Lismi Knits

Under The Wings

2012-01-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

I just released my new pattern Under The Wings.

Eagles are bold, beautiful and majestic and this is echoed in the shawl. Beginning at the right wing this piece is worked without seaming using join-as-you-go and very simple short row techniques. Garter stitch and stockinette stitch are combined to balance and add texture..

This pattern is test knitted

Material:

Approx 500 yards in Col1 and 250 yards Col2, fingering weight yarns (Yarn used in the picture Kauni Effektgarn, black solid as Col1 and EME as Col2)
Size US 2, 32” circular needle, size US 1, 24” circular needle or needle size which creates desired fabric

To create a bigger shawl use a dk or worsted weight yarn. (Yardage will change)

Gauge: Gauge is not important (you have to like the density of the fabric you create)

Hats, Hats, Hats

2012-01-22T06:06:00.000-08:00

Samedan, a village in the Swiss Alps with gorgeous historic houses, is a place I loved to visit and enjoy winter sports. With this stylish hat you surely will feel warm and cozy to enjoy the crisp and cold winter air at your favorite place.

Worked in bulky yarn this trapper hat knits up like a breeze. Another One skein wonder with the little extra…

buy now

Since I'm a person who can not throw away the smallest left over of yarn, I used my all my bits and pieces of Lambs Pride bulky to knit my pattern Basil.

New

2011-12-11T17:11:00.001-08:00

After some hectic weeks with illness and surgery in the family, life got back to normal.

I added a few new colors of my yarn to my Etsy shop:

So far I have 3 different fingering weight yarn lines:

Ascona 63% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Silk, 15% Nylon, 2% Silver. Approximately 420 yards (384 m); 100 grams (3.5 oz.) Needle size recommended US 1 – 3. Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch. (the 3 skeins in the top row are Ascona)

Bern 100% Superwash Merino Wool
Approximately 400 yards; 100 grams(3.5 oz.)
Needle size recommended US 0 – 2.
Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch (bottom right skein)

Basel 75% Superwash Merino Wool
Fingering Weight, 4ply
Approximately 437yards (400 m); 100 grams (3.5 oz.)
Needle size recommended US 1 – 3.
Approx. 7-8 stitches per inch

Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool 2011 - impressions from a different angle

2011-10-18T04:46:00.000-07:00

Do you think this hair style would fit me?

Somebody likes her food.......

......and I like chocolate. I got to try the sweet dreams of Samuel's of Rhinebeck. They were so delicious that I had to go back and get more. For my family, of course.

Some people walk their alpacas......

........and some carry their sheep.

This model has fun.

Sorted by color.....

...or not.

As usual I got home inspired and tired dreaming of having a booth there too....

Oh I forgot to mention it: I fell in love with one skein of yarn. It's fingering weight, as some of you might have guessed. I found a alpaca-wool mix I want to dye from a CT small spinnery. We will see how this will turn out......

Vermont

2011-10-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

Once a year we go for a hike in Vermont. This time we chose the Lowell Lake Trail. What a perfect day, summer temperatures, gorgeous foliage, beautiful nature and Maple Creamies (maple soft serve ice cream).

The yarn I recently dyed reflects the fall colors perfectly. Find it in my Etsy shop

Driving up further North we saw the shocking contrast to this nature perfection.

The aftermath of tropical storm Irene. Vermont still looks like a big construction site. They lost approx. 700 bridges not to talk about destroyed or damaged, houses, farms, roads, trees..... Compared to this our 5 day loss of power and water seems ridiculously insignificant.

New colors and mushrooms

2011-10-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

Recently it only seems to rain here. Together with the warm air the mushroom population of the woods behind our house seem to explode rapidly. I wish I would know which ones are edible.

Inspired by New England foliage I added this color to my Etsy shop. It's Fall

This color is called Blackberry.

Ta da!!!

2011-09-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the yarn I dyed last week end using acid dyes.
I can't tell you how much fun I had.

My daughter already claimed the socks I'm making from one color. You will find the yarns in my Etsy shop. I can't wait to dye more...

What a great week end!

2011-09-19T09:08:00.000-07:00

After the last few weeks with broken down cars, house full of workers, the aftermath of tropical storm Irene, beginning of the new school year and health problems of my youngest I got to go to a knitting retreat on the Pocono Plateau in Pennsylvannia, hosted by

Kraemer Yarns, a yarn company which is located in Nazareth, PA.

I met so many nice people at this retreat. The location, Pocono Plataeau Camp & Retreat Center was the right place to get the creative juice flowing. Hiking, classes, game night are only a few things out of many we were able to do. Almost every meal we found a little surprise on our table:
Clara made embroidered project bags for each one of us. One evening I found one of
Kate Lemmers pattern on my bed with one skein of Kraemer, Perfection. Clara made fridge magnets from a group photo she took in the afternoon. Even the name tags were embroidered by her...... I felt so pampered. Many thanks to everyone from Kraemers who made this week end possible.
Hand dyeing was one of my highlights of this week end. It was so much fun to see the colors people came up with and I could have gone on and on creating new color ways. I dyed up several skeins of Lesley, one of Kraemer's fingering weight natural colored yarns with a nice twist. This yarn seems a great base yarn for hand dyeing and I can't wait to knit with it.
You will see my dye results tomorrow....... stay tuned.

Ravensburg

2011-08-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

This summer I got the chance to be at one of the places I love:

Ravensburg Germany, one of my favorite cities to visit. Beside the historic buildings it's a great place to shop and visit the huge farmers market. Of course I know every yarn shop in this area and I got some beautiful Opal Hundertwasser sock yarn and some Lana Grossa Lace Merino, which I'm already using for my new design with the name Market Street, named after and inspired by the farmers market in Marktstrasse in Ravensburg. I'll keep you posted......

Roxbury Pond - A New Design

2011-07-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Since Roxbury Pond always brings up precious memories, I decided to make this the name of my new design.

Simple elegance, intriguing texture, detail and shape make this piece a must have. This semi-circular shawl uses a short row technique that is easy for less experienced knitters too. The decorative picot edging is worked as you go.

You can find more information here.

Sizes
Small (large):
Width approx. 34 (60)”, 86 (127) cm
Length approx. 19 (30)”, 48 (76) cm
Material
Approx. 650 (1300) yards fingering weight yarn
It’s easy to change the size of the shawl by using a heavier weight yarn. (Heavier yarn will require more yardage)

Contest & Give Away

2011-07-11T04:30:00.000-07:00

What is this?

Post your answer in a comment to this post. The first person with the who posts the right answer will get a skein of hand dyed sock yarn and a pattern of choice from my pattern shop.
PS: I will pick the yarn after knowing the winner's color preference ;-)

What's new?

I have a new Facebook page for Lismi Knits.
My new design Roxbury Pond will be released soon.

Yarn

2011-06-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

I have 2 new colors of hand dyed yarn in my Etsy shop. I used Kool-Aid again.... fun, fun, fun.

Wild Berry

Laguna

Dyeing Workshop

2011-06-24T04:21:00.000-07:00

My addiction to Kool-Aid dyeing found a new outlet. Just recently I taught a workshop about hand painting yarn with this colorful drink mix at Yarns With A Twist.

6 people soaking yarn + mixing flavors + experimenting with different shades + exchanging colors with each other = fun, fun , fun.

