Through the Loops!

Wood Hollow Vest

A deep scoop neckline gives a feminine edge to this lushly cabled vest. Twisted stitches make the cables pop and add texture. Dressed up or down this vest will be a staple in your wardrobe.

Modeled here by Miss SKK, the vest is worn with 1" negative ease. For those who prefer a less fitted look, the vest will work equally well with a bit of positive ease.

The pattern is available below and on Ravelry. If you are a Ravelry member please join us for the Wood Hollow Vest KAL in the Through the Loops group.

Wood Hollow Vest

On Ravelry

Finished Measurements: Bust 32[34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54] Shown in 32” size.
Yarn:  Cascade 220 Heathers, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool, 220 yds/201m per 3.53oz/100g skein, color #2452, 4[4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7] skeins
Needles: 1 set US 5/3.75 mm needles
1 set US 6/4 mm needles or size to obtain gauge
Gauge: 26 sts and 32 rows = 4” across all stitch patterns. Blocked.
Additional materials:
Cable needle
8 stitch markers
Tapestry needle

Price $6.00 US

Thank you to Ann, Elspeth, Heather and Cristi for test knitting!!

Interviewed

 After torrential rains earlier this week, we were rewarded by a late day rainbow. It was so vivid the rainbow almost looked like a flame shooting up into the sky. If you look carefully you can see a faint second rainbow toward the center of the photo.

A few weeks ago Imene contacted me and asked to do an interview for her blog, A Journey to a Simple Happy Life. This was a first for me and I was a little nervous, but I agreed. We did  the interview yesterday and she posted it last night. You should browse through her blog, there are lots of wonderful interviews with other bloggers there along with beautiful posts and photos of Imene's family, crafting and life. 

I leave you with a photo of my girls in flight during a hike at Natirar Estate last weekend.

 

Check back here tomorrow morning. I will be releasing my Wood Hollow Vest pattern. Thanks for your patience. Test knitting cabled vests takes time. I was lucky to have a very talented and efficient group of test knitters who worked on this project with me.

I've got a couple of patterns in the new (winter) issue of Knit Simple. Note that the photos below are from the magazine. I sent them off to the magazine too quickly to photograph them myself.

 
Buttoned Mitts

These mitts are worked sideways in worsted weight yarn. They knit up very quickly - you could make two pairs in a weekend - and are great for stash busting.

 

Ruffled Wristers

Another very quick, stash busting project the ruffled wristers are worked in DK weight yarn. They can be worn with the ruffle toward the hand or flipped around with the ruffle on the top.

The official release date for the issue is 1/26, but I've heard from a few people that they've already seen it available at their LYS. Any who subscribe should have it already.

 

Help For Haiti

Help For Haiti Patterns, originally uploaded by throughtheloops.

In an effort to raise money for relief efforts in Haiti a special pattern category has been created on Ravelry. Designers who are donating money from pattern sales are adding these patterns to "Help for Haiti"  to make it easy for knitters and crocheters to find them. As I write this post almost 800 patterns are tagged "Help for Haiti". There are patterns from many very talented designers to be found there. (ETA: I just realized that you can filter "Help for Haiti" patterns by "in my queue" - love that feature!)

I've added four patterns to Ravelry's "Help for Haiti"; Dorothea, Clematis, Althea and Narragansett. From January 16 thru February 15 I will be donating 75% of the sales from each of these patterns to Doctors Without Borders for their relief efforts in Haiti.

I hope you'll take the time to browse through all of the patterns in "Help for Haiti".

End of May Mittens

Thank you all for the kind birthday wishes you sent to SKK & IJK! They really enjoyed reading every single one. It was a hectic birthday for both of them - we weren't even able to have cake until 11:30 pm! As SKK says, "it was as good as a birthday on a Tuesday in January could be". Don't worry about them though we all went out for a fantastic dinner together last Friday night.

Now on to my new favorites, the End of May mittens. I haven't been outside without these beauties since I finished them a week and a half ago. I love them that much. Stranded knitting is wonderful for making mittens extra warm with that bonus layer of wool it adds. Then there's Mandy's fabulous pattern, so pretty, so well written - a perfect combination.

 

 

End of May Mittens

Pattern: End of May Mittens by Mandy Powers of Zigzagstitch (also available on Ravelry)

Yarn: Cascade 220 in colors 9451 & 9411 with a bit of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light for the lining

Needles: US 4/3.5mm

Mods: Kitchenered the top, otherwise I made them exactly as written - Mandy's pattern is perfect the way it is!! 

