Two-stitch cables. The smallest little cable possible. Do you really need a cable needle?….Nah.
I haven’t posted a YouTube video in eons, but here are 2 short ones that show you how to do them in 1 quick maneuver. One going left (1/1 LC) and the other going right (1/1 RC). And they are fun tricks!
“Why were they made?” you ask. Almost every pattern I publish has a section of Helpful Links which assist you through webpages, videos, etc. in some of the technique in the pattern.
Enjoy!
Just like everyone else, I have my favorite designers. I like to see what they’re up to and know when they’ve published a new design on Ravelry.
Tonight I thought I’d show you a nifty little trick on just how you can do that!
Log into Ravelry and click on the magnifying glass in the top menu. This is Ravelry’s search function.
This will open up the search screen. In the search bar, type the name of the designer that you’d like to follow… me, perhaps?
This will open yet another screen. At the very bottom, it reads, “Advanced Search.” Click “patterns.”
Once again, a new screen opens. Be sure to follow steps 1 – 4 as listed in the image below.
This will save the search and keep you updated on the designer’s latest work. Every time a designer you’re following has a new pattern, a little blue dot will appear near the magnifying glass, like this…
Click the magnifying glass and you will see which designers you’re following have new patterns. Click the designer name and you can sort by newest patterns.
And….VOILA!
We’re all relatively happy in our day jobs, but what brings us real joy is when we’re creating. Only two of us are really making any money with our side hustle – two others wish they could find a way to do that, and another’s just happy doing what he loves to do. Personally, I know there’s ups and downs to the side hustle – (here’s an overview) – mainly that it’s hard to keep my life in balance.
I’ve been reading, watching and wondering a lot about balance and the “side hustle.” If you don’t know what a side hustle is, here’s a short TED talk which explains. Apparently one in two of every millennial has a side hustle. In my immediate family (husband and three children between 20 and 25), we all hold traditional jobs, but we’re all creatives — designer, painter, dancer, digital artist, musician.
But mostly, even if it does get crazy sometimes – my own designs, deadlines for publications, and submissions, along with my regular gig as an education director – I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s saved me from feeling stuck and kept me going in my day job at times. I feel lucky that my passion is my side hustle.
Do you have a side hustle or is your hobby enough as is?
So this is how it all turned out…
The issue was horizontal vs. vertical vs. wedge alignment. I was thinking about it all wrong. Because a yoke is circular, thinking about it “linear-ly” doesn’t work. Wrap your head around a wedge, as in pieces of a (circular) pie, and then it works.
Right now I’m at work on another one and trying quite hard to have it ready for a late February/early March release.
For yarn companies, books, knitting magazines both in the US and UK, and of course, Paper Moon Knits, this week I hit the mark of 100 published patterns with Bellecolline, a lace and cable tank.
Yes, there’s history. We could do a retrospective and I could tell stories of how I started designing, how exciting it was to see my name in [fill in the name of the magazine here] or when I received a copy of a book in the mail, but this week I just want to smile and take a deep breath and think about the road ahead and where it will take me.
Tomorrow I publish my 101st pattern and start the second 100. Here’s to the future!
If you’re “born” on the same day to the same parent, that makes you twins. These two shawls were released today on Ravelry. I’m the mama.
First born is Scrivener, a wide, shallow garter crescent in two sizes. There’s lace knitting in there, but also knitted lace. The difference, you ask? Lace knitting has patterning on one side with rest rows in between (for this one, it’s just knit the WS rows). Knitted lace has patterning on both the right and wrong sides of the work. It makes it a bit trickier, but much more ethereal.
I’ve done this one in Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, a lovely “big wheel” that I bought at the sadly, now defunct Gauge & Tension shop in Brooklyn.
Scrivener‘s younger sister is Hither Hills. This one has garter stripes in (mostly) 2 colors, with a third-color stripe thrown in there strategically. The stripes alternate in sections with lace, followed by a little picot edging.
Hither Hills is made in the lovely Quince & Co. Tern, a new silk/wool favorite for me. The three colors, Driftwood, Barnacle and Rose Quartz, make a beautiful brown/green-tinged brown/pink combination.
As with all parents, I love them both equally. You can purchase them both on Ravelry. And if you put both in your cart at the same time, one will be yours free until 7/10/17.
Today, I’m re-releasing a cardigan that I’ve had many requests for over the years, Norfolk. It had been unavailable since 2012.
The story?
Back in the fall of 2011, two of my designs were published by The Sanguine Gryphon. Less than a month later, Gryphon and Sarah decided to dissolve the company and form two new companies, The Verdant Gryphon and Cephalopod Yarns. The summer before the announcement was made, I had designed a cardigan for them, Norfolk.
The company was very generous in returning all the design rights to me, however, I couldn’t use their (tech-edited) version of the pattern, nor did I want to use their photography. I let these designs languish in no-man’s land for awhile, then re-released the gloves, Brigid’s Lie.
Norfolk was released earlier today. You can purchase it for 50% off until the end of the month, no coupon code needed.
And perhaps, someday soon, Effie will rejoin her sisters.
The consolation was that I could still get my hands on two of my favorite yarns, Bugga and Skinny Bugga. Now, that is no longer even true. Cephalopod closed their doors three years ago, and although Verdant was selling their yarns sporadically, it appears that they really don’t exist as a viable company anymore either.
