knitwear – 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.

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.

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

It’s Gift-A-Long Time Again

November 19, 2015Leave a comment

For those of us involved in the inner workings of the Indie Design GiftALong, the excitement has been building for months. There’s a lot of work that goes into putting on the big show so for us it’s been a slow but steady buildup.

But, for the participants, now is the time to start getting excited! It’s time! Starting tonight, specifically at 8:00 pm EST November 19th, the sale begins and the crafting gets underway. The knitty-gritty of it is thus:

Infographic created by Kimberly Golynskiy

There are 335 participating Independent Designers, who offer knit and crochet patterns. They have selected 5-20 of their self-published patterns to offer at 25% with the coupon code giftalong2015. This sale will run from November 19th at 8pm EST until November 27th at 11:59pm EST. To find out which designers are participating and which of their patterns are on sale, check out this Ravelry thread. Clicking on the designer’s name in their post will take you to their Ravelry store, and further clicking on their GiftALong bundle will take you to their collection of sale items.

The next part of the fun is the actual GiftALong. Join the Indie Design Giftalong Group and join in the chat and crafting in any of the categories with any pattern from a participating designer. There will be lots of games and prizes given out, and anyone working on a not-free pattern from one of the participating designers will be eligible to win. This part of the GAL will run until December 31st at 11:59 pm.

So, if this sounds fun and interesting, as it should, head on over to the group on Ravelry and read the more comprehensive explanation and rules and join the fun! I will be posting more about the GAL and some of the talented participating designers over the next weeks, so stay tuned for more!