A New Stripey Something

The sheep sweater is still being edited.

So while waiting for it, I whipped up this cute stripey thing.

It is knit from the new Spud and Chloe Sweater yarn, which is awesome by the way. It's this great machine washable yarn that is 55% superwash wool and 45% organic cotton. I don't think I've run into a blend like this before! It feels great and most importantly it is really strong and sturdy. This paired with the fact that it can be machine washed and dried makes it so ideal for children's wear. Also it comes in the most fabulous fun colors. There was no way that I could pick just one. Solution? Stripes!

So thus this little stripey bolero was born. It's a super quick, top down knit on size 8 needles. It seriously took me like 3 seconds to make. OK.. so I'm exaggerating... It took me 7 seconds.

It's not done yet, I still need to wash, block, sew in yarn ends and buttons. But there will be a pattern coming out shortly.

I plan on offering this design in a larger size range. (Up to girl's size 12)

Thinking Sheep Thoughts

Recently I have found myself obsessed with a new yarn. Sublime Organic Merino.

It's as light as a feather and it might just be the softest wool that I have ever come in contact with.

Like "softer-than-Malabrigo" soft.

Everything about this little strand oozes naturalness to me. The lightly spun single ply construction gives it a handspun feel and I love this subtle natural shade.




Pondering over this yarns organic qualities led towards another new knitting related obsession for me.



Sheep!

Its only fitting that a child's sheep sweater be made from a super soft merino sheep!

And plus I found the cutest sheep buttons ever while visiting Portland.

Its a perfect match.

Pattern coming soon!

Very Cherry

I

I am happy to share with you my newest pattern.

Very Cherry

(What is it with me and fruit-themed children's knits?)

While I was knitting this one up I was so worried that it wouldn't turn out right. But now that its finished, I love it! It is exactly what I was envisioning...

...A perfect, practical summer dress with just enough details added to make it acceptable for a dressier occasion.

Also I love this bright cherry red color!

It's so sweet and cheery, not the typical pastel you would normally find for a child's summer dress.

As you know, I'm also obsessed with this lace edging.

The picot edge plays up this lace pattern so beautifully. They just go together.

The picot cast on and bind off are quite time consuming, but so worth it!

You can find an instructional video for the picot cast on here and a video for the bind off here.

I love how the picot bind off around the neckline kind of sticks out and looks like little red cherries framing the face.

I also think that this dress is quite versatile and could still be worn even in the cooler months. Well... in California anyways :)

The color would definitely lend itself to a fall/winter wardrobe and the dress could be worn over a long sleeved top and tights for added warmth.

Here is some pattern information for those who might be interested in knitting it:

SIZE
3 months [6mos, 9mos, 12mos, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (shown in size 2)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 17 [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25] inches (0 inches of positive ease)Length: approx 14 [16.5, 18, 21.5, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27] inches after blocking

GAUGE
24 sts/30 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch on size 6 needle

MATERIALS
Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Organic Cotton [100% Organically Grown Cotton; 150 yd/137m per 65g skein; color: #309 Cherry; 3 [ 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5] skeins or approx 440 [470, 500, 520, 540, 570, 600, 620, 650] yds of dk weight cotton or cotton blend yarn.

(Separate one skein of yarn into 2 balls)

1# 16” US #6/4mm circular needle for smaller sizes
1# 24” US #6/4mm circular needle
1# 32” US #6/4mm circular needle for larger sizes
1# spare set of US #6/4mm straight needles for 3 needle bind off
1# 16” US #5/3.75mm circular needle for neck edging
(You may need to use US #5/3.75mm double pointed needles for smaller sizes).
Stitch holders
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers

The yarn that I chose for this design was Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton. I fell in love with the worsted weight version when I knit up my Something Red Sweater so I was so excited to try the skinnier DK version. Unfortunately I found that the DK weight isn't like the worsted

at all.

This yarn is constructed with several tiny plies spun together. And with any cotton yarn that is constructed in this manner, splitting is inevitable. So I found it a bit finicky to knit with, especially the detailed picot edging. Several times I had to correct split stitches. (That's why I enjoyed working with the worsted weight so much! It was just a lofty soft 2 ply. So easy to work with!) Yarn constructed this way though does have its advantages, the stitch definition is better and crisper, showing off the lace pattern beautifully!

