My Sanguine Gryphon Winter Pattern

Jane Austen is one of my favourite authors for so many reasons, including the aesthetic ideals of her period. So when Sanguine Gryphon where asking for literary inspired patterns for their winter line, I didn’t have to look far for inspiration.

Every woman who has ever read one of Jane Austen’s books, or seen a screen play of one of them, finds themselves filled with a longing to wear some of the beautiful garments depicted in them. As knitters, our thoughts turns to flowing lace garments knotted with delicate ribbons, all in the most delightful shades of soft pink and greens, trapping that romantic feeling Austen’s words gives us. But then we sober up and start thinking: “Can I really knit a lace gown? Isn’t that very difficult? How will I ever be able to knit the garment of my dreams?”.

Fear not, Her Fit Flowed Long is not a difficult knit! It is knitted from the top down and starts at the pointed lace edging at the neck, from which stitches are picked up for the back. After the sleeves are finished, it all comes together as one piece with even the lace edgings being knitted at the same time as the rest.
There’s a lot of different stitch patterns in it, to make it grow wider within the lace pattern, but as long as you keep good track of your k2tog, yo, ssk and other lace stitches you will find yourselves at the hemline soon enough. And with very little sewing to be done, all you need to do is block it, lace in the ribbon, put on your best dress and start wearing it.

There’s lots of prejudices about lace knitting, but it’s time to take a closer look at them and, like Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, throw them away so that they will not stand in way of your dreams. Cast off your prejudices and take pride in your ability to knit a lace gown!

The pattern is available from The Sanguine Gryphon and is knitted in their lovely Skinny Bugga yarn. The colour variations and the shine of the yarn makes it perfect for this pattern.

To make sure that everyone can knit this gown I have written the pattern for sizes XS-5XL! So head over to Sanguine Gryphon for the pattern, bring out your yarn and needles and start knitting and you will soon find yourself in the company of Mr Darcy where Her Wit Flowed Long

 

Twist Collective

The Winter issue of Twist Collective came up today and in it is my Let it snow pattern. It is so nice to finally see it in print! I was also very happy to see that they have used my design for the news letter picture.  The picture below is taken by Mårten Ivert and is from the magazine.

The pattern features a snowflake cable motif together with i-cord edgings to give the hat and mittens a more finished look. I hope that many of you are as happy with this design as I am! A quick look at the Ravelry activity for the few hours it’s been up tells me you are…

 

Easy Breezy Shoulder Shrug

I have a friend that started knitting when she realized that there are lots and lots of beautiful garments to knit and that knitting had moved on from itchy sweaters of the type you as a child was unhappy enough to get as gift from older relatives. Rather than learning to walk before se could run she flipped through all my knitting patterns and wanted to do all the pretty but very complicated patterns. Since I didn’t want so see her swearing, ripping things out over and over and eventually giving up knitting I decided to make a pattern for her.

I designed this with her and all other beginners in mind so that they could knit something pretty that looks way more complicated than it is. The pattern has only one lace knitting row in four, the rest is either knitted or purled rows. Rather than adding the edge lace after the main piece is knitted I included it in the main part so that there wouldn’t have to be any picking up of stitches or grafting. It is knitted as a straight piece so there are no increases or decreases to keep track of and there’s very little sewing to do once the knitting is done.

As long as you concentrate on that one lace knitting row, which has very easy lace stitches and could easily be learned by heart, the rest of the knitting is a mellow knit-and-talk type of knitting that is very easy indeed. That’s why it’s named the Easy Breezy Shoulder Shrug.

Sizing

Size: XS (S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4XL, 5XL). Shown in size L.
Width (arm width and back length):
28 (32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56) cm
11 (12.5, 14.25, 15.75, 17.25, 18.9, 18.9, 20.5, 22) inches.
Length from end of arm to end of arm:
60 (60, 60, 70, 70, 70, 80, 80, 80) cm
23.5 (23.5, 23.5, 27.5, 27.5, 27.5, 31.5, 31.5, 31.5) inches

About the yarn
Anny Blatt Fine Kid is a wool/mohair blend which makes it perfect for this pattern. It is smooth enough o show off the lace pattern but fuzzy enough to make the shrug both warm and cozy.

Main Yarn:     Anny Blatt Fine Kid, 280 yd/255 m per 50 g skein; 1 (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2) skeins (total: 280-560 yd/255-510 m, 50-100g).
Colours:    AnnyBlatt Fine Kid is available in many colours. It is shown in the colour Zephir.

