welcome holla knits!

UPDATE: Comments are now closed, congratulations to our winner, MONICA from Sweet Purls! 

As most of you have probably noticed, the world of patterns has completely changed in the past few years. I still hold my tangible, collectible books and magazines dear, but the trend towards online publishing is exciting for many reasons. With a bit of computer savvy and great organizational moxie, a knitter can put herself at the helm of a mini-indie-media empire (say that three times fast). That is just what Allyson Dyhuizen has done, and Holla Knits is her latest project. 

Allyson has been teaching, blogging and designing for quite a while now, and I have long admired her fun and innovative approach. Even the simplest patterns contain cheeky details, like the Two Boyfriends Cardigan, where she updates the ever popular boyfriend cardigan silhouette with intentionally mismatched fronts. Does the world need another online knitting magazine? When the editor is as fun and motivated as Allyson, YES! 

So what is Holla Knits all about? It is more than a static collection of patterns. Allyson runs a fantastic blog that offers a peek into the design process, from picking yarns to sewing on that last button. By the time I met the sweaters in the first issue, I felt like I really understood the work and thought that had gone into each one. The layout is clean and easy to follow, and she has sprinkled tons of totally fun images throughout. 

The coolest feature is that each garment is knit in two yarns: one low-priced and easily obtainable option and one slightly more luxurious option. Sizes and design features are also swapped out in some cases. It takes one of the best features of Ravelry--seeing variations on different bodies--and plugs it right into the magazine! Genius! 

I was thrilled to work with Allyson providing the yarn support for Lilith Ubbelohde's adorable Romp Around the Clock design. I honestly had no doubts that a risky garment like a one-piece adult romper would not go awry under the editorial direction of Allyson. Would you believe this is Lilith's FIRST design?! She hit it out of the park. 

HiKoo Simplicity works beautifully here. It is next to skin soft, machine washable and bouncy enough to hold up summer after summer. The DK weight merino blend comes in a HUGE array of colors, and I love the romper in Seattle Skies, a charcoal gray that will go with everything. The stitch definition is perfect for showcasing the textured details Lilith worked into this adorable piece. 

We are especially excited to be able to offer a PRIZE kit for this pattern! The winner will receive a pattern, the yarn and the addi Needles to knit this romper! Start now and wear it to a Fourth of July BBQ! Comment here to enter--let me know how you would style this versatile piece. If you're already a Holla Knits subscriber, head to their blog to enter their subscriber exclusive giveaway. I will pick a winner on May 5th. Good luck either way! 

yarn postcards

I am VERY excited to announce the first installment of Yarn Postcards, featuring Alex Tinsley (scroll down to learn how to enter to win a set of addi Lace Clicks). Before I introduce Alex, here is a bit more info about the postcard program...

The typical life cycle of a yarn starts at a mill, or even further back, at a farm. Getting a yarn to market means hours of discussion, research, and engineering. It’s a fantastically interesting process that I’ve been lucky to be a part of, but it is just the beginning. When a yarn arrives, promotion begins. Shade cards are assembled and sales representatives hit the road to visit yarn shops across the country. Yarns and shade cards are sent to designers and many months later, a design might emerge. The design process is labor intensive and publication schedules are protracted, especially true for books.

As a designer, I know that yarns have lots of adventures prior to publication. Even the yarns that don’t end up in a finished design can be instructive or interesting in some way. Yarns will travel with us, or keep us company at home. Suddenly I had to know what these yarns were doing out in the world, free from grading restrictions, column limitations, strict washing instructions. What if the yarn could send me a postcard? I’ve asked some of my favorite designers to do just that, sending them a hand-picked assortment of yarns and asking them to document what happens, however large or small.

My very first postcards are from Alex Tinsley, an independent designer who is best known for her wearable hats that are fresh without veering too far into tragically hip territory. Her designs are functional and straightforward, but there is always a smidgen of cleverness to keep knitters entertained.

It is clear that Alex is a fiber lover. Never one to over-complicate, her designs keep the focus on yarn, and her color sense is simultaneously soothing and intriguing. I sent her yarns that I thought she would like, but I was especially curious to see what she'd think of the addi Lace Click set. Since the tips are shorter, you can make small circumference circulars using this set, ideal for hat knitters who like to have a lot of size options. 

Alex is currently working on a mind-blowingly cool project with Cooperative Press (read more about it on Ravelry here). I had tons of fun perusing her post-apocalyptic mood boards and sending her yarns that would fit that creepy-cool theme. 

 Head over to Alex's site Dull Roar to enter her contest for a set of addi Lace Clicks! Since they're so very portable, she's asking where you'd like to take your Clicks on the road. I'm taking mine to Georgia for Stitches South, then to San Franscisco for vacation! More about those trips soon...