Also... I fell in love with how this rich saturated red color barely bled in the washing process! And once knitted, the fabric draped so beautifully and it softened up so nicely once washed and blocked. And its organic cotton! Which is always nice to have against a little ones skin.

Like all of the NeverNotKnitting patterns, the construction is simple. This dress is worked from the bottom up in one piece. The finishing work is very minimal.

I hope that you enjoy knitting it!

If you own a yarn shop and are interested in carrying this or any other of my designs in your store, please contact me for wholesale pricing information: nevernotknitting@gmail.com.

A Very Cherry Preview

The Very Cherry dress is all done!

Tomorrow I'm going to work on the photography. Let's hope my little one is feeling cooperative.

After that I'll just be waiting on the Tech Editor. So I hope to have the pattern available on the blog soon!

I'm very happy with it. It fits my daughter perfectly which is something that I always worry about.

I am loving the lace and picot edging. It definitely makes the dress.
There is a fair bit of stockinette in this knit, but it is broken up by decrease rounds so it isn't completely mind numbing.

Plus a little stockinette never hurt anyone. It's great for TV knitting!

Haltermelon

I loved my Watermelon cardigan design so much that I had to create a summer version.

Introducing Haltermelon!

The halter is created in the same styling as the sweater, same yarn, same detailing. I wanted to keep the two patterns similar so that they could be worn together.



This pattern, just like the cardigan is knit up in one piece with no seams.



I'm very excited to share with you that this is my very first published pattern.

You will find it in the premiere issue of Petite Purls online knitting magazine.
I'm very excited about this magazine not just because they accepted my pattern but because its a magazine devoted to just children's designs! Which I love to knit! The patterns in the first issue are so cute! I desperately want to cast on for a Jacques Crusteau for my daughter straight away!

I hope you enjoy the issue!

Cherries

Cherries have nothing to do with a knitting blog....

...But everything to do with my next children's design.

Introducing "Very Cherry", a beautiful cherry-red summer dress. Pattern coming soon!

Here is a picture of the delicate lacy edging.

More progress pictures to come! :)

NeverNotKnitting Podcast : Episode 20 : The Black Vest Quest

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Knit and Crochet Show

Myra Wood

Crochet Provisional Cast On and Bind Off

Melissa Leapman

Janet Szabo

Twists and Turns

Knit Purl

Koigu

Chevron Scarf

Abundant Yarns

Larissa Brown

Knitalong

Twisted

Sublime Angora Merino

Rose Red Beret

Dublin Bay

Yarn Garden

My Something Red Sweater

The Chicken Family

Spring Chick Pattern

Featherweight Cardigan

Martha on Ravelry

Martha's Blog

The Black Vest

Please join the NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group!

Follow me here on Twitter!

The winner of the signed copy of "Ethnic Knitting Exploration" is Victoria! Congratulations!!!!

Announcement: Dancing Ewe Yarns has extended the special discount offer for the Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton for the month of June as well. This is the yarn I used for my Chicken Family as well as the Something Red sweater! I love this yarn!

You will recieve 20% on the entire selection of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton
and free shipping for all orders that include this yarn.

This offer is exclusive to the NeverNotKnitting podcast listeners and blog readers for the month of June.

In order to receive your discount, click on the Dancing Ewe link and in the checkout process enter in the special code " NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3

Chicken Family

Great news! "Mama Chicken" has a found a rather plump, polka dotted "Daddy Chicken" to share her life with! They met and fell in love while spending some time together in the knitting bag. Before I knew it 2 little babies flew off the needles.

Finally the chicken family is complete!

I was really attempting to differentiate between the hen and the rooster with this pattern. As I mentioned before, the Mama Chicken has eyelashes and no tail feathers. The Daddy Chicken has the white tail feathers and I knit one extra in orange and sewed in to the top of his head to make his comb more prominent and rooster-ish. And of course I knit the small size for the Mom and the medium size for the Dad. I think it works.

I think they make a fine couple.

I used the Spring Chick pattern to make the baby chicks. Now this was a fun pattern! So fast! It was great. It took like an hour to make both of the babies. Also I felt good using up some of the yellow I had. I had only taken a little bit from the skein to make the chicken beaks and had nearly an entire ball left over!!! So it was nice being able to use some of that up. I had planned on making more babies but then got kind of sick of chicken knitting. I'm really feeling excited about my next knitting project so I was eager to just be done with these.

