Madrona Recap

I haven't yet written a proper recap of my Madrona experiences, largely because I forgot to bring my camera (bad bad me), and also because it's so incredibly hard to capture the fabulousness that is Madrona in so many prosaic words. Madrona, that event that some of us pine for 51 weeks out of the year. Madrona, that some of us love and adore to a ridiculous degree.

Fortunately, I don't have to now because Franklin Habit just posted an end-all description of Madrona in his blog, the Panopticon. Do please give it a read.

And yes, I am so enjoying my 15 minutes of fame, thank you for asking.

Fluency

I just had to release the pattern for the Fluency Gloves before the weather starts to warm. The flowing, sinuous ribs create a delicious hug for your hands that is also very stretchy.



Watch the ribs part to show the hidden beads glimmering when you stretch them over your hands, and don’t miss the special twisted stitch pattern that adorns the thumb.



Pattern fits a wide range of hand sizes. Gloves are fingered or fingerless. Beads are prestrung before knitting, but it’s so worth it!



Bead requirement: 96 size 6/0 beads for the pair.

The yarns I chose for this project are very special, and I am very picky indeed about what fibers contact my hands because they are so sensitive.

Abstract Fiber's Soprano is prime in the softness and strength department, with its mix of silk and wool. I chose the Turquoise colorway for my first pair of the gloves, and the Abstract Fiber folks dyed it just for me!! What a thrill!

Plucky Knitter's Merino Alpaca Silk Worsted is as cozy as cozy gets, and feels wonderful! The fingerless gloves you see here are in the Satin Slippers colorway, so subtle and shimmery.

I do hope you enjoy this special winter treat. The pattern is now available on Ravelry and soon, on my website and all around, thanks to my lovely pattern distributors, Up North Fiber Art Supply.



Photos by the wonderful Vivian Aubrey. Please do go take at look at her masterful work on her blog.

Next: getting ready for Madrona! If you are going, see you there!

Happy Gloves to You!

The Rolling Thunder Glove pattern is available as a free ravelry download. Some of you already found it on my website as a freebie, but now the rest of the knitting world will be discovering it!

The Rolling Thunder glove is an offshoot of the Rolling Thunder sock pattern that was published in Knitty.com in the Spring 2006 issue. The gloves came about because I wanted to make a new pair to replace the samples that walked away with my mom after she visited me last fall, but I just couldn't quite make myself do the pattern as written... hehe. This familiar to any of you? No, I thought not...

There will be a class featuring these gloves at Three Bags Full knit shop in January, so be sure and sign up for that if you are here in town and you thnk you may be interested... it is a fun glove pattern with a hemmed cuff, beads, and a nicely shaped thumb.

May your holidays be peaceful and filled with joy! All wishes for a happy season of light, from snow blanketed Vancouver...

Two Lovers

Now available: the Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf.

Two Lovers... Lace and beads provide sinuous lines in this poetic glove and scarf duo. Fan and Leaf lace motifs are framed by twisted ribs in the gloves and mirrored beaded waving cables in the scarf. The gloves are in two lengths, sized for women’s small, medium and large.

The Dué Amori Gloves and Scarf Set is designed for fingering weight yarn and requires 400 yards of yarn for the scarf and 180 (300) yards for the shorter (longer) gloves. I used a US 2-3 (3 mm) needle for the scarf and US 2 (2.5 mm) needles for the gloves, which are knit in the round. The gloves are sized in two lengths for women's small, medium and large.

The set shown above is worked in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction (50% merino, 50% tencel, 400 yds/100 g) in the Quilla colorway. The set required two skeins. The pattern features beads as a prominent part of the design. The scarf requires approximately 500 size 6/0 beads; the shorter gloves, 114 (122, 130) beads. The longer gloves require 134 (142, 150) beads. For the samples, I used off-white pearl finish seed beads.

Below, the longer gloves are worked in Seduction in the Tanzanite colorway with silver lined amethyst beads. The longer pair requires one skein of yarn.

Thank you, Jamie and Francesca, for the modeling, camera clicking and pinch hitting all around!

And especially a huge, huge thank you to my test knitters, Carin and Kat, who are my saving angels and I bow at their feet...

