Pussy Willow

If you've been following for awhile then you know that I am frequently inspired by my surroundings and my home. My newest shawl, Pussy Willow, is one of those designs! 

Pussy Willow branches were a constant in my childhood home. My mom had them tucked into different vases around the house; I always found them fascinating and a little untouchable. The vases that housed the pussy willow bunches were always up high were they couldn't get knocked by cats, kids, dogs, or my dad. 

While browsing my dictionaries I found this stitch and it immediately drew my attention with its similarities between pussy willow buds and tuck stitches. I decided to make my own non-fragile pussy willows to remind me of home no matter where I am. I hope this nature inspired shawl brings you the comfort of home, just like it does for me. 

Onto the yarn! I used yarn Tosh Sock, a 100% Superwash Merino yarn, sponsored by Madtosh in the colorway Glazed Pecan. The base I mentioned above is a multiply fingering weight yarn but I knit my original swatch in a single ply, with that, I believe any fingering weight base would work! I do suggest a tonal or a solid colorway otherwise the buds may not show well enough. Message me on Ravelry if you want a color consult! 

Leannán Cowl

I love this stitch pattern so much I couldn’t just design one piece out of it. Leannán Cowl uses a slip stitch cable to highlight the individual qualities and colors of hand dyed yarn. The cowl is a single skein project to use that one beautiful skein you have hanging out in your stash. 

I absolutely adore the color way I knit my sample in! The color way name is City Siren and it's dyed by Buxom Cat Knits. I pretty sure I could knit a whole sweater in this lovely yarn. I love the watercolor effect the dye has and the way the slip stitches help to highlight that. 

The base for this yarn was a regular sock base so any fingering weight you are comfortable wearing around your neck will work. The yardage required is 400-460. It's an 8 stitch pattern so very easy if you want to make it wider if you have more skein of yarn. 

I can’t wait to see what dyer you highlight in your Leannán Cowl! Here is the Leannán Sock pattern if you're more interested in socks than a cowl. Happy Knitting! - Sierra 

Summer Heat

As I’ve talked about multiple times, I grew up in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California, and let me tell you. it. is. hot! Global warming aside, the average temperatures in the summer is 95-100 degrees. We have well over 100+ degrees many times from May-October. I am now happily living in Port Angeles, Washington and enjoying the ‘hot’ days of ~75-80 (these are rare). 

This sock pattern (Summer Heat) was designed with those burning hot days of California weather in mind. The up and down movement of the ‘v’ stitch pattern reminds me of heat waves coming off the roofs, the side walk, cars, pavement, etc… 

Summer Heat is designed from the top cuff down and has a fun slip stitch pattern to create the ‘v’ stitches. I used a BFL/Nylon blend from Hedgehog Fibres that is a traditional fingering weight for socks. I liked the play of almost variegation with the speckles on top and the stitch pattern. 

The majority of my test knitters used variegated yarn but I think this pattern would also look really lovely in a solid color. Any fingering weight sock yarn will do, doesn’t have to be anything special! 

Happy Knitting! 

Blips

I'm so excited for this release! Blips is my newest shawl pattern and it was chosen as the Malabrigo Quickie project for May 2020! This is the first time that one of my submissions has been excepted but it is the first time that such a large company has picked my design out of so many submissions

Blips was designed to highlight the amazing qualities of variegated yarn. When the call came out for designs I wanted to design something that was easy to memorize (as usual) but also showed how special variegated yarn is. I also wanted to try and see if I could create a picot-esque border along the side, not just the bind off. 

I've added a photo tutorial below to show how to knit the blips. Once the 'blips' have been knit once or twice you definitely won't need to see the tutorial again. 

Step 1: Knitted cast on 5 stitches 

Step 2: Slip 6 stitches to right hand needle (5 cast on stitches + 1 body) 

Step 3: Pull the cast on stitch closest to body stitch up and over

Step 4: Repeat step 3 until all stitches are pulled over

Step 5: Slip the body stitch from right hand needle to left hand needle

Step 6: Knit 

I used Malabrigo Mechita, a single ply 100% Merino, with 420 yards per skein. My original swatch, featured below, was knit in Malabrigo Sock, a multi-ply yarn. So, any two skein of fingering weight yarn should work! You are going to have so much fun using Blips as a take along project! 

If you don't have fingering weight in your stash I do think that Malabrigo Rios would be an excellent option as well. To substitute you just need to adjust your needle size to probably a US 7 or 8, I also would have 3 skeins of the Rios versus just 2. Happy Knitting! 

Alfean

I designed another single skein project, surprising I know. I love being able to pick a single hank of yarn out of my stash and use the entire hank in a design, its so satisfying! 

Alfean is a simple pattern with strategically placed increasing and decreasing so the fabric looks like it's moving. The movement of the stitches really highlights variegated yarn. I used a Merino/Nylon blend fingering weight yarn (madtosh Twist Light) in the colorway Cactus Flower and I think it's dreamy.

I would suggest any fingering weight that you are comfortable wearing close on your neck as this is a tighter fitting cowl. I also would suggest a yarn that you can block. I saw the effects of the stitch pattern way more once I blocked the finished cowl. I hope you enjoy knitting this new pattern as much as I did! 

Feelin 29

It's my birthday! This pattern is coming out on May 1st and it's my 29th birthday, I'm so looking forward to the last year of my twenties. I (currently) don't have the panic of my twenties coming to an end and where I am in life. We'll see how the rest of the year goes but as of right now, I'm pretty pleased with my lot in life. 

When you look at the name of the pattern it needs to be sung to the tune of 'I'm Feelin 22' by Taylor Swift. Check out the song here so you can sing along too! 

Feelin 29 has a simple, easy to memorize lace pattern on the front and broken rib on the back. Using these two different stitch patterns keeps the sock entertaining and a quick knit. As the photos show I knit this sample in a speckled colorway and the combo of stitch pattern plus yarn is perfection! A few of the testers knit in a solid and the pattern looks amazing! 

I would take a dive through your stash and see what you can pull out. The base I used is a 75% Superwash Merino 25% Nylon, light fingering weight so I think any sock specific yarn will work. Are you going to knit these for yourself? I think you should! 

Splash

Splash, what a fun shawl to knit. The concept behind this shawl is fairly simple, a wonderful blend of colors coming together ending with a 'splash' of color. 

I used corrugated garter in an acute triangle shape finishing off with the i-cord. Originally, I didn't have the i-cord, but my mom and I discussed and decided that I really needed more to the shawl. 

I used fingering weight and light fingering weight yarns blended together so I think yarn in either of those weights will work. I do recommend that you swatch with your colors in the corrugated garter first to make sure that they will actually show up. 

In Dillon I used the same garter stitch technique and I picked colors that were much too close together so you couldn't even tell I was using two yarns! If you are going to put some work into knitting this shawl you actually want the colors to show. So swatching is more important in this shawl than my usual designs. 

Happy Knitting! Sierra