I did it!

Really, I did! I dragged myself, kicking and screaming, into the Century of the Fruitbat. (If you’ll excuse the Discworld reference…)

Yesterday I set up a Facebook page for reWOLLuzza. Good thing no-one was there to tape that 2 hour session in front of my computer. Things looked strange. Things didn’t do as they were supposed to do. Cursing ensued. The monitor got shouted at. Cats ran and hid themselves in the closet. Things got deleted. Things were redone. Several times. More cursing. 

reWOLLuzza arrives in the Year of the Fruitbat

reWOLLuzza arrives in the Century of the Fruitbat

But I did it. You know…  kicking and screaming.

Now I’ll have to find out how to get it out there into the big knitting world, get people to notice (and maybe even like) it so that all the nerves I wrecked struggling with this evil manifestation of the modern age new and exciting method of communication won’t go to waste.*

It’s still kind of rudimentary, but I’m working on it. And I promise to keep the cursing down to a barely audible mutter…

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*That’s a discreet hint for y’all to go there, have a look, press any like buttons you can find and tell all your friends about it. Ahem. Hint, hint.
And maybe, maybe, I’ll even get a facebook account for myself. In time…

New Pattern: Garland

It’s that time of the year – patterns are popping out of the ground left, right and center. And one of them’s mine…

Pompom Cover

To find this on the cover of Pom Pom Quarterly (a magazine whose style I’ve adored from the first issue and wanted to contribute to ever since) was such a nice surprise when I looked in to Ravelry after a long (and a little frustrating) day at work.

Garland  Main

I love layering several skirts or dresses and tops with different lengths – and in winter, you just need that one extra layer made of the lightest, feathery yarn; wide and short enough to let all layers swing freely and simple in shape and stitch pattern so as not to overwhelm the outfit. That’s Garland!

A boxy, oversized sweater with long, ribbed drop sleeves. Mostly plain stockinette, the body is the perfect canvas to show off beautiful mohair lace yarns, with just a little delicate lace garland above the ribbed hem and around the armscyes.
The wide neckline is framed by a slightly funneled, folded ribbed collar.

Garland DetailJess from sofTrope died this beautiful, light green colourway (called ghazal) on a base of silk and kid mohair (Kidsilk Lace). It was a huge treat to knit with, so soft and silky. As a statement about the awesomeness of this yarn, just let me say this: I enjoyed knitting with it, even though I had to work on the sample during a spell of sweltering heat…

You can get this and 9 other beautiful, romantic patterns more as well as a whole load of articles and tutorials in the Winter issue of Pom Pom Quarterly, which you can order here (in print + digital for £ 9.50).

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All pictures courtesy of Pom Pom Quarterly.

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Debriefing: Sneachda Tam

de·brief

[/diˈbrif/]
verb (used with object)

  1. to interrogate (a soldier, astronaut, diplomat, etc.) on return from a mission in order to assess the conduct and results of the mission.
  2. to question formally and systematically in order to obtain useful intelligence or information.

 (Definition from: Dictionary.com)

While I’m neither a soldier nor a diplomat (not to mention an astronaut) I feel it might still be useful for both aspiring knitwear designers and myself to take a good look at past (sub)missions – pun intended – and find out what’s been done good and where there’s, ahem, room for improvement.

I’ve borrowed this format from Jennifer at Tinking Turtle Designs, who’s kindly agreed to let me use her idea. You should hop over to her site – not only has she her own  submission briefings to share; you could also check out quite a few very nice crochet and knitting patterns and designer interviews. Also, there’s cats. 🙂

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Since the Sneachda Tam has been released now, it’s time for another debriefing…

The beautiful and inspiring moodboard

I responded to a call for submissions by SweetGeorgia Yarns – if you’re interested to see how such a call can look like, click the link or the pic. The general mood was supposed to be:

Into the woods. Crisp air. Shocking colour amidst fading and fragile foliage. Seeking comfort and warmth. Wrapped in cozy layers.

SneachdaSubmission

Things Done Well

  • I’ve tweaked the layout a little bit more and think I’ll keep it that way. All relevant information has its place, but I can move around the individual sections and adjust their size according to the space they need.
  • I actually knitted the complete design once before submitting – I like to do that for small projects to get a feel how the idea in my head translates into an actual knitted piece.
  • The design concept is written more concise as before – I’ve started to use bullet point lists to remind myself of keeping things short and to the point. No more rambling “Oh, no’s” for me!

Could Have Been Better

  • Swatch: I went a bit overboard with the different coloured versions of my sample tam. That’s owing to the fact that
    • A: I recently learned how to change the colour of things in Gimp
    • B: There was a lot of space to fill (you can probably tell…)
  • I could have done a little more about the yarn – colour suggestions, small pics of the proposed colourways, a few more words about the qualities than “Any sock yarn will do”

What Have I Been Thinking?

  • This time there’s nothing really abysmal to whine about. Phew!
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