Joyarna Knitblog

Fit to Flatter: You must read this!

2012-01-26T15:17:00.000Z

Amy Herzog has an absolutely fabulous series on her blog called Fit to Flatter. I've been reading through it in dribs and drabs over the past week or so, and I have learned so much. Heck, even if you're not a knitter, the first few chapters are worth a read - it takes the basic 'apple / pear / hourglass' formula and adds extra nuance to it.

The series helps you to a) identify your body type, b) figure out what kind of clothes flatter that type, and c) choose patterns or adjust patterns to suit your body. The beginning lessons are more general, and toward the end she gets in to specifics on how to alter a pattern to suit your figure.

Maybe it's old news to some people, since the series is a couple years old, but the advice is timeless and well worth a look. For instance, I learned as a bottom-heavy shape, colorwork yoke sweaters would flatter me because it draws the eye upward, balancing out my wide hips and my narrow shoulders. And I already knew that it was more flattering to wear a dark bottom and a light top than vice versa, but now I know why - for the same reason, attracting the eye up to my top half.

The series is available free as a series of blog posts, or you can buy it in a nicely formatted, go-anywhere PDF set.

~Joyuna

The Best of Knitscene

2012-01-17T16:09:00.000Z

I was sorting through my queue on Ravelry lately (13 pages isn't too much, is it...?) and I found something interesting - a whole bunch of patterns in my queue are available in a single volume - The Best of Knitscene (Rav).

So if you've wanted to knit the Central Park Hoodie, Geodesic Cardigan, Heather Hoodie Vest, Molly Ringwald top, Opulent Raglan, or Riding to Avalon, now's your chance to get them all and others at a steal of a price.

This is a seriously fantastic collection of patterns - I was already planning to make the Geodesic Cardigan (with the Wollmeise Lace I got at Knit Nation) and I have at least 4 of the other patterns in my queue. The a la carte price is fine if you only want to make 1 or 2 patterns, but you can't beat the bundle price of the book if you want to make lots of them, like I do.

The Best of Knitscene is available in hard copy or as an eBook. I got the eBook version because I'm impatient ;) It was available for instant download right after payment.

Not only does the book contain 20 patterns, many of which I want to knit, but it also includes articles from past issues of Knitscene and a profile for each designer. I may write up a full review once I've had the time to read through it all... I am looking forward to it!

~Joyuna

Woohoo, an FO! Flora Hat

2012-01-13T16:58:00.000Z

With all my secret knitting and long-term projects, it's been a long time since I could celebrate casting off. Enter the instant gratification colorwork hat, Flora by Margaux Hufnagel.

It's a free pattern, though it has some errors and confusing bits - read the Ravelry project pages before you make it. I also modified it a little bit, changing the garter edge to ribbing and changing the size. If I did it again, I would make it longer.

This is going to be my running hat for the cold days to keep my head warm. The best part about it, is that I bound off 15 sts after the ribbing, and cast them back on the next row, so my hat has a hole for my hair!

It was a super quick project - only took me 2 days! - and it allowed me to practice my two-handed colorwork. The yarn is Knit Picks Merino Style, in Dusk (blue) and Crocus (yellow).

~Joyuna

Introducing the Appleby Scarf

2012-01-11T16:55:00.001Z

The first new pattern of 2012 is the Appleby Scarf.

Appleby is a lace-edged scarf with tapered edges and a stockinette body. This is a pattern which has a very interesting effect for self-striping yarns. Knit from tip to tip, the stripes start thick and get thinner and thinner towards the middle of the scarf, and then start to thicken again on the other end. Large swathes of stockinette give striping the center stage, while a garter lace edging knitted at the same time gives added interest, texture, and a scalloped edge. The pattern would also be lovely and sophisticated in a more solid shade. The scarf is knit at a relatively large gauge for a light, lacy feel and a quick knit, using only one 100g skein of sock yarn.
for $4.00

Size: 70” (175cm) long and 10” (25cm) wide
Yarn: Less than 100g or 438 yds of fingering-weight yarn (Shown: Shirekat Yarns Silver Showgirl; color Caribbean Stripes)
Needles: US 6 / 4mm Straight needles
Special Techniques: Basic lace, increases & decreases

~Joyuna

Interwoven available for individual download

2012-01-09T17:24:00.000Z

My cabled beanie Interwoven, originally published in Knitcircus this past fall, is now available as its own PDF. If you missed out on the Knitcircus issue, take this opportunity to knit a fun, quick hat with an interesting twist - the cables that start in the horizontal band twist off vertically onto the body of the hat! Add an extra dimension to your knitting and try knitting Interwoven.
for $5.00

If you like the hat but need to bush up on a few techniques before you start, remember to check out the free Twisty Wristband pattern, which includes tutorials and tips for techniques like provisional cast on, 3-needle bind off, cables & charts.