CR

*all photos used with permission from alex tinsley*

the linen closet

For a knitter, there is always something bittersweet about the arrival of spring. The magazines and websites we follow so faithfully are no longer full of fluffy scarves, intricate colorwork mittens and cozy Aran sweaters. Our steady diets of soft comforting fibers like wool, mohair and alpaca give way to slinky bamboo, silk, and cottons infused with linen. Just as frothy cups of cocoa are swapped for iced tea, our garment choices become lacy, spare, cooling. As much as I love winter, I am always happy to rekindle my love for linen. 

If you've never worked with linen before, you might have at least heard the warnings about it. It's a yarn that can require a bit of patience, as the starchy, strong fibers can be somewhat unyielding at first. The crisp hand can be tempered somewhat by the addition of soft cotton, but even in its purest form, it will soften beautifully with use and laundering. 

Schulana Kilino fits this category and comes in an array of sophisticated pastels that are perfect for warm weather garments. Three colorways combine neutrals with intermittent spots of color, and all are an intriguing combination of slightly shiny linen and soft, matte cotton. 

The yarn has a chain construction that lends lightness and versatility: it looks as good knit at the ballband gauge of 5 stitches per inch as it does knit at a slightly looser gauge. The swatch below shows the spotted shade knit on size 9 needles, while the vine lace swatch (stitch pattern listed at bottom of post) was knit on a size 8 needle: 

Kilino caught the attention of Yumiko Alexander, a designer I've long admired for her calm palette and her texture rich designs. Yumiko responded to the natural texture present in the yarn and used it to create Forest Weave, an intriguing top full of contradictory surfaces, deep cables alternating with breezy dropped stitches. You can find the pattern for sale on Ravelry here. I asked Yumiko for her impressions of Kilino: 

Kilino is a wonderful blend of cotton and linen. For this style of project, I wanted to create a light, easy summer style top that would work well in our hot climate, yet I could layer for winter. The 53 % linen and 47% cotton is a perfect blend for creating a lighter feeling garment than pure cotton of the same DK weight. The chainette construction adds even more lightness and a great texture for the drop stitches. By using Kilino, a high quality blended yarn, I am assured my sweater will last me for many seasons, which is important to me when creating a new design.

Here is the pattern for the yellow swatch shown above. There are three repeats show, which means I started with 31 stitches. It makes a nice little "mug rug" for the copious hot tea I'm drinking at the moment...see, springtime in Seattle is actually quite chilly, so we have a few more weeks of wool yet! 

Have a wonderful weekend,

CR

Vine Lace

(multiple of 9 stitches plus 4)

Rows 1 + 3 (wrong side): Purl.

Row 2: Knit 3, *yarnover, knit 2, slip slip knit, knit 2 together, knit 2, yarnover, knit 1, repeat from *, ending knit 1. 

Row 4: Knit 2, *yarnover, knit 2, slip slip knit, knit 2 together, knit 2, yarnover, knit 1, repeat from *, ending knit 2.  

Repeat these two rows for pattern. 

all about lop...

As promised, the pattern for the on trend Lop Headband. Get in on this coquettish spring trend with just one ball of Schulana Angora Fashion Color Twist. You can hear more about the inspiration behind this little confection in my video about Lop. 

 

marc jacobs rtw s/s 2012 runway images by gianni pucci for gorunway.com    

Hope you're enjoying the moody shades of springtime wherever you are...

CR 

rising in the east

The vernal equinox is behind us which means we're officially done with WINTER. While knitters tend to be loath to give up their fireside mugs of cocoa, many of us thrill at the fresh inspiration that spring brings. I just returned from a trip back east for the Yarn Market News Smart Business Conference. This conference is put on by the lovely people at Soho Publishing, the same team responsible for Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, and a trade only publication called Yarn Market News. I rely on this magazine for insight into what is happening in the industry, the same way I rely on their other magazines for inspiration. 

The conference was no different! I spent two days talking to shop owners and other industry folks, brainstorming ways to help keep our customers, fellow fiberlovers, happy. The rest of the time was spent traipsing through Boston, enjoying the unusually warm temperatures and the beauty of the historic Back Bay. 

Back home in Seattle we have a few more months of frozen fog, but spring IS creeping in! There are trees in bloom everywhere, and my morning commute now looks a lot like Schulana Angora Fashion Color Twist. Underneath a fuzzy angora halo, this 2-ply marl has a strand of soft heather grey and a strand of variagted lilac. 

I couldn't help but cast on for a floppy little headband that is somewhere between pin-up girl and lop-eared hare! I keep seeing 1940s turban style headbands on the runways and the streets and I started craving something that would cover my ears and capture the ethereal quality of these midseason days.

It's really just a strip of garter stitch with cabled edges and tapered points, a glorified swatch, but let me know if you'd like the pattern! 

CR