These are the finished products of my students:

From top left dyed by: Margaret, Carol, Kim, Sam, Carol H., Linda

I hear rumors about the local grocery shops selling out of Kool-Aid......

Playing with Kool-Aid

2011-06-17T06:24:00.000-07:00

Preparing a workshop on Kool-Aid dyeing I got to play with color again. This time I used hand painting as my dye method.
Here is the result:

As a base yarn I used Soxx Appeal from Knit One Crochet Too. I still have a hard time to believe that people drink Kool-Aid, but I have to admit that Black Cherry smelled tempting.......

Sunday Morning Hike

2011-06-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning hikes are my favorite. Everything seems so quite and peaceful. This time I even had my camera with me to capture part of the gorgeous nature:

Lady Slipper, a wild orchid

Fowler's Toad

Barn Swallow

Volan - My New Design

2011-06-01T06:19:00.000-07:00

Whether dressing up your jeans jacket or adding flair to dressier attire, Volan offers endless possibilities for fashionably warding off the chill of cool evenings or air conditioning. This versatile piece is something between a scarf, shawl and wrap with a crescent shape that allows for many styling options.

Volan has double shaped ruffles on both edges and a two colored garter stitch body. Innovative construction techniques eliminate the need for short rows and picking up stitches.

For the shawl in these pictures I used two different colors of Kauni Effekgarn (EQ, EF). You also could use either two solid colors, a color changing yarn and a solid, a semisolid and a variegated……

For this piece I used Tactile Fiber Arts Studio's superwash Merino - Bamboo, fingering weight sock yarn a super-soft gorgeous yarn.

Who lives in our back yard?

2011-05-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Snapping Turtle on its way to lay eggs.....

I love bread

2011-05-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

Even though I shouldn't eat it, I love bread!!! I made this Sonntagszopf (Swiss Braided Sunday Bread) for a international dinner at my son's school..... should bake more often.

Coming up

2011-05-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Classes I teach in May / June

May 22nd workshop "Join as you go...." at Fresh Purls in RI using my patterns Priska & Talvi . Learn how to avoid sewing by join as you go techniques!

June 8th & 15th class at Yarns with A Twist, CT "Elisabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket" One of my all time favorites.

June 18th workshop "Dye Your Own" at Yarns With A Twist, CT. We are going to have fun with Kool-Aid.

Just finished.....

2011-05-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

......my Elisabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket sample for a class I'm going to teach in my LYS. I love this pattern.

I used Cascade 220 super-wash paint and solid. To introduce the solid color I used the Fibonacci sequences.

Buttons

2011-05-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm working on creating one of a kind buttons. Here are some from the first batch. They are being tested for waterproofness and how they hold up in the dryer. As soon as this and some finishing touches are done, one of a kind buttons and shawl pins will be available in my Etsy shop. I'll keep you posted about my new adventure......

Maryland Sheep & Wool

2011-05-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

It's the first time I made it to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. Last minute my friend Sue and I found a affordable accommodation which is almost impossible only 3 days before the Festival..... and off we went.

The weather was gorgeous, almost too warm to show off woolies. I still saw a lot of beautiful knitted garments.

In the Wool Out Of Wales booth I met Vera who is one of these outstanding knitters who make up patterns as they go and create the most stunning lace work. Sunday morning when it was a little more quiet on the Fairground i was able to take a picture of her. What a lovely Scottish Lady!

On shows like this I always look for yarn which stands out in my eyes. Saturday Sue and I tried to beat the crowd and started our tour through fiber and yarn paradise from the part which was the furthest from the main entrance. Our strategy paid off. While (almost) everybody went the opposite direction, we went to the newly added not so well known vendor area the Lower Corall. There I found my new treasures:

The pictures don't do the colors any justice. The name of the booth was Hobbledehoy Fibers with gorgeous fiber which makes me want to spin and beautiful hand painted yarn from MarigoldJen Yarns.

This booth was like a candy shop and the two ladies were super friendly and sweet. The joyful and creative atmosphere in this booth was contagious..... a highlight of this Festival.

Fibonacci in Knitting and Designs

2011-04-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard this word somewhere but couldn't tell if it means a new kind of fiber, a special sort of pasta, a secret described in the DaVinci Code or a town in Italy......

The Fibonacci sequence was introduced by a medieval mathematician Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci."In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in the following i nteger sequence:

By definition, the first two Fibonacci numbers are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two. Some sources omit the initial 0, instead beginning the sequence with two 1s." (Wikipedia)

The Fibonacci sequences are not only found in nature but are frequently used in music, art, design and architecture. Since these numbers create a very eye pleasing patterning or structure I love to incorporate them in knit wear design.

Following Wallaby Sweater I made for charity is an example of it. The teenager asked for grass green and white in a hooded sweater. To make the striping more interesting for the eye I used Fibonacci numbers:

In this case I used them for two colors going in the same direction for the stockinette part after finishing the bottom ribbing.
21 rows green - 21 rows white
13 rows green - 13 rows white
8 rows green - 8 rows white
5 rows green - 5 rows white
3 rows green - 3 rows white
2 rows green - 2 rows white
1 row green - 1 row white

It also can be done in opposite directions for the colors. Here an example how it would work in the wallaby sweater

g (green) - w (white)
21 rows g - 1 row w
13 rows g - 2 rows w
  8 rows g - 3 rows w
  5 rows g - 5 rows w
  3 rows g - 8 rows w
  2 rows g - 13 rows w
   1 row g - 21 rows w

You can also use more than two colors to create an interesting striping effect which is not boring and helps you to use up odds and ends. It also works great in socks, mittens, hats, scarfs, felted bags; basically all knitting projects you can think of.

You can even create cool pattern effects with Fibonacci sequences for borders or accents like this exaple:

These are some simple ways to play with these numbers and there are endless possibilities to use them for your design or knitting project........

Little did he know....

2011-04-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

....about the surprise waiting for him coming back from a business trip. I guess if one starts to paint one room it kind of gets out of hand. Discovering the lack of color and the bad condition of other rooms, I knew that our bath room needed some work. The next day I found myself again buying color to start my make over adventure.

Before

After:

A teal room?

2011-03-28T16:36:00.000-07:00

After painting my daughter's room I realized that most of the rooms in our house need painting.
Who would have thought that picking colors for a room can be almost as exciting as pondering over your next knitting adventure. Obviously there are more choices than beige, light brown or white, which seemed to be the favorites of the previous house owner. Yes, I actually could have a teal wall in our office! Yeah! Doesn't Seaside Resort sound promising? I'll keep you posted.

Knitting

I've just finished another Patches Baby Sweater. This time in the bigger size using one skein of Online Supersocke 6 ply.

And the winner....

2011-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

..... of my contest is Andrea. A Wavebird - pattern and the Mountain Color Yarn will be yours! Please send me an email.
Thank everyone for all your nice comments. May be you will win the next one...

What's going on in my knitting life right now:

A KAL for my design Color Box (a free pattern) on the ravelry Wool-Aid charity knitting group:

Since I don't have enough yarn for the main color of the body. I decided to make a second row of mitered squares. We'll see how this comes out. I also will work the sweater in the round in garter stitch this time. It's fun to play around with my own pattern.....

