What's in the works

Here's what's doing...

• Teaser
  
  This is on a bit of a hiatus. I had hoped to have the pattern go live last week, but I haven't been able to make the time to finish the pictures and the remaining prototypes. With any luck, it will be up in the next week or two. To tide you over, here's another sneak peak...
  
  
  


• Socks By the Numbers
  This will be a free download - all the numbers you need to make socks sized from Preemie to shoe size 13. It has stitch counts and lengths for multiple gauges - 9 to 6 stitches per inch, and multiple techniques - toe up (short-row toe with crochet cast-on, figure eight/turkish cast-on), short-row and afterthought heels, and top-down again with short-row and afterthough heels. There are multiple cheat sheets for each combination of techniques where you can copy out the numbers for your gauge and the size sock you wish to make, as well a a sheet that can be used with Knitty's Universal Toe-up Sock pattern. It's not really a pattern per-se, but should prove very useful if you want to knit up socks for your 4 year-old nephew and only have his shoe-size.


• Neck-warmer
  This will be another free download for a simple neck warmer knit in the round. I was planning on making all of the men in my family scarves this year for Christmas but realized that I don't have that much time. This neck-warmer pattern knits up quickly in a few hours and has some nice stitch variations so it will work for men as well as women. Since I'm still working on the initial prototype, this will most likely be a few more weeks in the making, but with a bit of luck I'll have it up in enough time for a truly last-minute gift.

There are a few other ideas knocking around in my head, but holiday knitting is taking a definite priority right now so they'll have to knock around a bit more.

Teaser...

Here's a sneak peak at my new pattern which will be going live around Thanksgiving.

Free Pattern - Knot Cap

Well, it's finally available!

This top-down hat is a quick and easy knit. The pattern comes in a wide range of sizes - from preemie to three years, and has several finishing options for the brim. There is a full listing of abbreviations used in the pattern as well as links to Knitting Help.com for specific techniques used.

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Update: November 5, 2009

Since Geocities is now defunct, my patterns are being hosted at Ravelry. You can download the PDF directly from the Ravelry Knot Cap pattern page. Not a member of Ravelry? You really should be. It's an incredible resource and FREE so what's not to love? Still not feeling the Ravelry love? Leave a comment and I'll email a copy of the pattern to you.

Thanks!

Knitting Update

I'm supposed to be taking a break from real knitting, but here's what's doing:

Ito Maki Pincushions

Here's a first look at the Ito Maki Pincushion that I'm designing. I used one of those English-Japanese dictionaries to find the Japanese Word for yarn and "Ito" came up, so my appologies if it is in fact the wrong word. This is the Tuna Roll version. I have a vegetable roll with brown rice on the needles right now and I'm also planning a Salmon Roll and California Roll version as well. It's knit using Carron Simply Soft acrylic yarn.


Quick and Dirty Stich and Row Markers



I broke out the pliers and beads the other day to make myself some row and stitch markers. Usually, I just use cut up straws (an idea I got from DIY Network's Knitty Gritty), but my last black straw is almost gone and I like to have a couple of different colors to mark the begining and midway-point on my knitting. I also hate using a straw segment to mark a row and then have to cut it when I'm finished.

I didn't have any head pins, so I just made little spirals to hold the beads in place. I really like the way the row markers came out - it's a long piece of wire bent in half and then formed into to the hook with the ends of the wire bent into spirals. I flirted with making ones that looked more like fish-hooks, but I was afraid the wire would snag my yarn. It was alot of fun making them and my friend K gave me some really pretty beads to make some more.

Wool as far as the eye can see

The Essene Market Crafts Show was a moderate success. Since my items are so specialized, I wasn't expecting to sell much unless I came across a cloth-diapering mom with loads of cash to spend. Click on any of the images below to view the full-sized picture.

Snazzy Pants Shorties, Newborn



Snazzy Pants Shorties, Newborn
These shorties are knit from hand dyed 100% wool yarn and feature a traditional drawstring waist and seed stitch cuffs.
Waist: 14" Hips: 16" Rise: 16"
Legs: 8" Inseam: 2"


Snazzy Pants Shorties, Medium



These shorties are knit from hand dyed 100% wool yarn and feature a traditional drawstring waist and seed stitch cuffs.
Waist: 18" Hips: 20" Rise: 18"
Legs: 11" Inseam: 2.5"



Snazzy Pants Step-Ins, Small Overnight



These step-ins are knit from a 85/15 Wool/Mohair blend and are perfect for overnight use. They feature a more generous sizing than my regular small size to accomodate bulkier nighttime diapers as well as being extra thick to prevent leaks. An elastic waist keeps them up without adding additional bulk and ribbed cuffs.
Waist: 17" Hips: 19" Rise: 18" Legs: 10"



Snazzy Pants Step-Ins, Newborn



These step-ins are knit from hand dyed 100% wool yarn and feature a traditional drawstring waist and ribbed cuffs.
Waist: 14" Hips: 16" Rise: 16" Legs: 8"



Snazzy Pants Longies, Newborn



These longies are knit from 100% wool and feature an elastic waist and ribbed cuffs.
Waist: 14" Hips: 16" Rise: 15"
Legs: 8" Inseam: 7.5"



Snazzy Pants Longies, Small



These longies are knit from 100% wool and feature an elastic waist and seed stitch cuffs.
Waist: 17" Hips: 19" Rise: 18"
Legs: 10.5" Inseam: 8.5"



Knot Cap, Newborn
**Sold**



This simple cap is knit from 100% extra fine merino wool and features a rolled brim.
The pattern for this cap will be available later this week as a free download



Spiral Knot Cap, Newborn
**Sold**



This cap is knit from 100% extra-fine merino wool and features an open-work spiral and a seed stitch brim.



