Harmonia Again, for the First Time

A most exciting development!

After many requests (and in some cases, begging and pleading), I have developed a tunic sweater based on the popular Harmonia's Rings cowl. The tunic begins like the cowl (and the yoke has identical structure), but the pattern has now been engineered to fit seven sizes. The yoke creates a perfect cap sleeve shape by virtue of its construction. In addition, the drape of the yoke contrasts beautifully with the close fit of the shaped body. The pattern is knit entirely in the round, every single blessed stitch. Every knitter who has seen this sweater wants to make one!

This is only the current installment in a series of Harmonia patterns. The next will be sleeved versions of the sweater, now in testing.









See details on my website here.

And on Ravelry:

The model is actually the beautiful and brilliant photographer Vivian Aubrey, who consented to be a model one day, in the middle of her class on photographing knits at Twisted Yarn Shop in Portland, OR.

Huge, huge thanks to my tech editor, the incomparable Jeane deCoster of Elemental Affects Yarn, who patiently endured hours of teaching me spreadsheet math, and my many lovely and hardworking test knitters, long may they hold yarn and needles in their blessed hands.

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!

Speak!

If you have ever wanted to weigh in with a designer (me!) on forthcoming designs, here's your chance!

For several years now, I have contributed to many clubs, online magazines, and publications and books authored by others. I have been thinking more and more and more about establishing my own club.. or clubs.. in order to gather a community of my particular fans. My ravelry group does a fabulous job of this, of course. But this will be different.. and offer opportunities to give special offers, discounts, and other goodies to the groupies.

I have some firm ideas for these potential clubs, along with some designs in varying stages of completion, but it would help me greatly to have some input.

Right now, I can see two separate clubs on two separate themes happening, each with 5-6 exclusive designs and running concurrently. One will be mainly beaded lace work, but also will include other accessories such as gloves and cowls (beaded of course). The other theme will be Moebius, which I am developing in some very interesting ways at present. Similar to Harmonia’s Rings, which is my most popular pattern, some garment shapes will begin as Moebius and develop into other structures, and some will remain Moebius, but all will start with the Moebius cast on no matter where else they end up. This club will potentially include cowls, wraps, and scarves, but may go as far afield as shrugs or even sweaters. The sky is the limit really.

These two themes mirror my two passions: Beaded lace, and unusual, innovative garment shapes.

So.. want to cast a vote?? Let’s try a poll:

1. Which club would you be interested in joining, or both?
2. Would you like an option to purchase individual installments at a slightly higher price per pattern?
3. What price range do you consider a good one for this type of club?
4. Do you have any special requests for either club? Anything you are dying to see and knit from yours truly?
5. Any things that you DON’T want to see.. sick of triangle shawls, or ?

I would like to offer a gift for your trouble. Using a random number generator, I will be offering gift certificates from my ravelry pattern store to a few lucky responders.

Inkberry

Once again, here I am in Twist Collective, the pinnacle of knit publications. Once again, I have to pinch myself.

Before Inkberry was sent off, I had the pleasure of seeing it on Sorren, co-worker at Twisted, and Vivian Aubrey kindly snapped some pictures. I think they are lovely.. see what you think!















I think Inkberry came out to be a lyrical piece, romantic and flowing. Hope you like her!

The Confluence of Ideas

Confluence is a sweet little shawlette, a play on my favorite theme of a center panel with neck shaping inserted into a top down triangle shawl. It is mostly garter stitch, which is so pleasing, except for the lace panel which is stockinette lace with a few well chosen beads. Simple and charming.



I promised a release a couple of days ago. Obviously, Confluence is not out yet, and for a good reason.

For a good while now, I have been receiving occasional letters from sight impaired knitters who thank me for taking the time to write out line by line instructions in my patterns.