Further I'm working on another Patches with the cutest monkey buttons ever, prepare classes,

finish socks and work on a new design....... I wish I could knit faster!!!!!

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

2011-03-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

50% off all the proceeds through my patterns will go to World Vision disaster relief to support the victims of the recent earthquake and Tsunami during the month of March.

Facelift & Contest

2011-03-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

Here is the result of the long needed facelift of my blog. I added some tabs on top of my blog. New you will find all my pattern for sale listed in the pattern shop page and I will add more free ones to the free pattern page for download. On a long term run you will find a tutorial page. So check in frequently.

To celebrate the new look of my blog I have a contest for you:

Pick your favorite picture in the blog. Post a comment to this blog post which one it is.

On Thursday, March 17th at 9:00 am I will draw a winner among the people who posted.

Here the price:

Mountain Colors, hand-painted 90 % superwash Merino / 10% Nylon, Crazyfoot

a free copy of my pattern Wavebird either in English or German

I'm looking forward to your posts!

Fresh off my needles

2011-03-01T13:19:00.000-08:00

My pattern Wavebird made out of one skein of Wolle's Yarn Creations,

Color Changing Cotton (50 gr, 4 ply)

Back from Stitches West

2011-02-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

Finally I got back from Stitches West in Santa Clara, California. Due to a snow storm and cancelled flights it was one day later than intended. My hope to get a glimpse of spring weather in CA faded away in chilly rain and temperatures below the ones in CT, but other than that and a nasty cold I caught, Stitches was great.
Seeing my design Morning Breeze on the runway was very special and exciting! Unfortunately I was too thrilled to take a halfway decent picture.
The market place was huge and inspiring. Here are some things I picked up:

These 2 beauties I got from Tactile and I'm planning on a new design with them.

Maia, the owner, has beautiful shades of natural dyed yarn which made it hard for me to choose.

I couldn't resist this color from Rabbitworks Fiber Studio

I got the last two Japanese Knitting books!!

I met Cayenna from Caya Colour Yarns.

One of the great things about a convention like this is to meet wonderful people. I enjoyed talking to complete strangers about knitting, fiber and the world...

This group of enthusiastic grafters stood out for me. They had so much fun with their blue scarfs. They call themselves Knit Whits and they knit for the Paralympics. Their enthusiasm and joy was contagious. Stitches West for me was not only about designers, vendors and yarn but also about being part of this great community of craft lovers.

Even though the weather was bad I saw some messengers of spring.

Morning Breeze & Stitches West

2011-02-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

Wednesday I will be off to Stitches West where my newest design Morning Breeze will be shown on the runway. That I'm excited is an understatement. 5 precious ladies from my yarn shop will join me on my trip to California.
If you want to meet me and the garment join me on Friday, February 18th and Saturday, February 19th @ Creatively Dyed's booth 924. I will be there at 1:00 pm ....

For the cardigan in the picture I used one skein of Creatively Dyed, Sydney in color Emerald worked on a size US 4( 3.5 mm).
It's a luscious silk-linen lace weight yarn with a gorgeous drape. Usually green is not my color but her Emerald is just beautiful and made me rethink my relationship with green. Not every thing can be blue or teal.......

It's a top down raglan with a knitted on bottom part and lace edging. Your new favorite layering piece you can put on over just everything. The slim drapey silhouette cascades down past hiplevel in the front.

PS: You can also use fingering weight or up to light dk for Morning Breeze

TALVI - another pattern release

2011-02-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

This scarf will give you many possibilities to play with color and texture.

Talvi is worked on the bias in strips that are attached as you go and it looks good in any gauge. It is easy to make this scarf wider or narrower. Self-striping or hand dyed yarn makes it an even more fun knit.

For the scarf shown in the picture above I used three different colors of Noro Kureyon.

Size: 6” (15 cm) wide and 60” (152 cm) long

Material:

Needles size US 7 (4.5 mm)
Approx. 327 yard (300m) worsted weight yarn

Get this pattern in my shop

PS: Talvi means winter in Finnish. Not that I'm able to speak it, but we had plenty of winter here.....

Long Live The Scraps II

2011-02-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

is now available in my shop as a recipe to create your own blanket / afghan / throw.
Have fun playing with texture, color and at the same time use up these scraps and single skeins. Any weight of yarn works. For this blanket I used most of my bulky odds and ends.

Reducing my stash gives me a good excuse to buy more yarn. ...

What's new?

2011-01-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Morning Breeze is my newest design which will be shown on the runway on Stitches West 2011 in Santa Clara, CA in February and I will be able to be there.... I used a yarn Creatively Dyed Yarns will bring out at Stitches. It's a beautiful linen-silk lace yarn with a gorgeous drape. The pattern will be available February 21st.......more later....
Colorido is now available as a free download in my shop

Knitting socks for me..

After the storm.....

2011-01-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

.....a gorgeous sunrise with a lot of snow shoveling. The black dot in the picture is my dog digging for his ball.
My cross country skis are calling my name.

A five year old....

2011-01-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

...has his own opinion what a hat should look like. Not understanding why I always make things for other kids he even doesn't know, he wanted his own hat and had a clear vision of what it's style.
My first attempt to fulfill his wishes ended up looking like a toilet paper cover you sometimes see in the back windows of some German cars.....
Finally I got it right to his satisfaction: a hat with a pompom, tassels to tie, earflaps and of course in blue.

I used Lambs Pride bulky.

Long Live The Scraps

2011-01-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

Wasting or throwing away yarn - no way!! It's impossible to picture even the smallest amount of yarn in a trash can. I remember I just once made this the final destination of a skein. The fight for it's life was fierce. Trying to untangle this hank I got from someone was impossible........ Finally I lost patience.

Let's help these neglected scraps and leftovers to new glory and purpose.

The fight for survival of the scraps was successful. They lined up with the others to make it possible to keep a child in Afghanistan warm and cozy and add some color to her life.

PS: In order to do the border I had to buy new yarn and ended up having more scraps. Oh, well, long live the yarn industry......

A New Year and A New Baby

2011-01-12T05:29:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to All of you.
Between Christmas and New Year I gave birth to a new baby which kept me quite busy and caused increased heart rate and blood pressure in many ways. The pregnancy was short but the child is not premature........
Beginning of December 2010 Dianne from Creatively Dyed asked me to design something out of a new yarn she will introduce in Stitches West. It's a gorgeous lace weight linen/silk material with a beautiful drape. My design which is called Morning Breeze will be on the runway for Stitches West. I'm so excited. My first garment in a runway show.
Yesterday I took pictures but I had to do it inside since the weather looks like this here and Morning Breeze is a light spring summer cardi:

We are in the middle of a blizzard and more snow on the way.

Colorido - A Mystery KAL - Part 5

2010-12-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

This is going to be the last part of the pattern. It will be available in more sizes as a free download in my shop, so stay tuned....

Neckband

With smaller needle pick up 60 sts around neck edge in CC2 or color you prefer.

Work in K2 P2 ribbing for approx. 2” or desired length.

Bind off loosley. (Use bigger needle if necessary.)

Graft underarms and sew in ends.

Colorido - A Mystery KAL - Part 4

2010-11-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

BODY

Slip front and back body sts + former seam sts on bigger size circular needle.

