Stylish Knits

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and I do not know how it will work. Anyways, I am giving it a try. I am a stay at home mom/ knitwear designer. I have been knitting ever since I was little and started designing for my dolls. Now I am designing for my kids, me and my husband. And since the beginning of this year, I have started submitting my designs to magazines. So far I have two designs of mine published in Knit 1 magazine. One is in current issue of Knit 1 Winter 2006 - the Bee's Knees knee highs, which you can see here knit1.com/blog. The other one was the red Ruffle Top in the Fall 2006 issue, which is still on the news stands.

I have also been working on setting up my shop on etsy.com. Great site for arts and crafts lovers. I have few designs I would like to try to sell in my shop Simona Merchant-Dest's Designs there. It is a rather long name, so I just used my first name for the site(simonasdesigns.etsy.com). I have many projects I have made but still have to rewrite my patterns for few more sizes to be able to list them for sale.

Here is a preview what's coming:

This is a summer Orange/Green Top I designed and made for my daughter in Cascade Sierra and Cascade Sierra Quatro. It is very easy top to make. I made it on circular needles because I prefer not to sew, but it can definitely be done on straight needles and sew the front and back pieces together. This picture is taken at the Trade Fair BVV in Brno, Czech Republic (its my home town - anybody of you from Czech Republic living in the States?)

This is another outfit I designed and made this summer. It is worked in Lion Brand Microspun. It is so easy to work with; it has a nice drape to it and is so soft. I made the pieces on circular (I like working with circulars, can't you tell?), so again no sewing! Don't you just love when you bind off and your work is done?

This is another top I designed and made this summer. I call it the Blue Leave Top. It is so easy to make - made on circulars again, of course! The leave pattern is repeated at the bottom and top. The top is made in Caron's Simply Soft. I love this yarn - it's highly affordable, soft, knits-up fast (size US 8 needles), and washes well in washer and dryer. Again picture is taken in Brno, Czech Republic.

Last week, my husband was traveling, and I surprised him with a Reversible Hat and matching scarf. Though, it is harder to make husbands to pose for photograph, so I put the hat on a bear. It came out cute, I thought. It is worked in Carons' Simply Soft again - like this yarn - in three different colors. The hat is totally reversible, giving two looks in one. The "tassel" is not sewn on; it is worked in a 4-st tube on 2 dbpt needles. Did I tell you, I don't like sewing???? That's what makes the circles seen in the second picture.

Today, I started working on a Winter Earflaps Hat I had designed for my youngest daughter. I am using bright new yarn Bernat Glacier - great yarn to knit with. It's very bulky (knits on US size 10 1/2 needles) so it knits up really fast; it feels so soft and yummy - great yarn for kids. I am only few rounds away from finishing it and I ran out of the yarn. Yikes, I hate that. But that's OK. I still need some complementary color to do some edging and embroidery. I am also thinking about adding a pompon. Here is a picture:

And this is my last finished project - Red Cardigan with Hood. I started working on it when I was in Brno, but I got really busy there and when I came home I had been working on other project for Knit1. So I have finished it this weekend. I like how it fits - the ribbing of k2,p2 contours your body curves perfectly. I am thinking about making one like this for myself. I have added a nice detail with the buttons, which avoids to work buttonholes in button band, which can be intimidating to some beginners.