Category Archives: Knit Picks Designers

So close!

Sleeves... check. Body.... check. Front to shoulders... check. Back? working on it! (Sorry about the grey-on-grey - I didn't pick the color of the blocking board, unfortunately!) All I have left to knit on hubby's sweater is the upper back! I'm already about two inches into it. But, because of the sheer beastly size of this sweater, progress has been slowed. It's just so hard to carry the darn thing around at this point that I've actually been working on a couple of other, smaller projects as well.

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Swirling Leaves Baby Blanket

Spring is in the air!  We're (not) enjoying a very wet cold spring here in Pacific Northwest but there is hopeful sunshine just around the bend.  And as much as we complain about the rain, we do love our green landscape.  And that's the inspiration behind this week's Freebie Friday pattern! This cute baby blanket is the Swirling Leaves Baby Blanket by our own Kerin and her clever creativity is all over it.

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It’s raining Cats & Dogs!

Cats & Dogs Satchels, that is! Knit in Wool of the Andes Sport, this satchel is messenger-bag style and is big enough for a laptop, schoolbooks, a knitting project, and of course a bag of treats for your favorite furry friend. The body of the bag knits up quickly in stockinette, and there are options to knit the strap and the inside front pocket plain or in an adorable paw-print pattern. But the real draw of this bag is the tesselated pattern of adorable Westie dogs and lounging black kitties!

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The Coast with the Most…

..patterns! It's not rare to love the Oregon coastline. It's an amazing place. Rarely, though, does a collection of knitting patterns inspired by that coastline get released. But, I'm pleased to announce that that's exactly what I just did! Introducing the Rocky Shores eBook.

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Podcast Episode 182: Rocky Shores eBook Interview with Kerin

This week, Jenny gets a chance to catch up with Knit Picks designer Kerin to talk about the newest eBook, Rocky Shores! Each pattern of this stunning collection reinterprets the ideals of Aran patterns with modern updates, all while influenced by the coastlines of the Northwest. The eBook includes patterns for three women’s garments, a men’s vest, a wrap and a purse. Hear all about Kerin’s design process, inspiration, and challenges that Kerin was faced with as she goes through and talks about each of the designs in this amazing collection – a must listen for fans of knitting history and traditional techniques! The Rocky Shores eBook is now available for $9.99, and single pattern downloads from the collection are available for $4.99. Find the Rocky Shores eBook here: Rocky Shores eBook   3 easy ways to listen…

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Fifty Percent!

I've been working on my hubby's sweater now for a little over a month, and I've just passed 50% completion! Both sleeves are finished, and the body is currently 8.5" long - just over a third done. For me, this is where the hard part begins - the monotony of the next 23"! Luckily I've only got a foot left until I break for the armscyes... yipes. My attention span on a project is usually two weeks or so, so looking headlong into another month of knitting this one project is daunting, to say the least. To keep my mind busy, I've started timing my rounds. It takes about 10 minutes for non-patterned rounds and up to half an hour for patterned rounds. So, with about 75 rounds to the armscyes, that's 25 hours and ten minutes max. I could totally do that in a weekend, right?

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What would your perfect kit be?

As with any fashion-type industry, we plan all of our patterns and kits well in advance of their release dates. In fact, we're about to start planning our projects for 2013! With so many other projects in the works, it's a daunting prospect to come up with so many ideas at once. So, I turn to you, dear readers, for inspiration! What kind of kits would you like to see in 2013?

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Wait, did I say ‘simple’?

I'm now three weeks into the knitting of hubby's new sweater. That's about the longest I can usually pay attention to a project - but I'm only through the sleeves! I think this proves a couple of rules of knitting for other people. 1: Don't underestimate how long things take to knit, and 2: If you let the recipient pick the pattern, be prepared to face the consequences! I did some pre-searching through all of my pattern books and found several all-over cable designs that were nice and rhythmic and easy to memorize. I presented these to my hubby, and his reaction was pretty dry. So I let him look through my books, and he picked quite possibly the most difficult cable pattern he could have! It's the Baroque Cable from Barbara Walker's third treasury.

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Flowers in Spring

With Spring fast approaching, it's almost time to start putting away the woolen sweaters and coats. But you'll still need something to keep the chilly air at bay! How about the cheerful new Lilypad Shawl kit? This shawl features a bold design of lily pads and flowers on a pond. The lilies are worked in intarsia, and their simple shapes and coloring are good for someone new to the technique. (If you need some pointers on Intarsia, check out this video tutorial!)

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New IDP Kits

Did you notice something new about our new kits this month? We now have kits featuring patterns from our favorite IDP designers!  We are so excited to introduce this to you - you get the pattern & the yarn together for a discount and the designer still gets 100% of the pattern sales.  

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