Interwoven
Sizes: S [M, L] to fit head circumference of 18" [20-22", 24"]
Yarn: About 100 [100, 150]g of DK-weight yarn (Shown: Debbie Bliss Rialto DK, color 23015)
Needles: US 6 / 4mm DPNs
Special Techniques: Knitting in the round, cables

~Joyuna

Swatching for Pemberley

2012-01-07T07:51:00.001Z

I've just swatched for a rather ambitious project - Pemberley, a colorwork sweater by Ann Kingstone. I fell in love with the pullover the very first time I saw it, but I thought I could never make it myself. After meeting Ann at the Glasgow School of Yarn, I let the idea percolate in my mind, and I've decided I'm going to make it - even if it kills me.

I got the yarn from Knit Picks recently - Palette is a nice yarn available in a whole bunch of colors and easy on the wallet, even with a recent price increase. The only problem with it is there's a high turnaround in terms of colorways - so it wasn't possible to see if anyone else knit with these two colors together. Luckily I think the two colors, Regal and Lantana, are a great combination and just what I had in mind. I don't wear a lot of purple, but I think it will suit me.

You may notice a slight difference between the top section and bottom section of the swatch - I was testing the effect of color dominance on the pattern. I learned about dominance in stranded colorwork only just recently, and I'm glad I did.

In a nutshell, the position of the yarns affects the prominence of the colors - in two-handed colorwork (knitting one color English and one Continental), it means that you should always hold the colors in the same way - MC in left and CC in right or vice versa. If you keep switching, things will look odd. And, which color you hold in which hand can have an effect on the work.

As you can see in my swatch, on top the lighter color stitches appear a bit bigger and looser, while on the bottom they're smaller. On the bottom, the dark criss-cross pattern in the center appears more defined. I'm choosing to use the MC yarn as dominant, as shown in the bottom half of the swatch - I like that look better. Your mileage and preferences may vary, which is why it's important to swatch!

~Joyuna

Another Knitpicks Haul

2011-12-31T16:29:00.004Z

Since I'm back in the US visiting my family for the holidays, I've made another USA Knitpicks order.

In case you didn't know, Knit Picks is discontinuing several popular yarn lines this season including Telemark, the sportweight wool yarn, and Merino Style, the 100% merino yarn. I love Telemark - it's a hardy yarn that softens up great after a wash. I used it in a steeked sweater before, where the stickiness of the wool came in handy, and I think it would be great for colorwork as well. I hadn't tried Merino Style before, but I'd heard very good things about it.

So, I made an order - I wanted to practice my colorwork, so I got some Merino Style in Dusk from the website and some in Crocus from a Raveler's stash.

I splurged on a sweater's worth of Telemark (it was on sale) in Alpine Frost. Not certain on what pattern to use for this yet... It's got great stitch definition, and would be lovely in cables. I already know it makes beautiful solid stockinette fabric.

And finally, the big one... I purchased enough Palette in two shades for a colorwork sweater. Ann Kingstone's Pemberley, to be precise, from her Novel Knits book.

I was very worried about my color selection - even with only two colors. Imagine if I had to choose more colors which all coordinated with each other... I chose two red-purples, Regal (dark) and Lantana (light). Happily, they go together lovely, just as I had imagined. With Knit Picks' annoying habit of switching up their color selection every season, it's difficult to find other people's pictures of the yarns to make sure that the colors go together right. But my leap of faith succeeded (and even if it hadn't, I'd only be out $30 or so).

~Joyuna

New Header by Tofupanda

2011-12-28T16:36:00.002Z

If you look up at the top of the page, you'll notice something different - a banner image! Yes, that's me up there, knitting away on a sock. This piece of art was drawn for me by the very talented young artist Tofunmi Yosola, also known as Tofupanda.

Tofupanda is a very busy artist as well as a student and it seems she's currently not taking commissions, but she takes her requests on Fiverr when she can - and I believe her pictures are a steal at merely 5 bucks! The next time I need an adorable picture drawn, I'll definitely be commissioning her again.

I find Tofunmi's style absolutely charming and the likeness is really quite good, don't you think? :)

~Joyuna

Creating Original Stitch Patterns

2011-12-22T07:54:00.001Z

For some of my designs, such as Rose Tendrils and Unbraiding Cables, I have created original stitch patterns to suit the design. There's nothing at all wrong with using an existing stitch pattern from a dictionary, but sometimes you want something specific that you can't find - such as the growing cable motif in Unbraiding Cables.

