Design – Page 4 – Cowtown Knits

Naming Contest!

March 5, 20152 Comments

I am excited to let you all know that I’m going to be releasing a new pattern soon! It will be the first in a three-pattern collection centered around a cable motif. The first pattern will be for a throw that’s worked up in gorgeous super-bulky Cascade Magnum. The other two will be pillow covers made with Cascade 220 Superwash. I’m so thrilled with how the first sample came out and am excited to be working on the others.

Here’s my problem: I have absolutely no idea what to name the patterns or the collection. I sat in front of the computer last night for an hour and still came up with nothing but ridiculousness. Seriously, I had convinced myself to name the collection Charles Cable III – with the throw being called Chuck and the pillows Chaz and Charlie. I really need some help.

Here’s my solution: I’m going get someone else to do the naming.

Here’s what you need to do: If you’re a Ravelry member, head on over to the contest thread, read the details, respond to the post with your awesome suggestions. If you’re not a Ravelry member and would like to participate, you can do so by responding to this post.

Here’s what I’m looking for: 4 names – one for the whole collection, one for the throw, one each for the pillow covers.

Here’s what you’ll get: I’ll be picking 2 winners – 1 for the best set of names, 1 randomly chosen from all the entries. Both winners will receive the entire collection when it is released.

And now for some details to get your creative juices flowing:

The colourway for the throw is called Birch, and the colourway for the pillows is called Pacific.

Here’s a picture of the throw:

So hit me with your best suggestions! Can’t wait to see what you all come up with!

Introducing The Heavenly Pullover

January 3, 2015Leave a comment

Here comes the last pattern from the Powder Day collection: The Heavenly Pullover. Heavenly is a top-down, seamless pullover with set-in sleeves. It features a central cable pattern reminiscent of skiers making figure-eight tracks in fresh powder. There are also skiers making side-by-side tracks down from the shoulders. The figure-eight cable also runs down both sleeves while the back is entirely reverse stockinette stitch. The pattern is available on Ravelry and will soon be available on Loveknitting.com for EU customers. Until midnight on January 11th (my birthday), the pattern and the ebook will be available for 36% off. Thanks go again to Eleanor Dixon for technical editing as well as to my great testers. And a huge thank you to Jodi for being such a great model! I had so much fun with this collection, I’m kinda sad to be done. But! I’ve decided I like working in collections so you should expect to see more from me in the future.

Introducing: Kicking Horse Mittens

December 12, 2014Leave a comment

It’s time to release the Kicking Horse Mittens, the third pattern in the Powder Day collection.

The slipped stitches, cables, and thick yarn of these mittens combine to give your hands great insulation on a cold day. The pattern is written from the top down to accommodate various row gauges and hand lengths. Since it can be worked with different row gauges, it is adaptable for many yarns, from worsted to aran weight.

The pattern is available on it’s own, or you can buy the whole collection in the Powder Day e-book.

Thanks go again to Eleanor Dixon for technical editing. And my great crop of test knitters was invaluable this time around, encouraging me to eventually flip this pattern around and write it from the top-down. Finally, thank you to my long-time friend, ski buddy, and former roommate, Gillian, for modelling for me.

Giveaway – Featured Independent Designer: Tori Gurbisz

November 20, 20148 Comments

Time for another independent designer interview and giveaway. Today’s featured designer is Tori Gurbisz of Lachesis and Co.

I asked Tori my Five Questions, and here’s how she answered.

1) Tell us a little about yourself.

I live in Savannah, GA…which is definitely not the knitwear capital of the world! Knitwear design is my full time gig, over the past few months I left all of the little part time jobs I was doing so I could focus more on designing and growing my business. I took up knitting 7 years ago, mainly as something to do with my hands when I quit smoking, I also took up marathon running at the same time. When I first started knitting, I only made lots of squares and rectangles out of big box store acrylic yarn. In 2009 I discovered Ravelry and it really opened up my eyes and gave me the courage to move beyond scarves and Red Heart Super Saver.

2) How did you start designing?

The Malabrigo Junkies Ravelry group has “Malabrigo March” every year and as part of that there is a design contest. For some crazy reason, at the time I had only been seriously knitting for about a year, I decided that I would enter. So I sketched and swatched and came up with my Belmondo Shawl. I didn’t win the contest, but once that one design was out there I couldn’t stop. It amazed me, because I didn’t think I would have many more good ideas after that one. Little did I know that it would get to the point where I now have more sketches in notebooks, on the back of napkins and on post-it notes than I could ever have the time to make!

3) How would you describe your design style?

