Rosie McStrippit

At last, here is the next 'McStrippit' pattern!  Introducing..
.Rosie McStrippit!

Rosie McStrippit’s an A-line, square necked women’s tunic, in seven sizes with a trick up its sleeve. This is a bottom-up, simple sweater knit in pieces…eight pieces, to be exact. You’ll work towards a sweater that drapes and flatters while enjoying completely portable, simple patterned knitting that fits in a purse while you’re on the go!

Too tired to carry a top-down sweater project on your commute, to kids’ lessons or the doctor’s office?  These McStrippit designs are for you.

Rosie McStrippit requires knitting, purling, increases, decreases, and sewing up at the end. This design uses written instructions and a schematic. It uses a single strand of Aran yarn that knits at 17 sts sts = 4"/10 cm after blocking on a size US 7 needle.

You may wonder how I got all these photos...well, I had twin eight year olds and one very patient professor photo taking photos of me all at once on one sort of "warm" December day.  (They used an iPad, an ancient digital camera and a fancy camera that the Professor used to shoot all the photos for my first book,  Fiber Gathering.) There are also a couple photos indoors, and unless I am modelling, I took all of those.

I am very excited to release this sweater design, as it matches the dress that I made in the last post, AND I think it's a really useful concept for those of us who knit on the go.  I announced how long it took me to get everything online today---and how much I charged, per pattern, at dinner. One of my twins said, "But Mommy, that's not very much.  That's not anything like as much work as it took you to make it."

If I don't count any of the time I spent designing this, knitting it, grading the spread sheet for all the sizes, writing the pattern, editing the pattern, getting the pattern online (and it's here on Ravelry and here on Lovecrafts.com...) 

Well, I need to sell 13 patterns at full price just to pay for the basic supplies: yarn and the tech editor fees.

How much does a pattern download cost?

$7 US

Having a little pouch of knitting with you while waiting at the doctor's office, the playground, piano lessons, the school bus stop?

Well now?  That's priceless!

I hope you enjoy knitting Rosie McStrippit as much as I did.
(I'll explain the name some other time...)

the February knitlove

 It's cold out in Winnipeg, folks.  Today it's bobbing around the -35 or -40 windchill mark, and I am wearing insulated pants and three layers on top: long sleeve shirt, cashmere turtleneck, and handknit wool sweater.  Wool socks, too.  My house does pretty well in the heat department, but it's 100 years old and lacks substantial insulation in the walls.  So, if I stand too close to a wall in this weather, the cold seeps out of it...and into me.

Energy seeps right out of me when I need to be outside in this weather, so I bundle up and aim to stay in whenever I can.  Yesterday was a big day here--a day off kindergarten for both twins to go with me on a tour of our new school for next year AND go to the dentist.  It was a lot of excitment, outdoor time and work for me, the Mommy!

Today, we are back to the regular routine.  During a phone call, I rolled two beautiful balls of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter that I purchased over a year ago.  Yesterday, in the middle of the errands, I saw my handspun, handknit pair of Hole Inside Mitts was shredding in the thumbs, where they are under pressure as I take the mitts on and off to seatbelt car seats.  I can mend them, sure, but maybe it's time for a new pair of mitts.  I need some distraction and cheer, so I got out this gorgeous new yarn for a February pick me up.

I've also begun a version of a Barn Sweater  by Carrie Bostick Hoge, and, I admit, it's going slowly.  I am not on automatic pilot when it comes to top-down sweaters.  I like to knit patterns by others so I can learn, but right now, my time is so limited that it is hard.  I have to actually read instructions, and the directions sort of blur in front of me between 9-10 at night, when I have time to knit!  I hope soon to get my groove on that one. I find this designer's work really beautiful and I really enjoyed knitting her Portland Pullover, which I am wearing today.

In my own work, I've had a bit of a stall out.  Lots of things came up, all at once, in our lives, and I fell behind.  Usually, I write and design behind the scenes and then announce, "TA-DA!" when something has gone live or been published.  I'm trying something new...showing you what's going on behind the curtain.  Here's the thing.  When I announced that my book, From the Outside In, was live, I had quite a few sales all at once.  That was great, and now that my mom, my dad, my in-laws, and a couple of friends have copies (no kidding!), things are slow...  I wrote a press release, and I'm working on some other promotion techniques, but honestly, I am no marketing wiz yet!

  So, if you like my blog/writing and would consider checking out my book, I'd be grateful...but I'd be especially grateful if you told someone else about the book, or gave it as a gift, or wanted to review it on Amazon.  There, I've done my plug!

 Please help me out, because I've gotten behind, what with the Lyme disease, the kid viruses, and -25 temps!  Do you have ideas about where to promote the book?  Do tell. :)

I'm also in the midst of writing up a new design.  I was really impressed by the knit speed and success of the Stopover pullover, as I am a fan of all things Icelandic wool.  However, I also thought it would be super to have something a bit more versatile in my wardrobe.  Something solid, maybe.  I also wanted to play with a handkerchief hem, and a few other details.  Here are a couple of the outtakes from our very quick photo session outside.  (Note cold looking model -me-and snow!)

This is knit up on size 10(6mm) needles, and goes fast.  It's cozy and goes well with either skirt or pants...and my working title for it is "ZOOP!"  (as in, the sound your zipper makes when you pull it up fast...!)

 Interested in this design?  Please sign up on mailing list (it's in the right hand sidebar here) or on my Rav group so you can hear when the pattern is ready.  I'm offering this preview in hopes that you'll find it tempting...

My size, which is firmly in the middle of the pack, only used about 6 skeins of Istex Lett Lopi, though I will recommend 7 to be on the safe side.  That's not a lot of yarn or expense for a brand new winter sweater!  I cannot wait until I have the pattern totally written up so that I can start wearing this sample regularly.  It's cozy, and I could use some more of that 'hygge' these days.

Wishing you all the best,
Joanne