Through the Loops!

The News

Before I begin I want to point out my lovely new logo. I am so excited about the logo that I visited my own blog about 100 times yesterday just to admire it. The very talented Knitterella created it for me. She also helped this Photoshop challenged girl get the logo over the banner photos and applied a few masterful tricks to make them pop. You can see more of Knitterella's graphic design work here and her fabulous knitting and crochet themed stationary products here. Thank you Jill!!!

I have been working madly on secret knitting recently, so I hope you don't mind if I show you another one of my kids' projects.

You may remember that Sofie has a thing for creating garments with newspapers and magazines . So when the opportunity came to create a project of her choice in art class she knew just what she would do.

Sofie draped the fabric on the dress form that my mom gave her for her birthday a year or so ago. Her favorite way to work lately has been to drape, pin, cut and sew her designs using the dress form. Occasionally she uses bits and pieces of commercial patterns, but mostly she creates her own. It took her a lot of trial and error to find the right way to transfer newsprint to fabric. I'm not sure how she ultimately succeeded. It was a technique that her HS art teacher taught her. The fabric is a little stiffer than she would have liked, but she designed the dress with very simple lines knowing this. Since it was created as an art piece rather than true apparel the dress isn't something she will actually wear out.

Once the newsprint was transferred onto the dress she used acrylic washes to add color.

The dress was on display at the high school for several weeks. She finally brought it home yesterday. Of course we had to get out right away and photograph it. And Sofie being Sofie the dress had to be modeled with a great pair of shoes.

All photo credits go to Sofie's twin, Isabella.

Thank You!

Thank you for all of your kind words about Que Sera. I've started a KAL on Ravelry. I do hope you'll join us there.

As you can see I've also made a lot of changes to the blog. It's been in desperate need of updating for awhile. I hope you find the blog and pattern store a bit easier to navigate now. I'll probably keep tweaking it over the coming weeks, but I'm much happier with it already.

I've added a link to the side bar for TTLDesigns on Twitter. Follow me on Twitter for Through the Loops Design related announcements.

Since I don't like to write a post without photos I'll show you a few of shots I took of the kids' band over the weekend.  I was trying to get serious shots, but as you can see they weren't very cooperative.

 

All was forgiven though because I was lucky enough to get a private concert up on that beautiful hill. They were actually playing and singing in the photo below.

Their band, Blame the Patient has recorded an album which will be released at the end of June. If you like their music you can join their group on Facebook. They'll make announcements about show dates and the CD release there.

Finally, since this is a crafty-type of blog I want to note that this post is not entirely without crafty content. Sofie designed and made the dress that she's wearing in the photos. My mom gave her a dress form for her birthday a year or so ago and there's been no stopping her ever since.

Que Sera

Thanks for stopping by. I've recently updated my pattern store. You will also find my patterns on Ravelry.

The new Knitty is up and I am thrilled to have a pattern in it. Sofie likes to wear Que Sera with a sweet floral skirt and kicky pair of boots, but it works just as well with a pair of jeans or a more tailored skirt. As a matter of fact, Sofie just dashed out the door for school wearing Que Sera with a t shirt, jeans and a pair of flip flops. (The flip flops being a bit questionable since it's going to be cool and rainy today.)

Que Sera is worked in one piece to the armholes, then divided and the upper fronts and back are worked separately. The sleeves are also worked separately and sewn into place. I embellished mine with rhinestone buttons because I wanted to add to the vintage look of the sweater.

 
There are lots of photos of Que Sera on Knitty and even more on Ravelry and Flickr in case you want to see more.

Que Sera

Sizes: XS[S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X]

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Orchid 5[6, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10] Skeins

Gauge: 16 sts and 24 sts in 4" in lace pattern, blocked

Needles: US 8 (5mm) and US 6 (4mm)

Rockin the House

 If the kids are home there is usually live music around these parts. I was testing out the settings on my camera this morning. Sofie and Anders indulged me with an impromptu concert while I clicked away. You can check out their band, Blame the Patient, on their MySpace page.

  

 

Pincushions

The sun is shining and I must get outside to revel in it. But I do have something I want to show you.

A week or so ago I spotted the wonderful Hexagon Pincushion crochet pattern on Ravelry. I instantly became obsessed, as I am prone to do, and got to work.

 

For the first version I used materials readily at hand. After all, I had a bag of DK weight cotton left from the Potholder Swap. Naturally I paid no attention to gauge - only after I started joining my hexagons did I even read that the pattern called for "thread" weight yarn. Ahem. My results of course are more pillow than pincushion. I love it anyway and wasn't going to deny the excuse to make a second.

So off to Michael's I trotted for a bit of DMC Perle Cotton. The advantage of working with Perle Cotton is the wealth of colors that are available. Swoon. I spent a happy 20 or so minutes choosing colors, grabbed a hook in an appropriate size and dashed home to get started on my "pincushion" sized pincushion.

 

For now my pincushion obsession has been satisfied. No doubt it will strike again. But I will be ready this time with plenty of perle cotton.

Hexagon Pincushions

Pattern: Hexagon Pincushion by Leanda Xavain - Well written, easy to follow, quick to make - a winning combination.

Yarn: Version 1 - Elann Sonatta & Rowan Glace, I used a total of six colors; Version 2 - DMC Perle Cotton #5, I used a total of 8 colors

Hook: Version 1 - 3mm, Version 2 - 2mm

Finished Sizes: Version 1 - about 9" diameter, Version 2 - about 6" diameter

Elinor's Excellent Sock Design Contest

Since the end of Socktoberfest the only socks I've knit have been the uninspired, stockinette sort. With socks of this kind second sock syndrome takes its toll. Things have gotten so extreme that I've resorted to wearing mismatched pairs. Luckily Elinor, designer extraordinaire, of Exercise Before Knitting fame has concocted a solution to this sock ennui.  

In her words: "I am proposing a sock pattern design contest to reinvigorate wayward sock knitters like me". She has gathered an amazing selection of prizes and plans to design a sock herself that she will give away - which is pretty nice because Elinor's designs are always breathtaking. Elinor asked a group of knitterly friends to help her judge. I'm very pleased to be among that group.

If you've never designed socks before, don't be shy. This is a perfect chance to give it a try. There is a Ravelry group & a Flickr pool where you can post photos and ask questions. I do hope you'll join.