New Pattern! Veecardi McStrippit

 

After a long incubation period, I introduce you to...Veecardi McStrippit, my new design! This textured cardigan pattern is knit in seven pieces and is available in 7 sizes, from 33-53". There is also a Low Vision Accessible version available.  Check it out on Ravelry, Payhip (both of these sites have a Low Vision option) and coming soon...on Lovecrafts (no Low Vision option there, the platform doesn't support it).

To celebrate this new design and the start of school summer vacation here, I'm also having a sale.  Get 20% off all my designs on Ravelry or Payhip  until July 5th, (ends midnight, CT) with the coupon code:

SUMMER

And now...I'm going to photo bomb the blog just the way Sadie the dog did during this cardigan's photo shoot!  Enjoy!

Lattice Embrace

I'm excited to report -- I'm finally getting back to publishing knitting designs.  Or maybe, to be clear, two designs. The first has been launched today and is an asymmetrical cardigan called “Lattice Embrace.” It's a bulky, easy knit, and yes, it's a way for me to send 'a hug' to knitters!  That's how this sweater feels to me. I knit it and took notes while remote schooling twins last year, and now that they are back in school in person, I've been able to focus on writing it up.

This design’s now available for download on Ravelry, Payhip and Lovecrafts.com.  

Note: If you’re looking for a Low Vision Accessible version of the pattern, that's available on Payhip and Ravelry.

Just making this leap back into focused work has been exciting. I found I lost concentration when it came to helping 4th graders and couldn't do the math needed to grade sizes while juggling everything during the pandemic. This sweater includes sizing from 36-64” and that is a lot of spreadsheet work!  I'm looking forward to seeing how this design makes its way into the world. I love seeing knitters’ work and interpretations of these designs.

I'll also be participating again in the Fasten Off Yarn-Along this year.  This event starts at the end of November and includes a hefty discount for the first week for those buying patterns.  I will pass along the secret code closer to the time.  

If you happen to worry about wool moths, my article on that appears in the Winter 21/22 issue of Vogue Knitting! (I was pretty stoked to be included in an issue with such a famous knitter on the cover.) I also continue to write a column here for the Vancouver Jewish Independent as well…but it’s not always on knitting or fibre arts topics… That’s most of the news for now!  

 

Mari Mitts- a new pattern!

I am so pleased to announce this new knitting pattern--finally! Yes, this is the first one released since January...there were some delays.  Many thanks to the tech editor and test knitter who pushed me onwards, and all those who encouraged me.

I am so proud of this design.  First, the Mari Mitts were a design collaboration between me and one of my twins this spring...we needed whimsy. We needed cheerful distraction.  AND, apparently, my kid needed a THUMB RING like Mommy or Aunt Jen wears sometimes.  On his mitts.  Of course!

Second, this this my first pattern that I published with a Low Vision Accessible pdf option from the first.  This means that it's accessible to those who are vision-impaired, too. It takes more time to do this but it's the right thing to do when I can...  It's worth it.

Here they are!  Just in time, as we had a dusting of snow last night in Winnipeg.

Here's an antidote to dark days ahead..

Inspired by a Marimekko fabric print, these mittens have polka dot whimsy with a thumb ring flourish. This unisex stranded pattern has two sizes, Child’s Large/Women’s Small and Women’s Medium/Large. This includes both a chart and a written instructions. This warm mitten works up quickly in three colors, with US size 3 (3.25mm) and 6 (4mm) double pointed needles at 5 stitches to the inch. Any worsted or aran weight yarn that works to gauge is a good match; yardage varies according to mitten size chosen. Ideal for an advanced beginner or intermediate knitter, this is simple stranded knitting, with only two colors per round. Mari Mitts are ideal for those new to stranded knitting or for the stranded knitting knitter who is new to mitten patterns. 

I used Aran weight yarns: Briggs & Little Tuffy, Lett-Lopi and my own handspun gray Cotswold (from Manitoba sheep!), red medium wool, and naturally black Manitoba alpaca. 

The pattern costs $6 and is available on Lovecrafts.com, in my Payhip store and on Ravelry.  Please check it out!

