Kimono Sweater

Please check my art blog and the new direct link to my paintings if you are interested in seeing more of my work. I've brought many of my paintings home and they are now available through me.

I am so pleased with how my kimono sweater is coming along. The cashmere has a beautiful hand and drape. Its just going so slow.

Not Your Momma's Knitting - Released book

Here's a photo of my sweater (Wildflowers Wrap) and its accompaning little wildflower from the just released Heather Dixon's Not Your Momma's Knitting. The book is amazing and filled with beautiful projects like hats (my favorite is one that has little holes in it for pigtails to stick out of), felted laptop case, and an awesome bathrug, as well as beautiful sweaters designed for creative knitting. (Amazon- Not Your Momma's Knitting.


















The red sweater is the progress on my latest design done in Colourmart Cashmere DK weight. One side has already been washed of the oil and dried in the dryer so I could see how much shrinkage would occur. The cashmere tends to shrink more vertically - here I didn't get any shrinkage horizontally. The bloom was phenomenol. I wish I could somehow capture in photo the softness of this yarn that comes after the washing process. The bloom could be described as kindof like the thickening of wool yarn after felting, except instead of becoming stiff and rigid, the cashmere because oo-la-la soft and squishy. After seeing how little horizontal shrinkage I got, I've had to frog the back of the sweater and am now redoing it because I don't want to do the pleats in the back. Watch this sweater - its not a wrap!

Red Cashmere

Here's a look at what's going on design wise. I ordered this cashmere from Colourmart (UK) many months ago and had never had any real firm idea of what it would be. Then with fashion week inspiration, I finally got this going.

Lady Eleanor got put to the side burner.

Starting Lady Eleanor

I finished my latest design Sunday afternoon and got a chance to wear it yesterday. What an awesome yarn! Its euroflax's opal - lots of spring for the ribs which made the garment hug exactly as it needed to. This sweater will definitely be made again. Any name suggestions for the pattern???

The next work-in-progress is Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. The yarn is from 100purewool - can't remember the color name. I don't know yet if I'm loving it in this design, however I've always wanted to make Lady Eleanor and I ordered this yarn earlier this year from a co-op for it. The yarn is scrumptiosly soft but the colors in each hank are inconsistent - maybe a trademark of hand dyed yarn (I don't know).

Excitement for me though is that I taught myself yesterday how to knit and purl backwards so that I don't have to keep flipping the project back and forth with each entrelac row (every 8 stitches the scarf has to be turned which I could see greatly slowing down this project).
Thanks Cindy and Maureen for leaving comments!

a new endeavor

I've decided that I am going to take all these patterns that I write and over the next season, write a book. My vision is that it will somehow cover the beauty of the art of knitting. I'm tired of feeling teensy bits of shame when I'm out in public knitting - like it means that I must be a boring or withdrawn person (um....except that I am more than slightly boring and withdrawn lol!). Maybe writing out my thoughts on why I knit might help me to be able to explain to others about its draw. Knitting is beautiful and it perplexes me still how as I watch each stitch come off of needles that somehow those stitches combine into something incredible that I could never purchase (I'm talking about a lot more than just a sweater or pair of socks....its that inner sense of accomplishment and achievement.).

So here's to life, art and a new book.

Pictured here is my newest sweater pattern. knit from the top down in a pretty chevron pattern. The yarn is Euroflax's Opal.

Don't forget to keep up with me on my art page listed in the sidebar Art in the Open Air.

new art blog

Hey, still working on the pattern for the new sweater below (sorry its taking so long).

Mom, (and all), I'm moving all my art related things to a new blog so knitting and art will now be separate. You can click directly to the blog here (Art in the Open Air), and access it through the list of links on the side of this page. Let me know what you think. I'll be adding to the art page what I'm working on and (hopefully) as new paintings come off the easel.

Knitting wise, Heather Dixon has reported to me that the new book, Not Your Momma's Knitting, will be out very soon (mid september). My pattern for the Wildflower's Cardigan will be in there. Not Your Momma's Knitting.