Archives for April 2016

Through the Loops 10 Years: The Last Two Releases

April 29, 2016 by Kirsten 3 Comments

Well hasn’t April just flown by? Or is it me? We’ve had some pretty spectacular weather this month, and I had a wonderful visit with my sister, so I guess I’ve been distracted. The other distraction of course has been you guys and my Through the Loops 10 Years collection/celebration. And that’s been a very good distraction as well.

Before I get too far into this post and start showing off the new patterns, I want to be sure you all know about this week’s contest. For this week’s contest everybody wins!! I have hidden 5 letters among the photos of the patterns in the Through the Loops 10 Years Collection on Ravelry. Click through to each of the pattern pages and look at the photos — you will find 5 with bold letters on them (they’re not too hidden, honest). Unscramble the letters, they spell out something near and dear to my heart.

Once you have unscrambled the letters do not post them publicly and give away the answer (you want everyone to have the fun of solving the puzzle themselves). Here’s what you should do with the unscrambled word:

1. How can you all win? The word (in all caps) is a coupon code for 30% off of all of my independently published single patterns (not including ebooks or sets). Just enter the unscrambled word in all caps at checkout.

2. Send me a private message on Ravelry (I’m throughtheloops there) with your answer in the subject line and you will be entered to win a skein of my handspun yarn. I will select one winner from all of the correct answers.

The contest ends, and the coupon code expires next Friday, May 6th.

Now on to the releases. Since I don’t want to make this a super long post, I’m going to show you the photos with a link to each of the patterns on Ravelry. You can see all of the information there. Happy knitting!!

First up, a seamless, yoked, pullover — Breezy Daydream:

Breezy Daydream4 \ Breezy Daydream5

Breezy Daydream6

And finally, the last of our 5 shawls, a two-color crescent named for the hill I lived on when I began this designing journey, The View From the Hill:

Now if you’ve read this far, you deserve a little head start for the contest. One of the patterns I posted here has a letter hidden among the photos. Happy hunting!! Now go and search through the Through the Loops 10 Years collection and unscramble that word!

Week 4

April 22, 2016 by Kirsten 1 Comment

Welcome to week 4 of the Through the Loops 10 Years Collection. I hope it’s as beautiful where you are today, as it is here in New York. If it is, you won’t want to stay inside, so grab one of these two new patterns and head outdoors to knit!

The first is a bold, graphic shawl — Ramble Round Etton — worked in The Uncommon Thread’s Posh Fingering. The sample shown in the pattern is two colors, but you don’t need to restrict yourself to only two with this pattern. My sample knitter, Marilyn, made a stunning version using multiple colors in the border. (I’m hoping to find the time to stash dive and do the same.)

Ramble Round Etton8
Ramble Round Etton11

The second pattern this week is the East 7th Street Mittens — now you may be thinking “what do I need mittens for in April?” Hopefully you don’t, but they do make great travel projects because they’re small, and there’s nothing wrong with stockpiling a few goodies to have on hand for next winter. Work these mittens in a sunny color like the sample in The Fibre Company’s Cumbria (the colorway is Buttermere), to help you feel toasty warm when the chill does return.

Cumbria Mittens6

Cumbria Mittens12

As always be sure to stop by the Fans of Through the Loops group on Ravelry to chat about the patterns and enter the contests. The week 3 contest is an easy one — just show off some yarn from you stash that you think might work for any of the TTL 10 Years patterns. You have until midnight tonight to enter.

Through the Loops 10 Years — Week 3

April 15, 2016 by Kirsten 2 Comments

My apologies for the drive by post today, but my sister is in a cab on her way for a weekend visit to celebrate my birthday. I want to knock this out before she arrives. So let’s get straight to business!

This week’s releases for Through the Loops 10 Years are two of my favorites in the collection. The first is a richly cabled hat worked in Malabrigo Mecha — Anders’ Hat. I love the squishy-ness of this yarn — it makes the most decadent cables. Let me just show you what I mean. . .

Puddle Stomper Final 9

Puddle Stomper Final 12

Puddle Stomper Final 15

Mmmmm. See squishy. Head on over the the pattern page on Ravelry to learn more.

The shawl this week is a combination of a broken garter stitch stripe, with bold lace depicting spring tulips. This one tickles me — it came out just as I’d hoped. I named it Puddle Stomper in the spirit of cleansing spring rains. The yarn is Kismet Fiber’s Refuge a yummy blend of baby camel and silk — madly, scrumptiously, luxuriously soft. Sofie is rocking in casually with a slouchy sweater and jeans, but this shawl will work beautifully for more formal occasions too. I can easily see one in a combination of ivory and a soft dusty pastel, or even grey.

Puddle Stomper Final 1

Puddle Stomper Final 3

Puddle Stomper Final 4

Puddle Stomper Final 13

Don’t forget to head over to the Ravelry group to enter this week’s contest — in this one we’re showing off our yarn ideas for the shawls released so far.

This is New York: Rockaway Beach

April 13, 2016 by Kirsten 2 Comments

On Sunday, my daughter Sofie called and asked if I wanted to go on a little photo excursion with her. She’s taking a photography class and her assignment was to go somewhere she’s never been to take pictures. I jumped at the chance for two reasons: I’ve got a thing about trying to visit corners of this very diverse city that I’ve never been to, and I had a new design that needed to be photographed.

A few texts flew back and forth between us about location — “nope been there”, “no my professor said it couldn’t be anywhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn”, “bummer, there’s no good way to get there via public transportation” — we finally settled on Rockaway Beach.

Rockaway Beach is about a 45 minute subway ride from where I live in Greenwich Village, but once you get there it’s hard to believe you’re in New York City. (Well almost hard to believe, most of the beach combers are wearing black and high-rises line the coast.)

It turns out that chilly spring days are great for seashell hunting. The beach was loaded with a wide variety of beautiful shells. I only took a few small shells home that I plan to yarn bomb with a bit of crochet, as I did with . We saw one very happy German Shepherd trotting along carrying an enormous clam — both shells intact, complete with clam inside. I wish I’d had the presence of mind to snap a photo of him. He had a big doggy smile on his face behind that giant shell.

It was pretty chilly with the wind, but Sofie was a sport and modeled the new shawl design for me (you’ll have to wait a few weeks to see those photos). When I finally let her put her coat and ~~blanket~~ scarf back on she did the sweetest little happy dance.

Sefe Dance