(58 sts + 58 sts = 116 sts)

With MC cast on 5 sts, work across front sts (58 sts), cast on 5 sts, pm (to mark side seam), cast on 5 sts, join front and back, work across back sts (58 sts), cast on 5 sts, pm (beginning of the rnd marker). Join. (136 sts)

Work even in rnds (k) for 7” measured from underarm.

After this work following rounds:

Rnd 1: P all sts in MC.

Rnd 2: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 3: K in MC

Rnd 4 -7: K in CC2

Rnd 8 & 9: K in CC3

Rnd 10: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 11: K in CC3

Rnd 12: K in CC1

Rnd 13: K in CC3

Rnd 14: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 15 & 16: K in CC3

Rnd 17 -20: K in CC2

Rnd 21: K in MC

Rnd 22: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 23: K in MC

Rnd 24: P in MC

Then work even (k) in MC until piece measures 12” from underarm.

In the next round decrease 12 sts evenly distributed. (124 sts)

Switch to smaller size needles and work in K2 P2 ribbing for 2.5 “

Bind off.

I will post more pictures soon....

Colorido - A Mystery KAL - Part 3

2010-11-28T04:56:00.000-08:00

Here a picture of part 1 & 2 finished

PART 3

This will be the part you're going to work both sleeves.

Slip the sts for each section onto separate pieces of scrap arn in following sequence:

44 sleeve sts

1 seam st + back sts + 1 seam st = 58 sts

44 sleeve sts

1 seam st + front sts + 1 seam st = 58 sts

SLEEVES:

With larger needle and MC cast on 5 sts, work sleeve sts, cast on 5 sts, pm, and join.

K one round.

Continue to work in st st.

Decrease 1 sts on each side of the marker every 5^th row 8x in following way:

K2tog, k to last two stitches, SSK. (decreasing rnd)

Then work following rnds:

Rnd 1: P in MC

Rnd 2: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 3: K in MC

Rnd 4-6: K in CC3

Rnd 7: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 8: K in CC3

Rnd 9: K in CC1

Rnd 10: K in CC3

Rnd 11: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 12-14: K in CC3

Rnd 15: K in MC

Rnd 16: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 17: K in MC

Rnd 18: P in MC

Continue to work in st st using MC until sleeve measures 14”.

In the next round decrease 10 sts evenly distributed.

Switch to smaller size needles.

Work a K2 P2 ribbing in MC for 3”

Colorido - A Mystery KAL - Part 2

2010-11-24T03:38:00.000-08:00

Here the second part of the pattern:

With MC cast on 36 sts with larger needle. (Do not join)

Neck shaping:

Row 1: (RS) K1, pm, K1 (seam st), pm, k6 (sleeve sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k18 (back sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k6 (sleeve sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k1.

Row 2: P to end.

Row 3: [K to marker, M1, slm, k1, slm, M1] 4x, k to end. (44 sts)

Row 4: P to end.

Row 5: Kfb, [k to marker, M1, slm, k1, slm, M1] 4x, k to last st, kfb.

Row 6: P to end.

Repeat row 5 & 6 another 3 x. (10, 1,16, 1, 28, 1, 16, 1, 10 sts = 84 sts)

Abbreviations & Hints:

Increasing row/rnd (inc rnd): Increase before and after each seam stitch. If not mentioned differently use M1 as an increase technique. Unless mentioned differently these rows/rnds are worked with a k st.

M1 purlwise: Lift the running thread between the stitch on the left needle and the stitch on the right, from back to front, so that the left leg of that running thread (the leg attached to that purl st on the left needle) hangs over the front of the left needle. Purl through that front/left loop. That will twist the running thread so you don’t end up with an eyelet.

Seam stitch: Stitch sandwiched by stitch markers (you should have 4 seam sts every rnd)

Sl1: Slip one stitch purlwise.

After joining your new round starts after the first marker. (the one with the different color). This means that if you work an increasing round you will end the round with an increase before your first marker.

Instructions:

On the next right side row work an increasing row (M1 before and after each seam st).

At the end of this completed row cast on 8 sts.

Join and k to first marker. (This marker will show the beginning of you new round. It helps to make this marker a different color than the other ones.)

Your round sequence will be the following now:

seam st, sleeve, seam st, back, seam st, sleeve, seam st, front (1, 18, 1, 30, 1, 18, 1, 30 = 100 )

Bodice shaping:

Rnd 1: Increasing rnd in MC

Rnd 2: K in MC

Rnd 3: Inc rnd in MC

Rnd 4: K in MC

Rnd 5: Inc rnd in MC

Rnd 6: K in MC

Rnd 7: Inc rnd p all sts (do the M1 purlwise) in MC

Rnd 8: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 9: Inc rnd in MC

Rnd 10: K in CC2

Rnd 11: Inc rnd in CC2

Rnd 12: K in CC2

Rnd 13: Inc rnd with CC2

Rnd 14: K in CC3

Rnd 15: Inc rnd in CC3

Rnd 16: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 17: Inc rnd in CC3

Rnd 18: K in CC1

Rnd 19: Inc rnd in CC3

Rnd 20: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 21: Inc rnd in CC3

Rnd 22: K in CC3

Rnd 23: Inc rnd with CC2

Rnd 24: K in CC2

Rnd 25: Inc rnd in CC2
Rnd 26: K in CC2

Rnd 27: K in MC

Rnd 28: With CC1 (k1, sl1) repeat to the end of the rnd.

Rnd 29: K in MC

Rnd 30: P in MC

Continue to k every rnd in MC until you have completed 46 rnds or your garment measures 10.5”.

I will post the first pictures soon.

Colorido - A Mystery KAL - Part 1

2010-11-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

This Mystery KAL is part of a Knit for Tibet campaign we do in the Wool-Aid ravelry group to help to provide as much warm knitted items for the earthquake victims as possible.

"Knit for Tibet is an outreach effort of the Kyegu Relief Fund, established in response to the devastating 7.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the eastern Tibetan town of Kyegu on April 14, 2010. The humanitarian need is ongoing and significant. Approximately 10,000 people were killed, 20,000 people are injured, and 100,000 people have been left homeless and destitute. More than 90% of the buildings were reduced to rubble. Many of the survivors have no family left."

Winters are harsh in Kyegu, and the people are facing desperate conditions. Many are currently living in lightweight tents. They are especially in need of vests, sweaters, and socks. The sizes most needed are for babies and teens.

Please also check the Wool-Aid website for more info.

With the COLORIDO Mystery KAL I hope to be able to help adding some more sweaters to the next shipment.

Here how it works:

I will post parts of the pattern on my blog every so often. If you have a questions please either post your questions on the Wool-Aid ravelry board, as a comment here or send an email to c.burkhard at gmail dot com.

COLORIDO
PART 1

COLORIDO is a top down raglan sweater (no seeming) in a size 14 (34” finished circumference)

You will need:

approx 850 yards of bulky weight yarn, a main color and 3 additional colors. Two CC’s could work too but better are three. I use Brown Sheep, Lambs Pride bulky, approx 5 skeins MC and 1 skein each for CC. If you plan to contribute this sweater to the Tibet campaign, please use a yarn which is at least 80% animal fiber.
Dpn US 10 and US 10.5, circular needles US 10 and US 10.5
Stitchmarkers

Gauge: 3.5 sts and 4.25 rows per inch

The sweater will be in the ravelry database under the name Colorido so that you can link your project page to it. Feel free to use my picture too.

