Katya Frankel

NEW PATTERN – PONT NEUF

2017-07-07T13:02:00.004+01:00

Pont Neuf has seen a revamp last week with new photography and layout and is now available on Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com directly from me.

Long, draping shape of Pont Neuf combines squishy garter stitch with an attractive textured panel of lace and cable. It is knitted in bouncy Illustrious yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners, which blends Falklands wool with British alpaca to create a warm, airy fabric.

Read more »

NEW PATTERN – KITTY'S CHEMISE

2017-07-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Kitty's Chemise, an Austen inspired design, has recently seen a revamp with new photography and layout. The pattern is now available on Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com

Kitty's Chemise begins at the hem and is knitted in the round, up. There is some waist shaping running along the alternating stocking stitch panels, followed by cute little sleeves with raglan shaping and finally a bit of an I-cord to perfectly finish the neckline and sleeve caps.

Read more »

NEW PATTERN – OFF THE RADAR

2017-06-28T11:56:00.000+01:00

Don't you just love a good dose of short rows on a circular yoke? Off the Radar was published last year in Simply Knitting magazine as Go Green! and has since become one of my favourite tops to wear.

Read more »

NEW PATTERN – NEVER ENOUGH STRIPES

2017-06-23T11:29:00.002+01:00

Every yarn needs a perfect project to be paired with it... I got the three skeins of Coopknits' Socks Yeah! just over a year ago with some colourwork project in mind and then let it sit for a while waiting its turn and couldn't have been happier with the shawl they became.

Indie June 2017

2017-06-05T16:33:00.000+01:00

Loveknitting.com is celebrating its third Indie June, as always, with an emphasis on independent designers. Like in the previous two years, there will be interviews and highlights circling the indie ways on the LK blog with an excellent line up that I am really looking forward to reading later on this month.

image courtesy of LoveKnitting.com

As a bit of 'from me to you' gesture I put together a selection of summer patterns from my LoveKnitting store to be offered at a discounted price of £2 a copy. There is something for everybody in there – tops, cardigans, kiddie tees, you name it.

You can find them HERE until the end of June 2017.

Happy knitting,
xx

Head to Toe – Three Years On

2016-11-08T15:19:00.001+00:00

Exactly three years ago yesterday a brief email burst into my inbox with the news of Head to Toe preorders going live. The excitement! A whole year's wait, the back and forth with the editors, the almost last minute dash to find some missing pattern photos were over with the resulting bundle ready to be seen by the knitters. Its reception was overwhelmingly positive. The emails, reviews and feedback on each and every project from the book were copious and reassuringly exciting to read; people took the time to write about it and to knit and to comment on Ravelry projects.
Book sales however, never matched the reviews. And this part to me is so so heart breaking because of the amount of thought and work that went into each project. The royalties statements were discouraging at best, going from low to dismal to is-it-even-worth-printing-them now?

Earlier this summer I had numerous conversations with Shannon, examining the royalties statements and studying the ever dropping sales figures and we came to a conclusion that the time has come to discontinue Head to Toe.

Going forward. I believe, Cooperative Press still have a number of print copies in stock that they'll be selling until all gone. I have a number of copies I ordered last year that you can buy from Big Cartel and Etsy that I'd love to sign for you if you buy one – make sure to drop a note.

I am slowly re-working the patterns to be available singly directly from me on Ravelry, PatternFish and LoveKnitting.com, with another round of tech editing and a new layout. This should come in dribs and drabs over the next couple of months.

And moving on!

NEW PATTERN – EYELET RAGLAN

2016-11-02T09:43:00.002+00:00

Originally published in knit.wear Fall/Winter 2013, the Eyelet Raglan is now available as a direct download from me on Ravelry.

Eyelet Raglan takes the strings of eyelets and turns them into a feature on an otherwise traditional raglan pullover. The waist shaping and raglan lines, accentuated with yarnovers, pop on a reversed stocking stitch ground making them stand out.
Read more »

Grey Matters KAL

2016-09-28T16:11:00.002+01:00

So… first of all, I want to say a huge thank you for such a great reception! I was itching to have the patterns out so much and see what you guys think. For those who chose to get single patterns rather than the full collection, here is a bit of an explanation about the story behind the name.

Why Grey Matters? Grey as in colour. I go on about the inspiration behind the collection in the actual booklet much more in depth, but in a gist … “… Easy on your eye, the grey is a versatile colour; it comes in a multitude of hues and goes pretty much with everything. It waits eagerly to be coloured
in, to fall back and let the colour become the focal point”.

You will have noticed that this year’s patterns are all knitted using only one yarn - Ginger Twist. These are great, vibrant colours that were an absolute pleasure to work with. Big shout out to Jess for producing such beautiful hand-dyed yarns.

There is a #greymatterskal Ravelry and I hope you will join in, bright colours are encouraged and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everybody is picking for their colour combos.

The cast on date is 8th October, you can find the rest of the KAL details over in my Ravelry group.

Books on BigCartel

2016-07-27T15:51:00.000+01:00

Just a quick note to say that I am taking some time off for the summer holidays and although this does not affect the digital pattern sales (thank you LoveKnitting, PatternFish and Ravelry!) both of the print books that I sell through BigCartel are back on as of August 1st! will be put on hold after this coming Friday for the duration of August. The last posting day will be on Saturday July 30th, so if you wanted a copy that couldn't wait until autumn – now's the time to get it!

NEW PATTERN – PEPPERED

2016-06-22T14:51:00.001+01:00

With a raglan sleeve, a bit of polka-dot texture and a top down construction, Peppered is as friendly as they come.

