fashion – Cowtown Knits

Dublin

May 23, 2018May 22, 20185 Comments

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

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.

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.

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.

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

May 17, 20186 Comments

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Copenhagen

May 14, 2018Leave a comment

It’s time to introduce Copenhagen, the third pattern from Travel Knits for the Family.

There were a few times in our travels when our accommodations were a bit on the chilly side – usually in little old British country cottages. We started to bring slippers along on those trips and they were always much appreciated. These little foot warmers are nice and compact to fit into your suitcase without taking up too much space (more room for knitting projects!)

These slippers are almost as much fun to knit as they are to wear. They are worked in 4 sections, seamlessly, using a variety of techniques to achieve a great fit and a great look.

Our trip to Copenhagen was quick and lovely. We checked out lots of Copenhagen, but didn’t take a lot of photos because it was pretty cold. We took a boat tour of the harbour, which was a great way to see lots of the city. We ate lots of open-faced sandwiches. And we met friends who lived there and visited the National Museum of Denmark together.

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

Oslo

May 11, 2018Leave a comment

The next pattern in Travel Knits for the Family is named after the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway.

The pattern is for some very versatile mittens. They feature the same cable and rib pattern as the Bergen hat, but in mitten form. And for those who are more adventurous and need some extra warmth, the pattern has optional thrums worked into the centre of the cables. If this is your first time working thrums, there is a handy photo tutorial at the back of the book to walk you through it.

The magic of the pattern is that it comes with lots of variations. Make them fingerless, full mittens, or flip-top. And you also have the choice to make them with thrums or not. For my family we ended up with two pairs of thrummed mittens – one flip-top and one full mitten – and two pairs without thrums – one fingerless and one full mitten.

We visited Oslo in the Fall of 2017. We spent a day and a half in the city, exploring the abundant museums, the opera house, and the harbour area. The highlight of the trip though was the train ride from Oslo to Bergen. It’s actually billed as one of the top train journeys in the world, with good reason. It leaves from Oslo and winds its way through forests, lakes, and fields up to snow-capped mountains and rushing streams, and then back down through beautiful fjords on the way to Bergen. I tried to take lots of photos through the train windows, but in the end I decided to just enjoy the view.

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

Introducing Norfolk Boot Toppers

October 12, 20163 Comments

It’s time for another new pattern. This is the first in a 3-pattern accessory set with a British theme, named after British places and using British yarn. (The boot toppers are named after the county of Norfolk as that’s where we were spending the weekend when I first started knitting them.) To celebrate UK Wool Week, I’m offering this first Great British Accessory Set pattern for 50% off until October 16, 2016.

The pattern is knit in Erika Knight Vintage Wool, a 100% British wool which is great for colourwork. It’s a pleasure to knit with, and comes in lots of lovely colours.

I know that some people are intimidated by colourwork, but you’ve got nothing to fear here. The pattern is done entirely with stripes and slipped stitches – you never work more than one colour per round. It’s a project that looks a lot harder than it actually is, so you’re bound to impress when you give these as a gift! The pattern also has photo tutorials for optional tubular cast-on and bind-off, as well as Kitchener stitch for the optional tubular bind-off, so it’s a great one for learning a new trick or two.

You can find the pattern on my Ravelry designer page here. Or just click the “buy now” button below to go directly to the Ravelry checkout.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the next two patterns in the Great British Accessory Set!