Hints:
• Use different color marker for the first pm if you have.

Abbreviations: RS: Right side WS: Wrong side M1: With left needle tip, lift strand in between needles from front to back. Knit the lifted loop through the back to twist the stitch. CO: Cast on. BO: Bind off MC: Main Color CC: Contrasting color Pm: Place marker Kfb: Knit in front and back of the stitch

With MC cast on 36 sts with larger needle. (Do not join)

Neck shaping:

Row 1: (RS) K1, pm, K1 (seam st), pm, k6 (sleeve sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k18 (back sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k6 (sleeve sts), pm, k1 (seam st), pm, k1.

Row 2: P to end.

Row 3: (K to marker, M1, slm, k1, slm, M1) 4x, k to end. (44 sts)

Row 4: P to end.

Row 5: Kfb, (k to marker, M1, slm, k1, slm, M1) 4x, k to last st, kfb.

Row 6: P to end.

The English version of Wavebird.....

2010-11-21T05:59:00.000-08:00

................is now available in my shop.

Like for the German version all proceeds through December 24th will go to charity. (see previous post)

Thank you Barb for test knitting!! You rock.

knitted by Barb

Wavebird made my test knitters Juliane with her hand dyed yarn.

Here is her blog

Test knitter Bine's version.

Coming up: Mystery KAL for a sweater. Stay tuned

My contribution to a family Thanksgiving dinner I'm invited to today:

Raspberry Mascarpone Cake made from scratch.

The German version of Wavebird is released

2010-11-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my super fast German test knitters Karin, Juliane, Tina and Bine the German version of wavebird is now available in my ravelry shop.
From now through December 24th all the proceeds will go towards the microcredit program of
World Vision Microfinance.

"Microfinance loans foster small-scale entrepreneurship and act as a hand up in situations where a handout is not helpful. Small loans give impoverished individuals the working capital they need to start or grow a business. With one in five people worldwide surviving on less than $1.25 a day, the need is great."

I feel very lucky to be able to design. Through this program I hope somebody in less fortunate circumstances will be empowered to start his own business.

"Microfinance benefits ripple out to families and communities
As a business generate profits, small loan recipients build assets, save money, and are able to provide for their families. If the business expands to hire additional employees, then the entire community gets an economic development boost. Once repaid and recycled, microfinance loans can help family after family lift themselves out of poverty."

And the winner is

2010-11-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

Wavebird

as a name for my new design.

Quietsch who submitted it will receive the prize, a skein of yarn, which was donated by

Dirty Waters DyeWorks , and a free pattern. Since Quietsch is living in Germany the yarn will have to travel across the Atlantic.

The pattern will be released in a few days and will be also in German and English.

Thank you everybody for participating in my contest!

Naming Contest

2010-11-11T05:04:00.000-08:00

There is still almost one day left and there are already so many ingenious names posted in the comments of original contest post:

Aurora Borealis / Light's in the Sky by Andrea
Vikare by LaurieM
Cygnus by Jouneyseeds
Coriolis by Majorie
Blue Mountain by Bienchensmama
Blue Balance by Petunia
Gorgeous Gemstone by Susanne
Northern Lights by Claudia
Wavebird by Quietsch
Montana by Angela
Mountain Sunset by Dmw
Phong Na by Ili
Angle Wings Shawl / Snowbird Wrap / Winter Star by Kate
Sparkling Berries by Karen
Ikran by H.brueckner
Wings over New England by Kay
Evening Sunset by Connie
Winged Victory by Sam

To pic the name is going to be a hard decision. Thank you very much for your submissions!!! it's not to late to put one in. The contest will close 8:00 pm EST. Tonight I'm going to present them to my family to vote on. Besides their choice another criteria for me will be to select a name which is not used in a lot of other designs. Tomorrow morning I will post the winner's name. Thank you so much for participating.

The Prize

2010-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the nicest experience at the New England Fiber Festival.
I met Stephanie Griego from Dirty Waters Dye Works. Not only did she have a very nice both with beautiful yarn but also donated the prize for my running contest.

And here is the prize:

It's 490 yards of 80% Superwash Merino, 10 % Cashmere and 10% Nylon

Thank you Stephanie, you blew me away with your generosity. Your yarn is beautiful!

The New England Fiber Festival was very enjoyable for me. I was surprised by the amount of vendors and the huge variety of fiber, yarn, buttons, designs, shawl pins.... since there were mainly smaller companies and farms you could feel the creativity in the air. Very inspiring and less crowded than Rhinebeck or Stitches East which gave room to actually spend some time at a booth and get a much better idea what's out there.

For people who read this post and don't now about the contest, please read the previous post.

Name My Newest Design Contest

2010-11-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited to show you my newest design. This shawl is winged and has a lace edging.
The pattern is with my test knitters right now and the only thing I need before I can publish it is a name.
Post a comment with your suggestion. I will choose a name from there. The person who posted this name will get a free pattern of this shawl + the yarn to knit it.

I'm looking forward to your posts. I will pick the name and winner on Friday, November 12th, 2010.

Story Blanket

2010-10-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

The last few months have been very busy with house guests, doctor visits, surgery and the daily surprises of family life. As much as I would have loved to find more time to design my brain was to tired from multi tasking that I couldn't wrap it around chart writing, calculating gauges and measurements. All I was able to do was going back to the basics called mitered squares in garter stitch. I added quite a few squares to a blanket I started last year to use up little left overs of worsted weight yarn. Since I have a very hard time to throw away even the tiniest pieces of yarn, I collected quite a few mini skeins. Each yarn I use for a square tells a story about a former project or recipient of my hand crafted piece. Very rewarding and relaxing......

Patches

2010-10-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

It was fun to teach a class in my LYS of my newest pattern Patches Baby Sweater.
Different yarns create unique patterning in this little sweater. This one was done by Margaret, one of our talented knitters.

14 Pairs of Socks

2010-10-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

In summer I thaught a local knitting group how to make socks using my free pattern

Cozy Toes.

They kept going and the stunning result are the 14 pairs you see in the picture above.

They will travel as far as Mongolia and Kazakhstan to keep the toes of some children cozy in the brutally cold winters they have to endure.

The knitters are Sharon, Kim, Gabriela, Heike and me.

I especially designed this pattern to help people to make socks for charity. It's also very helpful to teach first time sock knitters.

The pattern is written for size small child - adult and for worsted, aran or bulky weight yarn.

The different colored sections in the picture show the different parts of a sock which doesn't mean that you have to make yours like it. It's for educational purposes, since it is sometimes hard for sock newbies to differentiate gusset, heel cap, heel flap and so. This sock is knitted top down. You will find the free pattern in my pattern store

My favorite knitting charity, Wool-Aid is always looking for warm wool socks for orphanages in very cold climates.

Whale Watching

2010-10-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

On Friday I took my sister whale watching out of Plymouth MA with Captain John Boats. The weather was gorgeous and warm. We not only saw humpback whales but we also learned how CJB biologists are collecting data to help scientists learn more about the whales that are sighted in the waters of New England, and why our coastal waters are so rich and productive, including the waters of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

This whale stayed with the boat all the time as if he would play with us. The captain couldn't turn on the motor for quite a while since the whale was so close. I love about Captain John Boats that you can feel their concern for this endangered species. They are part of several organizations which help to learn more about whales and their behavior as well as to help them to protect them.

