Dublin

Welcome to Dublin – the penultimate pattern in Travel Knits for the Family, and a city in Ireland.

TKFTF 28 web

The pattern is for a versatile cardigan to throw in your bag to keep you warm when those travel days get cold. It features a leaf lace pattern than flows from the shoulders down the sleeves and is integrated into the ribbing at the cuffs. The same ribbing and leaf lace pattern is repeated at the bottom of the body as well.

TKFTF 30 web

It’s designed with generous ease and no shaping to make it easy to layer on over anything. That being said, the body is a blank canvas to add shaping if you’d like to modify it.

TKFTF 31 web

The pattern is worked from the top down, seamlessly, beginning with the lace shoulders. After the shoulders are worked, the back is worked to the underarm, followed by each front. Then the body is joined and worked to the bottom. The lace pattern is continued down the sleeves as they are worked from the top down, with short-row sleeve caps. The collar is worked, followed finally by the button bands. The lace pattern is provided as both charted and written instructions.

TKFTF 33 web

For this pattern I was so lucky to get my hands on Travelknitter’s new DK weight Blue Faced Leicester yarn. This yarn was a dream to work with, and of course the colour is outstanding, as are all the Travelknitter colourways (really, every single one). You can check them out at the Travelknitter online shop when it’s open and stocked. But if you’re lucky enough to be heading to Woollinn Dublin this weekend, you can grab the yarn and the book at the Travelknitter booth. Larissa will have a limited number of Travel Knits for the Family books for purchase at her booth, and I believe you’ll also be able to check out a second sample of the Dublin cardigan there as well.

I wish I was going to be in Dublin for the festival this weekend as well (though that would mean missing the launch party at The Loop here in Calgary, so maybe not). We visited Dublin for a quick weekend trip at the end of the summer of 2016. We strolled around St. Stephen’s Green, learning about the Easter Uprising. We visited the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, as well as The Old Library and the Book of Kells at Trinity College. We took the best bus tour I’d ever been on – the driver provided the commentary, which was equal parts hilarious and educational, all while winding us through the narrow streets of Dublin. We finished off the weekend with a pub lunch along the river Liffey while listening to Irish folk tunes while it drizzled outside, which was perfection. Our main regret for that trip was that we didn’t get to see any of the rest of Ireland – so we’ll have to go back!

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(PS. I included the photo where Atticus is hanging his head to show that traveling with kids isn’t always a party. They were both really cranky that day, which happens. It can make it really hard to enjoy, but it’s rarely what we remember from a trip.)

For more information about Travel Knits for the Family, get all the details here.

Paris

It’s now time to introduce you to Paris, the next pattern from Travel Knits for the Family.

TKFTF 23 web

It’s a beautiful sweater with a simple but attractive all-over texture as well as garter stripe edgings. Knit from the top-down with a Raglan construction, it is sized to fit from babies all the way up to teenagers.

 

 

TKFTF 22 web

This sweater, like the Oslo mittens, can be adjusted for different members of the family. The instructions are written with pullover or cardigan options, and are easy to follow throughout.

TKFTF 16 web

The samples were knit with beautiful Brooklyn Tweed Arbor. The yarn is so soft and lovely for kids-wear and shows off the textured pattern so nicely. You can use 1 skein each of the contrast colours and you should have enough to do at least two sweaters.

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We visited Paris a handful of times during our time in London. Whenever we had visitors come from Canada we liked to take a weekend to hop on the Eurostar and show them Paris as well. We visited at Christmas time with my parents and enjoyed hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts in the Christmas market along the Champs Elysees. When my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came last spring we ventured to the top of the Eiffel Tower (well, some of us anyway). And when some of my very best friends came to visit we had a ladies’ weekend where we saw the sights, but mostly enjoyed fantastic food and wine. One of my favourite things about Paris is that there’s always something more to see and do.

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For more information about Travel Knits for the Family, get all the details here.

Bergen

Bergen is a beautiful city in Norway, and it’s also the first pattern in Travel Knits for the Family.

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The pattern is for a toque/beanie/knit hat/cap/toboggan (choose the name applicable for your region of the world), designed to fit from babies to adults. It features a simple cable pattern that creates a beautiful lattice effect, as well as a ribbed brim that can be knit to your desired length for folding over or not.

Kate6556

The hat can be worked in just about any worsted or aran weight yarn, but I have to tell you how much I enjoyed working with the Gytha Worsted from Third Vault Yarns. The colours are gorgeous and it is so soft and squishy to work with. I chose semi-solid colours to work with here – Inara, and Blue Steel – but I think the hat would also look nice in a variegated colourway.

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We visited Bergen in the Fall of 2017, and what a lovely city it was! The weather was dreary, wet, and cool, but that just added to the atmosphere of the fjords. We enjoyed visiting all the little shops in the old wooden buildings of Bryggen, and walking along the harbour and sampling different sea foods at the fish market.

 

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And of course, there are loads of yarn shops in Bergen. Norway has the most fantastic  knitting culture, which seems to be embraced by the entire population. The majority of the tourist shops had racks and racks of hand knit sweaters, mitts, and hats, as well as other woolly goods. I wanted to buy everything, but settled for 3 gorgeous skeins of Rauma Prydvevgarn and a gorgeous wool blanket.

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For more information about Travel Knits for the Family, get all the details here.

Re-Introducing the Pippa Toque

Check it out folks, I re-worked the Pippa Toque!

Or maybe this hero

The previous version was written with yarn that had been discontinued. Although most people are comfortable with substituting yarn, others like to use the exact one called for in the pattern. I have recently fallen in love with the vivid, saturated colours of Jil Eaton Minnow Merino yarn and thought it would be perfect for this project. I was right!

New Pippa Hero

I also wanted to update the pattern for more sizes and lay it out in my new pattern format. The pattern is now available in 5 sizes, from baby to adult.

So cute

All of this updating happened in a bit of a rush because I needed to have it ready for a fun event that’s happening tomorrow. I’ll have a booth (for the very first time) at the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair! If you stop by you can see all of my samples and even grab a free print copy of the Pippa Toque pattern.  There will lots of other vendors and classes going on, and I’ve heard there’s some great door prizes! Please stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!

To find the free digital version of the pattern, click here! I hope you like it!

Atticus Pullover

It’s knitting season again! I know, it’s really hot now, but fall is just around the corner. Now is the time to start that new sweater so that it’s ready for when those crisp days set in. With fall comes school, which calls for back to school clothes. So let me ever-so-modestly suggest you knit your little ones an Atticus Pullover to keep them warm at the bus stop this year.

A Mother’s Side Note: I’m so excited that I can finally share these pictures of Atticus. He’s so freakin’ cute in them it kills me!

Hero

My boy likes a lot of colour, and would be quite happy to wear the whole rainbow all the time. This is my toned-down version of his vision, lots of colour but not so much that your eyes cross.
The sweater is very simple but the stripe pattern makes it lots of fun. The piece is designed with generous ease to fit over a shirt and to grow with the child.

Other great front picture

The sample was knit in Cascade 220, a worsted-weight, 100% wool yarn. The pattern is written in 8 sizes, from 2 to 16, and fits with about 4″ of ease.

Close up

Thanks goes out again to Eleanor Dixon for Technical Editing, and to all my wonderful testers! I hope you all enjoy this new pattern as much as I do!

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The pattern is $6.00 US, but is on sale for $3.00 until midnight MST on August 17th.