the full circle

Sometimes strange time parallels occur in my life, and I'm sure in others too. Strange little acts of synchronicity. Little acts that if you really wanted to you could possibly try and read some deeper meaning in to.  This may be one of those cases, you be the judge. Me, I find it an interesting parallel.

Four years ago in January 2008 I finished my first ever Rainbow Dress, a dress that had taken me three months and a heck of a lot of frogging to finish.  I could get all reminiscent and ponder all that has happened in those four years, and the way that one dress changed the direction of my career...but let's not today.  

Let's just look at the Rainbow Dress I finished earlier this year, my thirteenth. I love it that just like the first one, it's knit in a rainbow yarn. 

I love a rainbow yarn.

Despite the fact that this pattern was designed firstly for rainbow yarns, I've only ever knit three in rainbow yarns. They are, I think, perfection.

This one is destined for my gorgeous wee niece, Sage. A sweet little poppet who I know will love this dress as much as I do.

I just hope Toby realises it is actually hers!

Pattern: Rainbow Dress
Needles: Addi Lace Clicks 3.5mm and 4mm
Yarns: Wendy Dennis Polwarth 8ply
Space Frog 8ply/DK Pure Wool

Notes: size knit 19". knit until I ran out of yarn.
The dress is intended for a three year old who has a 19" chest. It is shown here on a three year old with a 20.5" chest.
Bodice knit on 3.5mm needles instead of 3.75mm.

Ravelled here.

intentions

This year, I have loads of things I intend to do. Sort of like a Resolution List, but not quite that organised or boding. Nothing quite so confronting, just some little ideas that play around in my head.

I intend to blog more.
I intend to garden more and bring some love and life back into our native garden.
I intend to sew more, particularly now I have a sewing space again.
I intend to cherish my little cherubs, and enjoy them as much as possible.
I intend to not to overcommit myself.
I intend to become a domestic goddess.
I intend to yarn bomb.
I intend to espouse the value of creativity as and essential part of learning, as important as the acquisition of any literacy or numeracy skills.
I intend to cycle more.
I intend to walk every day.
I intend to not allow the knitting thing to get too overwhelming.
I intend to knit for myself.
I intend to embrace the frivolous side of crafting.

Most of all, I intend to have fun!

So far I'm doing ok!

sisterly love

This little post is about sisters. And love. And also a bit of knitting. All sort of interrelated and tied together.

I have this yarny sort of theory, that sport weight yarn is the new black. I really think that in the yarn world it's pretty much the cool kid at the moment.  Yep, everyone wants to be friends with the good old sport weight yarn. I don't think it was any coincidence that I kept seeing new sport weight yarns popping up all over the place. In places like my Loyal Yarn Store. And in colours that were irresistible. Pure and Simple.  Colours like this.

oh, and the most glorious glorious perfect yellow you have ever seen. 

When I saw this yarn, I had to have some of it. It is so buttery soft. Some of that sport weight delight was going home with me no matter what. Who cares that I had no plan for it. Who cares that it was just going to sit in the stash with absolutely no purpose, it had to be mine. And it did sit.

Somehow I'm not quite sure but after designing Jane, another related design popped into my head. My sketch had lace and cables and some lovely drape happening. And while I do so love dk weight yarn more than any other, I just knew to do such lovely lace justice, to get the drape I really wanted for the design, this time dk just wasn't going to cut it. It had to be something lighter. Something like a sportweight yarn.

That little sketched transformed into this:

Elizabeth.

I so love it when a garment you're designing actually turns out better than you envisage. When internally you just want to do a little jump or cheer.  

There's something about the mix of stocking stitch and lace that I really like. And I have to say, after knitting this I'm quite loving the idea of using cables running into lace. 

The construction of this was so much fun. And believe it or not it's much easier to knit than it looks. The lace is really quite easy to follow and remember, and the cables are super-dooper simple. Picking up stitches is probably the most challenging aspect of this garment, and the pattern sets these out fairly precisely to make it easier to perform.

I so loved knitting with this 5ply yarn so much. It's the MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino, and is buttery soft.  

This has been one very loved cardie. Over the Spring and the Summer Lily has worn this more than any other item in her woolly wardrobe. It's her definite favourite, and I think it might be one of mine too. I'm going to knit myself one too, for sure. I've already selected some lovely madtosh sportweight for mine.

The sisterly part? Well, when I named the Jane pattern, it got that name because it was quite simple and plain to look at despite its unusual construction. A plain Jane so to speak. It's also my second name. So when I decided to knit a sister garment for Jane, I looked to my sisters' second names. Luckily, I had four to choose from. Elizabeth seemed  to suit this pattern best.

I do have plans for some more sister patterns, I'm thinking about the Autumn one right now but you know, it's probably not going to get released until after Autumn now as while I'm thinking, not much knitting is happening. 

You can find more photos and the details for purchasing the pattern, as well as all my other patterns, in my Ravelry store.