Category Archives: Knit Picks Designers

Let’s take a trip…

...through Scandinavia! My newest collection, Northern Lights, is out - just in time for fall knitting. The six patterns in this collection were inspired by the amazing knitting traditions of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and the Faroe Islands. The beautiful 8-pointed rose common in Norwegian designs becomes the highlight of the Aesa Pullover...

Read more »

Back to school, and back to fall knitting!

Well, as if the shortening days weren't enough to tell us that summer is nearing its end, school is beginning again! Before you know it, there will be a chill in the morning air. Better get started on your super warm fall accessories now! If you really want to chase the chill away, why not try the Burdock Hat and Scarf kit? This is a super-soft, machine washable, totally reversible set. The pattern is inspired by the Burdock plant, a Scandinavian thistle, and Fana stripes.

Read more »

Tilework Afghan

This week's Freebie Friday is a gorgeous pattern by our own Kerin: This is the Tilework Afghan, a cozy and warm blanket, perfect for chilly fall days.

Read more »

Elegant Simplicity

Sometimes when it comes to lace, less can be more! Inspired by the hardy, well-adapted arctic willow, the Salix shawl takes cues from a seemingly barren landscape that's far more alive than you might think! Salix is a full-sized Shetland-type shawl knit in Palette. Above a border of Shells is a low-lying row of Buttercups. The body of the shawl is worked in a pattern of Pebbles, with little variations just like those on a beach. The stand-out feature, though, is the willow catkin running up the shaped center panel.

Read more »

Mission accomplished

Hubby isn't the only one with a new sweater, though his modeling is a little better: Our house isn't really lit well enough for portraits, so we went 8300 feet up into the Wallowa mountains to get a shot. The locals were duly impressed, I might add. It's still missing one thing, though. I need to snag it from him long enough to sew in a very appropriate label!

Read more »

It takes two

Up here in the Northwest, we seem to be straddling two seasons. It makes for rather interesting weather, and a difficult time finding something to wear! It's for those occasions - the not quite spring but not yet summer, warm sun but cool breeze, the-AC-is-on-a-little-too-high type of days that inspired the new Gemini Vest. This tunic-length vest is knit in Stroll and Stroll Glimmer, making it soft, shimmery and machine washable. The lower bodice and back are knit in a subtle stranded pattern of diamonds that is echoed in the lace upper bodice.

Read more »

Good things come in threes

That old addage has been used to describe so many things, but it's certainly true for the Ternion Knee Socks kit! The Ternion (fancy word for a group of three) Knee Socks kit features three patterns for three different pair of knee-high socks that use three totally different techniques. There are the stately Cabled pair, which feature intricate front cable panels and twist-stitch ribbing...  

Read more »

Your go-to sweater

I really think I'm on a sweater kick this year, and it's got me thinking an awful lot about favorites. You see, now that I'm knitting a little cardigan for myself, and I'll be starting one soon in Tropical colors (thanks for your votes, everybody!), what I find most interesting is that in both cases I pretty much want to make the same sweater. A V-neck, lightly shaped cardigan. That's pretty much The Cardigan I Want all the time. I must admit that being a designer has its advantages. I can knit the same sweater several times but it doesn't really look the same. Different weights, different colors, different sizes, and maybe a different finishing touch, but I can essentially just plug those things into a formula and get my same, favorite, familiar sweater. My 'go-to' cardigan is based on a simple, light grey alpaca cardigan that I picked up at a thrift store for $5. But I love it so much that I want to re-create it over and over again. So, I just plug a new gauge into the same shape, and out pops a 'new' sweater.

Read more »

Success!

After two and a half months, nearly a mile and a half of yarn, and about 100,000 stitches, the hubby's sweater of doom is DONE! I can hardly believe it. This was quite the monster undertaking.

Read more »

Have you any wool?

Why, three bags full in fact! Actually, I have so much more than that! But I did get those at the Columbia Gorge Fiber Festival last weekend! I can't really pass up a deal like that - it's scraps and seconds, but $6 for 8 oz of fiber is just too good. Unfortunately I must come across deals like that too often, because I have so, so, so much spinning fiber that I'm quickly running out of places to put it. So, obviously knitting is not my only pastime. Spinning is certainly one of them, and although I wouldn't consider myself to be a great spinner, I love the process of watching a big ball of fluff turn into something wonderful and useable.

Read more »