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 Stay Put Kippah

A little more than five years ago, I designed these kippot (yamulkah, kipah, yarmulke,etc.) for my twins. And, you know, I kept planning to write up the pattern. I have finally done it. I can definitely say that these kippahs stay put. My kids run and play in them, paint and goof off and …they started wearing them when they were 3 and now they are 8 and they still fit, with minor adjustments.

I am really proud of this pattern because it has worked so well in use in our household…and now it is finally published. I set Rosh Hashanah as a deadline!--and I made it!

For now, the Stay Put Kippah pattern's just available here, on Ravelry. 

Wishing everyone who is celebrating a happy, healthy, sweet and safe new year.

Happy 5780!

Strippy McStrippit is live!

If you know me in person, you've seen me carrying around a little pouch of knitting forever.  It's now a real pattern, it's live on Ravelry, and it's called Strippy McStrippit!

It's late at night while I am posting this and it's still summer vacation and I'll be up early with kids, so here is the description.  If you're anything like me, you long to have a mindless sweater on the go, but in small, light pieces...and here it is!

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

 

Strippy’s an A-line, modern open women’s cardigan, in seven sizes with a trick up its sleeve. This is a bottom-up, simple sweater knit in pieces…seven pieces, to be exact. You’ll work towards a sleek and flexible cardigan while enjoying completely portable, simple patterned knitting that fits in a purse while you’re on the go!

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

Strippy McStrippit will also be live on Lovecrafts.com...coming soon!

Deir Hart

True confessions, I was also knitting yet another hat during this cold snap. This time of year, I get bored of the every day woollies. I wrote a design to go along with it...and the tech editor approved it today.  It's now live and ready to knit!

Introducing:
Deir Hart

This fuzzy warm super bulky knit is perfect for your dear heart (The deir hart spelling is from an old Scottish ballad I read about recently) and ....it's on sale so you can knit a fast one in time for Valentine's Day!

This hat is 40% off!!  Download the pattern now and use the coupon code:
Valentine

until midnight, February 14th, (ends midnight, Central Time, US & Canada) and the pattern only costs $3US.

I used a fun combination of some alpaca and lett-lopi yarn in my stash to do the sample, but if you'd like to buy some super-bulky yarn and the pattern all at once, head on over to Loveknitting.com to find the pattern with yarn suggestions there, too. This design comes in three sizes, and will fit everybody from your preschooler to your biggest lumberjack!  Just change the yarn colors so they don't mix up their hats on the way out the door in the morning...

Enjoy--and stay warm!

Freestyle Super--a new design!

 Hey, can you believe it?  We actually had a snowfall yesterday in Winnipeg.  One that stuck to grass and cars and decks and made a big icy mess!  Our leaves aren't even off the trees yet...but, this mom worked ahead.

Today, I launched a new knitting pattern called Freestyle Super! It comes in a bunch of kid sizes:
2-4, 4-6, 6-8, and 10-12, and it's an oversized pattern.

It even comes with a sample, all knit up, that fits both twins.

Hurray!

I used all North American yarns to knit this, and it was unbelievably quick knit on size #10.75(7mm) needles.  You could buy all Canadian yarns, like Custom Woolen Mills or Briggs & Little. 
Or, you could buy all U.S. yarns and consider the lovely Quince & Co. Puffin... or, you can combine them, as I did!

The pattern is now for sale online at both Ravelry.com and Loveknitting.com.  If you go to buy the pattern on Loveknitting, you will find I've paired up other yarns that they sell--but the colors mostly match this sample.  There are lots of yarn choices at this quick-knitting gauge.

Hope you enjoy these fun shots of our twins while they modelled and horsed around in the backyard.  (before it snowed.)  We're looking forward to wearing this sweater for a long while to come!

If you're even a little interested in knitting one of these for yourself, hustle over and download a pattern soon.  You can have many hours of knitting pleasure for the price of a fancy coffee.

Happy October!

Supporting change through knitting

At the beginning of August, our family took a trip together.  We flew to Montreal and saw some good friends there. They were just returning overseas from a sabbatical (with a two year old) and our flight left Winnipeg at 5AM, so we were all sort of a mess, but had a big meal together and enjoyed seeing each other very much.

