Last night I finished knitting this second Eldridge hat and washed it, leaving it to block dry overnight. This morning, it was all ready for its debut!

For this second hat, I used Malabrigo Worsted instead of the Madelinetosh, and the result is a squishier, drapier hat. The Vintage has more body and therefore flops down a bit less than the Malabrigo, but the difference doesn’t matter much for the design.

The color I used is Rattan (color number 504), which is a really pretty straw yellow with almost no color variation. I wanted to see the hat in an almost-solid color so that the lace would really shine through, which I think it really does in this one!

I also decided to knit this one in a size Large instead of the Medium I used for the original sample. The brim on the original was just a smidge tight on my huge head (my head is 22.5″ around!), so the Large was probably the right size for me anyway. I think I’m going to get a lot of wear out of both the hats!! Oh and it took way less than one skein of Malabrigo to finish this one, so you can almost certainly get three hats out of two skeins . . . which is an awesome deal.

Here’s a closeup of the lace pattern:

And here’s how it looked before blocking out the lace to open it up:

Big difference, huh?

I was in Knitty City recently and fell in love with a skein of Madelinetosh ToshVintage in the color Celadon. It told me immediately that it wanted to be a slouchy lace hat (what? don’t tell me that yarn doesn’t talk to you this way!) and before I knew it, I had sketched, swatched, and finished this design!

I’ve decided to name it Eldridge, after one of the streets in my neighborhood here in NYC, and today I’m releasing it into the wild. I hope you like it!

Eldridge is a slouchy but not-too-slouchy hat in an allover lace pattern that’s simple to knit. Knits, purls, decreases, and yarn overs in a simple 8-row repeat is all it takes. If you’ve never done lace before, this could be a great place to start!

Here’s a detail shot of the lace texture:

I love how it accents the gorgeous, subtle colors in Tosh Vintage. There are so many stunning colorways in this yarn, I think I may have to make myself multiple hats in different colors! And just yesterday The Loopy Ewe got like 70 colors of this yarn in stock, so it’s pretty much decided that I’m buying some more. I’m just trying to limit myself to at most 5 before I click that checkout button . . .

But back to the pattern! It’s written in 3 sizes and is now available for immediate download for $4.00. You’ll need size 7 needles, both 16″ circulars and double-pointed needles, and one skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage.

Oh and if you’ve bought the Chiagu Collection 2012, you’ve already received your copy! Check your email for the update from Ravelry. =)

I’ve got lots more in store for you in the near future, so stay tuned! It seems like I’ve fallen hard for Madelintosh recently . . .

I’m super excited to release my first pattern of 2012, the Freemans Alley Mitts!

I’m sure it’s no surprise that this pattern uses my favorite Koigu KPPPM yarn and that I worked in a way to use not one but three of their awesome colors. The mitts you see above shade from a mostly-purple color, through a mostly-reddish-fuchsia, to a mostly-orange color. So pretty!

My friend Seth took these awesome photos for me, which explains how I ended up with shots like this:

Which shows the ribbing on the “inside” of the mitts nicely . . .

and this:

Where the light just makes me gasp!

The knitting on these couldn’t be much simpler: just knits and purls, with a few decreases for some shaping. The “front” of the mitts is all stockinette so that the yarn colors do all the talking, and the “back” of the mitts has allover ribbing to ensure a good fit:

The pattern includes instructions to knit these either flat with a seam or in the round on DPNs, so you can work them in whichever method you prefer.

Or maybe you want to knit them in just one color? That works beautifully too!

And guess what? You only need one skein of Koigu to finish the mitts! Score.

The pattern is available as an immediate PDF download for $4.00. Or if you prefer, buy it through Ravelry. And if you bought the Chiagu Collection 2012, you’ve already received a copy in your inbox!

I hope you enjoy this design! If you aren’t quite ready to buy it yet but you did like it, can you do me a quick favor and click “add to faves” on it on Ravelry? Thanks in advance, I appreciate the love! ;o)

I’m so excited to introduce you to my latest design, the Adrie vest!

It’s been a long time in the making but the process was a pleasure. Along the way I took several in-progress photos, so you get to see much more of the design process than usual! Here goes . . .

First off, the yarn is insanely beautiful. It’s Madelinetosh Tosh Merino light and it has these subtle shades in it that take my breath away. The colorway I used is called Calligraphy and it reminds me of mushrooms, with shades it it that go from brownish to greyish to pinkish. Every time I look at it I get the same thrill I got initially, so that really speaks for the beauty of the yarn. And the finished fabric? It’s flowy and light, soft and smooth, and drapes likes nobody’s business. If you haven’t had a chance to work with this yarn yet, run, don’t walk, to the LYS to grab a skein!

I knew that I wanted to use this stunning yarn for something drapey and cozy, but I didn’t want to make a shawl simply because I wanted to do something new. The flowy vest was the perfect solution! I sketched, swatched, and ripped a bunch until I came up with the Adrie vest. It features a cable along the neckline that has no up/down direction (you’ll be knitting it from both ends!) and various textures that show off the beautiful yarn.

