Sunday, February 24, 2008

My daughter's AG skirt

This is my middle daughter's first real project - a skirt for her American Girl doll. She learned on this piece how to purl! Since her tension is not yet always the same, that created a nice element to her skirt where some of the sts are longer thus giving a feel of a lace panel in the skirt. I was very proud of her. She is a quite a fast knitter; she made it in a matter of a few hours on Friday. Our schools were closed because of bad weather; and she did not waste her time and made her doll a nice piece of a wardrobe. Later she styled her doll into a swim wear and found herself a piece of fabric she knitted last weekend and used it for a towel. She is my little fashion stylist.

Project info:
For the skirt she used US #8 (5.00mm) needles and Bernat Soy Natural Blend yarn.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Cape Collar Jacket by Vladimir Teriokhin

For past couple weeks I have been working on a jacket designed by Vladimir Teriokhin issued in the Winter 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting. I have chosen to modify the collar a bit so it fits my body frame better; though I like the original collar design, I don't think it would look good on me. I have heard about some errors involve with this pattern by other folks, who contacted me to get help, so in the future post I might try to sum up some of the errors with the pattern as I and others see it.

Right now, I just wanted to share some pictures of the jacket. These pictures were taken about a week ago and since then I have joined the collar and sewn the shoulder seams and the back neck seem. I also worked the support for the collar, which I did not really fully understood from the instructions. But I had to modify that support since I have made a different collar. I made the support more like a lining for the collar and I'll see how it'll work. Also I have finished both of the sleeves and I am wet blocking all the pieces but the final sewn-on 18-st cable, which I am still working on at the moment. Now I have lots of sewing to work on. I guess I will turn some fun music on and try to do it in as short time as possible. Sewing is not my favorite thing to do, I confess.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Bell Sleeve Shrug #3



Yes, I have just finished another Bell Sleeve Shrug! So now each of my girls have one of their own. They really like to wear them a lot, even though my girl in this pictures was not in the mood of taking pictures, can you tell? This time I used different yarn yet again. See the info below.

Bell Sleeve Shrug #3
Pattern:
Bell Sleeve Shrug
Size: 8 yrs (she's 7 yrs old)
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft - 1 ball!
Needles: Us #8 (5 mm)

Couple of days ago I have sent a few proposal to a mag publisher for summer issue. I love the swatching and sketching and designing part, but I always dread doing the administrative part of it: the actual scanning of everything into the computer, filing and making comprehensive proposals themselves, printing, packaging - in short, the office work. So I am always happy when that's done; and now I can hope that they like one or two of the designs.

I have finished all three shrugs for my girls. I have also finished the Men's Ladder socks - though I have not finished writing the pattern yet. I am still debating if I should send it to Knitty or not. I am itching to post the pictures and put the pattern on Etsy. I'll see what kind of pictures we can take of it because, honestly, I think you have to have awesome pictures (plus of course a great pattern to go with it) in order to be considered for being published in Knitty. But there's still time, I think the due date for submission is March or so. I should check it out, just to make sure not to miss the deadline.





Teriokhin Cape Jacket
Now I have started working on my next project for me. I really like a few designs in the new Vogue Knitting magazine. I chose to work on the Cape Collar Jacket (#16) by Vladimir Teriokhin. I love the silhouette and the style of the design. I like the collar on the model; but not for me, so I will modify it to make it not so wide, more traditional width. I am about 20% through the project and it's coming along rather quick, since I am actually following a written pattern! So this is a fun and pleasure knitting for me. I am using different yarn; I bought Bernat Soy Natural Blend. I love the drape of it. I am using US #8 (5 mm) needles and I am getting the same 19 st per 4" gauge as they are with #4 needles. I guess the yarn they used in the sample must be very soft, fluffy yarn, since it's also medium weight yarn; or the sample knitter knits very loosely. At left you can see some pictures of the jacket in progress.

Knitters # 90 - Vote on the Cover

The new Vote on the Cover feature for the new spring issue of Knitters magazine #90 is up on the Knitting Universe website. If you want, you can check it out here and vote. This time it's none of my designs on the cover, but they all look pretty exciting. What's your favorite? So go and vote and see what the editors are going to choose at the end.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Bell Sleeve Shrug #2

This weekend I was testing the new pattern Bell Sleeve Shrug. I made it for my youngest daughter in size 6yrs. She is only 4 years old but wears size 5/6.









Bell Sleeve Shrug #2

Size: 6
Yarn: Red Heart Ltd. Soft Yarn Solids
Needles: US#8 (5mm)

Now I am going to work on the size 8 yrs because my middle daughter want one too.