New Pattern: Bakdash Jumper

Last week, the September issue of Knit Now magazine came out, and my Bakdash Jumper is on the cover! Eeee!

Once I mailed the sample off to England I had to knit another sample for myself. The magazine sample is knitted with King Cole Merino Blend Aran, a yarn not widely available in the US (I think), so for my own sweater, I picked Cascade 220 Superwash Aran, in Emerald (PS: I am having A Thing with Emerald right now) which is a relatively new yarn. It's AWEsome. I loved knitting with this yarn. It's super soft, and most importantly, it's a true aran weight, which is what I needed for this pattern. Also: aran weight = crazy quick. I think I made this sweater in about 2 weeks, and I wasn't really focused on it. 

This sweater is a top-down raglan. I actually wish I would have put some waist shaping in my sweater; I didn't in the pattern because I thought it would take up too much printed space, which I knew was tight. That's something I'll likely change when rights revert to me. I made the Medium- the magazine sample is a Small and it was just a bit tight on me when I tried it on. 

Other than wishing I'd put in waist shaping, I love this sweater. It's cozy and comfy, and I can't wait for some cooler weather down here in the swamp so that I can actually wear some sweaters! Tomorrow is the first true day of fall, so here's hoping for some crisp mornings. I will likely keep hoping until about November, but what can you do. 

Knit Picks Mighty Stitch Yarn

If you get the Knit Picks catalogs in the mail, you'll likely have noticed that they've got a new yarn called Mighty Stitch. It's an 80-20 blend of acrylic and superwash wool that's meant to be a workhouse yarn for things like blankets, stuff for kids, and easy care garments. When they offered me a few balls to try out, I was like yes, duh, everyone I know is pregnant and I have lots of baby gifts to knit right now and I could use this. They sent me three balls- Spruce, Canary, and Silver- along with this sweet project bag. I am rocking these three colors lately in my home decor stuff so now I'm pretty sure Knit Picks can see into my living room or something.

I made/am making two different things. 1) A new fingerless mitts pattern, and 2) a baby blanket for one of the eleventy million babies my friends are due to have this year. This yarn is so very soft that it's perfect for both of these things. I guess I'd have to say that it's super perfect for baby stuff because so. very. soft. The yarn also has a sheen to it, which gives the mitts some cool depth. I haven't washed the yarn yet so I can't speak to its durability, but I can tell you that I definitely need an adult-sized blanket for me made from this yarn. It's very cuddly, and the yardage is excellent, too- 208 yards per ball. Can't beat that.

So! My projects.

1. Fingerless mitts! This is the Treillage Mitts pattern, in the Spruce colorway.

This is a much-more-complicated-than-it-looks knit/purl/slip stitch pattern, with twisted rib edgings because I can't stay away from twisted rib. You can make these as long or short as you want- notes are in the pattern. Easy, quick, and pretty darn cool. Get the pattern on Ravelry here for just $2 until the end of September!

2. Baby blanket in Canary and Silver. Not sure yet which baby this is going to but there's a big list so I'm sure I'll find the right baby. 

I very slightly modified the pattern from my Blowing Snow Cardigan for this blanket. It's really quick to work, and I like the slightly scalloped edge this pattern creates. Also when I sat down to start this blanket, I had a cold, and the Blowing Snow pattern was one I could remember off the top of my head, except not quite, which is why I "slightly modified" it, so there we are. I think it's lovely and I even like the little purl ridge thing that's happening between color changes. Mostly I have no choice but to like it because there's no way around it without serious modifications to the pattern. But no really, I like it. 

Have any baby gifts you need to make? I'd recommend some Mighty Stitch. It's soft, machine washable, and comes in pretty colors, but most importantly: it's totally affordable. I hope they make a bulky version because I will be all over that for a blanket for my living room. 

Single Socks

I don't know what's happening to me. This is not my style at all.

THREE SINGLE SOCKS. 

I never, ever start a new pair of socks before finishing both in the set. Never. So what am I doing? I don't know. Well, I know a little bit. I knitted the rainbow sock in March, but then I got caught up in a design deadline nightmare and I had zero time for non-deadline knitting. I got caught up, took a trip to South Dakota, wanted to knit socks on the plane, but decided that taking 9 balls of yarn with me to make the second rainbow sock seemed silly, so I cast on the blue pair. The bargain I made with myself was that I could knit the blue sock on my trip, but then when I got home I had to make the second rainbow sock. Nope. When I got home, some yarn that I had ordered from Etsy a few weeks ago had arrived... and I simply had to knit with it. It has little rainbows in it. How could I pass that up? So now I have two complete socks and a nearly complete sock, and none of them match. Oops. 

This one is a Honey Badger, and I'm using my oldest sock yarn- Dream in Color Smooshy, in Lunar Zazzle. I bought this yarn in probably 2010, maybe 2011, and I've now carted it from California, to Delaware, to Louisiana. It's time to use it, I decided. The pattern is easy but not boring, which means it's pretty much my perfect sock pattern. I used an Eye of Partridge heel because I like it. Otherwise I think I followed the directions. 

This yarn is nuts. I got it on Etsy from The Lemonade Shop. This one is called Stormy Day. It was not cheap, but I had never seen yarn like this before and I simply had to have it. It's... ok. I'm not as thrilled with it as I thought I would be. I would definitely call this a light fingering instead of a normal fingering. The rainbows are really kind of neon. It's hard to photograph, but trust me. It's like a Lisa Frank pencil case from 1987 exploded in this yarn. Not that that's a bad thing- it's just bright. But these socks will be super fun, and I don't have any socks anything like these, so I like them. They're just a bit whoa.  

