I am BACK

It's been a while since my last post. We had a nice holiday season and right after that a busy time started. In mid January I got a request for 2 designs of women's socks from Avalon Books (a publisher in UK). It was a work of very short notice - it had to be done in just 1 week. I was pulling a lot of mid-nighters - going to sleep 2 or 3 AM. I managed to finish it a few days before the due date. Though, it took about 5 days to get it to London, so I was cutting it really close to add some stress into my life. But I am quite excited about the book that the patterns will be featured in, "Stitch Style: Socks" - coming out in Fall 2007.



Further, in February I had worked on 2 summer tops, which will be featured in Knitter's Magazine in Summer 2007. It was really nice to work with another knitting magazine and see how things are done differently from what I had been used to with SoHo Publishing Co. (they publish Vogue Knitting, Knit.1, Knit Simple and other mags). In late February I found out that the deadline for another 2 desings I was making for fall 2007 Knit Simple magazine was pushed by 2 weeks!! So I had incorporated a little stress factor into our lives. But everything worked out fine. It always has to.



These first 2 weeks in March I was working on the desings for Knit Simple and I just sent those in on Thursday. Meantime, design of "Lost and Found" A-line skirt for croquet is featured in the Spring 2007 issue of Knit.1. You can see it here. You can see it under Club Kids section on top; if you don't see it click few times on "Fashion Preview" and the pictures change.



Meantime, I have received an e-mail from Woolwinders - a great yarn store in my neighbourhood, that the owner is looking for knitters/designers. So I replied, and now I am creating a new line of knitwear for kids called "Time 4 Style Kids" - designs for boys and girls of often negleted age group 6-12 year-olds. I am desinging the knitwear exclusively for her store, (you can read all about it here) so you can go and check the designs there - yes, they are there for you to see before you start knitting. Of course, you can buy the designs right in her store, Woolwinders, or you can purchase them in my on-line store www.simonasdesings.etsy.com.



Here is the first design for girls (sized for 8 - 12/14) called "Pinks - Spring Top" with matching purse/bag "Pinks - Diamond Spring Bag." The top is worked in a round on circular needles without any sewing involved. The only finishing is weaving the loose ends of yarn.



























The matching bag is also worked in a round, so there is no sewing involved except for weaving in 2 ends. The front is worked in "Diamond" lace pattern and the back is a simple 4-st cable worked throughout.


Now I am working on a desing for boys, so check in to see what we'll knit up.

So that's all for right now.

Please do not hesitate to drop me a comment! If you have question about a pattern or anything at all.

Victorian Lace Hat

So I have finally taken a foto of the hat that matches the scarf in my last post and I had put it up for sale in my shop. Here is the foto:

Today I have been working up some more swatches for my submissions and it's shaping up good.

Hectic Time

It is a hectic time of a year. There are so many happenings squeezed into few weeks before Christmas.


First, today was my youngest daughter's birthday! She turned 3, but she tells everyone that she is 4 - I don't know why. Today we had gone to doctors for annual check-up and she is off the chart for her height - 110%! So maybe she feels so tall, she thinks that she's 4. Anyways. We celebrated her birthday yesterday because today her Daddy's travelling and we had few activities with the two older ones.


As for work, I had been really good today and made a few sketches to submit. Now when I know what I want to work on I can do some swatching. Though, I noticed that many deadlines for submissions were this week, so I'll see if it will be OK to submit for next issues.



Last week I finished a Victorian Lace Scarf and Hat set. It was suppose to be a present for our annual Christmas Book Club present swap, but my Hubby was travelling that day and I could not get babysitter, so I could not go. So I am thinking I will put it up on Etsy to sell. There also the pattern will be available within few days.








Last weekend we finally decorated the Christmas tree. The kids enjoyed doing it; and they even remembered the decorations from last year. Well, they are growing older and life changes a little when we do not have any more babies any more. Here is our favorite picture:



Last week, I got some presents from my Wish list for Santa (of course knitting books)


(1) Twist and Loop by Annie Modesitt. It's a great book for beginners of easy to follow instructions for making jewelry with crochet and knitting wire and beads. I had wanted to try this for the longest time. Her instructions are very straight forward and easy for beginners.


(2) Vogue Knitting Stitchionary (Volume 1)


(3) Knitting Beyond the Edge by Nicky Epstein.

These are great resource books for knitters to have. Just listing through the pages gets my creativity going. It's only unfortunate that now I have to wait until Christmas to get to enjoy those books!

Well I am off to swatching...

Knit Simple magazine design

Now there is another design of mine published. You can see my newest design in Knit Simple Winter 2006/07 . It is the Fair Isle Scarf & Hat in the right hand corner - you can see it here.

Shop is finally working..

It's been a while since my last blog. I had been working on setting up my shop at simonasdesigns.etsy.com; and finally I have 2 patterns up for sale. You can see them below.


As I said it’s been a busy week for me. I have started working on another Ski Hat for my eldest daughter, since I was short of the Bernat Glacier yarn for the Winter Earflaps Ski Hat as I mentioned in my last post. I had another great yarn I got in JoAnns “Sensations Angel Hair” - it is so soft and perfect for a girl’s hat. It is even easier to make than the Winter Earflaps Ski Hat pattern because it is worked only in St st. The pattern should be up for sale in the shop pretty soon, so check back.












I still do not have a name for this pattern, so if you have some good idea, please share it with me.

In these picture is my eldest daughter and you can see how goofy she acts when she poses for me. Do we ever have enough of goofy pictures of our kids?

Yesterday my family and I went to Mikulasska (St. Nikolas) Christmas party in McLean, VA. For those of you who do not know this tradition, it is a party for kids where Sv. Mikulas, Angle and Devil come to see the kids. The story behind is that the kids have to sing something, or say some poem to St Mikulas to get a treat. They are asked if they had been behaving the whole year, and if yes they can get the treat (some candy and fruit), and if they weren’t the Devil will put them into a sack and will take them away. You can only imagine that all the kids interestingly enough confess only to behaving well all year round!










Today I should have jumped onto making some Christmas cards (yes I make my own; even though I do not have time for it, but I like to do that for at least close friends and family) and send it out, so family and friends in Czech Republic would get them before the Holidays. But instead I was "playing" with my computer today putting a second pattern into my shop, so I guess I must do it tomorrow.


In the morning I volunteer at our school at Holiday Gift shop, so maybe I can do it afterwards.

And lastly here are the patterns available for sale:


(1) It is the Winter Earflaps Ski Hat:












And then it is the Reversible Hat and Scarf set I made for my husband. It is quite versatile depending on which colors you choose to use.







It's time to make the dinner, so I will check in soon.

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.

As I mentioned, this is my first time blogging, so do not hesitate drop me a comment on what you do and like to knit.