Patterns
-
Mini Hearts Socks – New Pattern
When I have ideas for new textures I typically test them out in what I refer to as a “yarn doodle”. I just have leftover yarn that I leave on spare needles so I can try out new ideas because things look different between your head and a drawing, and between a drawing and actual knitting. When I was testing some ideas for hearts I tried the stitch pattern from the Little Hearts Washcloth in both sock yarn and worsted weight cotton I also tried another version of a heart. It didn’t look good in worsted weight cotton, but I did like it in sock yarn. The idea for this…
-
Make the Nowel Christmas Tree Skirt
I have had a number of ideas for Christmas tree skirts floating around in my head for years. It’s partially because I have had my own Christmas tree for 5 years (this is year 6), and have never had a tree skirt, mostly because I couldn’t find one I really liked. Or couldn’t decide, I am a very deliberative person. Then this year my sister asked me for a tree skirt for herself. She has a pencil tree because when she and her husband first got married they lived in a pretty small apartment that was just over 400 square feet, and even though there wasn’t much space, there was…
-
A Perfect Cozy Throw: The Chunky Textured Blanket
This post contains some affiliate links, which at no extra cost to you gives me a small payment for referring you to their website if you make a purchase. Long, long ago a friend asked if I would make her a new blanket for her couch. Originally just to throw on the couch and maybe for the dog to sit on. I had her choose the yarn, giving the direction that it should be washable and super bulky. Washable because kids & dog of course, super bulky because a throw in any other weight would be a very long-term project! As it turned out, it became a pretty long-term project…
-
Practice Basic Knitting Stitches with the Stitch Primer Beanie & Cowl
This post contains some affiliate links which give me a small commission for referring you to a website, at no additional cost to you. I love texture. That was the whole point with my first hat pattern, the Longjohn Beanie, and it remained my goal with these two pieces! The Longjohn Beanie actually inspired the Stitch Primer duo. As you may know from the Longjohn Beanie blog post, waffle textures are some of my favourite textures. But one of the things that makes up that waffle pattern is slipped stitches. Right now slipped stitches are one of my other favourites. They’re in these patterns, they’re in a test knit I’m…
-
Beach Nights Pullover – The Perfect Summer Layer for Your Wardrobe
This page contains some affiliate links, which give me a little bit of money if you buy product from that vendor (at no additional cost to you). There are many ways people get inspired to create a new design. Usually I have ideas that aren’t necessarily inspired by one particular thing. The Beach Nights Pullover though was inspired very specifically by Season 3 Episode 25 of Friends – “The One at the Beach”. When Rachel and Ross are talking outside the beach house that night Rachel is wearing this super baggy, loose-knit, off-white sweater. I sketched out what I thought I had seen, thinking it would be a great summer…
-
Brentview Crossed Tank
Let me tell you the story of how the Brentview Crossed Tank came to be. Get the pattern on Ravelry. Get the pattern from my website. Back in March 2019 I was waiting for a light to go from ‘Don’t Walk’ to ‘Walk’ as I was heading into church, and thinking about knit designs. Knitting is usually what I think about when I’m doing something that doesn’t require a lot of attention. When I got the picture of the back of this top in my mind it became all I thought about for the next few hours. The first sketches of this top were done on a church bulletin insert.…
-
Opposition Socks
Inspiration for this pattern came from two places. First of all, I loved the effect of the traveling stitches that I learned while making my Autumn League Pullover from Two of Wands. Not having to use a cable needle for the effect achieved was fantastic! And I started thinking of all sorts of ways it could be used. From these ways I had thought of, the first use I wanted to put into yarn was arrows. The second inspiration came from one of the other hobbies in my life – dance. Dancers are constantly flowing through varied positions with various bases of support and changing centres of gravity. In order…
-
First Flakes Beanie
While I was finishing up the I Smell Snow Scarf I was thinking how it would be nice to have a matching hat. It’s not really ideal though to have holes in a toque (beanie) if I just put snowflake lace onto the hat. I then realized the double brim beanie concept could be modified giving a peek-a-boo effect to the inside of the double brim. There are a few hats already that have some sort of variation on “I Smell Snow” in the name, so I landed on First Flakes for this beanie, which keeps the spirit of the phrase. It would have been nice to have a matching…
-
I Smell Snow Scarf
I started watching Gilmore Girls when I was in my first year of university. My friends and I were hooked, watching the 1st season DVDs, always saying, “One more episode…” even if it was already 1:00 in the morning. Watching the new episodes every Tuesday night then became a big event for the next two years. As a result of this I tend to be a sucker for Gilmore Girls-related things, and I fell in love with the Handmade Home Fibers colourway called I Smell Snow last fall. I got some sock weight yarn, and some bulky weight yarn. Enough bulky to hopefully make a scarf. Especially since I love…
-
Longjohn Beanie – My First Tested Pattern
First of all I need to disclose something. I HATE the word beanie. To me beanie does not refer to this kind of hat, but apparently it does indicate a toque (the Canadian/French-Canadian word for this kind of hat), to the rest of the world, so beanie it is. Ok, now that’s out of the way I can continue talking about this particular toque – the Longjohn Beanie. I love waffles, waffle-weave shirts, and waffle-weave pyjamas. There is a gorgeous waffle stitch in crochet and I wanted a knit version of it, and then came across this one. I actually had another intention for this stitch that is hopefully still…
