11 patterns in 12 months! This year’s preview blog promised a variety of eco yarns, accessories and garments, as well as an out of this world MKAL. Snowbound Trails CowlFeaturing double knitting for extra sub-zero weather warmth in your favorite worsted weight organic cotton. OleaFeaturing a wavy lace design Olea is available in 7 sizes knit in 100% linen. Solar Flare Circular ShawlThe much anticipated MKAL resulted in a non-pi circular shawl with lace, twisted sts, cables, and beads knit in The Unique Sheep’s Green Sheep Organic Cotton and Bamboo Fingering Charleston SurfInspired by my adopted gramma, Charleston Surf knits the southern waves with short rows in her favorite organic cotton. Sun FireWaste not, want not – transform the scraps …
Squib Hill Hat Pattern Review Indie Design Gift-a-long
So great I knit it thrice! The giftee’s prompt, find a hat that completely covers my ear lobes. So I searched and searched and searched. I sent out inquiries on carrier pigeons, looking high and low for a hat that completely covered his earlobes. I was DESPESARTE to find a hat that suited this prompt or be in for another year of humiliation as he wore his fake bear Russian style hat with hidden ear muffs that came down when needed. Thanks to the FO thread in the gift-a-long I happened upon a project where the giftee’s earlobes seemed to be completely covered & I inquired of the knitter about the point exactly. I showed dad (aka giftee) the results …
Twas the Knit Night Before Christmas
An Indie Design Gift-a-long adaptation on the classic Christmas eve story by Clement Clarke Moore (1823). Read it here or in full illustrated form on the Pinterest board here. ‘Twas the knit night before Christmas… and all through my LYS,All the crafters were stitching Indie Design Gift-a-long patterns like Cookie the Mouse…;The Fair Isle Christmas Stockings were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that St. John’s Wood Nicke’s Hat soon would be there;The children were nestled all Snug in their beds;While visions of Sugar Plum… danced in their heads;And Puddles in his Rian Cowl, and dad in his Squib Hill hat,We’d just settled our Brains for a long Winter Haven nap,When out on the Morning Mist lawn there arose …
Color Flow
Easy knit and curvy fit for those cold fun days in the sun. The Unique Sheep’s gradient eco yarn provides the punch in this striking top down yoke sweater. For a glimpse of wow and inspiration to knit, view the blog “Waiting on the Weatherman, Mountain Top Secrets.” Suggested skills for this easy level pattern include knit, purl, knit through the back loop, knit in the rnd, increase, decrease, and short rows. The tech edited and test knit pattern includes written directions, a yarn color changing guide, and a schematic. Note: if substituting a variety of solid colored yarns, the pattern creates a striping effect of differing, but flattering widths. $8.25 Finished Measurements:Bust: 32”/ 81cm (33.75”/ 86cm, 36”/ 91.5cm, 37.75”/ …
Rian Cowl Pattern Review Indie Design Gift-a-long
One of the pleasures of the Indie Design Gift-a-long is taking time off from “work” knitting to knit other designers’ creations for my Christmas gifting. My first FO for GAL2015 is Rian Cowl by Loraine Birchall. This super quick knit has an easy to memorize lace pattern, which is worked every other round. Loraine did a great creating the pattern and included both charted and written instructions for your knitting pleasure. Mom selected 100% organic cotton with eco dyes Inca Eco in Sage for her Christmas present after she saw I started to wind some stash organic white :-). The st gauge was off, but it was easy enough to compensate – I just cast on fewer stitches (20 fewer …
Ruffle Bumpkin
Ruffle the booty of your cutie in Knit Eco Chic’s debut baby pattern! Knit in organic cotton, this completely seamless design incorporates the self-hemming cast on. This super quick knit enables recreation over and over again as your little one grows from wearing newborn to x-large diapers. Tech edited by Trisha Paetshch and test knit in a variety of fibers. This easy-level pattern includes written directions and a schematic. The self-published version, is available in 15 organic disposal diaper hugging sizes. Ruffle Bumpkin is also available in Storey’s One Skein Wonders for Babies. $6.00 Finished Measurements:Waist: [9.5”/ 24.5cm, 11.25”/ 28.5cm, 12.75”/ 32.5cm] ([9.5”/ 24.5cm, 12.75”/ 32.5cm, 16”/ 40.5cm], [12.75”/ 32.5cm, 16”/ 40.5cm, 19.25”/49cm], [12.75”/ 32.5cm, 17.5”/ 44.5cm, 20.75”/ 53cm], [14.5”/ …
#GAL2015 Tour: The Stats
THE STATS! Every wonder which designers are from your home country (or in Canada & the US, home Province or State)? Or how many roosters are in the hen house of indie designers this year? Maybe crafter stats are more your thing, like which State has the most gift-a-long FOs? All those questions and more are answered on the GAL2015 Stats thread! The Stats thread is where 80skeins (aka Kimberly Golynskiy) does her thing that makes all us nerdy gerdies cheer with delight. Thanks to the Stats thread, I discovered that North Carolina is represented by 6 designers, which makes North Carolina 22nd on the US designer’s per capita list. 80skeins also shares cool information about the crafters involved in the …
#GAL2015 Tour: The Prizes
Thanks to some very generous knitting companies and lots of very generous designers, we have a whole slew of fabulous prizes for #giftalong2015! Physical prizes include yarn, notions, accessories, books, kits, and more. The list is SO long, I have to zoom out to 25% to get it all in one screen shot! To view in regular size, check out the link: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/indie-design-gift-a-long/3319557/Then take a stroll through the eye candy collages of some of our prizes here in the prize thread. Here’s just a little taste of what you’ll see: On a personal note, I’m thrilled to announce a few eco options in this year’s prize list – including prizes from The Unique Sheep, Three Irish Girls Yarn, Tattysquawk, JUL …
Waiting on the Weatherman, Mountain Top Secrets
Having shot Color Flow sweater twice before, I just wasn’t in love with the storyboard of the images. My photographer (aka dad) did a great job getting shots of the garment, but something was still missing… Flowing water! With a name like Color Flow, the image storyboard needed movement to match. It was the middle of fall and I could feel the first snow was about on us and then, to my pattern’s delight, a warm jet stream pushed the cold weather north and we got doused in day after day of rain. When it rains, waterfalls and rainbows appear in the most unlikely places! When the sun finally peaked through the clouds, it was time to do the final …
#GAL2015 Tour: The Games
If chatting with friends and designers while knitting and crocheting incredible indie designs isn’t fun enough, we like to amp up the excitement with brain stretching games during the gift-a-long as well! This year we are pleased to present four different games and one ultimate challenge, which run six weeks of the gift-a-long. Designer’s Alphabet SoupGAL2015’s newest game, Designer’s Alphabet Soup anagrams either the designer’s personal name or business name of each of our 335 indie designers. Your task is to unscramble the anagram to discover which designer it is! This game is run by our Stat Queen, 80skeins, and yours truly! We’ve been creating some humdingers of anagrams, if I do say so myself. The full rules, how to …