On Raverly

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Birthday to my sweet, special girls. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful, kind, creative kids. We love you very, very much.

 

 

 

Hoodwinked

IJK asked for a new winter coat for Christmas. She really wanted a knee length wool coat with a hood, but SKK and I were unable to find one that suited her. We did find a lovely hood-less coat and decided that with all the knitting that goes on around these parts we should be able to wrangle up a hood.

 

Having put off the hood knitting to the very last minute I was very pleased when I saw Amanda & Lily Kate's post over at Joli House about the hood they designed together. After a little not so subtle begging on my part they emailed the pattern for me to test knit. I wasn't able to get to the hood before Christmas, but the girls and I headed to Angelfire Studios the next day and picked out the yarn. With the super chunky gauge of this hood it only took a few days to knit. Now IJK's head is toasty warm even on the coldest of days.

 

IJK's Hood

Pattern: Helvellyn designed by Lily Kate & Amanda France (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca's Bulky Handdyes in "Boysenberry"

Needles: US 11/8mm

Mods: None, except that my gauge is a little off since IJK really liked the color of this yarn.

On Ravelry

Fringe!!!

There were many things I should have been doing this morning, pattern writing, working on new designs, answering emails, laundry, working out, etc, etc. Fringing a scarf was pretty far down the list. But fringe I did, and I loved every minute of it. I started this scarf back in October. It has been my knit-on-the-go ever since. I've worked on this project in the car (not while driving), on the train, on the subway, at the dentist, in coffee shops, in the recording studio, at various music venues, at the bank drive through window, pretty much anywhere that wasn't home.  With the knitting complete last night all that was left was the fringe. Can you blame me for ignoring my responsibilities to tie a few knots?

 

I love fringe. There is something about the swish, swish when you walk and the way you can toss those ends around as you dance. I especially love the look of knotted fringe. As I knit my first Ulmus Rectangle I decided I had to make one with fringe too. I even added instructions for fringing when I wrote the pattern just in case anyone else felt the same way.

 

Ulmus with Fringe (on Ravelry)

Pattern: Ulmus Rectangle

Yarn: Socks That Rock

Colorways: Body: Lemongrass (STR Mediumweight) & Ruby Slippers (STR Lightweight) Fringe: Mossay (STR Lightweight)

Needles: US 5/3.75mm

Finished Measurements: 10 x 80" including the fringe

Notes: Instructions for adding fringe to the Ulmus Rectangle are included in the pattern. I mixed STR Light & Mediumweight for the body, it didn't make a bit of difference.

Andrea's Mitts & Andrea's Shawl

I cast on knowing only that I wanted to make a pair of mitts. This is how I often work. I like to get the yarn and needles into my hands and let the yarn dictate which direction we will go. I'd been playing around with lacy garter stitch borders recently - I love the texture they create - so I started there. The mitts quickly grew into a lace cuff, then stripes for the hand, followed by a bit more lace and finally a picot edging at the top. It wasn't long after I'd finished the mitts when it occurred to me that a matching shawl was in order. Once I'd blocked that shawl I really fell in love with the set. (Blocking is a beautiful thing.)

The garter stitch lace borders I've used for these patterns are knit sideways across very few stitches. Once the desired length is achieved stitches are picked up and the rest of the item is worked all in one piece - the mitts from the cuff up, the shawl from the bottom edge up. The mitts and smallest size shawl are really very quick knits.

 

I managed to squeeze in time to make two more pairs of mitts. One pair, as seen above, was a gift for my niece using Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light. (More details on those on Ravelry.) The other pair were a sample I made in the M/L size using a combination Hot Rod Heather and Tidepool Heather Andean Treasure. (Details on Ravelry)

 

At the very last minute, after being stumped about what to get for my SIL for Christmas, I managed to crank out a solid colored Andrea's Shawl in two days. For this shawl I used Knit Picks Gloss Sock in Woodland Sage that had been in my stash for a year or two. I worked the smallest size shawl on a larger than called for needle, a US 8. The resulting size was just right for my tall SIL. (Modeled here by our "in house" model, SKK who is 5'5".) Sorry I was never able to get final measurements on the solid colored shawl, there was no time, the shawl being a last minute gift and all. (For more photos and details see Raverly.)

 

The patterns are also available as Ravelry Downloads - Andrea's Shawl, Andrea's Mitts.

Andrea's Shawl

Price $6.00

Andrea's Mitts

Price $6.00

Andrea's Shawl and Mitts ebook

Price $9.00