If you want to see some stunning pictures of our trip and get a better description of what we saw check out the blog post of our naturalist. She brought a lot of very interesting material about whales with her and you can feel her heart for these wonderful animals....

It was my 4th whale watching trip but certainly not my last one.

Published!!!

2010-10-07T03:58:00.000-07:00

Patches, one of my designs, will be published in
Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders: 101 Patterns That Go Way Beyond Socks!

The book will come out on November 13th.

A little later this pattern worked with one skein of sock yarn will be available in my pattern shop too.

Six Loose Ladies.......

2010-10-04T05:46:00.000-07:00

......is a yarn shop I always wanted to visit since my friend Tricia, a Vermonter, gave me the hint.
Yesterday, I finally got to go there on a tour through Vermont we took my sister to enjoy the spectacular leave coloring you can find there at this season. My family was patient enough to take a little detour to satisfy my fiber addiction, which was absolutely worth it.

(happy mom = happy family)

The Six Loose Ladies is more than a regular yarn shop they are a Vermont Fiber Arts shop and Gallery:

"Fiber Arts in Vermont is a non-profit membership organization that supports and encourages all creative fiber arts, provides a wide range of educational opportunities within this venue, coordinates resources, and fosters an atmosphere of communication within the fiber arts community."

It's not only the entrance of this shop Six Loose Ladies which makes you feel welcome, it's the whole atmosphere in the shop as well. I got to meet one of the ladies, Sandy, who was very friendly and knowledgeable, but not pushy.

Even though they had a lot of their fibers at the Vermont Sheep and Wool festival at this very week end. I still found a huge selection of wonderful yarn including great locally dyed or produced fiber, which I personally love to see in a good shop. It just reflects the creative spirit of an area. It's so hard to find things made in U.S.A in the commercial world.

The Six Loose Ladies make a difference.....

As an Art Gallery they also show a beautiful selection of shawl pins, bags, felted items, quilts and jewelry hand crafted by local artisans.

Last but not least they have a variety of classes for all levels they offer and a cosy sit'n knit area, which makes me want to take out my knitting and stay for a while, but my family is waiting ;-)

Six Loose Ladies, I will be back.......

Here is what I found:

Fingering weight wool yarn from Mt. Ascutney View Farm in Perkinsville VT and two cards.

The yarn reminds me of Jamieson's Shetland wools. It has a beautiful twist and of course it's in my favorite color.....

The last day of summer............

2010-09-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

Empty beaches, rolling waves, sunshine, long walks, ice cream, great company and a beautiful lighthouse all in one day makes it easier to prepare for the long New England winters.

Together with my sister visiting from Europe I enjoy every minute of the beauty of these warm fall days which feel more like summer.

Stonington Lighthouse CT

I love lighthouses. This is a particular cute one.

I couldn't resist......

2010-09-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

.........to buy this skein of Ellyn Cooper"s Yarn Sonnets.

It started out very innocent (as usual). Ellyn gave me a leftover of this yarn to play with, and I fell in love. This dream of color named Jasimine Dragon (color Rose Collage) is a wool-cashmere-silk blend. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of a new shawl design.
Soon I will be able to send it to my newly found test knitter, Barb. Test knitters are a rare but very important species of knitters. I'm glad that Barb is willing to test knit for me.

Other than that I'm planing on translating my patterns into German, finish some other designs
(three of them) and work on socks for Wool Aid.

Secret revealed

2010-09-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Friday the last clue of the Mystery KAL went out to the knitters. Now the secret can be revealed.
I'm very excited about my new design and the pattern will be available to buy beginning of this week.

39 knitters and a Mystery

2010-08-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Deb, a knitting friend from my LYS my newest design got a name.

I'm using Color Changing Cotton from Wolle's Yarn Creation

Her yarns are truly unique and I've never seen such beautiful color changing material in cotton. Through her ravely fan group I started a Mystery KAL with my newest shawl design. Adventurous knitters signed up and will get part of the pattern as a clue every week. Quite challenging, since they don't know yet how the finished piece will look like. 39 great people are part in this now.

More Falls

2010-08-01T04:14:00.000-07:00

Since we couldn't get enough of rock hopping and climbing we went to see another water spectacle, the Ellis Falls.

Today we have to leave this gorgeous place. Bye, bye Silver Lake! We hope to see you next year again.

In case you are wondering, I'm still knitting. I finished a pair of socks for my husband which he wanted to wear immediately. Evenings in Maine can be crisp. Further I'm working on my new shawls design, Ocean Serenade. I started a Mystery KAL through ravelry with it.
Fun, fun, fun.....

A perfect day

2010-07-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

The 1 mile hike to the Angel Falls was just gorgeous and remote. There was a little bit of everything; climbing, water, woods, untamed wilderness........

The Smalls Falls are one of our favorite places to go. Jumping from rocks into swimming holes just made my husbands and kids day. Even the cool water couldn't hold them up.

And finally my dream came true. I saw three Moose! One of them was still a baby.

Last but not least a beautiful sunset!

Sunday River Alpacas

2010-07-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Two days ago we visited Sunday River Alpacas, in Bethel Maine. I was impressed about the close relationship Mo, the owner of this beautiful farm, has with her animals. They are very well taken care off. Besides the farm she has a precious store where she sells her fiber and various hand crafted items. While I indulged myself in alpaca fiber paradise, my little one got to feed the fish in the fish pond. Thank you, Mo, for making our visit such a nice family event!

A day at Silver Lake 1

2010-07-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

Harvest

2010-07-24T04:32:00.000-07:00

In my childhood I remember my father constantly trying to come up with new ways to make his gardening highly effective. Unfortunately none of these really seemed to work. We started to call his farming attempts "burying money in the yard". For the last few years it seamed that I follow his foot steps.
Of course I always had good excuses like too much rain, too dry, bad year, mean bugs and vegetable eating creatures.........
This year everything changed, except that the little bunny rabbits invaded my garden through the fence and ate all my lettuce. Oh well. But everything else is doing fine. All kinds of squashes, zucchini, cucumber, melon, broccoli, brussel sprouts and not to forget the tomatoes are growing. Here is the proof:

I'm really proud of my tomatoes. One of them is an Ukrainian heirloom called Cosmonaut Volcov, one a Swiss Rose de Berne and one a German Pineapple among the common kinds I have. The best of all, it's all organic!

It is.....

2010-07-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

.....the Lizard Ridge Afghan for my husband I finally finished. He had to wait patiently for two years until he is able to wrap himself up in this blanket to escape cold winter temperatures. O.k, it's hard to picture freezing weather in a heat like we have right now.
To take a picture of a big piece like this is quite a undertaking. Fortunately our tree house is high enough.

What is this?

2010-07-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

Here a little summer quiz for you. What is featured on the picture below? The person who posts the right answer on my blog first will receive a knitting related surprise gift.