Falling Leaves Knot Cap, Newborn



This cap is knit from 100% extra fine merino wool and features a pattern of embossed leaves with a ribbed brim.



Falling Leaves Knot Cap, Newborn
**Sold**



This cap is knit from 100% extra fine merino wool and features a pattern of embossed leaves with a ribbed brim.



Thanks to everyone who stopped by and looked at my wares. I'll have the prices and ordering info for the rest of my stock up later this week. If you have a questions, please leave a comment below or email me at knittykeen @ gmail.com.

What's been doing

Here are pics of my ultra-cool socks!

The Sock itself




Heel detail - note the conspicuous absence of gaping holes




The other side - still no holes!



I'm hoping to get some time in this weekend to actually write up a pattern, but realistically it probably won't get done until after the show.

Here's what else is on the needles (or off in some cases):



Brown Striped Snazzy Pants Longies, Newborn
These are almost done - I just have to finish weaving in the ends. I'm very happy with the way they came out.




Blue Striped Snazzy Pants Step-Ins, Medium
All that remains is to sew the elastic together. We tried them on Z this afternoon and they look like they are a great fit - very trim.




Brown Striped Snazzy Pants Longies, Small
Yes, more stripes. This time I'm being smarter about it and stopping to weave my ends in every so often.




Green Cabled Snazzy Pants Snoozin' Sacque, 0-6 Months
This has a few firsts for me - my first real time cabling and the first time I'm using Lamb's Pride yarn. I really like the yarn. It's a single (one ply) made of 85% wool and 15% mohair, very soft and has a nice sheen to it. I've been wanting to do some fancy stitch work and since the sacque pattern has no short-rows in it, it was the perfect chance to try out cables. I still haven't decided how I'll end it - draw string, ribbing, or actual buttons. If you have an opinion, please let me know.

Soakers galore!

I have less than three weeks to do quite a bit of knitting and designing - not to mention all of the other stuff I try to avoid on a regular basis. Here's what's on (and off) the needles...

This is an infant/small sized soaker that I have named Snazzy Pants. The style is "step-ins" and I think it's a keeper. It's knit with hand-dyed fisherman's wool and there is a bit of stranding at the waist to creat the crenelations.



This is a blue/green/orange striped Snazzy Pants step-in soaker in size medium that I am knitting for my friend K's son Z. All of my measurements look good on paper, now I have to see if they actually fit a child - good to know since I plan on selling them in a few weeks. It's knit from hand-dyed fisherman's wool and has a new trick I'm working on - built in elastic just below the ribbing. I created a casing by double knitting for a few rounds and I'll weave in some 3/8" elastic.



This is a size newborn/preemie striped Snazzy Pants soaker with the built-in elastic, I'm not sure it it will be longies or the step-in style. It's knit from Cascade 220 which I can give or take - it's not as heavy as the fisherman's and not as soft to my hands. I'm hoping that washing and lanolising will cure that.

The deed has been done...

I just e-mailed my submission for Knitty. Wish me luck!

Craft Show

I will be selling soakers, discloths, knitted baby items, and patterns at the Essene Market on Saturday, October 21st, from Noon to 3pm.

'cause I can't be happy...

...unless I have 5 million projects going at once.

I started knitting up a bootie in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn in the flame colorway and I have to say I'm not feeling the love. I knitted a bootie up in the Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock Yarn and it's great. It knits up nicely at 7 stitches per inch on my US Size 2/2.75mm needles. Very springy and a joy to work with. (An aside - I still can't figure out what colorway I actually have of the stuff; I think I'm going to have to go back to Sophie's Yarns and buy some more so I can find out what color it is.) The Lorna's Laces is very smooth and tightly spun - it's more like knitting with cotton than wool. I also found that I don't like it at 8st/inch (how it was knitting up on my size 2's) - it seemed way too loose, so frogged it was. This got my mind rolling and I came up with this...

This is the tail of what will soon be a small fish toy that will be available in the not too distant future. I've been wanting to do some toy designing for a while and what better way to start off than with a gorgeous, handpainted yarn? I really love the colors of the Lorna's Laces so I'm going to look into trying out the Shepherd Sport for my next sock project.

Testing new skin

I haven't finished hacking and making the graphics yet - oh for unlimmited time...

Here's an alternate logo:

Both have their merits, but I think I like the chartruse one better.

Introducing...

Hand knit items, notions and patterns for the whole family!