But who knows? Maybe they will expand their family in the future?

I shot these photos at one of my favorite locations. Avila Valley Barn. Its a little farm you can visit to buy fresh produce, feed farm animals and eat corn on the cob. I put the Watermelon sweater on my daughter because I felt that it was quite festive for the occasion.

It also was a great place to photograph the new chicken family. All that hay and stuff. But we unfortunately went on Memorial Day and it was packed! So many people. So you can imagine how insane I looked taking pictures of knitted chickens in front of tons of onlookers.

It was kind of normal feeling when my daughter was there, but she soon tired of the chicken pictures idea and left to go get a snack with my husband. So there I was, now alone. Just me and the chickens. I seriously looked like such the "crazy chicken lady" rearranging and posing my little chicken friends for all to see.

So weird.

Oh the things I endure for the sake of this knitting blog... :)

Something Red Sweater

Well. Here is it. My new favorite. I love the style. I love the color. And I love that I finally chose the right size for a sweater project.

The 34 fits perfect. Not too loose and not to tight. Just fitted the appropriate amount. Love that.

Just like any sweater project though there is one thing I wish I would have done differently. Well two things if I'm being completely honest.

The pattern for this sweater is a little off in the raglan shaping department. It says for the size 34 to keep working the raglan until it measures 10.5 inches. Ok. That is a deep armhole. Really deep. It makes me wonder what kind of arms the designer has.

So fortunately I realized the huge armhole situation in time and only knit mine to about 8.5 inches before I divided for the sleeves. So that was a good choice on my part, I mean I shudder to think of how bat-wing-esque it would have looked without this adjustment, but frankly I didn't adjust enough. There still is a bit of puckering around the armhole area and the sleeves are a tad too big around for me. This sweater is supposed to have a nice fitted sleeve. So if I were to knit it again, I would stop at 8 inches definitely!!

OK, another thing. I could have made it a smidgen longer. But that's not as big of a deal.



The good news is, with making these pattern adjustments, I saved yarn and have an entire skein plus some left over. So that's always nice.

This is such a versatile piece. I know I will get a lot of use out of it! The yarn is spectacular as well. Blue Sky Organic Dyed Cotton. So soft and squishy. I feel the need to make a sweater out of every color.

"Something" Is Nearing Completion

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Knit and Crochet
Show in Portland, Oregon with my wonderful friend Audrey.

I couldn't have had a more fabulous time! I took a bunch of great classes by talented designers and learned so many things.

The traveling part was interesting. I never travel. Hardly ever. Truth be told, I haven't been on a plane in nearly a decade! And I have NEVER EVER traveled by myself! It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

So I'm super glad that I went and that I didn't die.

I'm also super glad that I had so much time to work on my "Something Red" sweater!
I'm almost done!

I only have to finish this sleeve and do the button band!

AND I also happened to find the most perfect button at the show!

What are the chances of me finding "THE button" right when I needed it?

That never happens!

NeverNotKnitting Podcast : Episode 19 : Mitting

Episode 19

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Something Red Sweater

My First Knit Chicken

Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Dyed Cotton

Featherweight Cardigan

Suri Elegance

Ethnic Knitting Exploration: Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland

Audrey's Lithuanian Fingerless Mitts

Ellen on Ravelry

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group


The winner of the Knit Chicken supplies from Dancing Ewe Yarns is Hopalong!
Congratulations!!!!

Announcement: Dancing Ewe Yarns has extended the special discount offer for the Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton for the month of June as well.

You will recieve 20% on the entire selection of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton

and free shipping for all orders that include this yarn.

This offer is exclusive to the NeverNotKnitting podcast listeners and blog readers for the rest of May and all of June.

In order to receive your discount, click on the Dancing Ewe link and in the checkout process enter in the special code " NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3

I Have A New Favorite Color

RED.

Here is my "Something Red" sweater in the works. I started it not too long ago and am making fine progress.

Since this picture was taken, I have divided for the sleeves and am now knitting my way down the body.

Its going great! I cant wait to wear this one. It's all soft and cottony and ... red.
I think that every woman needs a good red cardigan in their lives. It's such a boost to an outfit.

For me red is the new green and you'll be seeing lots of knitted red projects popping up shortly.

But for now.. I'm just loving my Something Red Sweater and this delicious red yarn.

