fashion – Page 3 – Cowtown Knits

Giveaway – Featured Independent Designer: Michelle Krause

November 28, 20144 Comments

I was fortunate to have Michelle Krause of Leah Michelle Designs agree to an interview with me for the final installment of my designer series.

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

1) Tell us a little about yourself.

I live in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, which is in northern Canada. I have lived here pretty well all my life so knitwear has always been a staple in my wardrobe. I can’t imagine not living in knitwear! I learned to knit when I was young but didn’t stick with it. I always meant to get back to it but didn’t until I had my own children and decided that I was going to knit hats and mittens for them. I started knitting obsessively and haven’t stopped since.

I am still knitting for my kids, who are teenagers now, and for my husband and of course for myself. I am a teacher and school administrator but I’m on my year off right now – so I have even more time for knitting – yay!

2) How did you start designing?

I often modified the patterns I was knitting and there were certain things I always changed to fit my needs or my style. So I just eventually decided that I should write my own patterns to share those techniques or ideas that I thought were important. I gave it a try and it became very addictive! For me it brings together so many things I enjoy – knitting, creating, writing, publishing. It is very rewarding.

3) How would you describe your design style?

That’s a hard question to answer. I just design what feels right to me and that is hard to put into words. I guess the words I would use to describe my design style would be: uncomplicated, clean, simple, symmetrical, natural, textural, luxurious. I love to work with luxurious fibres like wool, silk, and cashmere.

I design accessories, which are great for gift knitting, probably because most of my own knitting has always been accessories that I give to others.

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

That changes all the time. Right now my favourite pattern is my Fashion Forward Cowl. It is big and squishy and warm. I’m really in love with it.

My first scarf pattern – Just A Little Twist – will always have a special place in my heart because it was my first paid pattern and it sold really well when I published it. It was such a thrill!

Just a little twist

5) Are you doing any gift knitting this year?

My holiday gift knitting is always primarily for my mom and for my sister. They are my biggest fans and I always knit for them at Christmas. So yes, I have ordered the yarn and I will be getting to work on that very, very soon. I can’t give away all the details here (they could be listening), but I might be knitting a Fashion Forward Hat or two this season!

I’d like to thank Michelle so much for her great answers. It’s been a real pleasure browsing through her designs for this interview, they really are gorgeous.

Michelle has been so generous to keep the tradition of providing a free pattern to one commenter on the interview. So, leave a comment below, telling us your favourite Leah Michelle Designs pattern, before midnight MST on Tuesday, December 1st and I will do a draw the next day to choose a winner. Good luck!

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!

Atticus Pullover

August 4, 20145 Comments

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

Introducing the Beverly Beach Shirt

April 28, 20147 Comments

Woohoo! The first new pattern in a long time! More exclamation points!!! The process of designing and perfecting a sweater pattern is long. But it’s pretty satisfying in the end.

And here she is, Beverly…

The Beverly Beach shirt is knit in one piece as a rectangle, starting at the bottom front edge and ending with the bottom back edge. Garter stitch button bands are knit along both sides as you go, with buttonholes along the front and buttons along the back. The buttons join the front to the back, making this a seamless knit.

Sizes: XS (S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL), fits bust sizes 28 (32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52)” [71 (81, 91, 102, 112, 122, 132) cm].
This top is meant to be loose fitting and is designed with a generous amount of ease. Sample shown is size M modeled on a 34”/86 cm bust. Please refer to the detailed schematic in the pattern to determine your appropriate size.

Back

Laid out

The release of this pattern also marks the debut of my new pattern layout. Check out the front page and tell me what you think!

Sneak Peeks

April 26, 2014Leave a comment

You may have already figured out by my lack of posting much lately, but my knitting and designing mojo all but disappeared in the new year. After such a busy and crazy push leading up to the holidays I decided to take a bit of a break, but then it was really hard to get back into it.

This is not to say I haven’t been puttering here and there. I did finish a new design, which is just now finishing up testing and getting the last look-over from my editor. Look for its release early next week.

I also got some motivation to come up with something new when my kids’ preschool requested some items for a silent auction. I fiddled around with some colourwork and landed upon something I’m kinda excited about. The hat pattern is mostly written but it’s not exactly the right season to release anything wintery so I’m going to hold onto that one until fall. Until then, here is a sneak peek, working on it in my new favourite place to knit…

Hanalei beach shot

Finally, I’ve just finished writing up a pattern for a striped pullover in kids’ sizes. The Atticus sweater is off to the editor for the first round of revisions and will be in testing soon. Here’s a quick look for now…

So, even though it’s been a little slow around here lately, I think I’ve finally got back into the swing of things. I’ll be posting some more in the next few days about some other exciting goings-on around the land of Cowtown Knits.