Summer Heat Worsted

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love to purchase single skeins. So much potential in one ball of yarn! BUT, then I have to find something to do with it. 

Summer Heat Worsted is my newest cowl design to take care of that problem. Summer Heat Worsted uses a single skein (100 grams) of worsted weight yarn in a slip stitch pattern to highlight the color play in variegated yarn. 

The original Summer Heat pattern was a sock design that I loved so much that I knew a cowl was needed. The fingering weight version came in early 2025 (check it out here) and now here is the worsted version! 

Summer Heat Worsted was designed with a single skein of Malabrigo Seis Cabos (which I loved knitting with) but would work great in any worsted weight yarn. Instead of slipped your stitched with yarn in back, you'll slip your stitches with yarn in front so that the float will show off your colors. The float is then caught on a consecutive row and creates the 'V's of the heat wave. 

The stitch pattern is easy to play with so I think that adding a few repeats would work to do a DK version as well. So what are you waiting for? Grab a single skein from your stash and cast on! 

This and That Shawl

Already into the 3rd quarter of the year! What!? This is my third design with Leading Men Fiber Arts and I adore the color combo. I love pulling elements from different designs of mine and creating something new. This and That Shawl has lots of little different elements, 'A Little bit of This and a Little bit of That' pulled from other designs. 

This and That shawl features asymmetric shaping, stripes, bobbles, and finishing with a little lace. My original sample uses a main color and 3 mini skeins used to highlight the colors in the variegated yarn. You could make your version super scrap happy and make every bobble/stripe row a different color. 

The way the shawl is designed leaves plenty of room for customization. If you have more yardage you can expand your repeats, make a 2 color version and highlight your 2 favorite colors together, or use a gradient ball of yarn in your stripes! 

Any fingering weight yarn you're comfortable wearing around your neck will be great! If you're interested in my original colors you can check out the Ravelry project bag here. 

DIY Rainbow Shawl

Mini skeins are fabulous! I use them as a way to try new dyers or colorways, easy to purchase a few to support a new local yarn shop, and a fantastic way to try new colors outside of your regular palette. 

DIY Rainbow Shawl is the second installment of the Leading Men Fiber Arts quarter designs from All Knit Up Designs. You can check out the 'in-house designer' post here. 

My newest shawl design is an asymmetric triangle shawl that uses as many or as few mini skeins as you'e like! Original sample used 9, 20gram mini skeins to create a kaleidoscope of color on your needles. DIY Rainbow uses two color garter to create unique blends of color between 2 mini skeins. 

The original sample used a variety of dye styles; tonal, speck and variegated but they were all 20 grams. You could also use all 10 grams or 50 grams if you'd prefer. The slip stitch edges give a clean and crisp finish with a nice i-cord bind off. Any minis with a base you're comfortable wearing around your neck are perfect. 

If you'd prefer to use the two color garter technique with less colors and bigger skeins you can check out Dillon or Splash. If you'd like a crescent shape vs a triangle Me Before Brioche is for you. I can't wait to see the Rainbow you come up with! 

Wild Rhodies Shawl

I told ya'll it was going to be a set! I just can't help myself when I've been inspired and love the inspo story! If you've been around for a while then you know I moved to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State in Spring 2021. If you didn't, now you know! 

I absolutely love my new home state and have no desire to leave, ever. With that love comes a lot of inspiration. I've previously put out the Puget Sound Beanie and Cowl, now I have the Wild Rhodies Shawl for you! 

Wild Rhodies uses 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn (~900 yards) for a light and airy spring knit. Rhododendrons are the WA state flower and you can see the colors popping out as you drive around The Sound. We've seen buses of this gorgeous flower derring the forest while out hiking. 

I love how the stitches give the variegated yarn a water-like movement so I think variegated yarn would be perfect. The pattern has a fully written repeat so you can make your shawl as large or as small as you'd like. With the simple picot bind off you'll have little bit s of flower petals to wear as your bind off. 

Puget Sound Cowl

Ever fall in love with a stitch pattern or technique and just need to knit with it over and over? I definitely do! I might love the rhythm of the stitch, the way the stitch moved and plays with yarn colors, or just appreciate the way it moves to the eye. 