I don't take credit for 'inventing' any of these patterns - as Elizabeth Zimmerman has said, I'm only 'unventing' them. There's only so many ways to arrange increases and decreases, knits and purls, so someone has probably done the same or similar thing to what I'm doing before.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel
There's no need to start wholly from scratch when you can use an existing stitch as a jumping-off point. Flip through stitch dictionaries to find something similar to what you want, and modify it to suit.

In order to develop the main instep pattern on my Rose Tendrils socks, I took two different motifs from a Japanese stitch dictionary -- one of the leaves, and one of the 'buds' - and merged them together. The basis of my Unbraiding Cables came from a straight column of braided cables in a dictionary, which I then grew & shrank to fit on a hat.

Of course, if you can't find anything resembling what you want, you can try and create something from scratch. You can find an example of this process for lace in this Knitty article.

Chart and swatch, swatch, swatch!
I find it easiest to work out a rough chart before knitting; some may prefer to knit and write down your actions as you go. After I've found a pattern that will form the base of my stitch, I chart it out and make the necessary modifications, or if I don't have a pattern for a base, I rough out a chart that I think will work.

Charting software comes in very handy when you're developing a stitch pattern. Charts allow you to see the big picture of the design and make sure everything lines up. Software lets you easily cut and paste, reverse, or mirror blocks of stitches - much easier than working manually on graph paper.
I use Intwined; other software options include Knit Visualizer and Stitch Mastery.

Once you've roughed out a chart, the time comes to swatch. Knit out the pattern, make adjustments, and knit it again. It's a pain, but it's the only way to know that everything works out the way you want it to.

The more you swatch, and the more you knit in general, the more you'll get a feel for how different things can affect a stitch pattern - such as the clustering of decreases to form chevrons, or the way purl stitches can highlight motifs, giving them an embossed look. Here you can see the dramatic difference between two swatches, one with purls, and one without.

Fine-tune until it is just right
If things don't turn out right the first time, just try again. Motif too tall? Cut out some rows. Things not lining up? Adjust it so they do. Sometimes things that seem to work out on paper don't quite work in the yarn - that's what swatching is for.

Here was my swatch for the lace clock motif on Rose Tendrils - I wanted a lace interpretation of a Mackintosh Rose. As you can see, on my first pass the lace came out too tall and angular. The second try was more satisfactory, but still not quite right. Just a few modifications and then I was left with the third try, which after a little more tweaking, is what made it on to the sides of my socks.

The majority of the process is really trial and error. You can mash together elements of existing stitch patterns or create a new one out of whole cloth. An original stitch pattern can add that extra bit of interest to a design to make it truly unique, and creating your own stitch pattern can let the vision of the pattern in your head translate perfectly into reality.

~Joyuna

Now addicted to Pinterest

2011-12-20T17:19:00.000Z

Have you heard about Pinterest? It's this super-neat site that has been a huge source of inspiration and fun for me since I joined.

It's like an online corkboard where you can 'pin' things you like onto your boards. When it works, it works beautifully (though it has its share of downtime and bugs). I've been using it to pin things I admire, craft tutorials I want to try, and inspiration for new designs. It's like creating your own design mood board - absolutely a fantastic creative resource. Plus, you can follow people whose style you like and see everything they're pinning.

If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I'm Joyuna over there like most places :) If you're not signed up for Pinterest yet, you'll need an invite - if you shoot me a message on Ravelry or Twitter with your email address, I can hook you up. :)

~Joyuna

Dogwood Shawl in Knit Now

2011-12-15T07:40:00.000Z

My latest design - Dogwood Lace Shawl - is in the just-released issue 3 of Knit Now Magazine.

Dogwood is knit with doubled laceweight yarn, which can easily be switched out for single-stranded fingering weight yarn. Knit sideways from tip to tip with a sweet lace border, it’s a quick knit for yourself or a lovely gift. It takes just one 100g skein of Skein Queen Delectable yarn - a lovely merino/silk blend which is lovely soft and nice and drapey.

Within the UK, you can find Knit Now at newsagents and most stores that stock magazines (such as Tescos, WH Smith, and Hobbycraft). Outside of the UK, Knit Now is expected to be stocked at Borders soon, and check this Ravelry thread for details on international subscriptions.

~Joyuna

Rose Tendrils socks

2011-12-09T16:23:00.001Z

You may remember that when I went up to Scotland for The Glasgow School of Yarn, I had a sock entered in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh design competition... Well, the design has finished test knitting and tech editing, and is ready for sale.