If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that sight impaired or blind knitters would need written instructions in order to knit lace, or to knit anything for that matter. As I understand it, there are readers available on many computers for this purpose, and if not, some knitters will engage sighted people to read the pattern to them as they knit, or record the pattern instructions for later playback, an ingenious idea! I am reminded of Lucy Neatby's recent writing about how hard it is to keep your attention where it belongs, on your knitting, while at the same time trying to focus your eyes on multiple things (chart, pattern, knitting) and all the while, manage to knit a complicated pattern. Lucy recommends recording yourself reading the lines of the pattern instruction at the speed you like to knit so you can keep your eyes and your attention on your knitting. Brilliant.

Anyway, when I get a letter of this sort from a knitter I generally respond with apologies that not EVERY pattern can be written out line by line. And this is true.. Shetland Garden, for instance, would be a book-length pattern if it had written instructions. But these communications give me a good kind of reboot as I consider what the world would be like without all different sorts of knitters with all the different life experiences we bring to the craft.

It still blows me away that there are blind and sight impaired lace knitters out there. If you are one of those brave and fearless knitters, I bow my deepest, most humble bow to you.

As much as I love knitting from charts, and as many times as I have cajoled and begged and even ordered my students to knit from charts, all of that pales in the face of knitterly courage that will not accept limitations.

So, come time to release a new pattern, I must assess whether to bite the proverbial bullet and write everything out "longhand" as well as provide charts. Sometimes, like for Shetland Garden, I feel it would confuse and not enlighten, so it is left out. Sometimes it is the right thing to write it out.. and then there is always the worry that with more words on the pages, there are more possibilities for published errors, every designer's nightmare.

All this is by way of explanation of the lateness of Confluence's publication. I promised it would be out two days ago, but here I am. I hope the new written instructions will be worth the wait for those who need them in order to knit.

Two down, one to go

It doesn't rain but it pours. And now it's pouring.. not just figuratively. It is the beginning of the rainy season here in the Pacific Northwe(s)t. I am watching it more carefully now that I am trying to walk every morning, and I am gathering up some assorted rain gear so I can keep walking even through the coming damp weather.

OK.. weather aside, what's pouring???

Things have been building up for a while now, and it is time for several designs to come out.. some new, some that have come back to me after being published elsewhere, and some that are under wraps for a while until their time comes to be revealed.

Finally!! Three patterns are ready to be born, two that were just let out today and one that will emerge tomorrow.

First up, Aphrodite.



I love that picture so much, taken in Vancouver by M. Scott Ault, with Jamie Bowen modeling.

You may remember Aphrodite from the esteemed Twist Collective, where she held a spot in the Summer 2009 issue.

Now she is mine.

I deliberated quite a while before I decided to publish her in my own line of patterns. After all, she will be up at Twist for perpetuity, or at least I hope so. But I am becoming more sensitive to the needs of yarn shops to have patterns that are available for purchase right there in the shop, for yarn support. And I want Aphrodite in all her glory to be part of my own trunk show that is building. So, here she is.

Second, Tallulah.

Tallulah of the whispering pines and falling water. Tallulah was inspired by a wonderful family reunion that took place in July 2010 near Tallulah Falls in North Georgia, and the first sock was improvised and finished on the plane trip home. The first pair was a gift for my mother and her pair contain no beads, but my pair had to have them! The beads, inset into the openwork rib pattern in the front and around the top rim of the sock, give an impression of sparkling water drops that catch the light now and then.. a lovely effect.

And now, with beads.. here she is.



Thanks to Vivian Aubrey, who is becoming my photographer, teacher and friend, for these lovely shots. Please do look up Vivian's photography blog here. It is exquisite.

Tomorrow, Confluence!!!

Tallulah on my Mind

The place: Tallulah Falls, Georgia.

Balmy southern nights, steamy days. Welcome to the Albert-Evans family reunion.. the first within memory. It is quite something to see cousins, aunts, uncles and others that last seen, were kids like me, and are now going gray, like me. It was a bit surreal but wonderful to see everyone again. Unfortunately, no pics were taken of the event itself.. I forgot my camera. But I do have a remembrance sock.. Tallulah.