Once I knit and designed the Puget Sound Beanie I knew I'd be designing other patterns with this stitch to turn it into a series. The simple lace pattern featured in the Puget Sound Cowl gently creates waves in the fabric and moves the colors in a variegated yarn like water. The little pops of contrast colors from the variegated yarn looks like little bits of Poppy's around the Sound. 

Puget Sound Cowl is a single skein design that uses DK weight yarn and a size US 6 needle, for a quick and satisfying knit. This design is perfect to pull from stash and knit for the nature lover in your life. 

Comfy Cozy DK

My original Comfy Cozy shawl has been big hit with the social knitters but not everyone loves fingering weight. It might be too thin, take too long, be intimidating, or just plain don't like it. So, with many requests; Comfy Cozy is now available in DK weight! 

Comfy Cozy DK uses the same broken rib pattern separated by a few rows of plain garter for a squishy, comfy, and warm shawl of the winter months. The heavier fabric gives an extra layer of warmth for when the wind really begins to blow. 

The original sample uses Miss Babs Yowza, a 100% Merino yarn that comes in giant hanks I like to call yarn babies. The colorway is Tea Time Frenzy and it's a lightly variegated yarn with some speckling. I was hesitant at first because I wasn't sure the patten was going to show but the color and the broken rib compliment so well. 

Definitely take a look at the projects on Ravelry if you can, it will be well worth it. So many testers made awesome color blocked and striped versions. You'll get some ideas and maybe be able to pull from stash! You can take a look at my project page here.  

The fall socks that weren't...

Okay, knitting really has no schedule...but...these were 100% finished late! These were supposed to be my fall 2024 socks and they didn't get finished until New Years day, that's how it goes. 

Although I failed to finish them in the 'designated' season I did use some deeper stash for these! I knit another pair of my Duplo Socks pattern in Black Cat Custom Yarn I purchased at KnitCity Vancouver in 2017. It's a privilege to be able to attend a yarn show out of state, let alone out of the country and I really love that I get to try and see different dyers when doing it! 

These fall socks are definitely a Sierra pair of socks, fall colors but in bright neon! I don't normally do neon but these are for my feet so I went wild. I added a contrast heel from Leading Men Fiber Arts and I love how it picks out the pops of purple from the variegation in the yarn. 

I would rate Duplo a 2 out of 5 on the difficulty scale, it's not a vanilla sock (plain stockinette) but it's only knits and purls that are easy to identify once you have the pattern established. If you're looking for a new sock pattern to work with variegated yarn then Duplo is the one for you! 

Street Mitts

When I lived in California the only time I ever really wore mittens was the very few times it snowed, winter soccer practices, and when we went snowboarding and skiing. Moving up to Washington I could not believe how freaking cold I was the first year. 

Mittens are now part of my winter staples from November until about March/April. With the use of more mittens came the want for more matching colors. I have a beautiful pair of pumpkin orange mittens I knit in college to wear while I was waiting for the bus after night classes but pumpkin doesn't really match my purple winter coat all that well. 

With my love for scrappy projects and my need for more mitts the Street Mitts were born! Street Mitts are a broken rib mittens pattern that incorporates mini skeins and fun play with color. Street Mitts are also a collaboration with Leading Men Fiber Arts, I'm their in-house designer for 2025! I'll have another blog post coming about that soon! 

Street Mitts uses less than 100 grams of fingering weight to knit any of the 3 sizes available. I knit both a striped pair and a pair with a single skein to show the possibilities within one pattern. Designed with a US 1.5 needle size means that your favorite sock size should be perfect for this project.

Fingering weight is on the lighter side of yarn weights so for a cool winter climate this is perfect as outer wear, for a cold winter climate Street Mitts make a great mitten liner! Have a fun pop of color tucked inside your regular mittens. I used a hearty Merino/Nylon blend like I'd use for socks so this hard wearing accessory will last me years. 

