Archives for October 2013

– for the curious, this pattern is named for .

After filling our bellies at Momofuku Noodle Bar, one day last summer, my friend Kelly and I wandered over to Downtown Yarns – a favorite NYC yarn store of mine. Downtown Yarns is small, but loaded with beautiful yarn, and is a warm, friendly place to shop.

that simply refused to let me leave without them. You see, there had been an idea for a cowl banging around in my brain for several weeks, and these four colors would be the perfect choice to finally get the idea out of my head and onto my needles.

for test knitting and to Karen for tech editing.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Fair Isle Style contest. I used a random number generator to select Chantelle as the winner! Chantelle has been notified and the publisher of Fair Isle Style will send her a copy of the book.

that I made a few weeks ago for visual interest. For details on the yarn I used, head over to the project page on Ravelry. You will find the pattern here. 

in Morristown, NJ.  If you haven't been to Trillium, and you live anywhere near, or are visiting the area I highly recommend checking this LYS out. Trillium Yarns is loaded with great yarn (I might have stocked up on Tosh DK and a good bit of Malabrigo Twist when I visited earlier this week). If you're not in the area Beverly also sells on-line, so head over to the website and check Trillium Yarns out. The first two classes I'll be teaching at Trillium (scroll down to find my workshops)  are color workshops on Sunday, October 27th. In the morning class we'll explore color, step out our "color comfort zone", and learn to select yarns that will make our multi-color projects sing. Then in the afternoon workshop we will cast on and use what we've learned. Knitters may choose any of my multi-color patterns, and I will work with each to help select colors and master the necessary techniques to complete the project. I'm really excited about both of these classes because I LOVE to work with color! Please join us for one or both classes on October 27th, it promises to be a very fun day.

(from Fair Isle Style), or Water Music. We'll learn several different cast on options, and master all of the necessary skills to complete your project. For those who want a simpler project, I'll also have instructions on hand for a basic center out garter stitch blanket.  

knit in Play At Life Fiber Arts Wishingstar Lace.

It is always a joy to work with Amy Herzog. She is creative, fun, talented, and smart. The roots of our most recent collaboration started well over a year ago when she was in NYC for business and we found a few hours to spend some time knitting and chatting about design over lunch. We had recently published The Charles Collection along with Elinor Brown, and knew we wanted to work together again. With Elinor too busy to join us this time around, we set to work scheming on what we could do with just the two of us. We decided that a small collection would work best this time, with each of us focusing on our own regions. Amy lives in New England, I live in NYC. It seemed a perfect theme for us. Truthfully, we each have a little of both the country and the city in our souls, which may explain why we get along so well, but for this project I would represent the city and Amy would represent the country. We named the collection "Back Roads & Brownstones", and decided to publish the collection in pieces, with new installments every two weeks.  The designs are each published independently, with patterns available individually.
Today I am introducing the fist installment of the collection with two related patterns, the Brownstone wraps.The Brownstone wraps are Vestry Street and Laight Street, named after two New York City streets in the Tribeca neighborhood. Both designs feature a similar lace pattern, but have different shaping and are worked at much different gauges.

Vestry Street is a light fingering weight, half-pi shawl, with bands of lace separated by broad bands of garter stitch. The lower edge is finished with a delicate picot bind off. Fingering, 100%
Certified Organic Merino; 525 yards per 100
g skein, color: Bittersweet, 1 skein

Needles: US 6 (4mm) straight or circular
needles or size to obtain gauge

Gauge: 18 sts & 38 rows = 4”/10cm in
Garter Stitch- blocked, always take the time
to check gauge

Other Materials: stitch markers, tapestry
needle, cable needle