Color Riot 2.0

This was a fun one! Color Riot 2.0 is the sibling to my first shawl pattern Color Riot! This release is the anniversary of Color Riot hitting the internet. To be quite honest, Color Riot 2.0 was knit rather quickly after the first one. But, I thought it would be fun to have this shawl come out to celebrate the anniversary/accomplishment of my first paid pattern.

Color Riot 2.0, in my sample, uses 400 yards of a gradient and 800 yards of a complimentary solid. When I use gradients I like them to be the star, sometimes a lot of pattern can take away from seeing the yarn. Color Riot 2.0 lets you feature the gradient but still be interesting to knit and wear. The yarn used is a 100% Merino so any fingering weight yarn with a bit of body would be great! This is quite a large shawl so you don't want to use a yarn that is so heavily the shawl drops off your body. 

It's also a fairly large shawl and makes a great accessory for winter. As I said, I've had this knit for quite awhile and wore it all winter long!

Calumet Beanie

Hello Knitters!

This pattern is so much fun because it was designed with a family member in mind!

Pattern Story:

My mom (Susan) and Uncle Jon grew up in Calumet, Michigan which is in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) and there is snow on the ground about 9 months out of the year. At Christmas time of 2019 my mom asked me to design a beanie for my uncle that she could knit him as a gift. My uncle has always been a great supporter of my knitting and now my design career.

This is how the Calumet beanie came to be! It's an easy to memorize ribbed pattern that works for both men, women, and anyone in between! There are 5 sizes so it fits all ages! Also, the decreases on this hat worked out perfectly! I love me a good finish.

The yarn I used is a 100% Superwash Merino Wool in a tonal colorway. I would suggest a similar style of yarn be used; a solid or a tonal will show off the nice ribbed pattern and the wool will give great stitch definition. As always, please send me an email or comment if you would like yarn help! Many of my testers use a full synthetic yarn so you have so many possibilities. 

Happy Knitting!

Sierra

Cantelow Beanie

Another new pattern! Cantelow Hat is the companion piece to my Cantelow shawl featured in my last blog post. Cantelow features a long extended cables that leaves lots of easy and drape. The nature of the beanie is a ribbing so the hat is really stretchy and fits a variety of heads.

The pattern is written for three different sizes Youth, Adult Small, & Adult Large and each one was test knit by some great knitters! My hat was knit with a creamy color with a bit of sparkle but I think that anything that isn't too dark or highly variegated would be great.

As always with something textured, a solid or a tonal will show the stitching off more. A few of the testers used solid colored alpaca and had some gorgeous haloed hats. In the larger sizes I had a few testers who were able to finish in 50 grams! You definitely want to use a yarn that has some 'life' or spring back to it so your hat doesn't stretch out and not go back into shape 

Cantelow Shawl

Im excited that my first shawl pattern of 2020 is out! Cantelow shawl is a combination of inspirations! The shape came from a Making Magazine shawl, and the cables came from one of my previous patterns. The shawl is this one by Melanie Berg and the sock pattern is this one that I designed for KnitCrate in 2018.

Cantelow is the perfect shawl to show of a lightly speckled or variegated yarn, it also looks amazing in a solid. I have test knitters knit it in different weights and all different styles of dye and I'M IN LOVE! So pleased with how this shawl turned out as well as the pattern! This is the first time I've designed such a large scale chart and it was hard work!

The cables on the shawl are worked every ten rows so the knit is easy and enjoyable. Because the cables are so far apart the fabric is drapey and has lots of movement. I think a wool/silk blend or a merino/cashmere/nylon blend would make this shawl shine! Anything that has drape to the fabric would work wonders with this shawl. 

Let me know if you want help picking yarn I would LOVE to help!

Happy Knitting!

Sierra

Fall Socks

I like to knit to the colors of the season or nearest holiday, it gets me in the spirit and makes me happy. This past year I focused more on designing and started my Christmas sock knitting fairly early so my fall socks weren't actually finished until January. But as I'm writing this post I get to wear them so at least their done!

The yarn is used is SweetGeorgia that was given to me by a knitting friend and finishing client. She didn't remember what she had purchased it for and gave two hanks to me. Out of these two hanks my mom and I were able to knit three pairs of socks! Two are regular height and my shorty pair.

When I knit shorties to make sure I don't run out of yarn I add some sort of contrast to them, usually the heel but this time I added a cute little gold toe! The gold is a different yarn but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. If I was striping them the gauge would have been an issue. This is my regular US 1.5 needle, 9", 64 stitches with Modified Eye of Partridge Heel Flap and this formula fits my feet perfectly!

Polka Spot

Happy New Year and Decade! The last decade was crazy, life changing, and tons of growth for me. My decade in recap, 2010 I graduated High School and went to college, 2012 moved into my own apartment, 2014 graduated from College (UCM) and went to Europe of the first time. 2015 I went to Ireland, 2016 Germany, Austria, Scotland, and England, 2017 Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands, 2018 I went to China. Through all of that I moved back home, became a nanny, worked at my local yarn shop, quite my first job as a server. My parents got separated and back together, I traveled to New York for Rhinebeck and Canada for KnitCity, I was diagnosed with anxiety and started medication that has forever made my life better. There was so. much. more that I don't even know how to write it all.

The start of this decade has me taking a step back at the yarn shop so have more time to design and releasing my first hat pattern!

Polka Spot was my first release of the year and the new decade. With yarn purchased on my first trip to Europe! Lana Gato Misina was purchased while I was in Italy and is the most luscious worsted weight wool. This wouldn't be the perfect wool for everyone, it definitely has some tooth to it but it shows the stitch pattern perfectly for Polka Spot.

Polka Spot is fun and quirky and very quick to knit. I was able to work both my samples up in one day each. There are five sizes to it's the perfect winter accessory for anyone in your life! I especially love it on kids:) Any worsted weight yarn with some body to it would be great for this hat. Wool, Wool/Acrylic, Acrylic would all be good choices. 

This fall when we visited Apple Hill (a series of apple orchards/farms) I brought along quite a bit of knitwear and was able to get my sisters to model. The child model is my co-workers daughter (she was paid in knitwear:)) 

Drop the Fringe

I have a new shawl pattern out! This was one of my favorite knits for 2019 and I'm so excited to share with everyone. Drop the Fringe is knit in two skeins of fingering weight and two ten gram mini skeins. The secret is that it's partially self fringing! WHAT!?! I know right! With the large double yarn overs this pattern works great for speckled, variegate, or tonal yarn; kind of a one pattern fits all yarn:)

I knit the whole shawl in 10 day because I really wanted to see if my idea for the fringe would work, and IT DID! Obviously I did add some of the contrast color into the fringe and I used a Chiaogoo yarn fringer for it, this awesome little tool makes the fringe so. much. easier.

The yarn I used is Madtosh Twist Light and two unicorn tails and what is even more exciting is Jimmy Beans Wool made kits! Obviously I was really flattered when they approached me to make kits. It's always exciting with another company loves your work so much they want to incorporate into their business!

The yarn varieties for this pattern can be really wide, mine was a merino/nylon blend but a 100% wool or an acrylic/wool blend would be great. You want enough body for the lace holes to stay open, if you used a full synthetic then you will have to steam block vs wet block. 

Thanks for reading! Happy New Year, Decade, and Knitting!

Sierra