This is a tall order. But I’ve started with the yarn. It’s the perfect go with everything color.

The colorway is called Cloud Jungle, and it’s Dream In Color’s beautiful workhorse of a yarn Classy. I’ve heard this wears very well, so it satisfies the “wear a lot” requirement and the colorway is nothing short of genius. It’s kind of a smoky purplish grey. Kind of. But it has hints of browns in it. Which I adore, because that is one of my biggest wardrobe problems. Rich browns are good colors for me. But basically in my closet I have clothes you can wear with brown things and brown shoes and then another subset of clothing that only goes with black stuff. But with this being both grey and brown I think it will bridge that gap!

The Classy has a nice twist to it, and the little bits of other colors are so nice. There are hints of rose and plum and in some light bits of greenish brown. It really is the perfect go with anything chameleon of a colorway.

I’ve done some sketches and I’m thinking hard about what exactly I want this sweater to be. What do you think makes a sweater perfect?

]]> http://picnicknits.com/design/sweater-perfection/feed/ 1 http://picnicknits.com/design/how-goes/ http://picnicknits.com/design/how-goes/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:08:43 +0000 Corrina http://picnicknits.com/?p=2155 All I can think about lately are sweaters. Probably because my fingers are slightly blue – it’s actually been cold here in Florida lately – and I refuse to turn the heat up on principal. Last night I was sketching up and submitting sweaters, and I am quite seriously considering hitting the yarn store today to get yarn for a sweater for myself. I’d also like to make myself one of these:

When I designed this sweater, I had the perfect sweater in mind. I thought about features on other garments I had knit – what I liked, what I didn’t like. I knew I wanted a zipper, and I’m a sucker for turned hems and i-cord edgings. So I starting thinking and I started sketching.

I played around a lot with where the cable motifs would go – how they would integrate into the sweater – what seemed most organic. I swatched the cable motifs in Malabrigo worsted – because it’s always good to have some of that on hand for swatching. The motif I had chosen lent it self well to sleeve insets and panels up the front of the sweater and around the hood. The motif itself reminded me of a harp, so after a smidge of research (wikipedia to the rescue!) I found that a cithara was a kind of ancient Greek harp or lyre. Hence the name. Naming things is sometimes the hardest part!

When I received the Mountain Mohair from Green Mountain Spinnery I was pleased to find out how well it cabled. And the little tweedy bits were perfect for the large areas of stockinette in this sweater. Something with a bit of interest is best – either texturally or color-wise. That way the stockinette areas don’t look flat.

And when push came to shove I ended up with a sweater that was actually better than I envisioned. Which is really all a designer can hope for.

The Cithara Cardigan is available for download in the Winter 2011 issue of Twist Collective.

The stockings are actually coming along – believe it or not. The first one is done – here’s a grainy cellphone picture of it:

The second one is in progress even! I’m debating whether to do two designs and knit each one in red and green or do four designs. The fifth one is for the dog, so his will be a bit different. Yes, I’m planning on knitting a stocking for the dog. Yes, he gets presents. No, we are not crazy dog people.

How’s your Christmas knitting coming?

Kind of. And then I signed up for a swap. Don’t ask me why. I don’t have time for these things. But I asked the swap coordinators if I could design a shawlette for my recipient. And so the first prototype for Debussy was born. And then I went to Stitches South and CircusGirl helped me find the perfect color Bugga to knit up the real Debussy. And it went and went and went and went and went. And now it’s done. And while half of me is super happy to be finished, the other half (the insane in the membrane half) wants to do it again. And so I present the seventh song – Berlioz:

Berlioz is knit sideways – my favorite way, in a gorgeous silk/wool blend hand dyed by Fiddleknits. Seriously, this stuff is wonderful. So soft and shiny, and the color just sings. Kind of fitting that my final shawlette is knit up in yarn dyed by a musician, no? No I didn’t plan it that way. But I’m so glad it worked out!

You cast on 4 sts and you knit along and increase all happy like and then when your yarn is half gone, you turn around and go back. And when all is said and sung – you bind off 4 sts. And the angels sing. Well actually after you block it, the angels sing. Because blocking is magic my friends.

And because FiddleKnits was so supremely generous as to send me yarn at the very last minute (and save me from doom when the other yarn did not come as promised) and send me two colors so I could choose from them in person and because she’s awesome – we’re having a little giveaway. All you have to do is comment by the time I log onto my computer at the buttcrack of dawn on Thursday morning and you are entered for a chance to win this beauty *and* your very own copy of Berlioz!

So comment away – tell me something interesting – tell me your favorite song and you have a chance to win fabulous prizes. Parting gifts now that the Seven Songs have all been sung.

I am trying to minimize the crazy though. I’m knitting them in Lamb Pride’s Bulky. So the cast-on is only 42 sts. And the cabled version you see on the table has 48 sts in the main body of the stocking. So it’s not totally asylum fodder.

Unless you take into consideration the fact that I’m convinced that each of the stockings has to be unique and different. No… I couldn’t design just one stocking and knit five of them. That would be too easy. Commit me now.

