new pattern: Griffin

You know, the excitement of releasing a new pattern never goes away. The nervous anticipation. The relief. The just crazy feeling of excitement. It doesn't matter that this is my 47th pattern release, I'm still pretty stoked about it.

I'm particularly pretty stoked because this is a special pattern that I wrote for a special friend of mine to knit. I wrote this especially for a special yarn, Noro Kureyon. O how I love thee, Noro! It is without a doubt the crack of the yarn world. Terribly addictive. Terribly.

Have you knit with Noro before?
How addictive are the colour changes!

So this is Griffin. 

I blogged about Griffin and the whole process of the design development back in September, and it's pretty exciting to see it come to final fruition.

Griffin is a fun and relatively easy knit, but it's one that's definitely not boring. It has some unusual and fun techniques, that many of my test knitters learnt something new from. 

The most quirky aspect about this design is how it starts. It starts from a saddle shoulder construction, but it is a wee bit different and I haven't seen another garment constructed like this. It makes for good knitting though as there are less ends  to sew in and less stopping and starting. 

I have no idea how I came up with it now, but gosh, I am sooo glad I did!  I really like to challenge myself by mixing the usual construction up a bit and subverting it. You might have noticed that ;) I love little moments of amazing insight like those, when something spectacular comes to you in an otherwise mundane day!

Griffin is all seamless and knit topdown.  The pocket is knit in as you go, with again minimal finishing. It has a cute split seam hemline and you can knit it with a hood...

or without.

You can even choose which yarn weight to knit it in; aran weight(heavy worsted) or dk(8ply).

I really love the mitred neckline that finishes both versions.
For me, that is probably the key to the design. There's something about it that reminds of classic 70s styling; particularly in the Noro. And I really like the shaping in the collar that works in an opposing way to the mitred part of the neckline.

My testers have knit this up in many many different colours and yarns, and they all look sensational; variegateds, self-striping, solids and semi-solids. The pocket and neckline looks great in a contrast.

There's a sister pattern to Griffin, that will be released next week.

Meanwhile, if you want to know a bit more about Griffin or even purchase the pattern, you can do so over here in my Ravelry store. You don't need to be a member to access it.

P.S. I'll introduce another KAL sponsor tomorrow!!