This is why

The cursed Victorian lampshade? Yeah, this is why you bother! Just look how nicely that sits when you take it off the wires.⁠ Totally worth it!⁠ The pattern is Evolve, and it's in all the usual places (or wander over to patreon, anyone there can just have it). Just pinky swear that you'll block it when you're done!

August 5, 2023|

Cursed Victorian Lampshade

Cursed Victorian Lampshade 101, aka how to block a cowl! So, the new cowl is lacy, which means you want to block it under tension. And a lot of times that would mean pinning your fabric out on a blocking mat. But a cowl is a tube, so if you pin it out, you'll end up with creases along the sides where the fabric is folded. But there's a better way! If you run a wire through the top and bottom of the cowl, use those wires to push the fabric out in a nice big circle, then make a [...]

August 2, 2023|

Evolve

Evolve is out! This is the pattern I found, in an astonishingly complete state, when I settled down to tidy up my hard drive the other day. ⁠ Since it was nice little surprise for me, I figured I should pass that happy feeling on to other folks as well. So if you're one of those people who lets me send you email (either mailing list or patreon), go check your inbox, there's something waiting for you there! ⁠ Patreon folks at any level (yes, including the one that's three bucks) got the pattern for free (and yes, if you [...]

August 1, 2023|

Happy little surprise

Ever cleaned out your coat closet and found a nice surprise in a jacket pocket or the back compartment of that purse you never carry? Like a surprise $20 bill or the missing button you've been wanting to sew back on your favorite sweater or that awesome lip balm you thought you'd lost? Yeah, I'm experiencing the knitting version of that. I was tidying up my hard drive (Sisyphus for the modern age...) and found, um, a fully complete pattern? Like photos, charts, text, everything? It's cowl a pattern I contributed to a friend's book a few years ago, and [...]

July 28, 2023|

Next up

Remember how I said that the current mailing list goody was about to go away so I could bring out something new?  Well I have it on good authority that you're going to want to be sure you're in on that...the new piece is rather fetching. Here it is on my patent-pending (this is a blatant lie), super nifty (that part's true) cowl blocking device.  Yes, I do call it the frilly lampshade, and yes it is the best way I've found to block a cowl without getting any pesky wrinkles.  You should totally be doing this to all your [...]

March 16, 2018|

The Bucket…

I think I've explained before just how much of my organizational scheme depends on buckets.  When I start a new book, it gets three buckets.  As yarn comes in, it goes in bucket one.  Once I've swatched it, the swatches and tags go in bucket two (while the yarn itself usually goes out to Super Stunt Knitters for the actual knitting).  When the pieces are finished, they go in bucket three.  Once bucket three is full and bucket one empty, it's photo shoot time! I have a similar situation for individual patterns, just a bit less structured.  That less structured [...]

November 15, 2017|

Magic

So the cowl grew and grew and grew. And then at some point, it was done.  Bound off, flippy as all get out (as you'd expect from stockinette), and ready for a soak. And here's where the magic happened.  I soaked it, squeezed it out, and flopped it on my desk.  No pins.  No wires.  No tension at all.  Just soak and plop (it will get a more formal blocking later, I was just testing a theory).  And look at that. It laid down flat.  Not a bit less flippy, not more or less ok, but flat.   Now part [...]

May 19, 2016|

Yes please

Well that's just unreasonably lovely. And yes, yes it's simple.  It's just leaves, and leaves are easy to knit.  But there's something rather delightful about these.  I can't quite decide if I want to hurry up and be done (so I can block it and pet it and generally admire it) or if I want to take my time (so I can have the pleasure of knitting it for a while longer).

May 13, 2016|

You’ll just have to trust me

So some things are awfully hard to photograph.  The difference in texture between the pre & post blocking version of this yarn is one of them.  Part of that's my fault (I didn't take a picture of the actual swatch before I soaked it, so you can't quite compare like with like just yet), but part of it is just yarn magic and not to be questioned.It looks like this before blocking.  Pay special attention to the stretches of stockinette.  See how there is a good bit of space between the stitches and between the legs of each stitch? But [...]

May 10, 2016|
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