And to add just a little extra pinch of madness I thought it might be a great time to sit down and cut out all the coupons and start couponing again. Yep, I’m certifiable.

In not so crazy news, Berlioz – the final song of the Seven Songs has been released. I’ll blog about it tomorrow and there will be a contest to win that gorgeous skein of yellow yarn that I didn’t use!

Yeah. I think so too. I’m insanely proud of it. I had an idea, I sketched the idea, and when push came to shove the finished sweater was even prettier than I imagined.

I absolutely adore the way the inserts on the sleeves came out! And the Green Mountain Mohair yarn cabled like a dream. So nice to work with!

And this beauty is available in the new winter issue of Twist Collective! I’m so proud to be part of such a beautiful issue. So many things that I love in this one. Yep, now I want to design sweaters all the time. Must learn to knit faster. Oh yeah, and move to Canada. It was nearly 80 here today! But I know lots of you live in places where it is snowing already – so head on over and find yourself a lovely winter sweater to knit – preferably mine!

This is why I’ve been swatching for over a week. I swatch. I rip out. I swatch. I curse. I rip out. I *think* I’ve finally figured things out for this song. The math and the crux of the design has been done forever. But the motif for this first section has been giving me gas! But I think I finally got it right.

This yarn is wonderful though. Such a beautiful shade of silver grey. And you need some Paca Peds with the heel-toe skein so you can make this design when it comes out!

It’s kind of a little old man sort of sweater. I can almost see a little guy wearing it for Halloween and hollering, “You kids get off my lawn!” With a cane to shake. See how the buttons make the look? I got these at Joann’s – so they are widely available.

The Dugdale Sweater is knitted up in the softest machine washable blend – Vintage by Berrocco. And it’s available in the newest issue of KnitCircus – the 2011 Gifts Issue.

But it gets better. The Dugdale Sweater has a matching blanket!

It’s worked up in the same squishy chevron and rib pattern with garter edges so the blanket is completely reversible. It’s also made out of Berrocco Vintage, which is as soft as can be for little ones, but washes like a dream, and wears like iron.

Did I already use the phrase “it gets better”? I did, didn’t I? Hmm. I need a bigger phrase, a wow, a woo-hoo kind of phrase. Can I just holler contest? Because knitters surely like a contest. Well anyhow, here’s the little contest.

Because KnitCircus is awesome, I have some issues to give away. And all you have to do to be entered in the drawing is comment. But you have to answer my silly question. And the question is… What is your quest?!?!?!

No really. The real question is… What is your favorite Halloween candy? The drawing will take place Monday morning, 10/17. So comment away and enter to win a free e-copy of the KnitCircus Gifts Issue. You know you wanna!

Another funny thing – I get my best pattern names from street names. Paris Mill is the name of a street. And I felt like the little diagonal columns looked neighborhoods on a map, full of little orderly cul-de-sacs and straight throughs.

I have to tell you, this shawlette practically knit itself. It *flew* off the needles. Part of that is that sideways construction just comes naturally to me. But the other part of that is that Jitterbug is my first true yarn love. It was my very first must-have yarn and it’s still my favorite. And this red color is my all time hands down most beloved ever. It took a lot for me to finally break into this skein. I’ve had it for years!

Needles: Size 6 needles (4 mm)

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in the amazing Vatican Pie colorway – my favorite red ever!

Size: Sample blocked to 56″ wide and 18″ deep – but like any sideways shawlette it can be made larger

Gauge: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked from side to side  – offered in written & charted format.

The Paris Mill Shawlette on Ravelry – $5.50 USD

We won’t speak of my math-impaired brain or how I frantically knit the sample for this in a 2-day coffee-powered Doctor Who haze. The shaping on this is simple and works quite nicely and makes a wide crescent shaped shawlette that is easy to wrap around around you. The small size is 60″ wide and 12″ deep. The large size is 72″ wide and 15″ deep.

This shawl is named after the March of Spring by Frederick Delius. I went to my favorite used book store – Chamblin’s Bookmine – to see if I could find any books about Frederick Delius.

I stood in front of the composers section at the book store. This is the biggest, best bookstore I have ever been in by the way – 55,000 square feet of books. Miles and miles of aisles of books. Every sort imaginable. If you want it, they have it. And they have the best employees – true bookworms – who can always help you find what you need. But I stood there trying to find something on Delius. He’s a bit obscure, so nothing jumped out at me. Until I saw the word “Samarkand” on a book spine. We listened to a great fantasy story a while back about the Amulet of Samarkand. So that was the very first book I pulled off the shelf.

Yep, Frederick Delius. I stood there in amazement, and I think I must have been talking to myself in amazement because the lady next to me gave me an odd look and scurried away. Knitting this shawlette was an adventure, and with Liberty‘s gorgeous Bluetopia yarn I loved every stitch.

Delius is the second of the Seven Songs. It’s available in the e-book for $21.95 – and there are five more patterns coming. Or you can buy it individually for $6.00

And with this song there is a special bonus. Liberty kindly sent me two skeins of the Absinthe Bluetopia, so you have an opportunity to win a skein! Comment on this entry and you will be entered to win your very own skein. I will draw the winner on Friday!