NEW PATTERN – STEPPING STONES SHAWL

2016-05-25T09:36:00.000+01:00

The Stepping Stones Shawl was designed a couple of years ago for the knit.purl publication asking to interpret a 'water' theme in stitches and design features. I had a vague idea at that time circling around waves and stepping stones set through a stream that, after playing around with swatches to figure out how they could fit together, became this shawl.

NEW PATTERN – on the Bright Side

2016-05-16T12:53:00.000+01:00

Lace knitting is great for summer – the bold mesh stitch pattern is created using simple techniques, it's quick to memorise and is beautiful on a large expanse of fabric.

On the Bright Side was originally published as part of a Knit Today issue a couple of years ago and I am very happy to [finally] announce that it is available as a direct download from Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com.

Read more »

NEW PATTERN – Eleanor on Holiday

2016-05-02T13:23:00.001+01:00

About a couple years back, Fyberspates Vivacious caught my eye at a wool show and without a plan of any kind I bought two skeins of this delicious azure blue. It sat in the box for a very long time and eventually decided to become a cardigan. The limited amount of yarn, however, meant that the design had to be approached with a lot of forethought and planning. And the result is something I am very proud of – whilst most of my top down raglans boast 'little finishing', this one literally has only the weaving in of tail ends to do once the knitting's finished. There's no attaching of the front band, no sewing of underarms closed, there's nothing aside from hiding of the yarn ends.

How to: Make an I-cord Cast on

2016-04-29T20:58:00.000+01:00

Caldera Cardigan, published last month, is knitted from the top down beginning with an I-cord cast on. There's a couple of ways in which you can approach this, although which one to use depends on whether the I-cord is the same colour as the rest of the yoke (or body, if you're working from the bottom up).

NEW PATTERN – CALDERA CARDIGAN

2016-04-13T08:52:00.002+01:00

Caldera cardigan is worked seamlessly, using DK weight yarn, from the collar down.

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2016

2016-03-29T10:00:00.002+01:00

I had just under a day to spend looking over the yarns, the buttons, the fibre, all things knitting and wool related along the way, to talk to old friends and meet new, so much can be squeezed in a short period of time.

It turns out the building of Corn Exchange can fit an astounding number of people - it was buzzing with chatter, with conversation, with ooh's about one another's knitwear. Wherever I looked, my eye caught a glimpse of a shawl, a cardi, the seasoned festival goers even managed to don on a hat indoors, although the air was warm (as said by the person who's cold all the time everywhere but inside a hot bath).

If at all possible, Edinburgh Yarn Festival was even better this year. I can't quite put my finger on it, perhaps I was less busy and there was more time to talk with people?

A tiny portion of Ginger Twist's stall

EDINBURGH YARN FESTIVAL 2016

2016-03-18T09:47:00.000+00:00

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2016 is here! My IG feed is bursting with excitement and I'm getting ready to visit tomorrow (Saturday the 19th) as well!

A selection of my patterns, including the Tracery Shawl, Numinous, Rivelin Scarf, Cove Bay and the new Jagger Shawl can be found at the Yarn Garden stall as part of kits paired with their delicious yarns.
I'm going as a punter and will hopefully bump into you tomorrow. Do say hi if you see me! And if not, pop in later next week on the ginormous post-EYF update!

The list of stalls I must see is as long as my arm, there are some old favourites of course but also some new ones, like Daughter of a Shepherd, Kate Davies' Buachallie and Rachal Coopey's Socks Yeah! yarns that wanted to fondle. Which stalls did you visit, yarns loved and books leafed through?

NEW PATTERN – CABLE SAMPLER COWL

2016-03-13T16:30:00.002+00:00

The Cable Sampler Cowl was originally published as part of the Designer Challenge rubric in the Knit Now magazine in 2013. It is now available as a single pattern on Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com

NEW PATTERN – RAVENNA COWL

2016-03-02T10:52:00.000+00:00

The Ravenna Cowl was originally published in KnitScene Winter 2014 issue and I am very excited to be able to offer the pattern as a PDF through Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com

NEW PATTERN – COTSWOLD

2016-02-26T22:31:00.003+00:00

COTSWOLD jumper was originally published in The Knitter just over a year ago and I am very pleased to let you know that it is now available as a PDF download on Ravelry and LoveKnitting.com

Join me for the Anything Goes KAL

2016-02-20T11:51:00.000+00:00

Rather excitingly today marks the beginning of my very first knit-along and I hope you can join me!

NEW PATTERN – FOLIOLE

2016-02-05T17:33:00.004+00:00

FOLIOLE is the last of three patterns designed for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts last year that I am now happy to offer as a PDF download on Ravelry and LoveKnitting.

How to keep track of cast on stitches

2016-01-28T10:28:00.002+00:00

A tiny little trick I use to keep track of my cast on stitches because there's nothing worse than being short of a few stitches at the end of the first row of knitting. If you've miscounted a hat cast on, or a sleeve cuff that's only mildly annoying and can be quickly redone. But what about a 100 stitches of a top down collar or a couple of hundred of a bottom up body circumference? How about 300 or 400 on a shawl that's knitted from the edge up?

NEW PATTERN – SIDEREAL

2016-01-25T10:10:00.000+00:00

Shawls is one of my favourite things to knit. It's up there together with socks and hats, the projects that are fairly quick and instantly noticeable. They don't use up much yarn and, shawls in particular, are perfect for those precious skeins that want to be shown off. The Sidereal Shawl is a bit of new waters for me, as I've only designed one large shawl in the past! It was however, fun!

SLIP CABLE HAT – REVAMPED

2016-01-02T20:03:00.000+00:00

I hope you've all had a good New Year's celebration! It's been a wonderful year and I'm looking forward to yet another knitterly year, full of design and new patterns. At the end of 2015 I decided to revamp one of my very first patterns – the Slip-Cable Hat. We have made a new sample and had the pattern re-edited and obviously arranged into the latest layout with new photographs.

Read more »