Here’s a closeup of the cable that starts everything off:

And bonus: in this unusual construction method, each section is knit from the previous one, so there are no ends to seam! I know you love that.

Here’s how my vest looked when it was nearly done:

You can’t really tell from the photo but the fronts are picked up and knit off the back, so you don’t have to sew them to each other. It makes finishing so much simpler when all you need to do is weave in the ends and block!

Here’s how it looks from the back when worn:

I wore this vest around at Vogue Knitting Live this year and got tons of compliments. I like to wear it over a fitted long-sleeve shirt with fitted jeans, that way the proportions are balanced out. I think it would be cute over a sleeveless dress too, if you’re more of the boho type . . . I just can’t pull that look off myself!

Here are the basic details:

Size & Finished Measurements:
Sizes: S(M,L)
Shown in size Small. My bust is 37”.

Back width at bust: 18”(21”,24”)
Length at center back: 19”(21”,24.5”)

Gauge:
25 sts/38 rows = 4” in stockinette stitch on size US #4/3.5mm needles

Materials:
3(4,4) skeins Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light (100% superwash Merino), 100 grams/3.5 oz, 440 yards/402 meters, in color Calligraphy

The knitting pattern is 5 pages long and includes detailed schematics to help you understand the unusual construction.

The PDF is available for purchase as an immediate download. Price is $5.50 and you can either purchase from my site or via Ravelry:

If you have any questions about the design please ask!

I’m so so happy with how this little scarf design came out!

The idea was to make a scarf that would shade colors of Koigu into each other, to seamless go from one color through a bunch of other colors in a way that made them look like the fade into and out of eachother magically. I knew that I wanted a simple stitch pattern that wouldn’t detract from the colors, but knitting an all-garter-stitch scarf is pretty boring, so I threw in some eyelets to keep your interest as you knit. The eyelets ended up being my favorite part of the design! The different texture of those rows brings out the subtle color changes in a different way than the garter stitch does, so it gives the whole piece much more depth of color.

You can see the full color progression here:

I’ve done lots of projects in Koigu but never one where the colors changed this drastically. I’m still amazed at how great they look fading into and out of each other! Which probably explains why I can’t seem to stop admiring the different colors . . .

And in this one, you can really see the texture of the garter stitch and the eyelets:

The pattern is available to purchase for $4.00, and will be delivered immediately as a PDF download. You can purchase it here!

Speaking of colors, as you know that’s my favorite thing about Koigu. I decided to offer up some kits for this scarf, and had lots of fun coming up with colorways!

I’m offering limited-edition kits for $39 plus shipping of $5.50. I didn’t even write down the colors I used here, so I can’t make any more of these even if I want to! You’re guaranteed to have a very unique scarf if you choose one of these =)

Here are the colorways I came up with so far:

The first one is called Dark and it’s the colorway I knit for the project photos:

Loreley Scarf Knitting Kit - Colorway: Dark

Kit includes KPPPM yarn as pictured and full-color pattern, plus a PDF copy of the pattern. Size 6 needles not included.

*Shipping via Priority Mail. $5.50 shipping for one kit, FREE SHIPPING on 2 or more kits!

I love the way the finished scarf came out and I know I’ll get lot of use out of this colorway, as it pretty much goes with everything!

For the next colorway, I wanted to go exactly the opposite and came up with the Light kit:

Loreley Scarf Knitting Kit - Colorway: Light

Kit includes KPPPM yarn as pictured and full-color pattern, plus a PDF copy of the pattern. Size 6 needles not included.

*Shipping via Priority Mail. $5.50 shipping for one kit, FREE SHIPPING on 2 or more kits!

In this one I particularly love all the speckle-y colors, they’re more rare than the stripe-y colors of Koigu so I tend to fall hard for them when I find them as they’re so unique! This colorway would probably go with pretty much everything too, and would make a more spring-like finished scarf.

Finally I wanted to go a bit crazy and use some of Koigu’s really bright, wild colors, so I put together a Bright colorway:

Loreley Scarf Knitting Kit - Colorway: Bright

Kit includes KPPPM yarn as pictured and full-color pattern, plus a PDF copy of the pattern. Size 6 needles not included.

*Shipping via Priority Mail. $5.50 shipping for one kit, FREE SHIPPING on 2 or more kits!

This one makes me think of Mexico and would be wonderful worn with a tame outfit. Like many New Yorkers I often end up in head-to-toe black with just a small bit of color from an accessory, so this scarf would be perfect!

Winding all the yarn up for these kits took way longer than I expected it to take, let me tell you. I used my kitchen scale to weigh each skein and then split each one up into 3 equal sections, building a little pile of wound up balls as I worked. I think from start to finish it took me over an hour to do 6 kits!

Here’s a crappy iPhone shot of the process (and my messy table in the background):

I’m thinking of doing a little tutorial on how to do this, would anyone be interested in that?