knitting pattern
Oorik Pattern Reveal!!!
I’m pleased as punch to reveal my contribution, Oorik, to the great new book A Year of Techniques by the ever-clever duo at Arnall-Culliford Knitwear, Jen and Jim.
Oorik is a sweet vest for the toddler in your life, the word Oorik which means “small person” in old Shetland dialect.
Knit in the round with just four colors. Of course never more than two are used in a single round. The sweet vest features two border patterns alternated with a single peerie pattern. I feel the colors are suitable for all genders, but they are easily substituted for you to dream up your own color scheme, which would be really fun. I can’t wait to see what folks come up with.
Steeking is the technique you’ll learn with Oorik. As with every project in this stellar book there is a technique to learn and master. Jen and Jim have made a video tutorial which will be go live on Mason-Dixon Knitting on 1st Feb 2018, the same date as a KAL will begin.
A Year of Techniques (with complimentary ebook) costs £19.99 plus shipping, or you can buy the ebook only for £19.99.
Visit Arnall-Culliford Knitwear to purchase.
A kit with the yarn will soon be available in their shop as well.
I hope you’ll join us for the KAL in February…if you can wait that long!
If I ever need cheering up I look at the many photos of Jen and Jim’s niece the vest. I know full well how challenging photographing a toddler can be – she is the cutest!!!
Sea Urchin Treasure Bag
Sea Urchin Treasure Bag is a new pattern of mine found in Making Vol.2: Fauna. My essay describing the magic of the annual sheep shearing on Nash Island, in downeast Maine is also included in the issue.
Making Vol.2: Fauna, is rich with projects and inspiration, as is always the case with Carrie Bostick Hoge’s publications. For me FAUNA is an especially compelling subject, a tribute to the various creatures that intrigue and inspire us, either at our homes or in the wild. I’ll leave you with some eye candy. I suggest ordering your copy today before it is sold out!
Making is a bi-annual themed publication for knitters and makers.
Order your copy here:
All photos @Carrie Bostick Hoge
Making – A new magazine
Update! Wildflowers Cap is available for individual purchase. Here:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/wildflowers-cap
You may have already heard the news, one of my favorite people in the world, Carrie Bostick Hoge, has started a new bi-annual magazine for knitters and makers called Making. In her own words, she describes the impulse for her new endeavor:
“The act of making helps to connect us to the past, knowing that many craft skills were practiced daily out of necessity. We also connect to our present, as we stop to slow down and enjoy the work at hand, leaving behind the stress of our busy days. And, possibly at the heart of our creations, is the future. As the sweater we knit or the blanket we quilt becomes an heirloom for our family to use, enjoy, and pass down to the next generation. Circling back and tying us to the past. All these connections are equally important and help to bring meaning and value to the beauty and utility we make.”
Making future heirlooms, but really who cares if the result is perfect, we’re actually making future memories! Live your making in the moment.
I’m so lucky to have been able to contribute to the first issue, Flora. I made the Wildflowers Cap seen above. The spring comes late in Maine, and the first flowers are little blue ones. I chose a traditional stylized Scandinavian floral motif, one of my favorites. I love how it looks so modern, yet the beauty of the yarn brings the feeling of something you’ve always had in the closet…The yarn is Fancy Tiger Craft’s Heirloom Romney …
There’s a great selection of knitting patterns in the magazine all beautifully photographed by Carrie. I love how she paired my hat with her own Branches and Buds, a yoked pullover.
But besides knitting there’s quilting, sewing, crochet, cross stitch, block printing, needle felting and even flower crown making! We all need a flower crown sometimes!
All of these things take time, and we need to take the time. Even if we just look at the pretty pictures, it’s nice to take the time for ourselves. It makes us more able to take time with others if we’ve relaxed with just our self. This is a lesson I had to learn the hard way!
You can buy individual copies through the new Making website, hurry before they sell out! I heard the first batch will ship very very soon!
FLORA, the Spring issue, includes knit designs by Carrie Bostick Hoge, Susan B. Anderson, Hannah Fettig, Mary Jane Mucklestone, Melissa LaBarre, Cecily Glowik MacDonald, and Dawn Catanzaro.