I'm so very happy to release the Rose Tendrils toe-up socks. These socks are an engaging knit for someone who wants a little bit of a challenge, and a beautiful pair of socks at the end of it. The textured knit & purl pattern on the top of the foot was adapted from two different Japanese stitch patterns, and the lace motifs clocking each side of the ankle, in the shape of a Mackintosh Rose, are wholly original. The sock is constructed from the toe up with a gusset and heel flap, and has three sizes for an easily customized fit.

for $5.00

Yarn: 100g/400yds of fingering / 4ply / sock weight yarn (Shown: Juno Fibre Arts Milly High-Twist, color Rosewood)
Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5mm
Special Techniques: Toe-up socks, short rows, charts

~Joyuna

Hot off the Spindle: Fiber Optic Gradient Braid

2011-12-07T19:46:00.003Z

This is my favorite thing that I've spun in a while. You might remember that last time I was in the States, at Knitter's Connection I picked up a Fiber Optic Gradient Braid. For months, I was too afraid to spin it because A.) I didn't know what I'd knit with it, and B.) I was afraid I'd ruin it.

Well, I picked a pattern - Lazy Katy, a gorgeous shawl with a stunning shape - and having finished the yarn, I'm fairly certain I didn't ruin it. In fact, I'm super pleased with how it turned out.

It's 516 yards of 16wpi (light fingering) yarn - more than enough for my shawl. The gradient braid's color was Dusty Plum to Olive - going from purple to navy blue to teal to olive green. I absolutely adore the bright colors and the way they effortlessly shift into one another.

I spun the braid by splitting the top in half and spinning each separate ply, then winding them into a plying ball and plying them together. One of my plies was slightly thinner than the other, so I broke off a small amount of each color and plied those into mini-skeins of yarn...

...Which I'm using for a few one-of-a-kind gradient hexipuffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt!

I had such a fun time spinning this braid - I can't wait to get the chance to spin some more Fiber Optic gradients.

~Joyuna

Hexi-update - making progress!

2011-12-06T02:19:00.001Z

Yes, this is another post about hexipuffs. If you don't want to hear about it, I'm sorry - it's really the only project of mine lately which isn't a secret!

I've knit 140 puffs at this point, and I've started to join them together. I'll need about 300 hexagons for my full quilt, so I'm nearly halfway there. Over the course of my puffing, I've tried out some variations such as center-out puffs and seed stitch puffs. They add just a little bit of variety.

Here are the first 50 puffs I've joined together. I've been joining the puffs in groups of 10, which makes them easier to count and avoids the problem of certain colors grouping together over the course of the quilt. So I've been joining, little by little, and it's a thrill to see my quilt starting to come together.

I picked up a huge number of new yarns from my parents' house. All of my old leftovers were here, and it's great to add some new colors into my quilt. Even though the yarns are varied and arranged in no particular order, I think the craziness of it is somehow cohesive, and I like the way it looks.

~Joyuna

A trip to Hank - Cincinnati LYS

2011-12-03T19:33:00.002Z

I'm back in Cincinnati for the holidays, visiting my family. I haven't lived in Cincinnati for about four years, and back then I was only just getting into knitting - so, I've only visited just a couple of the Cincinnati LYSes, of which there are quite a few.

My sister told me that she passes a yarn shop on her way to work every day - Hank in Hyde Park. I hadn't heard of Hank before, but it's easy to find on Observatory Avenue, right on the street. The shop is spacious and well laid-out, with a nice selection of buttons, needles & notions, and of course all the yarn.

Hank Yarn has a nice selection of medium & heavy weight yarns, a fair selection of sock yarn but not much lace. Of course, for a souvenir skein, I made a beeline to the sock yarn section. They have some delicious Malabrigo sock and Claudia, but a yarn that I wasn't familiar with caught my eye - Blue Ridge Yarns Kaleidoscope in Boysenberry. I am absolutely in love with this color combination. It reminds me of a dark pink rose. I simply couldn't resist it.

I also picked up some Ultra Alpaca in black, for some gift knitting for my cousin. I once made everyone in my family knitted Christmas presents, and swore I'd never do it again - but my grandmother is commissioning me for a pair of fingerless gloves, so one knitted gift can't hurt :)

~Joyuna

Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design - Review

2011-11-28T23:18:00.004Z

As part of Knitgrrl's Kickstarter campaign for Cooperative Press, I got a digital copy of The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design. This was a real bonus, as I was intending on buying the book myself. :)

The book starts with some marketing nuts and bolts - social media. With such a rapidly changing field, it's difficult to keep on the cutting edge in a book. The data is mostly up to date, but with a few minor things that have changed since publication (like automatic re-tweets on Twitter, for instance, and several references to the now-defunct AKD - Association of Knitwear Designers). There are also a few mentions of flash-in-the-pan internet phenomena - for instance, a subscription service which was started last year (!!), Patterndraft, which now has disappeared!