The stripe pattern of Street Mitts makes them a great project to try out a new color palette or use leftovers from one of your favorite projects. Sometimes you love a color palette and it really doesn't match your style for a large piece. Street Mitts solves that problem by adding just a pop of color and give you the pleasure of a fun knit. 

Summer Heat Cowl

We are in the thick of winter here in the PNW and I'm missing the natural heat just a bit. I grew up in Northern California and during the summer the was scorching, you could actually see it waving off the pavement of the road. My original Summer Heat Sock pattern was inspired by those heat waves off the pavement. After the first sock design and how well different yarns play with the slip stitches I knew a cowl was needed. 

Summer Heat Cowl uses garter and slip stitches to highlight hand dyed yarn and the play of color between different stitch types. This new cowl design uses a single skein of fingering weight yarn, making it a perfect project to pull from stash. Summer Heat Cowl would be rated at a confident beginner level as the majority of the stitches are knit, purl, or slip stitches. These slip stitches show the change variegated yarn and beautiful play of colors within the skeins. 

The original Summer Heat Cowl was knit in Malabrigo Sock using ~100 grams or 440 yards of fingering. Any fingering base or yarn you find comfortable on your neck is perfect for this project. You can see tester projects and color on Ravelry to get an idea of what other yarns would look like in the Summer Heat stitches. 

This sample of Summer Heat Cowl is al little more on the subdued side of my color wheel so perhaps I need to stash dive for a bright signal skein for my next one! I'd love for you to leave comment on the blog post letting me know what dyer you think you'll be using! 

Me Before Brioche

Two color brioche can be so intimidating! Not only with funky looking abbreviations but also with RS, slide, RS, Turn, WS, slide, WS, turn...what the heck do those mean? Me Before Brioche is my latest shawl pattern and it's the perfect stepping stone into two color brioche. 

Me Before Brioche is designed using the same two color garter technique that two color brioche uses. First you knit the RS of your work, then slide your work back the beginning needle, then you'll work the RS again with your contrast color. Once you've completed your RS again then you turn your work to start using the WS. 

Why this shawl before brioche? If you already understand the mechanics of working each side twice then it won't be intimidating at all to approach the technique with brioche added in. 

Using two color garter you can create your own fades/gradients using mini skeins or leftovers from your stash. This effect can blend colors that look good together but aren't a gradient into a smooth transition gradient that will create stunning color effects. Me Before Brioche is a crescent shapes shawl which will wrap smoothly around the neck and ends with an i cord for clean finish. 

The original sample used 7 mini skeins of 37 grams each for a total yardage of 931 yards of fingering weight. The pattern itself is designed to use the amount of grams you have per skein so even if your grams weight is different than what I used it will still work out. Although the original sample and the pattern are written for fingering weight by adjusting your needle size you could knit it with sport or dk weight as well! 

I hope Me Before Brioche gives you confidence to move on to trying two color brioche and helps you play with color. Take a dive through your stash and see what you can come up with! 

Reverse Socks

The start of my designing career (when I think about it) starts with Color Riot. But, I started designing sock patterns before that! Sock patterns allowed me to practice my design writing, fitting stitch patterns into certain parameters, and how to photograph knits to really highlight them. 

I went back to my roots on my latest project and worked my Reverse Socks pattern in a new colorway! You can out the original blog post about the Reverse Socks here. My new yarn was the exclusive colorway from Nano Stitch for Red Alder Fiber Retreat in Tacoma WA. I actually cast on these at Red Alder but it has taken me this many months to actually finish them. 

Although it's taken me this long to finish them I love how they turned out. I'm excited to stick my feet in them as the fall weather has hit Port Angeles in full force! I followed my Reverse pattern as written but added a contrast heel in. I wrote the pattern as a needle ambiguous pattern but I used a 9inch circular which is my preferred method. I hope this updated sample inspires you to knit a pair of Reverse Socks!

Textured Henness

 The economy is hard and it has been for many years. One of my goals of my business is to make knitting as financially accessible as possible. For the past few months I've been addressing how to make changes to a pattern you already own to make it completely different. This Textured Henness is the first finished example! 