Needle:      6 mm/US #10 circular needle, 24-inches or longer, or size required to achieve stated gauge

Tension/Gauge: 22 sts/32 rows = 4” in stockinette stitch using 3,5 mm /US #4 needles (for yarn comparisons only).
15 sts/20 rows = 4″ in stockinette stitch using 6 mm /US #10 needles
17 sts/20 rows = 4″ in pattern stitch after blocking, using 6 mm/US #10 needles

Other materials: Silk ribbon, 1 cm /0.4 inches wide, 1.60 (1.65, 1.70, 1.80, 1.90, 2.00, 2.00, 205, 210) meter / 1.7 (1.8, 1.9, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.2, 2.25, 2.3) yards long.

Technique
Difficulty: Easy
Stitches used: knit, purl, yarn over, decreasing (knit 2 together)

Pattern type
The shrug is worked in one piece from the lower back up to the neck including the arms. It is then sewn together under the arms. There are no increases or decreases in the pattern apart from the points of the lace at the arm edges.

The lace pattern is and adaptation of the well known lace known as Old Shale, Peacock or Feather and Fan and added a border that is sometimes known as Myrtle leaf. They are both patterns with easy lace stitches and there’s no shaping to remember.

Getting it!

The Easy Breezy Shoulder Shrug is available as a pdf-file for $3.50 at my Etsyshop or through  Ravelry (available without an account). The pattern has written instructions as well as a chart for the lace pattern.

Ravelry – pattern listing with option to buy and download
Etsy – buy trough my store

 

Collective, chunky and charity

October has been one of those busy months when all editing work piles up while I’m doing the practical part of my work. Knitting, that is. Winter is coming and apart from sample knitting for patterns I am also filling up orders. There has been design work as well, since I couldn’t resist designing for chunky yarns when my LYS (local yarn shop) had a sale on some lovely solid and printed Eskimo yarn from Garnstudio/Drops.

The pattern for this and some other designs will be published in November as a line of quick knitted chunky patterns.

Today I sent in the first comments on the proof read for my pattern that will be published in Twist Collective’s Winter Issue. I am so proud over the fact that I will have a pattern in the magazine where all my favourite designers have been published! It’s the best company a knitting designer can have. I won’t give away any clues about the pattern itself so you’ll have to wait for it until the actual publishing.

Speaking of collective: I have just formed Garnkollektivet (the Yarn Collective) a knitting collective with Ewa, a very productive knitting friend of mine. You can find us at Facebook where we will publish photos of finished knitted items available to buy as well as information on how to order personalised knitwear from our designs. To start it off and to emphasize the fact that October is breast cancer awareness month here in Sweden we have created a lottery where you can win a knitted items, jewellery and hand coloured yarn. All the money from the lottery tickets will go to Rosa bandet, the Swedish collection of funds for cancer research. You can buy a lottery ticket by using the button in the side bar.

Back to editing and knitting for me. Until next time, Merry knitting!

 

The Pentacle Cap

This is the discreet version of my more symbol obvious Pentagram tam. The cap has a cabled pentacle hidden between the ribbings of this classical style men’s hat. With a fold up it becomes a watch man cap and without the fold it will be discreetly cabled men’s hat with a sign for those who knows how to look for it.

Style and sizing
Hat with folded edge: One size.
Hat without folded edge: small 52 cm / 20 ½”, (medium: 55 cm / 21 ¾”, large: 58 cm / 22 ¾”)
The hat with folded edge  ribbing takes just under 2 skeins of Alaska. For a longer rib or if you need to be on the safe side of the amount used get 3 skeins.

About the yarn
The pattern uses Garnstudio’s Alaska. It is a pure wool worsted yarn that is available in many colours. It has a rather smooth texture that shows off the cables in a good way. Any woollen yarn with similar structure and the same tension/gauge should work fine.

Main Yarn:              Garnstudio Alaska, 2 skeins (total: 100 g, ca 150 m)
Needles:                    5 mm/US 8 circular needle 40 cm / 16” and dpns
Other tools:             cable needle, darning needle
Tension/Gauge: 17 st = 10 cm in stockinette stitch.

Technique
Difficulty: Intermediate
Stitches used: knit, purl, increasing, decreasing, purled decreasing, cables

 

Autumn as in Accessories

The most beautiful part of the autumn is here and I have even had the pleasure of seeing some leaves in their new splendid colours. Autumn has always been my knitting season above all others and this year is no exception. I am currently doing the last knitting for my exhibition, that will open October 2, and in two weeks I’m leaving home for a week of building and hanging of all the knitted objects. I will also translate many of my pattern so you Swedish knitters out there can look forward to patterns in your native language. Apart from actually visiting the exhibition, that is.

For the rest of you it is time to accessorize. Today I will publish a pattern for a men’s hat, the Pentacle Cap, which shows a discreetly cabled pentacle on top of a ribbed hat. This might be the one for those of you not brave enough to carry the full pentagram on the top of your head.