Then, we headed to northern Vermont, to a big family& friend celebration.  My best friend from childhood got married quietly last year, but we all gathered for an informal weekend to celebrate their big decision.  It was held at her folks' farm, and we picked many many raspberries and blueberries, played in the apple orchard treehouse, swam in the farm pond, and had fun together.  We stayed at a hotel near a glacial lake...and had a fairly big canoe tip over, too.  (All was fine, only parents fell out and it was still shallow where it happened!)  I'd seen the farm in winter  and in May, and maybe other times, too, but every season is a stunner on a well-maintained farm! (click on the links for more photos)

After that, we drove to upstate NY and visited the Professor's family vacation place, an old dairy farm.  While there, we shot more photos of Fissure.  I now wish I'd waited to release the pattern until I had these photos as I think they are much better than the first ones I featured in the pattern.  However, something more important followed.

My sister-in-law bought me this lovely yak yarn as a present a while ago.  She lives in Manhattan, and lovely high-end yarns are not hard to come by there!  However, in the meanwhile, she has been working very hard.  She is a lawyer, and is about to become a judge in New York City.

I'm enormously proud of her.  It's so important to have women in democratically elected positions of authority in our society.  Women are half of our population, but often never manage to get into positions where they can make such a big difference in the lives of others.

 While we were at the farm, our nephew, age 1, got sick with a virus and she took him home-so I could not feature her in the photos.  We stayed on with our niece (the same age as our twins), brother-in-law, the Professor's father and his wife, and spent a day or two more out and about.  Climbing on hay bales, going to Lake George, and hanging out.  We also caught a few more glimpses of Fissure before it went off to its new big city Manhattan home.

 I finish things very slowly these days...so I have only turned out one of these...but was so pleased to find out that the second completed version of this pattern is going to support Chase the Chill, a charity that donates hand knits scarves to people in Winnipeg who might need them.

I wanted to say in words how important and exciting it was to me that my (younger) relative will take on such an important and powerful position in the near future.  Words failed me, and anyway, there were three 6 and 7 year olds racing around, a toddler crying, and well, too much noise for adult communication.  Instead, I could hand her something I'd made.  So I did.

The pattern for knitting Fissure is now available on both Ravelry and Loveknitting.com.  
Let's make a break (a fissure?!) for good....making change is important.

Chase the Chill Features Fissure

Back in June, I managed to corral the Professor, both twins, and Sadie the dog to go to Assiniboine Park for a few minutes on a Saturday afternoon.  I am usually spending time with my family and going to services on Saturdays when we can pull it off, but that day--It was a chance to support Knit In Public Day --which is hosted locally by Chase the Chill, a Winnipeg knitting charity which I think is fantastic.  Chase the Chill provides handknit scarves to Winnipeggers in need, once a year.  All  year long, people knit for Chase the Chill's annual event.  It happens in early December, when it is already plenty cold here.

It's simple.  The folks who run it go out with some helpers, and tie all those handknit scarves all over the trees in one downtown park with notes.  The notes say who knit the scarves, and invite people to take and wear the scarves to stay warm. 

Today I looked up Chase the Chill's twitter feed, because one of its organizers was the very first person to purchase Fissure.  Thank you, Val!  What I discovered on the twitter feed made me feel even more connected...

See this photo?  It topped the post for WorldWide Knit in Public Day 2018 for Chase the Chill in Winnipeg.  (See anything familiar?!)  Those are my hands, knitting the sample for Fissure.  Seconds before and after this shot, everyone was passing around the yarn label and fondling the yak. :)

Thanks for coming out to #wwkipday2018 !
“I can knit. I knit all year, day in, day out. It is my passion, and I rarely knit the same thing twice the same way.” ~ Elizabeth Zimmermann #chasethechillinwinnipeg#chasethechill #WWKIP2018 pic.twitter.com/jTNPCqvrGi

— Chase the Chill (@CTCwpg) June 9, 2018

Today, I discovered this on their twitter feed:

Fissure is a lovely new shawl pattern from local knitwear designer Joanne Seiff! What would you knit it with? https://t.co/iY8AOPkoYH

— Chase the Chill (@CTCwpg) July 15, 2018

Thanks so much to Chase the Chill for connecting with local designers--and featuring us!  I so appreciate it...and of course, I appreciate what you do all year as you knit for cold Winnipeggers, too.