Beatitude Cardigan: Progress.

Hey look! A good portion of a sweater! I'm sort of embarrassed to say that this sweater has been sitting in my knitting basket, looking exactly like this, for over a month. It's the sleeves! I just don't want to knit them! I don't know why; it's not like they're going to be hard. They're just stockinette until a couple inches before the cuff, then there's a bit of colorwork. Easy. I just need to force myself to do it, because then I'll have a new cardigan for fall! After I tackle the beast know as The Steek, that is. I'm a little nervous about that.

This is the Beatitude Cardigan by Katy Banks. I started it back in April, I think. Non-design knits don't get completed quickly around here, that's for sure. There is simply not enough knitting time in my day. But I do what I can, and now I have a sweater body. I'm pretty sure my gauge changed a lot from the colorwork part to the stockinette part, so I'm hopeful that a good solid blocking will even that out. I'm using Knit Picks Palette so it should take well to an agressive blocking. 

That twisted rib nearly did me in. It felt like it took for-EV-er. I think it probably felt that way because I had to pay attention to it, unlike the stockinette body that I practically knit while sleeping. Or reading, or watching sportsball, or whatever. But the ribbing, that took actual attention and I didn't like doing it. But now it's done, and we're on to sleeves.

 I love the colors I picked. I really can't wait to wear this, so I guess that means I should stop typing and go knit, right? Also it's Sunday and football is on and it's not a bajillion degrees outside for once, so I can pretend that fall is here, and that makes me happy.

Pattern Winner?

As promised, today I pick a winner for my Blowing Snow Cardigan Pattern... but no one left me a way to get in touch! There were only three comments, so here's what we'll do: the first person out of PennyJ, Tori, and amchart to send me their email address will get the pattern. Send me a Ravelry message- I'm EmilyRingelman (clever, I know) and I'll send the pattern! UPDATE: amchart got to me first! Congratulations! 

I like blog posts to have pictures, so here's a sock that I'm working on.

The pattern is Honey Badger and I'm using a really deep stash yarn. I got this skein of Dream in Color Smooshy in probably 2010? The color is Lunar Zazzle and it's really pretty, but more importantly, the colors don't pool. Love that. 

Blowing Snow Cardigan

Today is my stop on the Midwestern Knits blog tour train. Hooray, Midwestern Knits!

When the call for submissions came out for this book over a year ago, I may have squeeeeed a bit. Even though I haven't lived in the Midwest in years, it's still a big part of who I am! I submitted some ideas, got accepted, went through the total agony of a Kickstarter (checking on the total every 5 minutes like a teenage girl on Snapchat), got some glorious yarn, knitted a cardigan, and here we are: book. Eeeee! Still can't get over the fact that I contributed something meaningful to a real live book. I love books.

I originally designed this to be a pullover, but after some consultation with Allyson, one of the editors, we decided that a cardigan would be better... and I'm so glad we did. As a pullover it might have been a bit weird. As a cardigan, I want to wear it everyday. I think that's why there's been a lot of love for this design- it's super wearable, especially in a neutral color like this. I've heard a lot of knitters say they're thinking of making one in gray- an excellent idea, and one I might have to steal someday when I have some of that elusive non-design knitting time.

This is actually a pretty straightforward knit. Unlike lots and lots of my other designs. The stitch pattern is easy enough for tv knitting, but interesting enough that it's not boring. The sleeves are knitted from stitches picked up around the armholes, so the only seams are the shoulder joins, and that's done with a three-needle bind off so I don't even think it counts. The shawl collar is excellently deep and cozy due to the short-row shaping. Which is not scary at all. 

If you feel like camaraderie makes the best knitting, then think about joining in on the Blowing Snow KAL! It's happening in the Midwestern Knits group on Ravelry here. I really can't wait to see some projects start showing up! Not many things make me happier than when knitters make my designs.

Want to use the same yarn I used in the sample? You can get a kit here in the Happy Go Lucky Yarn Etsy shop, and it's even on sale! I can personally vouch that this yarn is deliciously soft and squooshy.

Want to win a copy of the pattern? (Or, if you already have the book, I'll sub a copy of any of my self-published patterns, which can be seen here.) Just leave a comment for a chance to win! I'll randomly pick a winner on September 7th!

Here's a blog tour schedule so you can check out the rest of the posts. I already posted this once but my blog, my rules, so here it is again. Happy knitting!

Blog Tour Schedule:

Aug 17: Launch: MidwesternKnits.com

Aug 18: Carina Spencer

Aug 19: YarnTalk Show

Aug 20: Knits in Class

Aug 21: @FrenchPressKnits on Instagram

Aug 24: Handmade By Stefanie

Aug 25: Laura Ricketts

Aug 26: DoogKnits

Aug 27: Front Porch Knitting

Aug 28: @ChooseBatman on Instagram

Aug 31: Knitspot

Sept 1: Cosmos and Cashmere- that's me!

Sept 2: Nerd Girl Yarns

Sept 3: Lorna’s Laces

Sept 8: The Sweatshop of Love

Sept 9: @juriface on Instagram

Sept 10: Brown Sheep Blog

Sept 14: Weaver Knits

Sept 15: Mrs Crosby Plays

Sept 16: Subway Knits