Colder days mean colder floors so the feet will have get warm too, and they will through the Little Luxuries pattern, giving three different variations of a mohair and wool blended slipper, including bows and beads. I was taking the pictures this week, together with my excellent photographer Patrik Petroff (who has taken all the pattern pictures with me in them) so it won’t be a long wait for that pattern now. For those of you who aren’t frilly enough for that sort of embellishment the Sneaker Slipper is also coming up with its recognisable three stripes decoration which brings outdoors sport to indoors floors.

A scarf pattern is also coming up, after all what is autumn without scarves? This one will use those pretty art yarns, that you so often bring home without knowing what to do with them. Having done that myself so many times I had to design something for them. I’m using Napoli for my scarf but you could easily use Noro Silk Garden or any other of those beautiful, but expensive, colour variegated yarns. So start going through those bins of left over skeins and I’ll promise you there will be a pattern for them before the end of September.

I must off course design a shawl pattern for autumn, as well, so when a knitting friend of mine recently celebrated her birthday I took the chance of designing something for her as  gift. I had wanted to make a sea shawl for a long time and her love of the sea matched my shawl idea perfectly. It is knitted in domino knitting, or modular knitting, as you might call it, and has a sea shell/waves of the sea motif that uses the colour variations of a blue-grey-white yarn that will bring out thoughts of a stormy sea with foamy waves in various shades of blue and grey. I’m waiting for the sample – I will not knit this one myself – but once that is done it will be published.

As usual I have also taken part in a challenge in Project Yarnway on Ravelry. The theme for August was “back to school” which made me think of hauling around a laptop and that I needed to have a knitted cover for mine. So here is my laptop cover with i-cord edgings; the i-case. It is felted and the pattern will include instructions for both felting and keeping it to the correct size.

There you have seven patterns to look forward too, and above that there will be a pattern of mine in the upcoming Winter issue of Twist Collective Magazine. It was one of those secret submissions I have been working on this summer and I hope you’ll like it once it is published. It is very much in line what I usually design but that is all I can tell you for now. The rest is still a secret…

In case you think I cannot count: the seventh pattern will be a surprise!

Happy accessorizing!

 

Carry on, cover up – scarf, shawl and shrug

The Carry on, cover up is a shawl, scarf and shrug, all in one piece of knitting. The sides of the shawl can be buttoned together where ever one wishes, trough paired buttons that can be removed when used a shawl. It is the perfect travel garment that will give you a warming scarf, shawl or a light cover up in the form of a shrug, when only packing a few items for a quick get-away.

The pattern is easy and even though there are increases (actually just skipped over decreases) and decreases to keep track of, it will be a walk in the park to knit. The extended pattern instructions include both written instructions, charts and a working order listing complete with row and stitch counts for all three sizes. A perfect easy knitting project for travelling both during and after knitting.

Sizing

Size: XS/S (M/L, XL/XXL)
End width: 29 (29, 29) cm, 11.25 (11.25, 11.25) inches
Middle width: 32 (35, 38) cm, 12.5 (13.75, 15) inches
Length: 150 (155, 160) cm, 59 (61, 63) inches
The shawl will stretch slightly lengthwise when worn as a shrug.

About the yarn

Marks & Kattens Fame trend is a colour variegated yarn with long colour reports. Look at both ends of your skeins before you start knitting so that you can decide which ends that match the best to make sure that the join in of the new skein will follow the colour changes.

Main Yarn:  Marks och Kattens Fame trend, 2 skeins (total: 200 g, ca 840 m)
Additional yarn:   Garnstudio Drops Alpaca, 1 skein (or other alpaca yarn, ca10 g/35 m is used for the pattern)
Colours:   Multicoloured yarn with long colour reports (Marks & Kattens Fame trend)
Purple or other matching colour (Garnstudio Drops Alpaca, edge yarn)
Other materials:   32 buttons with hanks, size 13 mm/0.5”
Needle:   4 mm/US 6 or size required to achieve stated gauge (main yarn).
3.5 mm/US 4 or size required to achieve stated gauge (additional yarn).
Tension/Gauge: 24 st = 10 cm/4” in stockinette using main yarn (needle 4 mm/US 6).
24 st= 10 cm/4” in pattern B using main yarn (needle 4 mm/US 6).
22 st = 10 cm/4” in garter stitch using additional yarn (needle 3.5 mm /US 4).

Technique

Difficulty: Easy
Stitches used: knit, purl, yarn over, decreasing, double decreasing

Getting it!

The pattern for the Carry on, over up is available as a pdf-file for $5 at my Etsyshop or through  Ravelry (available without an account). It has instructions for both cabled and ribbed edge in three sizes. The pattern has written instructions a well as a chart for the cables.

Ravelry – pattern listing with option to buy and download
Etsy – buy trough my store

 

Last days of summer shawls and first days of autumn wools.

