KP IDP: My Favorite Sweatshirt

Knit Picks just posted another of my designs .... My Favorite Sweatshirt and Mitts!  This is done using KP's organic Simply Cotton worsted yarn ... which knits up like a dream and looks and feels so wonderful to wear. [This is the same sweatshirt that I completed for my NaKniSweMo project! and is also available thru my Ravelry store.]

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Knit Picks: this is my favorite to-date ...

Knit Picks just posted the 7th (!) of my designs ...

This is probably my favorite sweater I’ve designed to-date! I love the way the cable is the focal point while the tweedy yarn in reverse stockinette adds a subtle, and delightful, texture. The cable is based on one in Elsebeth Lavold’s Viking Patterns for Knitting; my version includes a buttonhole in the center of each cable motif. The double-breasted look of the leather buttoned closure adds just the right bit of sophistication to this fun sweater. The cables outlining the armholes add a bit more texture and the sleeves are knit from the armhole down, with a hidden "storm cuff" under the sleeve.

Knitting level is advanced, with the ability to read/knit from a chart a must.

To purchase this pattern ... or any of my other KP-IDP designs, check out this link!

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Knit Picks: another design is up!

If it's Thursday, it must be time for another Knit Picks upload of new patterns to their Independent Designers Program ... this week's crop includes my salute to the Emerald Isles: Memories of Eire vest.

The waistband is knit in one long strip, turned on its side, and then the body of the vest is picked up .... there are lots of cables, knit-purl texture stitches, and even a knit-purl celtic knot, to test your knitting skills.  This vest is sized for Misses' XS, S, M, L, and XL.  The sample is knit using KP's City Tweed HW ... which is lovely to work with and is a blend of merino, alpaca and Donegal tweed. 

Happy knittin'

Mary C. Gildersleeve

By Hand, With Heart -- hand-knit designs
bhwh.mary@gmail.com

Books: Great Christmas ideas ....

... or uses for your Christmas bucks!

I haven't posted since October 1st ... but I have been knitting up a storm (primarily for Christmas gifts, but also for another knitting book that should be out this Summer/early Fall). I've also been reading lots of the new knitting books that have exploded on the market lately. Here are some ideas for your reading and knitting pleasure:

1. Knitting history -- do you love it as much as I? I love reading about knitting, especially if the book can lay flat and I can knit while I read. If you've already got the classics: Richard Rutt's A History of Hand Knitting, Anne McDonald's No Idle Hands: A Social History of Knitting, and Susan Strawn's Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art than your shelves REALLY need Nicky Epstein's latest opus, Knitting on Top of the World: The Global Guide to Traditions, Techniques and Design. This book is destined to be a classic in the knitting history panoply. Epstein's designs are a bit outre for me, but the information and the suggestions and just the shear inspiration of this work make it worth the money! The pictures and coffee-table styling of the book make it a great read-while-you-knit kind of book.

2. Technique books -- I'm sure you own all the classic stitch dictionaries like the Barbara Walker A Treasury of Knitting Patterns (vol. 1 thru 4), the Vogue stitchionaries (vol 1-3, vol 4 is [shudder] crochet!), or the Harmony Guide books from Interweave Press. Melissa Leapman has managed to go WAY beyond any of these with her latest two books, both on cable knitting: Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting and Continuous Cables: An Exploration of Knitted Cabled Knots, Rings, Swirls, and Curlicues. The first does a great job of dissecting cables and proving once and for all that cables are NOT hard to execute. The projects within the book cover the variety of hand-knit items where cabling looks great. The second book explains how to make design your own cable panels and pieces by explaining how to make cables grow from nothing (by hiding increases and decreases within your knititng) and how to design cables that imitate fancy celtic knots, braids and even nautical rope! Again, the projects are a great variety, using the techniques described earlier. But both of these books go beyond just being simple pattern books ... and this is why I'm highly recommending them for Christmas gifts (or Christmas money spending) ... the last one-third (if not more) of each of these books contain a cable dictionary -- smallest bits of cable pieces that can be joined together to create your own cable patterns. I predict that Melissa Leapman, based on these two books, will soon join the ranks of Barbara Walker and Vogue Knitters as classic authors for knitting designers.

Merry Christmas -- and let me know if you get any knitting books for Christmas that can compete with these.

Wish me luck ...

... I've just packaged up two submissions for inclusion in an upcoming knitting book. I made a Heart Cable Toque with Tassel

and anAran Pocket Purse with Cell Phone "sweater" attached.

St. Rafqa, pray for us!