These short but very sweet toe-up socks begin with my newly favorite round toe and feature a beaded openwork rib, a sculpturally fitted back, and just a hint of beaded ruffle at the top. The first sock was improvised and finished on the plane trip home. The first pair is a gift for my mother and her pair contain no beads, but my pair (yet to come) has to have them! I am hoping that the beads, inset into the openwork rib pattern in the front and around the top rim of the sock, will give an impression of sparkling water drops that catch the light now and then.. a lovely effect.

I am also including instructions for working heel stitch over the toe-up heel turn, and making length adjustments based on the individual knitter's row gauge.

See Tallulah's emergence here.. soon!

With Sprinkles on Top

I have had the pleasure of working with quite a few indie dyers now, and the Pico Accuardi Dyeworks folks are among the very nicest. They share space with Lantern Moon in a warehouse near Portland, Oregon, and recently on a visit to their digs, I came away with a very interesting skein of Acid and Weed sock yarn, which results from a dye process that involves acid overdyes on a ground of natural plant dyed yarn.

Meet Sprinkles. Now part of my new Jack in the Pulpit Socks. Photos are the lovely work of Vivian Aubrey.









Folks who are part of the Pico Accuardi Dyeworks sock clubs (two) will be getting this kit this year. Otherwise, you will have to wait until June of 2011 to get your hands on this. Acid and Weed sock yarn is available in other colorways now. Check the Pico-Accuardi website for retail outlets.

And watch for the August retreat. Deb's family owns a legendary Italian restaurant here, and I have heard that there will be wonderful food!

Ophidian

Introducing Ophidian, a new bit of loveliness that will be debuted at the Twist of Fate retreat this month.

Ophidian is a top-down triangle shawl that combines garter stitch with beaded lace, a mix that I have been exploring lately with great delight.

She is shown here in Hazel Knits fingering weight in the hazelnut colorway and Socks that Rock Heavyweight from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in the Vancouver Violet colorway, two very different yarns in two very different weights.

I will allow her to speak for herself... photos by Alex Tinsley, modeled by Vivian Aubrey, both co-workers at Twisted yarn shop in Portland. Thanks, guys!!

As always, click for bigger, and in this case, the whole picture!

Rosalind, Wherefore Art Thou?

Why, here!



I am celebrating Rosalind's release to the world today.. won't you celebrate with me?

Rosalind was originally published as part of the Shakespeare in Lace club in 2009 from Wooly Wonka Fibers. As of today, she is mine.. and yours.

From the pattern: A tale of loves lost and found again, mistaken identities, royalty hidden away in the forest.. and one of the greatest heroines put to paper.. this is Shakespeare's comedy, As You Like It. In this garment, I tried to capture Rosalind's trials antd tribulations as she strives to rescue her kingly father and gain the love of her life, while disguised as a boy. The yarn is humble enough, a fingering weight shetland, but the design is comfeaturing cables, lace, beads, and a labyrinthine center panel. I hope you will agree that althoumay go far afield, all comes right in the end, and with a regal beaded flourish too!

I made Rosalind in a Shetland fingering weight yarn that has heft enough to cable well, but you can substitute any yarn you fancy. If you have extra yarn at hand, you can easily size her up by adding more repeats of the body and center panel charts. As written, she will require 1200 yards and 780 beads, which are placed using the crochet hook add-as-you-go method.

You can find her here on my website and here on Ravelry, where some folks in my group will be starting to work on her shortly.

Dog days

Yes, we are in the dog days, and here in San Diego it is beastly hot. The impulse is to be lazy and do absolutely nothing... Yet, work continues in a rush after the high of Sock Summit, and in its aftermath I follow the muse to wherever she is leading...

I have several as-yet secret projects that will be revealed in their good time, and in the meantime here are some lovely links for you:



Aphrodite on the Twist Collective Blog!!! Somehow things all look more beautiful on this site.. please do take a peek at Sparklefaerie in her glory...

Joy of Sox is now out! My project is called "Afternoon Delight" and the book is a gorgeous and sensuous delight. Please do check it out...



For this design, I used Sundara FSM in robin's egg, one of my favorite colorways ever, and I can't say enough lovely things about this yarn and especially how it is with beads.. splendido!

