Finally!
Today I published the first pattern and launched the ebook I first dreamed up two years ago.
The Light Reel Cowl went live on Ravelry this morning. And after getting things situated, I added All the Jigs and Reels as a source/ebook. So now I can give an approximate timeline of the patterns:
Light Reel Cowl today (Sept 26, 2018)
Light Jig Tam Oct 2018 (10th-ish; it's in test knitting currently)
Single Jig Mittens Dec 2018
Slip Jig Shawl Feb 2019
Treble Reel Toque March 2019
Treble Jig Legwarmers April 2019
Hornpipe Bag May 2019
These are approximate release times; it will depend on my tech editor's workload and how test knits go.
In addition to the patterns listed, which will be sold both in the ebook and singly for those who only want one or two, there are 2 additional patterns that will be exclusive to the ebook. As they are sister designs to two of the above, they'll be released with those patterns. Tentatively that'll make Dec and Feb bonus months ;)
Here's the link to the Light Reel Cowl and to All the Jigs and Reels
That's all my excitement!
TTFN
Showing posts with label All the Jigs and Reels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All the Jigs and Reels. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
Big Things in 2018?
I'm nearing the finish line with my fabulous Yarn Quest 2017 "Heroes of Yarnia" scarf. I was keeping up with the MKAL but then something went awry with my knitting brain and I set it aside, and then I jumped back to my design ideas, and now I'm back at the double knitting.
One of the reasons I'm back on the double knitting bandwagon is Ravelry's newish (it came out a few weeks ago) challenge feature. Have you checked it out? There's a tab in your projects and you can set it to however many projects you want and you can adjust it anytime. The cool thing is it pulls your queued projects and WIPs that have deadlines entered for this year so you can see your plans in one spot. That's new too, being able to add deadlines to WIPs or projects that you don't have queued. And it's not just items in your plan that count in your finished tally, anything finished with a finished date in 2018 counts.
So this handy tool has lead to me cleaning up the old WIPs list and setting real goals for my projects. I hibernated a couple things that I'm tempted to frog, but would probably regret doing so. I gave HoY a deadline of Feb 1; more than year since I cast-on. I want to wear it! And I need to stop procrastinating about it. I can happily say I'm 36 charted rows away from finishing :) That feels good.
My reason for the Feb 1 deadline is twofold: A) I want it done and I'm darn close, and B) the Ravellenic Games are just around the corner!
Yes, it's that time and an even numbered year! Ravellenics time! And I've set myself two tasks. The first is to frog, Aerial Unwind ;) , my Find Your Fade shawl. Love the pattern, love the wool (Sock it to Me Dankai) but together they're not doing anything for me. I know there are better pattern fits for the yarn so I'm reclaiming it! Power to the Frog Pond!
And seeing as how I haven't done anything overly insane lately, (and yes, I'm including the whole ebook idea; hang on I have an update on that too!) I went looking for a pattern I bought ages ago. Like 1999-2001. Seriously, ages ago. It was for an Irish dance dress to fit an 18 inch doll. It was in the style of that time too; no drop waist, flouncy skirt for this one. Gorgeous single panel front on the skirt with full skirt behind, an embroidered/Swiss darned border around the edge and cuffs. Very similar to what I'd wear when we got our dresses done when I was dancing with ICoR. So I googled. I went through all 173 pages of knitted doll clothes in the Ravelry database. The pattern and website are nowhere to be found. And seeing as how I'd stayed up all night (it was around 4:30am at this point), I decided I'd design one and use it as my Ravellenics major project. I even have some sparkly yarn just right for the task (Bernat Satin Sparkle, btw; really nice to work with and it's acrylic so sold at Walmart and other easily accesible places). I've even swatched* a few types of pleats to get the shape I want. (*swatching is considered training, as long as you don't cast-on the actual project). As a brief aside, if you're in need of an excellent video tutorial on box pleats, I highly recommend this one from Purls Soho.
