelets, though, so the garter stitch border would look more like a border.



Also as with the first one, I loved knitting this. And really, you can't go wrong with Koigu, in all its squooshy glory. Christmas morning, my mom said she loved it, which was really all I could ask for!

Though I do realize that wearing or not wearing certain articles of clothing will not, in actuality, influence the outcome of any sporting event, I still tried to knit some good luck for the Bears into this shawl. I guess we'll see next year if it worked...knitting can be quite powerful.