The First of Many...

Presenting.... a new knitted chicken friend.

This little stuffed chicken is so sweet. It is so soft and squishy.

This is knit from the pattern Knit Chickens by Susan B. Anderson, using
Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Dyed Cotton.

I wanted this chicken to be, in the words of my daughter the "Mama Chicken" so I excluded the tail feather instructions and included eyelashes for a more "feminine" look.

I just love how it turned out! And as you can see, my daughter agrees!

But truth be told. I'm afraid "Mama Chicken" might be a little lonely.

She needs a "Daddy Chicken" in her life.

Spring Garden Tee

Announcing the completion of my new design project! The Spring Garden Tee!

I just love it! It is so feminine and girly!

Here are some more shots of it that wouldn't fit into my photo collage.

What I strive to offer with all of the patterns that I put up is a nice size range. Just like the Watermelon pattern and also the Playful Stripes pattern, the Spring Garden Tee is sized from 3 months- size 6. Just perfect for daughters or granddaughters of different ages.

Also this pattern, like the others, offers simple construction. The Spring Garden Tee is worked in one piece from the top down with no seaming whatsoever! I think that the instructions are easy to understand and this project works up fast. I designed and knit the top in only one weeks time!

Nice Sleeve Closeup

Here is some more pattern information for those who are interested in knitting this design:



SIZE
3 months [6mos, 9mos, 12mos, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] (shown in size 2)

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 17 [18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25] inches (0 inches of positive ease)

Length: approx 10 [10.5, 11, 11.5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16] inches after blocking

MATERIALS
Rowan Calmer [80% Cotton. 20% Polyester Fibre; 175 yd/160m per 50g skein; color: #482; 2 [2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3] skeins or approx 270 [285, 300, 315, 330, 350, 370, 390, 420] yds of any dk weight yarn.


1# 16” US #6/4mm circular needle for smaller sizes
1# 24” US #6/4mm circular needle for larger sizes
1# 16” US #5/3.75mm circular needle for neck and sleeve edging.


(You may need to use US #5/3.75mm double pointed needles for smaller sizes).
2 pieces of scrap yarn to serve as stitch holders
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers

GAUGE
24 sts/36 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch on size 6 needles

I love how this pattern takes no more than 3 skeins of Rowan Calmer to knit! Rowan Calmer is one of my new favorite yarns. Its so soft and springy and easy to work with. The softness of the cotton blend is ideal for sensitive baby skin.

*For those of you who purchase this pattern you'll notice a special surprise at the bottom of your pattern instructions.*

I hope that you enjoy knitting this pattern as much as I did! Remember that if you ever have any questions or problems with any of the patterns that I offer, I am always here to help.

Please also email me if you are a yarn shop owner and are interested in carrying this or any of the NeverNotKnitting patterns. Contact me at nevernotknitting@gmail.com for wholesale pricing information.

NeverNotKnitting Podcast : Episode 18 : The Murphys Law Felted Clogs

Episode 18

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Sienna Cardigan

Knit Chickens Pattern

My Knit Chicken in progress

Something Red Sweater

Knit and Tonic

The Spring Garden Tee

Rowan Calmer-My New Favorite!

Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Dyed Cotton

Eyelet Cardigan

Tomato

Flair

Baby Bolero

Baby Bobbi Bear

One Fish Two Fish

Barbara on Ravelry

The Murphys Law Felted Clogs

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group

*Dont forget to enter this episodes drawing!

For the month of May, Dancing Ewe Yarns is offering a special discount of 20% on the entire selection of Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton

and free shipping for all orders that include this yarn.

This offer is exclusive to the Nevernotknitting podcast listeners and blog readers.

In order to receive your discount, click on the Dancing Ewe link and in the checkout process enter in the special code " NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3

For Your Little Girl...

Ever since I was young I wanted to someday have a daughter of my own. While I was pregnant I was of course desperately hoping my child would be healthy but also secretly hoping whatever was in there was female.

Well I got one of those things. A sweet baby girl. With loads of health problems.

Now my baby is three years old (and doing fine healthwise) and I have to say having a girl is so much fun. Especially knitting for one!

That's why I cant help but turn out little girl designs. She inspires me all of the time to create new feminine little things. Over the past week or so I have been feverishly knitting this new design.