I'm going off what I recall the other pattern looking like and what my ICoR dress was shaped like. And I have had a couple requests, so if all goes well the pattern will be made available through Knit-Dance-Repeat Designs on Ravelry. Another appropriate design for my little endeavor :)
Ok, speaking of my little endeavor and goals and planning and all that good and sometimes not so fun stuff! The ebook of designs based on the seven basic solo dances in Irish dance (aka "All the Jigs and Reels") is progressing. I have set myself a goal of having the final 4 prototypes done by June 1st. Then it's tech editing everything and some testknitting and hopefully it'll be released in time for some late summer/early fall knitting time so there are warm woolies ready before the cold hits again. That's the plan at this point in time. And everything is going really well with all the designs except one. No shocker it's a hardshoe dance giving me trouble but it's the treble jig not the reel, unlike dance class! Ha!
The collection consists of a cowl, a tam, mittens (bonus fingerless mitts with this too), a cloak (options for 1 or 2 colors and hood or collar), a toque, and a scarf. All the designs involve cables; the cloak can be done with intarsia (2 color version), the toque has short-rows in the ribbing, and the scarf incorporates double knitting. I just need to find what the treble jig wants to be represented as. At this point, it may be legwarmers. Does anyone besides dancers wear them anymore? The pondering continues as I forge through the swath of knitting that is the body of the cloak. It makes a nice blanket on the lap on these cooler days (-9°C, feels like -17°C with the wind here today) and that with a cuppa tea and my feline supervisors makes it quite cozy :)
Well, dear readers, that's all my news!
TTFN!
One of the reasons I'm back on the double knitting bandwagon is Ravelry's newish (it came out a few weeks ago) challenge feature. Have you checked it out? There's a tab in your projects and you can set it to however many projects you want and you can adjust it anytime. The cool thing is it pulls your queued projects and WIPs that have deadlines entered for this year so you can see your plans in one spot. That's new too, being able to add deadlines to WIPs or projects that you don't have queued. And it's not just items in your plan that count in your finished tally, anything finished with a finished date in 2018 counts.
So this handy tool has lead to me cleaning up the old WIPs list and setting real goals for my projects. I hibernated a couple things that I'm tempted to frog, but would probably regret doing so. I gave HoY a deadline of Feb 1; more than year since I cast-on. I want to wear it! And I need to stop procrastinating about it. I can happily say I'm 36 charted rows away from finishing :) That feels good.
My reason for the Feb 1 deadline is twofold: A) I want it done and I'm darn close, and B) the Ravellenic Games are just around the corner!
Yes, it's that time and an even numbered year! Ravellenics time! And I've set myself two tasks. The first is to frog, Aerial Unwind ;) , my Find Your Fade shawl. Love the pattern, love the wool (Sock it to Me Dankai) but together they're not doing anything for me. I know there are better pattern fits for the yarn so I'm reclaiming it! Power to the Frog Pond!
And seeing as how I haven't done anything overly insane lately, (and yes, I'm including the whole ebook idea; hang on I have an update on that too!) I went looking for a pattern I bought ages ago. Like 1999-2001. Seriously, ages ago. It was for an Irish dance dress to fit an 18 inch doll. It was in the style of that time too; no drop waist, flouncy skirt for this one. Gorgeous single panel front on the skirt with full skirt behind, an embroidered/Swiss darned border around the edge and cuffs. Very similar to what I'd wear when we got our dresses done when I was dancing with ICoR. So I googled. I went through all 173 pages of knitted doll clothes in the Ravelry database. The pattern and website are nowhere to be found. And seeing as how I'd stayed up all night (it was around 4:30am at this point), I decided I'd design one and use it as my Ravellenics major project. I even have some sparkly yarn just right for the task (Bernat Satin Sparkle, btw; really nice to work with and it's acrylic so sold at Walmart and other easily accesible places). I've even swatched* a few types of pleats to get the shape I want. (*swatching is considered training, as long as you don't cast-on the actual project). As a brief aside, if you're in need of an excellent video tutorial on box pleats, I highly recommend this one from Purls Soho.