Other contributions from Kristine Vejar, Carolyn Friedlander, Anna Graham, Alicia Paulson, Cal Patch, Kim Hamlin, Eliza Jane Curtis, Hillary Lang, Beatrice Perron Dahlen, Lori Ann Graham, Nicole Dupuis, David Iovino, and Trey Hughes.
A stellar crew!!!!
It is Still Winter!!!!
For my birthday I got cross-country SKIS + boots + poles which = FUN! So I’m still rooting for another snowstorm, though I am way in the minority around these parts. Sure some flowers would be nice, I can almost smell them when the sun comes out, and a robin or two singing would be cheery…but new snow would be even more fun for me now!
I’m outfitted in the Lopapeysa I got last summer in Iceland. Perfect, zips both ways. I’ve got my overalls on so my pants won’t fall down. I’m wearing my Elfin Peak Hat…and a stash busting scarf I made a while back with pom poms. Pom poms, as you may know, make you ski faster.
Of course you can make a scarf like this out of just about anything. I’m sure you can just whip this baby up without instructions, but sometimes you just don’t want to THINK AT ALL…Just Make!
For a scarf that measures 5.5 inches(14cm) wide and 43 inches(109cm) long – 45 inches(114cm) when measured with the pompoms – here’s what I did:
Yarn: 1 skein Bartlettyarns 2 ply 100% Maine Wool [4oz /200yds (114g/183m)] ; Color “Bracken”. Assorted colors of worsted weight yarn for pom poms 10 x 9yd (8.25m) lengths.
Needles: US8 (5mm) 24″ (60cm) or 32″ (80cm) circular needle – due to large number of stitches.
Notions: tapestry needle, 1 3/4″ (4.5cm) pom pom maker if desired.
POM POM HAPPINESS SCARF
Cast on 154 stitches. Knitting flat, knit every stitch every row for garter stitch.
Knit 48 rows.
Bind Off. Weave in ends.
Make 10 – 1.5″ (4cm) pompoms…any color you like! Leave the yarn that you tie the pom pom together with long, and use those ends to sew them to the edge of the scarf – 5 on each end.
I like a really chubby pompom so I used about 9 yards (8.25m) for each. I use the “easy wrap” pom pom maker from Susan Bates and I trim my pom poms closely….a little obsessively.
Now you’re ready – to the woods!
You can have this pattern as a Free Ravelry Download if you can’t keep those complex directions in your head!
A Gift for You!
On Christmas Eve, the wonderful Kate Davies offered a free gift to her loyal readers. A Muff! I was flattered to find in my honor! A Mucklemuff! Imagine! She used pattern motif #172 from my book 200 Fair Isle Motifs. She used the book just as it should be used, as a jumping off point for her own ideas….she took the allover arrangement and lengthened it…but after you read this run over an read what she has to say, the patten is free for a couple more days.
I imagined that I’d get my little gift to you my dear readers on New Year’s Day, but all I could manage was the knitting and the pictures…the rest took me a bit but we’re all good to go now! I also used pattern motif #172 but I flipped it a little to make a mirror image. I chose fingerless mitts because my hands are always cold in Seattle, but full mittens are just too hot. Fingerless mitts are just the ticket. I knit the crazy bright ones first, I was inspired by the mounds of Tulips for sale at the Pike Place Market. A burst of spring in the dead of winter!
Understanding that I don’t always feel like being that cheerful or conspicuous, I dug through my stash and came up with the Red-Violet ones, Rødlilla in Norwegian. I’ve been in a Norwegian mood, spending the winter in Seattle, taking nips of Linie Aquavitt to keep the damp at bay. So I used Dale of Norway Heilo and Falk both.
I’ve been spending time with my little sister which has been lots and lots of fun. She is a vibrant glowing good natured being, and always willing to be a model on the spur of the moment! You’d never know her hands were covered with paint 20 minutes before we took the pictures. She chose the colors for the third pair, diving into my stash and choosing natural and a pale chartreuse. Both yarns are Classic Elite; Princess and Inca Alpaca. They compliment each other, the alpaca giving the green a slighty seaweedy look.
I’m especially happy how all the mitts look great with the camel hair coat I found for my mom. They each lend a totally different feel to it.
So download the pattern here and attack that stash of yours!
Free until January 16th, 2012!