While the core ideas of the book are solid, I worry that parts of it will be less and less relevant as time goes on. Unless there are plans to release a new edition every so often, some sections will no longer be relevant, say, five years from now. Think about it: a little over five years ago, Twitter didn't even exist (it was launched in July 2006). Luckily, a digital copy can be easily updated as trends progress.

The book also covers more timeless topics, such as maintaining a professional persona, setting up multiple streams of income in addition to selling patterns, copyright, and formatting patterns. It's all really useful information - a lot of it I already knew, but some of it was new to me. Intriguingly, tucked in an appendix at the end of the book is a Book Proposal Template - a sample book proposal with notes about writing your own. If you dream about submitting your own knitting book to a publisher, this is a heck of a start.

To me, the real gems in the book are the interviews in the back. Here you can read multiple perspectives on being a designer from some very successful ones such as Ysolda Teague, Amy Singer, and Annie Modesitt. There's a huge trove of fascinating and helpful information to be found here. It ranges from practical bits of advice to startling insights (Annie Modesitt suggests, for instance, that sock knitting is hugely important in the popularity of more challenging patterns - since many sock patterns are fun to knit and hard or impossible to buy in stores, it inspires new knitters to take on more ambitious projects). The interview section spans over 100 pages, and is well worth the price of the book in and of itself.

The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design is a great book to flip through or read cover-to-cover. If you want help on a certain topic - advertising, or pattern layout, or the dos and don'ts of social media, you can easily skim through just one chapter. Or, you can read the whole thing in a few sittings and come out significantly more knowledgeable about the design world. The dozens interviews after the main text with designers, editors, and yarnies, are fantastic reads, each and every one of them.

~Joyuna

Wispy in Green

2011-11-17T13:25:00.001Z

Since I'm working on a lot of my own designs lately, I haven't had very much time to work on other people's patterns. I do try to make time every once in a while, though, and knit something that isn't "work"! After many months, my Wispy Cardigan is finally finished.

If you're familiar with the pattern, you will notice I made several modifications, like removing the ribbing from the sleeves and bottom. Basically, I liked the original Whisper Cardigan from Interweave, bought the Wispy pattern from the designer, and modified it to look more like Whisper. ;) I'm extremely happy with the result.

The yarn is Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk, which comes on 8-ounce cones, in the color Nile Green. It's lovely yarn, though a bit splitty - but soft with a nice sheen, and it has exactly the wonderful drape I was looking for in this project. I have a ton of yarn left on the cone, well over 100 grams! Believe me, I never would have thought I could knit myself a sweater with 150g of yarn. But it's true!

I'm not much of a sweater-knitting person, and anyone who has seen me at knitting group working on this cardigan has heard me whinging about the miles and miles of stockinette. But, I think this is going to be a very wearable cardigan, so it's worth it!

~Joyuna

Making do and Mending

2011-11-15T14:35:00.001Z

There was a time when materials were costly, and time was plentiful. To get a pair of socks, you would need to get the wool off the sheep, prepare the wool, spin it into yarn, take that yarn and knit it... you get the idea. Nowadays, if you want a pair of socks, you can hop down to the shop to get any flavor of sock yarn. Or, you can just buy the socks themselves.

But when your materials are scarce, you want to conserve them in any way you can. That means unravelling and re-knitting sweaters as children grow older, or darning socks. Recently I had a mishap when my darning pile got mixed in with the laundry pile - my pair of merino cashmere socks were already wearing thin, and while they didn't felt in the wash, the thin spots got even thinner to the point where I just couldn't darn them any longer.

Instead, I'll make them into something new.

I started by snipping one stitch a few inches down from the top of the sock. I'll use those bits of ribbing later, rather than having to re-knit them. After picking out the snipped yarn from one round, the ribbing came apart from the rest of the sock and I set it aside.

The rest of the sock got ripped out. The yarn is quite a bit more fragile now than it started with, after years of wear. Some spots have felted together a little bit.
Note: be aware of what direction you were knitting. I knit my socks toe-up, so I unravelled towards the toe. If you knit your socks cuff-down, you could snip off the toe and unravel towards the top.

The yarn was too thin to use in some spots, and I had to cut out the darned sections as well. Between my two socks, I ended up with 35g of usable yarn, plus the intact cuffs.

The cashmere merino yarn is still luscious after all this time, supremely soft and warm. But, it isn't particularly sturdy, especially after several years of wear. Instead of fashioning new socks from them, I'm going to make them into a pair of soft warm legwarmers to keep my pale legs cozy.