I'm going off what I recall the other pattern looking like and what my ICoR dress was shaped like. And I have had a couple requests, so if all goes well the pattern will be made available through Knit-Dance-Repeat Designs on Ravelry. Another appropriate design for my little endeavor :)
Ok, speaking of my little endeavor and goals and planning and all that good and sometimes not so fun stuff! The ebook of designs based on the seven basic solo dances in Irish dance (aka "All the Jigs and Reels") is progressing. I have set myself a goal of having the final 4 prototypes done by June 1st. Then it's tech editing everything and some testknitting and hopefully it'll be released in time for some late summer/early fall knitting time so there are warm woolies ready before the cold hits again. That's the plan at this point in time. And everything is going really well with all the designs except one. No shocker it's a hardshoe dance giving me trouble but it's the treble jig not the reel, unlike dance class! Ha!
The collection consists of a cowl, a tam, mittens (bonus fingerless mitts with this too), a cloak (options for 1 or 2 colors and hood or collar), a toque, and a scarf. All the designs involve cables; the cloak can be done with intarsia (2 color version), the toque has short-rows in the ribbing, and the scarf incorporates double knitting. I just need to find what the treble jig wants to be represented as. At this point, it may be legwarmers. Does anyone besides dancers wear them anymore? The pondering continues as I forge through the swath of knitting that is the body of the cloak. It makes a nice blanket on the lap on these cooler days (-9°C, feels like -17°C with the wind here today) and that with a cuppa tea and my feline supervisors makes it quite cozy :)
Well, dear readers, that's all my news!
TTFN!
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Not Quite Fall Catch Up and a Sneak Peek
Sorry, it's been a bit since I posted. There's been knitting afoot (not an actual foot, don't worry) and many pieces of graph paper have found their way to the recycle pile after being scribbled upon (Not to self: buy more graph paper).
It's back to school day here on my lovely island. I saw on Facebook that the kids back on the prairies went back the usual 2-3 days before the Long Weekend; still strikes me as nonsensical. I digress. It's the unofficial end of Summer now that they're back to their books and most adults are done with their vacations. Even traffic was quieter this morning when I popped over to the PO before making my way here. Still 16 days before Fall officially gets here but we all know it's creeping ever closer...
Which, of course, brings me to knitting. Because knitting keeps us warm as temperatures dwindle. And knitting is what I do regardless of season/ weather lol.
I'm up to 19 Finished Objects so far this year!!
This year's Ravellenic Games kicked off Aug 5th. The mass cast-on took place at 7:15pm Rio time, which was 7:45pm here; the first time I can recall actually being able to participate in the Mass Cast-on! Although I wasn't online during it; oh well. Maybe in 2 years I can have both. Anywho, I cast on my "Inamorata" and set to work aiming to be finished before Aug 21 and earn medal glory for Team Mine.
Things didn't quite go as planned. First, I completed the bodice on Aug 11, which was excellent. I was well ahead of where I needed to be to finish in time. And then I couldn't find the 4.0mm circular needle I needed to continue the pattern. I went through my needles in the lead up to the Games. I swatched and earmarked the needed needles for the pattern; a 3.75mm for the bodice (twisted sts) and a 4.0mm for the lower part (eyelets). But I could not find the 4.0mm!! It was MIA. My Ravellenics project had to be set aside until the 16th when I could get to Wally World and buy another. (As an aside, after the sweater was done, I was sorting through my circulars and I found 2 24" 4.0mm circulars in the box; Grrrrrrr!) I finished the sweater with 1 day to spare, on Aug 20th. And here it is:
It's back to school day here on my lovely island. I saw on Facebook that the kids back on the prairies went back the usual 2-3 days before the Long Weekend; still strikes me as nonsensical. I digress. It's the unofficial end of Summer now that they're back to their books and most adults are done with their vacations. Even traffic was quieter this morning when I popped over to the PO before making my way here. Still 16 days before Fall officially gets here but we all know it's creeping ever closer...
Which, of course, brings me to knitting. Because knitting keeps us warm as temperatures dwindle. And knitting is what I do regardless of season/ weather lol.
