clothing – Cowtown Knits

It’s a 2-Pattern Kinda’ Day

July 29, 20163 Comments

This is a big day Chez Cowtown Knits. I’ve been working on two collaborations with Third Vault Yarns, and both have just been published. Lola and I chatted about working together on some kits while sitting at Knit Night a couple of months ago. She has dyed up some gorgeous yarn and I designed a couple of patterns that I hope do the yarn justice.

The first pattern is Lambton Panes. This is a top-down shawl featuring garter stitch stripes in a gradient (Cowtown colourway!!!) and a semi-solid, with slipped stitches travelling down to make a lattice pattern. The way the gradient changes through the background makes my heart sing!

The pattern has both charted and written instructions, and a photo tutorial for the two-colour Cast On. And because I have a technical-editor-extraordinaire (aka Eleanor Dixon), the pattern is easy to follow. All of this is to say that there’s no need to be intimidated.

The other new pattern is for the Chainlink Mitts. These are a simple, fun little fingerless mitts with a touch of stranded colourwork. These were designed to highlight Third Vault’s Gytha Worsted yarn and look great with the variegated (Drink Me) colourway as the MC or the CC. If you grab two skeins, you can easily get a couple of pairs of mitts out of it – one for you, one for someone on your gift list.

From now until August 13th, if you purchase both patterns at the same time (both must be in your Ravelry cart at the same time) you’ll get £1.00 off the pair.

Introducing Jodi’s Sweater

June 28, 20161 Comment

Hello! Today I’d like to introduce you to Jodi’s Sweater, a cosy and fun twist on the oversized top.

This piece was inspired by my friend Jodi and this top she had with a twist on the front. As soon as I saw that twist ideas started swirling around in my head about how to make it work as a knitting pattern. The front needed to be reversible, and it had to have some visual interest without being busy. I wanted horizontal stripes, but something that was loose and drapey. I tried lots of different textures and stitch patterns – I mean lots. About a year and a half later it struck me that 2-colour brioche might be just the trick. A few swatches later, lo and behold, that was the one!

Once I had the fabric figured out, I needed to tackle construction. There were a few iterations and extensive trial and error, before I came up with the solution. The front is knit first, sideways, starting with a provisional CO. Then the back is worked from the bottom up, and then seamed with the front. Sleeve stitches are picked up around the armholes, and the rest is easy peasy.

This sweater is all about the details that make it work. And although there are lots of techniques involved that might be new to you – crochet provisional cast on (to start the front), tubular cast on (to start the back), tubular bind off (to finish the sleeves), 2-colour brioche, Latvian braid (in a sneaky little place), I-cord bind off (back neckline) – the instructions are clearly written to help you through. The pattern also includes photo tutorials for some of these special techniques.

I really hope you like Jodi’s Sweater and find it an enjoyable project. It’s been a long time coming to fruition and I’m really proud of it.

Click here here to go to the Ravelry page, or simply hit this handy button to go directly to check out.

The Pippa Toque

June 22, 2016June 22, 2016Leave a comment

I’ve decided to start hosting the Pippa Toque pattern on my website. The pattern is still the same, it’s just downloadable from here now. Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the download link.

Pippa Hero cropped

The Pippa Toque is a cute little hat to keep heads and ears toasty and warm on cold winter days. The close stitches and stranded colour work make this a nice thick fabric for great insulation.

You can find a photo tutorial for making pompoms here in the Tutorials section of the website.

Suggested Yarn
Jil Eaton Minnow Merino; 100% Extra Fine Superwash Merino; 77 yds 70 m / 1.76 oz 50 g.
MC: 2 skeins of Mango (4751).
CC’s: Less than 20 yds each of Elderberry (4727), Snow White (4701), Pinque (4789), Light Blue (4747), and Peacock (4709).

Needles
US #8 5 mm 16” (40 cm) circular and DPNs, long circular for magic loop or two circulars—or size needed to obtain gauge as listed.
US #6 4 mm 16” (40 cm) circular—or 2 sizes smaller than that needed to obtain gauge.

Notions
Stitch marker, tapestry needle.

Gauge
23 stitches and 26 rows / 4 inches 10 cm in Chart 2, blocked.

Sizes
Finished measurement: 13.5 (15.75, 18, 20.25, 22.5)” / 34.5 (40, 45.5, 51.5, 57) cm circumference. Intended to be worn with 1” 2.5 cm of negative ease.
Note: Sample is shown in 18” 45.5 cm.

Skill Level
Intermediate: requires ability to work in the round, stranded colourwork, various increases and decreases.

Click the link below to download the pdf. I hope you enjoy the pattern and the hat!

Pippa Toque V3.1

Or maybe this hero

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.