The original Henness (you can check out the post here) used two fingering weight yarns, one a solid color and one a variegated, and striped them together with a cabled bind off in a crescent shape. 

My Textured Henness used the exact same pattern, crescent shape, stripes, and cabled bind off but I used one skein of fingering weight and one skein of mohair/silk lace weight. The yarn I used is from Craftily Dyed Yarn in the Succulent colorway, definitely a COVID lockdown purchase that I am so happy with!

This contrast of weight in the same color make a stunning and elegant effect. This sample looks completely different than the original; other than the bind off you can hardly tell they are the same pattern.

This about how many patterns you've knit and loved which you can make look so different just by changing weights or fibers! You can take a look through your stash and see what different combos you can come up with. 

Do you like this new version of Henness? Inspired to take a dive through previously knit patterns? I can't wait to see! 

Discovery Cowl

 Do you know what a yarn crawl is? Have you ever been on a yarn crawl? Let me tell ya about it. Usually a region close to you will have a host of yarn shops that come together and plan a few days (or a few weeks!) to visit each of the participating shops and fill out a 'passport'. Each shop usually has special yarn and patterns available during the crawl! 

Washington specifically loves yarn crawls! I designed for Bazaar Girls during the Puget Sound LYS Tour 2024. 

Discovery Cowl is a single skein pattern that uses fingering weight yarn and a simple lace pattern. Sometimes longer cowls can get bunchy when you wear them so Discovery Cowl has a row of increases that widen the circumference of the bottom of the cowl. 

Each end of the cowl is finished with an i-cord bind off to five a clean and finished look to this pretty lace pattern. I'm not usually one to knit much lace (I find it fiddly) but this pattern has a knit row between each lace section so you have a rest. The lace is only 4 rows so you'll be able to memorize Discovery Cowl and take it out and about no problem! 

The sample knit for the yarn shop was a single-ply merino yarn from Neighborhood Fiber Co in an exclusive shop colorway. My second sample (photographed here) was knit in a 100% merino yarn, multi-ply from Knitted Wit that's been in my stash for quite some time. 

Using different yarns for this pattern would be no problem! Anything comfortable around your neck and has ~400+ yards would be great. Discovery Cowl would look great in a solid, fontal, variegated or speckled yarn; you really can't go wrong! 

Leave a comment if you know what yarn you'll use! 

Cabled Pines Cowl

As I've talked about many times before, up here on the Olympic Peninsula it is soooo green! It's my favorite part of driving home when we go out. With all that green there are gorgeous trees, with the gorgeous trees developed Cabled Pines; a slip stitch cable cowl that will make you think of trees. This cowl was specifically designed for the Salish Sea & Sky Retreat by Kas from Seattle Sky Dyeworks! 

Cabled Pines is a single skein cowl using two different slip stitch cables and squishy ribbing. This great accessory uses one skein of fingering weight yarn with ~400 yards. 

This cowl was designed with a variegated/hand dyed yarn which I used to highlight the ski stitches. You have so many yarn choices that would work for this pattern. Cabled Pines would look great in a solid or kettle dyed yarn, a variegated, tonal or speckle! Check out the different tester projects to see what yarn they picked.

I designed Cabled Pines to be long so that your chin can be tucked in, but, as it is the same repeat over and over you can easily make it your preferred length. I hope this more in-depth information about Cabled Pines is helpful and I'll be seeing you knit one soon! 

Spring Fling Shawl

 Hey! Long time no write....I know, I know. I always have the busy excuse. Well, in April I did have a two week work trip to Colorado to vend at Makerfest so I was a bit busy! But I have a new shawl pattern out! 

Spring Fling is my latest shawl pattern and it has lace, bobbles, garter, and some ribbing! I wanted to cover all my bases and add a little bit of everything. 

Spring Fling is similar to Playground in only that it uses multiple stitch patterns and has a check off list so you don't get lost. Other than that, Spring Fling highlights mini skeins wonderfully and keeps you interested by switching up stitch patterns. 