The pattern is available for sale (so far) on ravelry, my website, Patternfish, and the Knitting Zone as a pdf download. More soon I hope!


Happy knitting to all... enjoy.

Progress and More Progress

So... just to catch up, since I have been back from the retreat, most of my time has been spent visiting with my Mom (she went back home a little over a week ago), answering emails and such, and working at the shop.

But a few things have been getting knitted too.. and here is a little progress report on those.

First, the Dué Amori items now include a pair of long gloves in the works as well as a pair of shorter (gauntlet length) gloves, and the scarf is close to being finished.


The scarf, like the shorter gloves, is being done is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the Quilla colorway, with 6/0 pearl beads. More pictures promised when finished... it promises to be one of the nicest eye candy lace pieces yet, if I do say so myself. Here it is shown about one-half blocked, one half unblocked, and still on the needles for the rest.


The longer gloves are in progress too, and they are lovely in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in the Tanzanite colorway with silver lined matte amethyst beads that Nancy gave me during the retreat... thank you my dear! They are perfect for this yarn! Here you see the Fan Pattern that begins all of the gloves, and then the beaded lace pattern that continues up most of the length of the glove to culminate in the leaf pattern on the hand, which I promise to show when it's done!

This shows the decreases on the back of the long, opera length glove. I think this view is quite elegant actually...


And here is actually something JUST FOR ME! Yes, I DO knit for myself sometimes, strangely enough! I picked up this beautiful Rowan Felted Tweed yarn at the Beehive when we passed through Victoria on the way to the retreat, and I truly love working with it. The Leaf Yoke Pullover pattern is from a Classic Elite Summer booklet but it will be very fall-like by the time I am done. I love the in-the-round top-down construction and it is a perfect foil for the detailed knitting I am doing otherwise. I am making several mods of course, starting with the leaf cable, which if you can tell is a bit fatter and rounder than in the pattern. What can I say... it's probably pathological the way I just can't do a pattern as written... ahem.

And here is something I had to start, with a great new yarn we are carrying at Three Bags Full, Malabrigo Sock. Hehe... my mom literally walked away with my only samples of my Rolling Thunder sock pattern so I just had to start another pair... right? This one is working up beautifully (if I do say so myself) in the Tiziano Red colorway with some amazing Toho triangle beads. I am really enjoying the knit, even though the most interesting part is done and now it is just ribbing and regular top down sock stuff, which makes it my designated car and bus project for the next little while. Here is a pic of the sock top so far:

I guess I am getting the Fall Knitting Bug...

Dué Amori Unveiled

I think it's time for a little unveiling... this is the first glimpse of my new design that will be released soon, right after the workshop that will be happening on Vancouver Island in early September. It might be a little premature because the patterns are not completely ready, but I just couldn't wait any more!

The Dué Amori Glove in its shorter version, medium size. There is also an opera-length version, and two more sizes available.

The start of the Dué Amori Scarf, unfinished and unblocked. Note the beaded cables and lovely little cable needle... more on that later.

The Dué Amori Glove and Scarf set is shown using a stunning yarn in a new and very ethereal colorway: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in Quilla, one of the brand new Spirit Colorways. I feel so privileged to be working with this yarn... it is literally angelic in look AND feel. I am using size 6/0 pearlized seed beads, which lend a sweet Victorian air to the design.

I do hope you like them so far... more progress shots promised soon.

In other news, a big thank you to all who expressed such delight in the new stole pattern, Midnight Lace Stole from Alt Fiber. I have now added the pattern to Ravelry so you can queue it up! Go over and do it right now!!!

And a little word about a beautiful knitting tool from Leslie Wind, the sinuous, lovely cable needle necklace in bronze. I don't have it on a necklace as I prefer to keep it stowed in my knitting tool box, so forgive me Leslie! I love the heaviness of the bronze which makes it stay put while you are doing your other manipulations, and the squat shape of mine (each one of her cable needles are completely unique in size and shape) is perfect. Leslie will even customize your cable needle for the size of yarn you use most. What more can you ask for????

You can go here to view a video of the cable needle necklace in action and purchase your own. I was fortunate enough to get mine in person at Three Bags Full.

Happy knitting to all...