~Joyuna

Navajo Knitting for Hexipuffs

2011-11-14T13:59:00.001Z

I heard about an intriguing technique while I was at the Glasgow School of Yarn - 'Navajo Knitting'. No, it's not a traditional Native American knitting technique - it takes its name from Navajo plying, or chain plying, in spinning. I've done Navajo plying many times before - it's an extremely useful technique to preserve color changes in handspun yarn, and to make a 3-ply out of one strand of singles. In a nutshell, you make a very long crochet chain out of your singles, and then twist that into yarn.

Navajo knitting is the same principle, only without the plying twist. You take your single strand of yarn, and start making it into a long (as long as you like - an arm's length of more) loop, and pull the yarn through the loop, as if it were a giant crochet chain. It takes some getting used to, but it's very effective once you've got it. The technique was first 'discovered' or 'unvented' by Lucy Neatby, and you can see her video on it here.

Why use Navajo knitting? It's the perfect way to knit with a yarn tripled. It's easy to knit yarn doubled - just knit from both ends of a center-pull ball. But to knit with yarn triple, you'd need either three balls of yarn, or a center-pull plus an extra ball. With this technique, you can easily knit with three strands of yarn out of only one ball.

I tried it out on some laceweight swiss silk I got from The Yarn Yard booth as GSoY, for my hexipuff blanket. It worked a treat!

See the loop at the end of the yarn? The silk is far too thin to be knit on its own into puffs, and it's a bit thin even when doubled. But tripled, it's just the right weight.

~Joyuna

Happy Wovember!

2011-11-12T12:24:00.001Z

This month has been dubbed Wovember. The Wovember project is all about celebrating sheep's wool, and clearing up misconceptions. Here in the UK, most people call any kind of yarn 'wool' - be it cotton, or acrylic, or anything. Shops use the term 'wool' as a marketing tool to take the positive associations of wool fiber - warmth, wicking properties, and so on - and apply them to other things that aren't wool at all. The Wovember website has a Hall of Shame set up for shops which are marketing their items as 'wool' or 'woolly', when in fact they have no wool content at all.

There's also a Wovember photo competition, judged by Jamieson & Smith. The theme is '100% Wool'. Here's my contribution, which I title 'The Rainbow'.

It's 10 different breeds of wool, all in natural colors, all handspun by me - part of my Fiber Sampler project. I love the diversity of natural colors of sheep - from the shiny, silvery grey of Gotland to the nearly pure white of Shetland, to the rich brown of Manx Loaghtan. Both the Gotland (silvery grey) and colored Ryeland (dark brownish grey) I prepped myself from fleeces.

Not only are the natural colors different, but the textures are drastically different - from the shiny, wiry longwools like Lincoln and Gotland to the softer, springy Merino and Corriedale. People think 'wool' is just one entity, but each breed has its own unique properties. There is not just one 'wool', there are dozens! All of them have different feels, different properties - not all wool is itchy; some is lusciously soft. Not all wool is elastic; some is shiny and drapey. There's a whole world of wool, which most people have no idea about. So celebrate Wovember and get the word out about wonderful wool!

~Joyuna

Unbraiding Cables hat in issue 43 of KNIT Magazine

2011-11-10T10:32:00.001Z

I was thrilled to see KNIT Magazine #43 (formerly Yarn Forward) at WH Smiths the other day. Inside, along with 13 other patterns, is my first print mag design: Unbraiding Cables. It's a top-down beanie in three sizes, with an original cable pattern that grows along with the shaping of the hat.

KNIT Magazine can be found at most supermarkets and newsagents across the UK - it hit newsstands on Monday. In the US, it is carried at Barnes & Noble, and issue 43 should be stocked in early December (there's about a month lag to the US).

This is my photo, the magazine's photos are much nicer :)

Yarn: Between 160 and 300 yds of DK weight yarn (Shown: Artesano Superwash Merino, less than 2 balls)
Needles: US 6 / 4mm and US 4 / 3.5mm
Special Techniques: Knitting in the round, cables, charts

~Joyuna

Have you seen this Knitted Bag?

2011-11-09T12:29:00.000Z

Some heartbreaking news has been circulating around the knitting world recently - a designer, Trisha Paetsch, has had one of her knitted samples stolen from the Sanguine Gryphon booth at Rhinebeck. This beaded, lined, colorwork bag is truly one of a kind - and Trisha put many many hours of her own time and many dollars of her own money into it. The pattern is called Fulfillment, and it truly is a work of art.

If you were at Rhinebeck, and you saw anyone walking away with this bag, or if you've seen it anywhere else since then, please contact The Sanguine Gryphon. No questions will be asked.

For more information, see this thread on the SG Ravelry forum, and this thread on the Ravelry main boards. You can also help spread the word by blogging, Facebooking, or tweeting/retweeting about it.