This is a stumper! I don’t know how I would describe my style. Basically it is me…the things I design are the things that I either like to knit or that I like to wear. I never took the time to decide on an aesthetic, I always go with what is inspiring me the most at the moment and screaming “knit me!” the loudest.

4) What is your favourite pattern of your own design?

This changes a lot! Belmondo gets worn the most and last winter you could not get me to take off Adrastea.

5) Are you doing any gift knitting this year?

I usually don’t do much gift knitting, I am a big Christmas baker. All of my immediate family members, which are strewn across the US, get big boxes of homemade cookies, candies and snacks from me. I occasionally include some small knitted items in the goodie boxes, like anything from Anna Hrachovec or Pint Sized Pines by Julie Tarsha. I have been meaning to make my boyfriend a Star Wars Admiral Ackbar Sock Monkey by Carbonscoring for at least the past 2 Christmases…this year I might actually get to it!

Thank you so much Tori for answering all of my questions. You can find Tori’s Gift-A-Long bundle here, where you will find all of the patterns that she has on sale for 25% off until Friday, November 21st at midnight EST.

Tori has been gracious enough to offer up a free pattern or e-book to one lucky winner. Leave a comment below, telling us your favourite Lachesis and Co. design, before midnight MST on Saturday, November 22nd and I will do a draw the next day to choose a winner. Good luck!

GIVEAWAY – Featured Independent Designer – Janelle Martin

November 17, 20145 Comments

Today’s featured independent designer is Janelle Martin of Eclectic Closet.

Janelle Martin

I asked Janelle my Five Questions, and here is how she answered:

1) Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve been a knitter for more than 30 years and I love it more each year. I’ve been teaching and designing a number of years and this past August I taught outside of Ontario for the first time, at Lancaster Yarn Shop in Lancaster County, PA and at Cast On! Cast Off! in St. John’s, NL.

I was awarded the 2011-2012 Sally Melville Award (KW Knitters’ Guild), awarded (by members’ votes) to “the knitter who has most inspired its members.” What makes it such a special award is that Sally was such an inspiration to me when I was a young knitter. She was one of the cofounders of our local knitter’s guild, a guild filled with a number of innovative knitting designers such as Sally and Debbie New. This past spring I was honoured to receive the Amy Hallman Snyder Textile, Fibre and Quilting Arts Award at the 26^th Annual Arts Awards Waterloo Region.

2) How did you start designing?

I started designing just to see if I could do it. A number of people had suggested that I should design but I had never really thought of myself as creative. I took painting and drawing courses in high school and university but felt I didn’t have a message or esthetic I wanted to share in those mediums. I was always drawn to collage work and I think, for me, designing knits is closest to this process. I start with my “blank canvas” by choosing the shape of the piece I want and then I combine stitch patterns to create the texture upon that canvas.

3) How would you describe your design style?

The exciting part for me is creating organic designs. I like there to be continuous lines in my work, for the stitch patterns to grow out of each other. Often this means I have to create transition charts to move from one stitch pattern into the other. My complex lace designs, such as Cartouche Shawl or Flower Bell Stole, often have five or six charts to handle these transitions, but the result is worth it.

I’m most drawn to lace and cables, but especially Japanese stitch patterns for lace. I own a large collection of stitch dictionaries and spend a lot of time contemplating ways to combine different stitch patterns. I then work up stitch charts to combine the various elements and then swatch to see how they work on the needles.

4) What is your favourite pattern of your own design?

Each new design that I release becomes a favourite at the time, but I do have a few personal favourites. I keep coming back to the stitch patterns most recently used in the Cartouche Stole and I have two other designs in the works that utilize elements from the stole. Obviously I’m not done with these stitch patterns yet!

For personal wear at the moment I’d have to pick the Fossetta Cowl (how can you beat the cuddly warmth of Yak?) and New Tech Cowl.

5) Are you doing any gift knitting this year?

This year I’m limiting myself to small gifts, leggings for my niece and a hat for my nephew. The past few years I’ve knit a lot of Christmas gifts so I decided to give myself a break this year. Too many years where I was still finishing knitting gifts early on Christmas morning!

All photographs used by permission, copyright Janelle Martin. Top photo taken by Janelle’s dad, all others by Shawn Miller.

Thank you so much to Janelle for sharing your story with us!

To celebrate the Gift-A-Long, Janelle and I would like to offer you the opportunity to win one of her patterns. To enter, have a look through Janelle’s patterns and leave a comment below telling us which is your favourite. Leave your comment before midnight MST Thursday, November 20th and I will do a draw the next day to choose a winner. Good luck everyone!