KAL with Me!

Did you know that I'm hosting a KAL (knit-a-long) for my patterns this month?  It's over in the Budding Designers Downunder group on Ravelry.  (You can find a discount code for 25% off all my patterns until this Friday over in the thread.)

And I even have a couple new designs that I've released in time for the KAL too!

You might remember a while ago that I designed a vest pattern for a new nephew of mine.  And then the pattern just sat there mostly written up but not finished.

Turns out having a little boy of my own to knit for is making me hurry up and finish the boy designs I have in process!

This one is called Billy and is available in sizes NB to 10 years.  You can purchase it through my Ravelry store for $US6.


The second pattern release from me this month is yet another waiting-for-me-to-get-around-to-it design. 

This one is a cowl that I knit for the MiddleMiss last winter, then I tweaked the pattern and knit one for the BigMiss and that's as far as I got - that one sat around waiting for buttons which only happened recently!

This pattern is called Herring and you can download it for free through my Ravelry store.

I'm also hosting an Accessories KAL this month in the same group so this pattern will be perfect to enter in that.


For the KAL I'm making another Billy for the Little Man as the one he's modelling is being sent off as a gift to a friend's new baby boy.  And I have to make another cowl - for the LittleMiss this time - so I might try enter that in the accessories KAL too!

Try join in either KAL - there's some good prizes to be won!

New Designs!

I figured it was about time I updated about my latest designs.

First up, the one I mentioned in my previous post being published in a magazine.

Photo copyright Practical Publishing

This is my Tadpole Romper and Booties set and it was published in the January edition of Knit Now magazine.  It's a UK-based magazine, though it is available here in most yarn shops.

I was super excited to have a design accepted into a real print magazine and I even had my yarn supplied direct from the company (Artesano Yarns - the superwash DK is very nice yarn to work with!)


My latest pattern I posted about before Christmas.

This tunic/dress is called Kahli and is very different to my normal design process - it is made in 11 different pieces that are sewn together rather than knit all in one piece.  This made it quite a challenge to grade for the different sizes and write up into an easy-to-follow pattern!

I released it at the beginning of this month and wanted to run a KAL for it, so I decided to start up a group on Ravelry for my designs!

I'm planning on running regular giveaways over there, the main one being a monthly draw for current WIP or FO (work-in-progress or finished-object) photos of my designs, so if you've knit any of my patterns or are planning to then make sure you join my group!

Somebody's not too impressed with a mobile baby!

And in other news, my Little Man is crawling!  Yep, at only 6 months old he's moving around quite well.  And at the same time the girls have decided to be really into playing with their Lego which gets left out on the floor for him to break (fortunately he doesn't put it in his mouth otherwise I'd ban them from playing with it!)

Happy New Year!

Ok, so I'm a little late to the party but better late than never right??

This year will be full of changes and new adventures for our family, starting with some major job changes happening in the next month, all going to plan.  I'm hoping this means I get more time to spend focussing on my knitting and pattern designing.

Little Miss being the baby also

School will be starting again next week for the girls and I'm really looking forward to the routine again.  Though it will be interesting to see how the Little Man handles it all - he's been far too spoilt with company over the last 7-8weeks of holidays!

Big Miss reading to the Little Man

I have plenty of pattern news I need to write about on here - in particular about a pattern that was printed in a magazine that came out this month!  But hopefully, cute baby photos will be ok for now...

Just over four months and he's already up on his knees!

A New Design in Process!

Are you like everybody else and madly rushing around getting ready for Christmas?

There's plenty of 'mad' and 'rush' going on round here, though mostly because our life is undergoing a few changes (don't worry, it's all good so far!) which means a lot of extra work in the meantime.

But I have still been knitting, and even a bit of crochetting for a change!

Here's my latest FO:

This is a tunic I've designed for my BigMiss.  It hasn't quite worked out as I'd like - I wanted it to be a little longer - so I've ordered some yarn to knit one the right length for my LittleMiss also.  I'll still work on getting modelled photos of this one on my BigMiss soon anyway.

I'm just working on the final modifications to the pattern, then it should be ready to go to testers!


And I'm thinking about starting up a Ravlery group for my designs...
What do you think?
Good idea, bad idea?
Will I run out of things to talk about, or will I bore people with too much talk?
Will I be the only member?

Oh Dear

I had some little people come visit today with their mum.

After they'd gone home I noticed that my balls of yarn had been knocked off the coffee table where I'd left them and one was missing.

I wasn't too worried as I figured it would turn up.

It did.  It was sitting in the ashes of the open fire.

 

This is my second ball of the Mocha for BigMiss' tunic I'm making.  And I was planning on using it tonight.

I think I'll have to toddler-proof my knitting stuff a bit better next time!

Any suggestions for how to clean it??

WIP's

I thought I should start taking wip (work in progress) photos more often and keep my project notes on Ravelry more up to date.  I find it's actually quite nice to look back and see how long (or short!) it's taken to knit something.  And I have a few things on the go that I've cast on lately that I need to keep a track of too!

So, at the same time I thought it might be nice for you (and keep me accountable to finishing things!) if I updated here also...

 

This is that gorgeous yarn from Olive & Emma I showed in my last post knit up.

I love the colours in it and think it's really going to suit my Little Man.

 

 

This is the Mocha and Peony yarn from Little Plum Yarn knit up.

It's a tunic/dress for the BigMiss.  I'm a little excited about this pattern as I think it's looking really cool and can't wait to show the finished product!

 

This is me being a little crazy.

There's a thing going on via Ravelry where you have to knit a sweater (adult sized, at least 50,000 stitches) in a month.  It's called NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) which is the knitter's alternative to National Write a Novel Month (write a 50,000+ word novel in November).  The 'National' part relates to USA, but it's open to everyone anyway (in case you haven't heard of either thing - I only found out via Rav last year)

I'm only joining in because I'd ordered this yarn (Brown Sheep Cotton Fine) to knit myself a Apres Surf Hoodie, then stumbled upon the NaKniSweMo Group again and realised I could.  It might actually motivate me to finish it too!

How many wip's do you have?
Do you keep your projects page updated regularly?
Or are you like me and only make the project page once something's finished?

Freedom Knitting

I feel like I've been in a constant state of limbo most of the year with my knitting and pattern writing. 

Because of a serious lack of communication from a certain yarn company (that I'm not so fond of anymore), I always had to make sure I wasn't committing to or concentrating on much just in case  today I'd get the email to say it's all go and I have 8 weeks to write and knit two complicated patterns (if only they had let me know - way back in March - what yarn to design for!)

Little Plum Yarn Supertwist Sport in Mocha

But the freedom I'm feeling now it's all done and over makes me love knitting again!  (I'd started to loose the love for it, I suppose that's what happens when it's a have to.)

Little Plum Yarn Supertwist Sport in Peony

Even though I've been in Pattern-Writing Limbo, I've still been planning new designs to work on as soon as I could. 

And buying yarn to knit them with!

Olive & Emma 4ply Merino in Cade with Trim

So now I've just cast on to make a variation of this pattern:

That's my Little Man at just 6 days old - he turned 6 weeks old yesterday and not really fitting this cardy anymore!

I'm making a few changes to make it a little more quirky and funky.  I can't wait to show you the finished knit!  (I'm using the grey and brown yarn above which is a made-for-me colourway from Olive & Emma. It's looking gorgeous so far!)


Joining in with the other creative folk at My Creative Space.