Holiday Knit Simple

Oh my, I just got my issue of Knit Simple Holiday. We're talking about Holiday already?! My brain is still firmly stuck somewhere in the middle of July.



This darling raglan jacket by Amy Polcyn is worked from the top down and is sized up to a 56" bust! It is knit in Lorna's Laces' Shepherd Worsted in 701 Purple Club.

Did you know that purple is Lorna Miser's favorite color? She wears it every single day. She created this color one afternoon when her kids got off the school bus and wanted something to do. She was busy trying to finish up some work and needed something to distract them. She started calling them the "Purple Club" and it stuck!

Cutaway Coat

A new Interweave publication is hitting news stands on October 4. It's called knit.wear and the idea is simple knits for the thoughtful knitter. Visually simple, not necessarily beginner knitting. This sounds like it's right up my ally.

The cardigan shown here is The Cutaway Coat. It was designed by my friend Sandi Rosner and photographed by Joe Hancock. (I often forget to credit the photographer and that's not right.) It's knit using two of Lorna's Laces' mohair yarns, Grace and Glory. It's shown here in the colorway Dusk.

I dropped Sandi a line and asked her about the coat. This is what she told me:

For me, this piece was all about the fabric. I knew the mohair would deliver warmth without weight. What surprised me was the play of light across the surface. The loops of Grace reflect the light in a shimmery way, and the halo of Glory diffuses the reflection. It's like looking at pearls through a veil of chiffon.

My original swatch used Grace in Robot Overlord and Glory in Poppy, which added the element of color excitement. Working the two yarns in the same colorway, as Interweave chose to do, produced a more subtle yet equally beautiful result.

Oh, and it's incredibly soft and snuggly, too!

Signed and Numbered

I'm on the way to Vogue Knitting Live today. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about teaching and getting to meet lots of knitters! I love the excitement and energy that comes along with big knitting shows. Afterwards, I always find myself back at the studio chomping at the bit with new ideas.



We like doing special things for events. This time we decided to join forces with the Knit Culture crew to create a very special color, VK Live 2011. There are only 100 skeins of Shepherd Sock available, each is signed and numbered. Fun don't you think? I've never signed anything like that before.

I'm feeling very glam. Except for the fact that I have dye underneath my fingernails.

Cornice Socks

In early June, I got a call from Lesley over at Wool and Company in St. Charles IL. Lesley and her husband Neal are very clever and always full of great ideas. This time was no different...Lesley had an idea to do a special color and sock for Sock Summit 11.

We thought it would be fun to have her come by the studio and play in the color with Mt. Hood in her mind's eye. The idea of the grey majesty of snowcapped the snow capped mountain dotted with majestic firs under the Oregon sky was our starting point.



We fiddled around a little and then a little more and came up with Hoodwinked. I thought it was a witty name for a pretty color.

As icing on the cake, their faithful sidekick Gretl came up with Cornice, a great sock pattern to go the yarn.



Here's what Gretl says about the name: A cornice is an overhanging edge of snow on a ridge or the crest of a mountain or even a house roof. It is formed by the wind blowing snow over the edge. This stitch pattern come from Omas Strichgeheimnisse reminds us of the cornices on Mount Hood and other mountains.

I like the synergy.

Book Report: Knitted Lace

Here's the second installment of my posts about Interweave's new series of "best of" books. This one is Knitted Lace. Anne Merrow is the editor.



I really like this book. Alot. There's a little something here for everyone. As expected, there are lots of shawls and scarves. I always think of them as being the foundation of the lace knitting world. But you'll also find socks and sweaters, tanks and skirts.

One of the things I found interesting was the simplicity of patterns. What I mean is that they were short, many only two pages. One page was for written instructions and the other for charts. Clean, simple and neat. But the results are ooh la la!

Interspersed between the designs are sections called Lace Lessons. One is a primer, another talks about bind offs and the last is about shaping garments. While I wouldn't classify this book as an exhaustive discussion, it has great technical content.

There is one Lorna's Laces project in the book, Susan Pierce Lawrence's Fountain Pen Shawl.




It's knitted from Helen's Lace and shown here in 9ns Pewter.




This might be my next project but I need to get Medusa off the needles first. I had such a nice time with Rock Island that I'm itching to get another full blown Helen's Lace project going. This one has the luxury of having the WS rows being all purl. It's nice to get a little rest between the lace rows.

Are you knitting lace right now? Tell me about it.

Another Sneak Peak

I just got my copy of Interweave Gifts and noticed Temperance Blackthorne's Plethora Scarf. It's a beauty. And it has beads! I'm beginning to wonder about beading. (What's the world coming to? Me doing lace AND beads!)



The colorway here is Monet's Garden. It's part of the Impressionist Series that's available exclusively at Yarn Market.

The Impressionist Collection is really a fun project. Alex over at Yarn Market sent us photos of several of his favorite paintings from the revolutionary Parisian artists of the 19th century. The collection are our interpretations of these famous images.

Book Report: The Best of Interweave Crochet

Recently, I've been getting copies of a new "Best of" series from Interweave. The first one I'd like to tell you about is the crochet book, edited by Marcy Smith.



I recognize patterns going all the way back to when Crochet was a special interest publication and not a regular part of the Interweave lineup. I see things from Judy Swartz's days at the helm. Kim Werker's too.

The patterns run the gamut from pretty traditional granny square blankets to sophisticated takes on Icelandic classics. There are a powerhouse of names here too, Lily Chin, Kathy Merrick, Kristin Ohmdahl and Robyn Chachula to name just a few.

Interspersed between the 23 designs are sections called Beyond the Basics. These are deeper discussions of techniques that will raise your level of expertise. A couple of examples of essays from these sections are The Adjustable Ring and Symbolcraft.

There are two projects in this book that feature Lorna's Laces. The first is a really versatile scarf designed by Kathy Merrick called Boteh.























It's made with a single skein of our Shepherd Sock in 15ns Chino. Our new Solemate would work beautifully too!

The other project in this collection is Valentina Devine's Boho Block Cardigan.























This granny square sweater seems timeless to me. A little hippy-dippy, a little boho and somehow fresh all at the same time. It's made from our Helen's Lace held double. It's shown in three colors (from top to bottom) 102 Motherlode, 6ns Douglas Fir and 708 Camouflage. Holding a multi color yarn together mixes up the color resulting in a rich marled effect.

I thought it would be fun to see what colors the crew here would put together for themselves.

I'll go first: I'm an orange girl and am feeling autumnal, so I'm going to go with 118 Woodlawn, Chagrin and 509 Satsuma.



I was a little surprised by Merrilee's choice. Her wardrobe tends towards vibrant, fun colors but today she went for a very neutral palette. 15ns Chino, Echo and 36ns Chocolate.
















Bette Boo went bright and fun. 509 Satsuma, 1ns Pink Blossom and 630 Bittersweet.
















No surprise that Amanda's pick included greens. And I know from very reliable sources that Ashburn is one of her all-time favorite Lorna's Laces colors. 711 Grant Park, Grand Street Ink and 608 Ashburn.
















Last up is Mento. He went with more of a spring feel. Pretty and bright. This sweater is also available in a children's version and this would work nicely there.



This is a compilation volume and the patterns were published over the years in the magazine so you might already own them all. In that case, I'm not sure I'd spend the money. But for the mere mortals among us who aren't that organized I would recommend this book. I like having things all in one place. And I like books. And these are the favorites. I think Marcy picked very well.