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.

Oslo

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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!

Back

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

Introducing Hearts and Butterflies

New pattern day!

happy eloise

Despite my best efforts, my little girl is as girly as they come. When asked what she wanted on her hat the answer was definitively “Hearts, with a butterfly on top.” Well, my girl, ask and ye shall receive. I present you with the girliest hat ever.

Hearts and Butterflies
This hat features an all-over heart design knit using stranded colorwork. The bottom of the hat is hemmed, providing a nice thick band to keep ears nice and toasty on cold days. There are also instructions for the optional butterfly to be sewn on after.

Hero Shot

Sizes:   Preemie (Newborn, Baby, Toddler, Child or Teen, Adult), fits 12 (14, 16, 18, 20, 22)” [30 (35, 40, 45, 50, 55) cm] circumference.

Another big thanks goes out to Eleanor Dixon for technical editing, and to the adorable Eloise (aka Doodie) for modeling!

From now until the end of Saturday, Dec. 7th, the pattern is available for 50% off!

And don’t forget, this is also eligible for all the Gift-A-Long fun!