Two blog posts in as many days—is this strictly necessary? Yes. Because today, my friends, is Hobbit Day. For the uninitiated, September 22 is the birthday of both protagonists of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth saga, Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit) and Frodo Baggins (The Lord of the Rings). As a result, it’s become a sort of …
Pattern Release—Carolina Promenade
Dancing Knits No. 4 is out today—please welcome Carolina Promenade! The Carolina Promenade, aka The Gay Gordons, is a great first English country dance. It’s a circle dance with two circles—guys on the inside and gals on the outside—moving in opposite directions, so that after after each sequence of steps, everyone gets a new partner. …
Pattern Release—Spanish Waltz
It’s release day for pattern No. 3 in my fall collection, Dancing Knits—Spanish Waltz! When planning out the designs for Dancing Knits, I knew there needed to be a design inspired by the Spanish Waltz, one of our group’s favorite dances (for the backstory on this, see my post from last week). It’s one of …
Dancing Knits Preorders are Open!
It’s finally the day—my autumn capsule collection in collaboration with Malabrigo Yarns, Dancing Knits, is open for preorders! During my teens, my parents hosted a English country dance at our house every fall—we didn’t have a ton of formal events in our circle, so it was a special chance to dress up and party. I …
My Moody Heart Rejoices (or at least Approves)
I’m an autumn kind of gal (what knitter/crocheter isn’t? Hi there, sweater weather!) but I’m not really a “Starbucks autumn” kind of gal. I’ve never had a pumpkin spice latte and don’t wear leggings and boots because I can’t find a pair of boots I can afford that will fit over my calves. Apparently I …
I’m Not Stressed. I’m Not Stressed…
Apparently, quite a few people knit and crochet to cope with stress. So do I. In fact, when I’m stressed because I have so much knitting and crocheting to do for work, I cast on more knit and crochet projects to cope with it. Yes, that is ironic. It’s also quite factual. As you can …
The Nutritional Value of Humble Pie; or, Mosaic Knitting
Every long-term knitter has an upper threshhold and a lower threshold. Above, the aspirational projects. The warrens of cables, the lace extravaganzas, or even their first-ever sweater. Below, the things they think they know how to do and are maybe a little bit bored by. Garter stitch dishcloths, seed stitch baby blankets, and tubes of …
Pattern Release—Hoa Sen Tee
Today’s the day! Hoa Sen Tee is out in full. There are a lot of top-down circular yokes out there in the world, which gave me a bit of pause as I was formulating this design. I don’t want to design patterns that don’t add anything to the world. You’ll recall from my preorder post …
Stitching Around the World
I think I’ve been bit by the knitalong bug this year! I’ve participated in one and hosted one of my own; I’m prepping for an MKAL next month (more on that soon) and here I am in the middle of another one, this time as one of several designers. The Around-the-World Stitchalong is a month-long …
Pattern Preorder—Hoa Sen Tee
And just like that, it’s time for another pattern preorder. Please welcome Hoa Sen Tee! Hoa Sen is a top-down circular yoke tee with an architectural twisted stitch and lace pattern that mimics lotus flowers, graded to fit 12 sizes between 28″-72″ bust. It uses sport or light DK weight yarn, so it’s a quick …