O.k, here's the picture:

Triple Blue

2010-07-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

This post I have to start with a confession. When we moved into our house in the States we made fun about the fact that this house has central air, which we thought is typical American. I have to admit it was pure ignorance, because the longer I live in CT the more I appreciate this fabulous invention trying to cope with the hot and humid summers. Who would have thought that you have subtropical weather in rural New England? The other cool fact of our air conditioned house is that I am still able to knit despite sticky and muggy outside conditions. Yay, to some of the modern technology!
Now I come to the even more exciting part of this post. I have a new design in works. The buzz of this new adventure even kept me from a well earned nap in the afternoon. Who would snooze then anyways...

Elisabeth from Wolle's Yarn Creation has so many beautiful colors to choose from.
I picked this one for my new creation:

Yes, it's blue.....

Hats and more......

2010-07-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

With these hats I found the perfect knitting project for hot and muggy summer days. They are part of a Mystery hat and mitten KAL through Wool-Aid. All finished items will be hand delivered to orphanages in Kazakhstan. You will find the pattern here. Thank you, Jean, for doing this KAL!

I'm working on a new design. So exciting..... more later....

Back to Knitting

2010-05-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted the last time. Back from Austria it got really busy here and the knitters nightmare happened. Both of my arms started fall asleep during nighttime and made it hard for me to knit at all.
Now I'm back to my beloved needle work and just managed to finish a sweater for a teenage girl in Kazakhstan.

MITTENS FOR AKKOL provides wool garments for orphanages in Kazakhstan.
"Our charity knitting group provides warm woolens to children in orphanages in Kazakhstan where winter temperatures dip to 40 BELOW ZERO (The same whether you speak Celsius or Fahrenheit.) At those temperatures, it is cold even inside.
This group was started by two parents who have adopted children from an orphanage in Kazakhstan. While there, they saw the great need for warm clothing for the children. In winter, children were outside in the bitter cold with nothing on their hands. Their only socks were thin polyester socks that provided no insulation against the cold. Warm woolen items were not available in the local markets.
The children in the orphanages range in age from 3 to 16 years old. Sizes needed are toddlers’ size 2T to large adult with the greatest need in the size 8 children’s to large adult range."

For this sweater I used one of my favorite patterns The Wonderful Wallaby, designed by Carol Anderson. I left out the pouch and used fibonacci sequence for the stripes to make it more interesting.

Austria 3

2010-03-12T23:51:00.000-08:00

Austria 2

2010-03-10T03:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went on a trip to Innsbruck, the beautiful capital city of the state of Tyrol.
I enjoyed gorgeous historic buildings, the diversity of shops, mountains and good coffee. What a difference to a shopping mall........

Even though the temperature was still below freezing, the street cafes had tables outside with sheep fur and blankets to keep the hardy out door lovers warm and cozy!

One of Innsbruck's landmarks is the Golden Roof, built in 1500 as the residence of the Tirolean sovereigns.

Austria

2010-03-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

I get to spend one week with my mom in Austria! It's so beautiful here. Besides the great scenery and my moms company I enjoy European style bread and pastries.

Frigo

2010-03-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

Frigo

Fingerless Mittens

Material: 1 skein of Noro Yuzem or approx. 125 any other worsted weight yarn.

One set of double pointed needles size US 6 / 4 mm

2 stitch markers, scrap yarn

Gauge: 5 sts = 1” in stockinette stitch

Size: woman small (woman medium, woman large/man small) 6.5 (7.25 8)”

Abbreviations:

pm : place marker
slm: slip marker
M1: make one (increase): With left needle tip lift strand between needles from front to back. Knit the lifted loop through back
BO: Bind off.
CO: Cast on.
Rnd: round

Instructions

Co 32 (36, 40) stitches.

Distribute stitches as evenly as possible on three needles.

Join carefully not to twist.

Cuff

Work in K2 P2 ribbing until cuff measures

2 (2, 2.25)”

Hand

K 2 (2, 3, 4) rounds

Shape Thumb Gusset:

Work Rnd 1-13 (1-13, 1-16)

Rnd 1: K1, pm, M1, K1, M1, pm K to end of round.

Rnd 2 & 3: K .

Rnd 4: K1, slm, M1, K3, M1, slm, K to end of the round.

Rnd 5 & 6: K.

Rnd 7: K1, slm, M1, K5, M1, slm, K to end of the round.

Rnd 8 & 9: K.

Rnd 10: K1, slm, M1, K7, M1, slm, K to the end of the round.

Rnd 11 & 12: K.

Rnd 13: K1, slm, M1, K9, M1, slm, K to the end of the round.

Rnd 14 & 15: K.

Rnd 16: K1, slm, M1, K11, M1, slm, K to the end of the round.

You have 11 (11, 13) stitches in between the markers now (gusset sts).

K1, put gusset stitches on scrap yarn, CO 1 st over gap, K to the end of the round.

Continue to work in stockinette stitch for 1 (1.25, 1.75)”.

Then work in K2, P2 ribbing for 1” or desired length.

BO in pattern stitch.

Thumb

Place held gusset stitches onto 3 dpn.

With 3^rd needle pick up and knit one stitch before the gap, one stitch over the gap and one stitch after the gap.

Next rnd knit sts of 1^st and 2^nd needle, knit sts on the 3^rd needle to the four last stitches, K2tog 2x.

Work in st st for 2 (2, 3) more rounds.

Work in K1 P1 for 4 more rounds or to desired length.

BO in pattern stitch.

Weave in ends and make the second mitten.

Copyright 2010, Christiane Burkhard, You may use this pattern for personal, non-profit or charity use only. www.lismiknits.blogspot.com

653 stitches.....

2010-03-02T05:15:00.000-08:00

.....had the last row of this shawl. I call it HOPE, since it goes to someone who has to go through chemo and radiation. I wasn't really happy about the colors. I would have chosen different ones.
Guess which one? Since this yarn was given to me for this purpose, I couldn't say no. There are more important things in life than my favorite color.
I hope that she will get better!!!!!

Last minute

2010-02-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

Last week, I started to work on a baby kimono to match a hat for a baby shower.
Time flew by last week and on Saturday morning I realized that I still have to add the i-cord trim, buttons, weave in the ends, and sew it together. The baby shower was at 1:30 pm.
At 8:30 am I started the trim and the sewing. After I rushed to get gift wrapping and a little outfit which goes with the piece at 10:30 am, I went to my LYS, got buttons and finished the sewing part.
Done!!!! I even had time to eat lunch with my family! Next time, I will manage my time better, I promise. Although I'm surprised how much and how fast I get things done with an adrenalin boost...............

You'll find the pattern for this kimono in this book. One of my favorite ones......

Multidirectional Scarf

2010-02-26T05:02:00.000-08:00

The Multidirectional Scarf fever broke out at my local yarn shop. Since I've taught a class on this fun and addictive pattern I our knitters are still making them trying different yarns and color combinations!

For this one I used Wolle' Yarn Creation Color Changing Cotton. She has so many gorgeous colors that I had a hard time to choose..... I'm planing to design a shawl out of one of her lace weight yarns.

The prayer shawl is finally done. Pictures will follow...

On My Needles

2010-02-20T17:56:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm working on this prayer shawl for a friends sister in law who has to go through chemo and radiation. I use Mini Mochi, a fingering weight yarn. My rows now have hundreds of tiny stitches...........

Last week I submitted two design proposals, one for a book and one for a magazine.....
Part of the requirements was a sketch of the finished garment. This was quite a challenge for me since I have never done fashion sketches before. The sketches of princess dresses in elementary school probably don't count.
Now I have to wait until I hear back from the publishers.