~Joyuna

Glasgow Mystery Solved

2011-11-08T09:45:00.000Z

Earlier I posted about some mystery knitted goodies at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Well, I learned who the culprits were! The crafters behind it are the Glasgow PicKnitters, a mischievous yarnbombing knitting group.

Oddly enough, I found out that the knitted pumpkin I found was the work of one of the woman I had met in Glasgow - Rita, AuntyRita on Ravelry. In fact, it is partially thanks to her that I made it to the School of Yarn at all - we met on the bus en route, and navigated to the church together.

The Picknitters apparently plant pumpkins around Glasgow every year - here's a report on last year's go with more photos. And you can meet some of the knitters in this BBC profile video.

~Joyuna

Mini Magical Friendship Ponies (free pattern)

2011-11-07T12:08:00.004Z

The cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is surprisingly awesome. It's clever, has a good sense of humor, and features six strong female characters, each with her own very distinctive personality. On top of that, the art style is adorable - the characters were designed by Lauren Faust, who previously worked on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

You can make your own little ponies too, either for the little one in your life, or for yourself :) Though you do have to attach all the pieces at the end, each piece is knit seamlessly. The ears and wings are flat garter stitch, the legs are based on i-cord, the head and body are in the round, and the body is shaped with short rows. Then, finish it all off with some embroidery and an innovative way of making soft fluffy hair. Ponies are rather top-heavy, but they can easily stand up on their own with the help of some light wires hidden in the legs.

Mini Magical Friendship Ponies

Yarn:
Less than 100 yards of fingering weight / 4-ply yarn. Shown: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino 4-ply (yellow) and Sirdar Country Style (pink).
A couple yards of yarn for the pony's mane and tail. The yarn will be brushed out into soft, fluffy hair (see below). Any wool or acrylic yarn should work. Cotton is not recommended due to the short length of its fibers.

Needles:
Size US2.5 / 3mm DPNs

Size:
A finished pony measures about 4" tall (minus hair). They are just a little bit bigger than the plastic brushable ponies.

Materials:
Stuffing
Yarn needle
Embroidery thread in black, white, and colors for the pony's eyes and cutie mark
Some thin wire (mine is 24 gauge)
Crochet hook
A hand card, flick carder, or dog slicker brush for combing out the mane (see below)

Abbreviations
CO - Cast On
k - knit
p - purl
m1 - make one (increase)
tbl - through the back loop
k2tog - knit two together (right-leaning decrease)
k3tog - knit three together
ssk - slip slip knit (left-leaning decrease)
cdd - centered double decrease (slip 2 as if to k2tog, k1, pass slipped sts over)
sl - slip
w&t - wrap & turn
BO - Bind Off

Head
CO 4 sts. Join in the round.
Round 1: (k1, m1) around.
Round 2: m1, k1, m1, k3, m1, k3, m1, k1.
Round 3: Knit.
Round 4: (k2, m1) around.
Round 5: k2, m1, k1, m1, k3, m1, k4, m1, k2, m1, k3, m1, k1, m1, k2.
Round 6: Knit.
Round 7: k4, m1, k to last 4 sts, m1, k4.
Round 8: Knit.
Round 9: k3, k2tog, k to last 5 sts, ssk, k3.
Round 10: k3, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k1, ssk, k3, ssk, k3.
Begin stuffing the head as it is being closed up.
Round 11: k3, k3tog, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, k3tog tbl, k3.
Round 12: k2, k2tog, k6, ssk, k2.
Round 13: k2tog, k2tog, k4, ssk, ssk.
Knit 2 rounds.
Break yarn and pull through all sts.

Ears (make 2)
CO 4 sts.
Row 1: Knit.
Row 2: k to last st, m1, k1.
Row 3: Knit.
BO.

Front legs (make 2)
CO 4 sts.
Work i-cord for 4 rounds.
Next round: k1, m1, k2, m1, k1. Do not turn.
Work 2 more rounds of i-cord.
Next round: k2, m1, k2, m1, k2. Do not turn.
Work 2 more rounds of i-cord.
Next round: k3, m1, k2, m1, k3. Do not turn.
Work 2 more rounds of i-cord.
Next round: k2tog 5 times, then break yarn and pull through all sts.

Back legs (make 2)
CO 6 sts.
Knit 1 round. Do not turn.
Next round: k1, m1, k4, m1, k1.
Work i-cord (or knit around) for 4 rounds.
Next round: k2, k2tog, ssk, k2.
Next round: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1.
Knit 2 rounds i-cord.
Next round: k1, m1, k2, m1, k1. Do not turn.
Work 1 more round of i-cord.
Next round: k2, m1, k2, m1, k2. Do not turn.
Work 3 rounds of i-cord.
Next round: k3, m1, k2, m1, k3. Do not turn.
Next round: k2tog 5 times, then break yarn and pull through all sts.

