knitwear design – Cowtown Knits

Lambton Panes Kits, And How to Get Them

July 11, 2016Leave a comment

There’s something new and exciting coming soon! I’ve been working on a collaboration with Lola from Third Vault Yarns to bring you a pattern that’s going to knock your socks off. But first, a bit of backstory.

Lola and I go to the same southwest London knit night, hosted by the lovely Rachel and Allison from Yarn in the City. I’ve been attending this weekly get together as much as possible since moving, as it’s been a great way for me to meet like-minded people in the new city/country/continent. I’ve gotten to know Lola and admire her mad yarn-dyeing skills over this time.

Recently, Lola mentioned that she was going to have a stand at the upcoming Fibre East in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. We started discussing working together to come up with some new patterns and colourways to package into kits to sell at the show. After brainstorming, we came up with the idea of a shawl using two skeins of Third Vault Yarns Companion 4ply, one in a gradient and one in a complimentary neutral shade. I left that knit night with some of that buttery-soft yarn and started swatching, and Lola went to the dye pots and got to dyeing.

What we’ve come up with is the Lambton Panes shawl. It features traveling, slipped stitches over a background of garter stitch stripes, creating a diamond lattice effect.

The sample is knit with one skein of Blue Steel as the neutral stripes and traveling stitches, and one skein of Cowtown, a custom gradient using my brand colours, for contrast stripes. I’m so excited that Lola created such a cool colourway using the shades of salmon, wheat, and aqua from my brand.

So, where are we going with this? Lola has been dyeing yarns in some gorgeous gradients and semi-solids. She’s made up some of the Cowtown gradient as well as The Poisoned Apple (left) and Hawkeye (right). I’ve seen them in person and I must say, they’re even more gorgeous in real life.

I’ve been working through the editing, testing, and printing process. I’ve already had one tester finish and it’s so pretty!

So here are the important details. The pattern will be released to the general public on Friday, July 29^th, for digital download either through Ravelry, LoveKnitting.com, or here on my website. If you’re lucky enough to be attending Fibre East, you can get your hands on a kit (one gradient, one neutral, 8 stitch markers, and a print copy of the pattern) in person on July 30^th or 31^st, while supplies last. Or, you can visit Third Vault Yarns starting Wednesday, July 13^th, and pre-order your kit for delivery after Fibre East.

That’s all the details for now. Stayed tuned here for more news on another collaboration to be unveiled at Fibre East.

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.

Powder Day Sneak Peek!!!

October 19, 20141 Comment

I’m so darned excited to be putting together my very first collection of patterns, and can’t wait to tell everyone about it.

As you can tell by the name, the Powder Day collection is inspired by those epic days of deep, fresh snow. You know, when a couple very lucky people are the first ones to the top of the hill after a big dump, and they get to make fresh tracks. If those skiers are going for extra cheesy, they can make tracks that look just like this…

I wanted to mimic those figure-eight lines in the snow with a cool cable pattern, so I did. Then I fell in love with the cable and wanted to put it on everything. So I did! Fingerless mitts, a hat, full mitts, and a sweater.

It’s tricky to photograph something with a snow and ski theme when you’re limited to being in the city in October. But that’s what we tried to do this morning. I enlisted the help of 4 beautiful ski buddies, those very same ladies I used to ski with before we all had kids*. We gathered up some vintage skis, hot coffee and warm knits and headed down to an old barn in the middle of the city. I was hoping to pull off an apres ski feel, a bunch of friends hanging out at the lodge and warming up after a great day on the hill.

I will be releasing the patterns one-by-one over the next few months and will eventually group them all together in an e-book when they’re all out. For now, here’s a look at what’s to come.

* We called ourselves BOS back then – Bitches On Skis.

Introducing Kensington Tweed

September 28, 20141 Comment

It’s new pattern time folks! Here we have the lovely Jennifer (my sister) modeling the Kensington Tweed, knit up in Knit Picks City Tweed DK and Knit Picks Palette.

Kensington Tweed is a double-breasted jacket with a classic look. It can be worn to the office with a blouse and dress pants, or dressed-down with a pair of jeans and boots. This is the kind of piece that will be a closet staple.

The jacket is knit from the bottom up with set-in sleeves that are knit in the round from the bottom up and sewn in later. The piece is finished off with an applied I-cord edging around the body, neck and cuffs. The pattern includes a photo tutorial for the I-cord edging.

I would like to say thank you to Anne Marie Hart for the technical editing of this pattern and to all of my wonderful testers for checking to make sure it does what it says it will. Also, a big thanks to my sister Jennifer for being a great model and making the photoshoot a fun morning – I wish we lived closer so you could always be my model (and, you know, because I love you).

As always, the pattern is available for purchase in my Ravelry shop. It is priced at $5.99 but will be 35% off until midnight MST October 13th. Get it while it’s hot!

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.