African Sunset

2010-02-17T19:16:00.000-08:00

Another afternoon dyeing with my daughter and one of her friends. This is my color African Sunset. Again I used Kool-Aid, but this time I hand painted the yarn.
One skein of of white didn't have it's label anymore and I was not quite sure if it was wool or not. Sure enough all the dye came of when I tried to rinse the yarn after microwaving.....
This would not be a problem with gloves. But since I threw away the last pair of gloves all the dye went over my hands........ they are still partly red.......and the skein of yarn is perfectly off white again. Oh, well....

I'm nominated...

2010-02-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

The Free Pattern Testers Group has nominated my Basil hat pattern for an award in their 2010 Mini Awards in the category Best Design. This group has 2362 members and I feel very flattered that my design made it into the nominated nine.
Here you can vote until February 16th. :-)

Ravelympics

2010-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

During the time period of the Winter Olympics 2010 the knitting community ravelry is hosting ravelympics. During this time knitters/crocheters are able to join teams and work on different projects for different events.

This vest is part of the Event Charity since it will go to Wool-Aid. I'm part of the ravelympics Wool-Aid Team.

I used the yarn I recently dyed with Kool-Aid in the color way Marine Splash. The texture of moss stitch helps to make the color of hand dyes pop out more. Neck and arm opening are worked with a rolled edge and shoulders are shaped with short rows.

PS: I'm so thrilled about Simon Amann's gold metal!!!!

Philosophy And Art Of A Four Year Old

2010-02-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

" Mom, you do what you have to do, and I do what I want to do!"

Our Regular Visitor

2010-02-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

This coyote visits our yard frequently, even during day time.
My dog doesn't love the smell of him at all.
Friends suggested that the male members of our family should mark their territory in the yard to keep the coyote out.......
You can find out more about these beautiful animals here.

It's up!

2010-02-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

Cozy Toes, my newest pattern is up now as a free download.
You can either find it on the new Wool-Aid website here or as an ravelry download here.
I hope that this pattern will generate a lot of warm socks for less privileged children in cold climates!!!!

A few days ago my daughter continued to dye yarn with Kool-Aid together with one of her friends. I showed them how to infusion dye the yarn using the microwave.

Berry Dream & Candy Swirl

Next time they will learn how to hand paint with Kool-Aid. It's so much fun to play....

Sneak Peek......

2010-02-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

....... for my new free basic sock pattern.

I created this pattern to support charity knitting. A lot of children live in very cold climates without appropriate shoes and socks. Therefore, it is written for heavier basic socks in worsted, aran, or bulky weight yarn.

The instructions are written for four double pointed needles but can be easily adapted for two circular needles. They cover five sizes from child small to adult large.

Later on Saturday it will be available as a free ravelry download and on the new Wool-Aid website, which will be launched soon.

The pattern will be available for free, but please consider to donate to Wool-Aid or another charitable organization.

Marine Splash

2010-01-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

Recently Nessa, one of our knitters at the yarn shop, donated some off-white wool yarn for charity knitting. Since the charities I'm knitting for prefer their garments out of darker colors,
I had a good reason to activate my crock pot Kool-Aid dyeing.
My daughter and I had so much fun to pick the colors. As you can tell, we both love teal. Surprise, surprise....

My daughter named the color Marine Splash. We are going to dye more this afternoon!

This is the big brother.....

2010-01-26T12:46:00.000-08:00

of my sock yarn blanket. Instead of sock yarn I use worsted weight yarn, which of course makes the squares significantly bigger. Since I have a hard time to throw yarn away I keep all the bits and pieces even if they are very short. Look at the yellow/orange square on the bottom left. It has a tiny green tip, made from a little Noro scrap. Picturing Noro in the trash bin was just too much for me...... I agree, knitters can get very strange and protective about their yarn.

Warm Hands

2010-01-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

The Wool-Aid Warm Hands Innu Knits ravelry campaign is collecting wool garments for children ages 7 through 15, as well as wool baby blankets.

Items are destined for the 400 children in the Innu community in Northern Labrador and will be delivered through the Warm Hands Innu Knits group on Ravelry.

These children live in a very isolated area and are often forgotten. Let’s make sure that they know we are not forgetting them!

Within the community, items are distributed through The Next Generation Guardians – a group of Innu women in Northern Labrador working to help the next generation learn life skills and preserve and protect their Innu language and culture, in a community.

Check out their blog!!!

This winter set and some socks are my contribution so far. I found the pattern for the ear flap hat in a book from Cabin Fever called "Need a Hat?"

My friend Carol donated the multicolored hand dyed yarn, Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets, a wool-alpaca blend.
Sandee Plocharczyk, the owner of Yarns with a Twist, my favorite yarn shop, donated the solid colored Manos del Uruguay yarn. Thank you so much Sandee and Carol for your help to keep a child warm!

Kunterbunt - a new free pattern

2010-01-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

Teaching at my local yarn shop I’m always looking for easy but fun patterns for novice knitters. Since I wanted to make a shop sample out of this yarn anyways I came up with this pattern...

This scarf/cowl is knitted in the round and with a bulky yarn it is a fast and easy knit.

To have a room to play with length the pattern comes in two sizes.

The longer version looks great folded over and being hold with a pin. The shorter version

is just a simple cowl to add a little warmth and color on cold days. It can be easily dressed up with a button or pin too.

Finished measurements:

18.5 (27.5)” circumference

4.5” height

Material:

1 (2) skeins of Plymouth Yarns, Expressions or 80 (110) yards of bulky weight yarn.

16 (24)” circular needle size US 8 / 5 mm

Gauge: 3.5 sts = 1” over stockinette stitch

Instructions:

Cast on 65 (96) sts.

Join carefully not to twist.

(Purl 3 rounds, knit 5 rounds) 3 times

Purl 3 rounds.

Bind off loosely.

Tip: If you tend to cast on or bind off to tight, try to use 1 size bigger needles

Copyright @2009, Christiane Burkhard, You may use this pattern for personal, non-profit or charity use only

Designers want to help people in Haiti...

2010-01-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

Designers on Ravelry, a huge knitting community, decided that they want to contribute to disaster relief organizations to help Haiti with their patterns.
Casey, one of the responsible people on Ravelry, created a special pattern search tab "Help for Haiti"
If a designer wishes to contribute all or part of the proceeds for one of their designs to the Haiti relief effort, they add that tag to the pattern page on Ravelry, then write in the description the details of their donation (what percentage, where they are sending the money). If a Ravelry user simply types "Help for Haiti" in the pattern search box then all those patterns come up, and the knitter or crocheter can help by buying one or more of the tagged patterns. With more than half a million registered users, this can make a serious dent in the money needed to help.

I will donate 50 % of the proceeds of all my pattern sales to World Vision and
Doctors Without Borders on Ravelry, my etsy shop or if you buy through my blog link.

Everyone is doing it.....

2010-01-16T07:34:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist to start a Sock Yarn Blanket too. It's a great pattern idea to use up stash or leftover sock yarn bits and pieces. As a border I use Cascade Heritage solid to give it a stained glass look. You will ask yourself right now: "Will she ever finish it?"
I will keep you posted. :-)
Visit Shelly Kang's blog for the pattern.