Neck & Body
CO 12 sts. Join in the round.
Knit 3 rounds.
Round 4: k2, m1, k2, m1, k4, k2tog, k2.
Round 5: Knit.
Round 6: k2, m1, k4, m1, k3, k2tog, k2.
Round 7: Knit.
Round 8: k2, m1, k6, m1, k2, cdd, k1.
Body short rows:
k1, k9, w&t.
sl1, p8, w&t.
sl1, k6, w&t.
sl1, p4, w&t.
sl1, k4, w&t.
sl1, p4, w&t.
sl1, k4, knit wraps with next st, w&t.
sl1, p5, p wraps with next st, w&t.
sl1, k6, k wraps with next st, w&t.
sl1, p6, p wraps with next st, w&t.
sl1, Knit around, concealing remaining wraps as you go. End of short rows.
Knit 1 more round, concealing all remaining wraps.
Next round: k2tog, k2, m1, k2, m1, k2, m1, k2, ssk, k2.
Next round: Knit.
Next round: k2, m1, k to last 2 sts, m1, k2.
Knit 2 rounds.
Next round: k4, m1, k5, m1, k to end. 19 sts.
Next round: Knit.
Next round: k1, k2tog, k13, ssk, k1.
Next round: k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k5, ssk, k1, ssk, k1.
Next round: k1, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1, ssk, k1, ssk, k1.
Next round: k2tog to last st, k1.
Break yarn and pull through all sts.

Wings (optional, make two)
CO 3 sts.
Knit 2 rows.
Row 3: k1, m1, k2.
Row 4: k3, m1, k1.
Row 5: k1, m1, k4.
Row 6: k5, m1, k1.
Row 7: BO2, k to end.
Row 8: k4, m1, k1.
Row 9: k1, m1, k5.
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: k1, m1, k6.
Row 12: k6, k2tog.
Row 13: BO2, k3tog tbl, k1.
Row 14: Knit.
Row 15: k1, k2tog
Knit 2 rows.
Row 18: ssk and pull yarn through final st.

Finishing
Weave in all BO edge ends (the CO edge ends will be used for sewing up). Stuff body firmly - the neck should not be able to bend.

Put a little stuffing into each leg if desired to keep them poofy. Attach front and back legs to body. Cut some lengths of wire slightly longer than the pony's legs, and thread them through each leg and into the body. This allows the pony to stand up.

Attach the ears to the head.
Embroider eyes, nostrils, and mouth onto head, and cutie mark onto back legs. Attach head to body.

Mane & Tail
My favorite way of making hair is by using brushed-out yarn. This creates a mane & tail that are more realistic than regular yarn hair, as well as having more volume and able to hold some simple styling.

First, cut some loops of yarn as if you were making a fringe - a length of yarn twice the length you want, folded in half. Hold the yarn in the middle by the loops, and gently begin brushing it out with a hand carder or dog brush - something with sharp sturdy metal bristles, not a regular hair brush. Start at the tips and work your way up. The yarn will begin to fray and become fuzzy. The plies of the yarn will break apart, and you will be left with a length of airy fluffy hair. Don't worry if a lot of fiber comes off onto the brush; that's normal. You should be able to brush out a maximum of 3 or 4 inches before it breaks apart. The length you can brush will depend on what yarn you use. Brush the yarn out until you have about 1" left of yarn in the center.

Then, take several loops together. Using a crochet hook, catch a stitch on the pony's neck or backside and pull the loops through, then pull the brushed out ends through the loops (just like making the fringe on a scarf). Pull firmly, then very gently brush out the section of yarn that hasn't been brushed yet. Repeat until your pony has a full tail and mane. Trim and style if desired.

I hope you enjoyed this pattern. I ask that you please not sell any ponies made from this pattern. Thank you!

~Joyuna

KNIT Mag Sock Club Wollmeise Shipment!

2011-11-04T12:10:00.001Z

Yesterday I got another shipment from the Knit Magazine Sock Club. This is a special shipment, because the yarn this time is Wollmeise! I've gotten some Wollmeise before - the Twin sock yarn direct from her site and some Lace from Knit Nation - but I won't say no to more! Claudia's colors are wonderfully saturated, and I love the generously sized skeins.

The base is 100% Merino, which feels a little bit softer than the Twin I've used before. But, it doesn't have any nylon content, so I'm not sure whether I'll use it for socks. The color is Brombeere, which is absolutely to die for. It's the kind of color I wouldn't buy for myself, but it's really gorgeous.

~Joyuna