Hoping coolness will return soon...

To Socks and Beyond

Someone told me recently that my two new patterns, which will be debuted at Sock Summit 09, are “way beyond socks.” I just love that phrase. In a way, it was a great complement, as socks are rather prosaic knitted items and I strive for the unique and well, special. But functionality is key too, as for all sock-like knitted items that are expected to perform well and look awesome.

Form and function.. both so important, don't you agree?

So here, without any more ado, are my two newest creations.

Continuum, so named because my inspiration for the cable design was the Tibetan never ending knot that symbolizes the interconnectness of all beings. Continuum is a cabled and beaded series of leg warmers in three lengths, in dk weight yarn. Here again I thank my friends Sparklefaerie and M.Scott, her able and willing photographer.



The shortest version, cuffs that are meant to go over boots or knee socks.



The longest version, thigh high and bell bottomed leg warmers that drape beautifully.





And these shortie leg warmers, so cute on Sparklefaerie, that warm your knees when your boots aren't quite high enough.

Next, Blossom Dearies, beaded baby booties that are meant for the most angelic of little feet. I named them after one of my favorite singers as a tribute to her tiny but perfect, angelic voice.







Thanks to Zoe Gee, mother of the little angel in this picture, and the angel himself, Teijo Tso.

These patterns will be found at the Sock Summit vendor area at the Carolina Homespun booths and at WEBS. And after Sock Summit, elsewhere of course.

Happy journeys.. to socks and beyond!

Fiddling Around

Yes, I am on a crazed sock marathon. Yes, I am counting the minutes, hours and days until Sock Summit.

Yes, I have a new sock pattern.. first seen in Dye Dreams' Four Seasons Sock Club this year, and the lovely Dye Dreams folks have generously allowed me to publish it myself just a few months after their club had it.

So.. here it is folks, with another brilliant M.Scott photo to grace the pattern cover. Those are Sparklefaerie's feet inside the socks too, in case you wondered.

Pattern specs:

Toe up gusset heel sock in three sizes with high instep option for all sizes. Beads are included (of course!) and I used the crochet hook add-as-you-go method for this one. So much fun!

In addition to the Dye Dreams' Panda Sox, a new bamboo blend which knits up beautifully, I have used Curious Creek Fibers' Wasonga, which has a very silky feel.

You can now purchase the Fiddlehead Sock pattern on my site and on ravelry.

If you are coming to SS09, you can see them in person! Yay!

Phoenix has Risen

So many people have written to me over the last year asking when the Phoenix Rising shawl would be available after its stint in last year's Year of Lace 2008 subscription club.

After much reworking and in a gorgeous new yarn, here she is on my website, and here on ravelry. Please do take a peek.

You will notice some differences between last year’s version and this new one. I have added beads into the flame-like center lace panel, and a brand new beaded lace edge that I feel is a perfect finish. I hope you agree.











The yarn is Sweet Georgia Yarns’ Cashsilk lace, a wonderful blend of 45% cashmere, 50% silk that is truly sinfully soft. Lovely Felicia Lo, whom you see modeling the shawl, dyes a wonderful yarn.. I used her boysenberry colorway. Yum!

Happy lacing and beading to all,

Sivia

Fiddlehead Socks... the teaser

Hello dear readers, who must think I have permanently fallen off the blog wagon.

I am currently in San Diego, land of cactus and persimmon flowers, taking care of my dear son for a while.

Mostly I am knitting up a storm, but finding time to design too.. and this is the latest off my needles, the Fiddlehead Socks:





Pictures were taken in the back yard garden of Kristine Brooks, of Curious Creek Fibers fame. I am indeed lucky to be here in this enchanted spot.

The Fiddlehead Socks will be released in May as part of the Four Seasons Sock Club from Dye Dreams, then in June you can look for the pattern under my name. Lucky sock club participants will be receiving the pattern and the luscious bamboo blend yarn in lovely Fiddlehead teal, which was dyed for me according to my specifications.

Thank all of you who have sent get well wishes for my son Ari, who helped me take the pictures of the socks that you see above.