"The Spring Garden Tee"

To me this design concept and color reminds me of "all things little girl."

Flowers, cupcakes, tea parties, etc.

It's finally done and I've sent it off to the Tech Editor. It will be available for purchase shortly.

Just like all of my other recent designs, it will be sized from 3 months-size 6.

This is a fun little project. It takes hardly any yarn, (the size 2 took less than 2 balls of Rowan Calmer) and it is knit in one piece from the top down.

I love the fluttery lacy cap sleeves. They are so reminiscent of springtime flowers.

I cant wait to try it on my daughter.

Chickens Are Coming!

Has everyone seen this adorable Knit Chickens pattern by Susan B. Anderson?

The first time I saw it pop up on Ravelry, I fell in love.

I knew that some funky brightly colored chickens needed to have a place in my daughters knitted toy collection.

So recently I started the first chicken. This will be the "Mama chicken".

(I have a whole family planned here.)

Here is a "strange-in progress-What the heck IS that thing-picture" for you.

I worked on it some more last night. I realized that the poor little chickens head was cockeyed

and off center from its chicken body so I had to rip out and redo.

Such a pain. But now it looks correct.

I was so intently knitting this chicken last night that when I looked up at the clock it was 2 AM!

Its crazy what chicken knitting will do to a person!

Sienna Cardigan

Wow. Its done. I can't believe I wasted 4 months thinking that this Sienna Cardigan was not going to turn out right. It looked so small before it was blocked and seamed. I was convinced that it was going to turn out toddler sized. But no! Isn't it wierd? It totally fits!

This project has really taught me that you just don't know until you finish something.

Blocking really does amazing things.

Look I can even button it up!

So. Wierd.

I am really pleased with how this sweater turned out, especially since I wasn't expecting anything from it. Really.. as I was washing it I was writing out a tragic blog post in my head.. this was going to be the project that failed.

But I truly love it!

Here are the modifications I made to the pattern.

The pattern originally called for a bulky weight yarn. I wanted a smaller fit so I knit it up with Zara Plus (from the stash) which is an aran weight. It turned out being around a 32-34" size instead of a 36".

I also made mine longer. I did an extra repeat or two of the cable pattern.

Also I did something stupid. Well. Its not really a stupid concept. I just carried it out stupidly.

This pattern originally is a straight up and down sweater, no shaping in the body. I've found that super straight fitted sweaters can ride up as you wear them and not lay right. Since this fact was concerning me. I added waist shaping. Well. Alot of waist shaping. I went a little overboard and shaped this sweater for a model with extremely curvy proportions.

So it fits me kind of strangely. Wierd puckering on the sides.

(I tried to hide it for the pictures.)

Wont do that again.

Green Sleeves

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last knitting post.

It was so great to get everyone's opinions about which pattern to choose for my silk yarn.

I thought that I had made my mind up. Last night I was quite certain that I was going to knit the tank. Then I saw this picture.. and I started feeling conflicted once again.

So I guess you'll just have to wait and see which one I choose when the time comes.

Thank you again though for all of the great input and suggestions. Funny stuff.

Meanwhile. I have 2 green sleeves now.

I just have to attach them to this... and well.. Ill have another green sweater to add to the wardrobe.

Because we all know that I don't have enough of those.

It feels so good finishing this.

NeverNotKnitting Podcast : Episode 17 : The Problem Shawl

Episode 17

Shownotes:

Dancing Ewe Yarns

Sienna Cardigan

Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light

Lana D'oro

Debbie Bliss Como

Knit Picks Swish Worsted

Rowan Kid Classic

Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran

Rowan Calmer-My New Favorite!

Stephanie on Ravelry

The Problem Shawl

Victorian Lace Today

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silk Thread

NeverNotKnitting Ravelry Group

The winner of Episode 16's Rowan Summer Tweed drawing was Lumie! Congratulations!
She won 5 skeins of Summer Tweed from Dancing Ewe!

For those of you who didn't win.... Dont worry! The sale is still on for Rowan Summer Tweed!
Dancing Ewe Yarns is offering a special discount of 20% on the entire selection

and free shipping for all orders that include this yarn.

This offer is only valid for the month of April and is exclusive to the Nevernotknitting podcast listeners and blog readers.

In order to receive your discount, click on the Dancing Ewe link and in the checkout process enter in the special code " NNK1 "

Click HERE to download the MP3