The yarn, Yummy 2-Ply a 100% Superwash Merino, was provided by Miss Babs Yarns but I definitely have purchased this base before and I love working with it! It definitely feels like it has some cashmere in it but it's only wool. The website has lots of options with gorgeous colors! 

If purchasing yarn isn't in your budget then mini skeins from stash or two colors of fingering weight should work! The original sample uses just under 800 yards so a two color version would be great! 

Long Nights Shawl

If you've been around for awhile you know I grew up in California and moved to Washington's Olympic Peninsula in spring of 2021. I absolutely love where I live in WA but some of the winter nights are so long. 

My newest shawl pattern is inspired by those long winters nights! Long Nights is a top down triangle shawl using DK weight yarn for a heavier and very squishy shawl that is perfect to knit on long dark nights and wear on those nights too! 

Long Nights has a simple pattern that incorporates both garter and stockinette so it really shows off hand dyed yarn in those two different stitches. I used DK+ from Puzzle Tree Yarns which is a 100% Superwash Merino wool base. I love how squishy and warm the original sample is. 

I suggested in the pattern some alternatives that can be used. You could use a a mohair or suri alpaca blend held with a fingering weight yarn to make DK or a Sport weight yarn held with a lace weight. This would be a fun way to marl a project or knit Long Nights with a few different colors if you feel like you don't have enough yardage in your stash. 

Long Nights was going to originally be called 'Because I Can' because there is a two stitch spine instead of a more traditional single stitch. Long Nights came as I was knitting the sample and how calming it was to knit in the transition between fall and winter. 

Two of a Kind Cowl

When the cold really hits all I'm inspired to design is cowls. I want that snuggly wool and cashmere on my neck, tucked in my coat, and keeping out the damp chill from the ocean. I'm very much a 'design what inspires you' designer so my pattern for February is a cowl design! 

Two of a Kind is a two skein cowl using complimentary color fingering weight yarn and mosaic knitting! Two of a Kind uses provisional cast on and icord bind off for a polished and structured finish. The mosaic pattern is easy to knit and simple to memorize, perfect TV or social knitting! 

Two of a Kind uses 75 grams of two different colors, I used two colors of Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply a 100% Merino yarn. For my colors I chose a speckled and solid, my speckled was a yellow base with speckles of green, teal, and a bit of purple. My solid is a teal that matches perfectly and really brings out the teal speckles. 

My recommendation is two fingering weight yarns you are comfortable wearing around your neck and that you like the color combination of. If you have slightly less than 75 grams of yarn you can definitely still knit Two of a Kind it will be slightly shorter or you can decrease the cast on by 10 stitches (the amount that is in a repeat) 

I had a few testers knit with a solid and a gradient/self striping and their projects look amazing! Fun color changes without the ends to weave in, gotta love that! Not loving any combos in your stash? Check out Miss. Babs Duo Sets, combinations of two colors the dyer has already put together! 

Leannan Shawl

Two of my more popular patterns are the Leannan Cowl and the Leannan Socks, so I'm so happy to introduce the Leannan Shawl! Leannan Shawl is a fingering weight pattern that uses a slip stitch cable that is fun to knit and easy to memorize. The shawl is a triangle shawl that has the cable run down one side and garter across the rest of the body. 

The sample shawl was knit with Western Sky Knits Magnolia Sock, which is a merino/cashmere/nylon mix, so luxurious to knit and wear ❤️ 

The shawl used ~1,100 of yarn or about 2.5 skeins of fingering weight yarn. One of the test knitters knit it in a heavier weight yarn and it came out gorgeous. If you are interested in using a heavier weight yarn then you just need to adjust your needle size. 

I think that Leannán Shawl would be a great opportunity to practice/lean to cable without a cable needle. Cabling without a cable needle definitely makes the cable rows more enjoyable and knit up quicker. I like this tutorial to take a look at how to knit cables without a cable needle. 

The sample yarn is a variegated/speckled yarn so there is quite an assortment of yarns and dye styles that will work for this pattern. As are typical/special about my patterns you only need to pick a yarn that you find comfortable around your neck to knit with, it doesn't need to be special or expensive, just something you enjoy knitting with.