We are half way through august all ready and autumn is just around the corner with its colour changes, crispy clear days and the return of wool knitting. I really love knitting in the autumn, and when ever I have in years past slipped away from the web of knitting it is always the coming of autumn that has brought me back again. This year I am working on patterns with lots of colours that will pick up both leaves and sky and join them together in this best of knitting seasons. I promise you that there will be wool and bright colours in patterns to come.

But before that we still have the last days of summer knitting and, as promised, I am now publishing my travel shawl the Carry on, Cover up shawl, scarf and shrug all-in-one in time for the last days of summer and the first needs of scarves and shrugs. It is an easy knit so it is also a perfect travel knitting for these last vacation days. The pattern was my entry in the Project Yarnway challenge for the month of June and I seem to be doing well because I won with that pattern, my second win in a row!

Speaking of Project Yarnway, I can give you a sneak peek at an upcoming pattern, that was last month’s entry for me: the Little Luxuries slippers. They are meant to both cover the need for slippers when the floors starts to get cold as well as add a little bit of luxury when curling up in the colder months to come. They are also a perfect last minute gift since the pattern will have individual sizes, so no need to try them on the unknowing gift receiver, and they are a really quick knit. I timed my last pair to four hours, from cast on to the tying of the bow, so when in need you can always knit a pair of slippers this winter.

Apart from that I have the great pleasure to tell you that in a month and a half there will be an exhibition of my knitted design at Tändsticksmusseet (the Match Museum) in Jönköping, Sweden, where I grew up. It will open on October 2, and last until the end of the year. So apart from the pattern workings I am now knitting day and night to get all the special pieces ready for the exhibition. If you are close by I hope you will come and see my things! Look for updates on times and links to the museums web page ahead.

Until next time I wish you all very wooly autumn.

 

Are you a curvy knitter?

Does nothing really fit your large bust, narrow waist and wide hips? Do you have the constant need to change all patterns to suit your curves?

Apart from being one of those knitters myself, I’m also surrounded by other knitters with the same sort of problems. After having added just one dart to many, where there weren’t a good place for it to begin with, I asked the knitters around me what they would think of patterns made exclusively with their body type in mind. Needless to say, they were thrilled over the idea of patterns that would fit them without any need for changes, together with styles that would actually show off their curves rather than hiding them.

But to be able to make those patterns I would need your help. Not to plan for changes, but to send me your measures so I can see what numbers you actually have compared to the standard patterns. I know that there are many differences within the curvy range itself so the more measures I get, the easier it is for me to get the sizes right for just your figure.

If you think that sizes aren’t for you, this is your chance to influence the sizes rather than having them imposed on you. Go to the Google docs form, fill it in and I’ll promise to keep all your numbers in mind when I design my line of curvy knitters. The measures needed is on the document form, together with all instructions you need to take them propery. The links below guides you to the right form, for measuring in inches or cm, where you can fill in your answers. Please feel free to spread the information about it.

I’m very much looking forward to hearing from you!

~

Measures in inches
Measures in centimeters

 

Wedding Bells Shawl

The Wedding Bells Shawl brings together three wedding symbols in its lace pattern. Each end is decorated with hearts and bells while the main part of the shawl is made up of a diamond pattern bringing in mind the wedding ring.

Knitted up in the sheerest of lace yarns, Kidsilk, it gives the bride an airy wrap that will still reveal the wedding dress underneath. While it is like a dream in bridal whites it is equally good looking in matching colours for the bridesmaids. The Kidsilk yarns comes in an large range of colours so everyone could be sure to find the perfect match for their dress.

Sizing
One size: 60 x 150 cm/23.5” x 59”

About the yarn

Suggested yarn is any of the ones listed or similar kidsilk lace yarn. The pictured shawl is knitted in Kido Lame.

Yarn alternative 1:      Løve Garn Kido Lame, 4 skeins (total: 100 g, ca 840 m)
Yarn alternative 2:      Rowan Kidsilk Haze, 4 skeins (total: 100 g, ca 836 m)
Yarn alternative 3:      Drops Kidsilk, 4 skeins (total: 100 g, ca 796 m)
Yarn alternative 4:      Permin Angel, 4 skeins (total: 100 g, ca 836 m)
Needle:                              5 mm/US 8 type
Tension/Gauge: 17 st = 10 cm in stockinette stitch.

Technique
Difficulty: Intermediate
Stitches used: knit, purl, yarn over, decreasing, one stranded cast-on, grafting

Getting it!

The pattern for the Wedding Bells Shawl is available as a pdf-file for $3.50 at my Etsyshop or through  Ravelry (available without an account). It has instructions for both cabled and ribbed edge in three sizes. The pattern has written instructions a well as a chart for the cables.

Ravelry – pattern listing with option to buy and download
Etsy – buy trough my store