Cute as a button

 When I finished this hat, I was sitting on the couch, holding it in my hands, and the first thing that came to mind was... "Well now, ain't you cute as a button?"
And that's how I named Button, my new pattern. 


This is a simple and fast knit, and reminds me a lot of a design I did a long time ago, the Icelandic winter cap.  I used a Canadian lopi-style yarn from Custom Woolen Mills (purchased on our family's adventure to Alberta last summer) but Istex Alafoss Lopi from Iceland, is a great choice, if you can get some.  If not, any bulky yarn will do!

This winter, most photos have been taken indoors.  It seems like every time the weather warms up enough so that someone wants to pose outside, or the camera won't freeze?  Well, that's when everyone's too sick for a photo shoot.

I must have had a premonition when I wrote that last blog post. I stayed indoors with one (or two) sick kids from February 10 through 15, and today is the first time they've both gone back to school.  I'm worried--somebody might keel over...but I was a bit desperate to go grocery shopping, and do some work uninterrupted.  (Writing columns to a deadline while trying to tune out PBS kids' shows can be hard.)  And well...frankly, I could not wait to be alone again for a few moments!

For now, Button's available for sale exclusively on Ravelry.  It should be available on Loveknitting.com in a day or two.  If you're keen to knit a hat quickly, while watching the Olympics, for instance, maybe you could download it now...and if you have yarn on hand? Be done by the end of the weekend.  To do that, you do not have to be a speedy Olympic knitter or anything, either...no luge, skeleton, bobsled or curling necessary.  (Well, the brim does a little curling at the end, but you don't need any brooms at all, it does it on its own!)

new design! new article!

By the middle of Hanukah, we had to submit to the inevitable-fun-...parties, exhausted kids, and even one day home (each) from school with a low fever and a cough.  We're all worn out by partying, but it was a great holiday with lots of singing, fun, sweets, oily foods and treats for kids.

Then, last night we all went to the school winter concert.  My kids did a great job, it was a lovely concert, lots of good music, dancing, and fun...and we're worn out.  So worn out that when we walked to the car, we saw two people take a tumble on the icy sidewalk ahead.  We saw them get up, we walked on--and then I fell, taking one of the twins with me.  It was like a cartoon.  Suddenly our feet were no longer touching the ground!  Ouch. We're all ok--but I'm mighty sore today.

While this happened: The Jewish Independent ran my article, which I think I'd called
Don't throw your brother in a pit.
They called it "How to treat siblings, others."
(This piece also ran in the Jewish Post & News, if you're a subscriber.)
Note these brothers, modelling my newest design...

Today, I also launched Stripe Freestyle. This is my newest Ravelry design, and it's available ON SALE for 25% off until December 31st at midnight. (Central Time, US & Canada)  Use this coupon code for the discount:
Freestyle
This design will also eventually be available on Love Knitting, but you can take advantage of the sale right now!

Happy knitting,reading, and relaxing--I hope you have an awesome winter break.  Posting may be spotty from now until early January as I will be entertaining two six year olds.  Temperatures here will be dropping steadily after tomorrow. On Sunday, it may warm up to -19C (-2F) so my guess is that we'll be playing inside. :) 

Wipe: fun reusable napkins for cleaning up

 (You may have heard...we've got two busy six year olds.  We get very messy around here!)

In an effort to tame the spills without adding more trash to the environment, we use cloth napkins.  Mostly linen and cotton ones, and you'd be surprised how solemn and grown up linen napkin colors can be.  Since we wash a set of napkins nearly every day, I thought it would be fun to design some hemp knitted ones. 

 Wipe is now live and available on Ravelry,  (and soon will be available on LoveKnitting.com, too) and it's a quick, fun knit.  I used dk weight hemp for these samples, but any washable, absorbent natural fibre is a good bet.  

It uses about 200 yards/183 meters of yarn, and if you want two napkins in two colors, that would be about 100 yards of each color.


In other news, we've had 5 routine medical appointments in our family this week (five!) --we're all fine-- AND, we're having some electrical work done in our house, so it's been a busy week.

So instead, I'd like to focus on sunshine, picnics, and fun knitting projects.
Wipe, my newest design,  is a US$4 download from Ravelry.com.  Please check it out!