I'm up to 19 Finished Objects so far this year!!
This year's Ravellenic Games kicked off Aug 5th. The mass cast-on took place at 7:15pm Rio time, which was 7:45pm here; the first time I can recall actually being able to participate in the Mass Cast-on! Although I wasn't online during it; oh well. Maybe in 2 years I can have both. Anywho, I cast on my "Inamorata" and set to work aiming to be finished before Aug 21 and earn medal glory for Team Mine.
Things didn't quite go as planned. First, I completed the bodice on Aug 11, which was excellent. I was well ahead of where I needed to be to finish in time. And then I couldn't find the 4.0mm circular needle I needed to continue the pattern. I went through my needles in the lead up to the Games. I swatched and earmarked the needed needles for the pattern; a 3.75mm for the bodice (twisted sts) and a 4.0mm for the lower part (eyelets). But I could not find the 4.0mm!! It was MIA. My Ravellenics project had to be set aside until the 16th when I could get to Wally World and buy another. (As an aside, after the sweater was done, I was sorting through my circulars and I found 2 24" 4.0mm circulars in the box; Grrrrrrr!) I finished the sweater with 1 day to spare, on Aug 20th. And here it is:
I used Diamond Luxury Collection Fine Merino DK in color 8974, a bluer aqua shade. So I was awarded my medal in the Sweater Triathalon by Bobicus :) I also earned the coveted laurels for cables (the bodice), lace (the eyelets and bottom edging), stash (over 6 months? pooh, this yarn was in my stash more like 5 years!!) and mine (this beauty is mine! all mine! mwahahahah!!). I think I did alright by my team.
My last post, I mentioned a series of patterns my little mind has come up with. The first of the seven is done! And by done, I mean knitting is finished, the picture has been snapped and I have both written and chart forms finished! It's not released yet as I want to have at least half the designs ready so i can have the ebook set up at the same time. Drum-roll, please...
Here it is, the "Light Reel Cowl"!
Moss st and rope cables, in a worsted weight wool (shown in Knit Picks "Wool of the Andes Worsted" color: currant), the Light Reel Cowl is a fairly simple piece to knit. I started knitting it on Aug 20 and cast off on Aug 24; hence FO #19 for 2016!!
I'm calling the series/ ebook "All the Jigs and Reels". My inspiration is the 7 basic solo dances I learned in Irish dance. I'm going more or less in order of learning, so my first piece is the Light Reel Cowl, the light reel being the first dance learned after, more or less, mastering your 3s and 7s. In the introduction paragraph, I compare 3s and 7s to knit and purls for a dancer; I can be almost poetic at times! The cables are 4sts wide and have a 4rnd repeat; reels are in 4/4 time. And I used 7 repeats of my basic layout to form the cowl circumference; 7s move the dancer from side to side across the practice floor or stage. I might have been stretching with that last one lol.
The second pattern is in the works; I have the knitting roughly half done, as I've been tweaking the rough chart as I knit and making adjustments here and there. It's called the "Light Jig Tam" and features a braid cable (6sts) centered in each of 8 wedges of Moss st; light jigs are in 6/8 time ;) I'm knitting this one top-down in a worsted weight wool and am absolutely in love with both yarn and color (Patons Classic Wool in "royal blue"; very me, very yummy). Unfortunately no pics yet. As soon as I can, I will get a few and share.
Next up will be a project, as yet undecided, inspired by the Single Jig and following that (and rounding out the soft-shoes dances) will be the "Slip Jig Shawl". I'm looking forward to that one!! I love shawls and the slip jig has always been my favorite dance :) I'll round out the series with the three hardshoe basics: treble reel, treble jig and hornpipe. I'm introducing each pattern with a short bit about the dance it gets its name from. I'm hoping to have both functional, knittable designs and educate people on my second love: Irish dance. I think it's a perfect pairing for Knit, Dance, Repeat Designs.
And that, my friends, is all the knitterly (and dancerly) news I have to share with you :) Hope you have lots of wonderful knits ready for the cooler weather!
TTFN
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