Get your market admission coupon here ($2 off)!  Come see me in Booth 940!

Sign up for my newsletter by emailing me (see sidebar) and get a coupon for any pattern purchases made at the show!

I’ll have samples of Multnomah Falls, Colette, a new Burana Jacket (in Noro Silk Garden Chunky), Wanda, my new Eyeclops stuffed toy, and other new patterns!  I’ll also have Eucalan in three sizes and scents, hand-dyed fiber and yarn, soaps, greeting cards, Fiber Fiend t-shirts, pins, and tote bags, spindles, project bags, undyed fiber, and more!

I hope to see you there!

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Sorry I’ve been so bad about blogging! I’ve been super busy. One of the things I’ve done since I last blogged was go to Belize to SCUBA dive. You can check out my Belize photos on flickr here. I hope to blog more frequently this year to tell you about all of the interesting stuff I’ve been up to!

My new cabled Wanda Purse Pattern uses decreases to create a stylish flared shape. Wanda is a cabled felted purse with instructions and a pattern for a fabric sewn lining with customizable inside pockets. The Wanda pattern can be purchased at FiberFiend.com and through Ravelry for $6.

You can find more photos of the purse on flickr here.

MATERIALS
Fiber Fiend Bulky Wool (100% Wool 165 yd per 100g skein); 2 skeins Woods
3/4 yd fabric for lining (light to mid-weight cotton recommended)
Coordinating thread
Handles (shown in faux leather)

TOOLS
US13/9.0 mm circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge
Cable needle (you need it for these 10-stitch cables!)
Tapestry needle
Stitch markers
Pins
Scissors
Hand sewing needle to sew lining to bag
Sewing machine (optional) to sew lining together
Ruler

Skill Level: Intermediate
Size: 8.5 inches tall by 10 inches wide (at base) by 6 inches deep, after felting
Gauge: 10 stitches per 4″ / 10cm in reverse stockinette stitch, before felting

Skills: Decreasing, Cables, Seaming, Sewing (for lining)

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Esmerelda is now available in its entirety as a pdf for $4 on Ravelry and through FiberFiend.com.  This pdf includes photographs and a schematic, and all 8 instruction parts in metric and English units (formatted nicely). You can also purchase a hard copy of the pattern for $4 through FiberFiend.com.

When I was writing up the instructions for the Border / Trim (Part 8), I noticed that the number of held sts on the Back was incorrect, so I just corrected that.  I also added that you need two types / colors of stitch markers to the Materials section.

With no further ado, here is
Part 8 (the last part!)!
New Abbreviations:
Patt: Pattern

Part 8: Border
Join yarn and knit across held 96 (106, 120, 132, 150, 160, 174) body sts.  Pick up and knit approximately two sts for every three rows around perimeter of shrug, making sure to end up with a multiple of 6 sts on the needles.  Approximately 216 (240, 270, 294, 330, 354, 384) sts on the needles.  Place mkr A at beginning of rnd and work rnds 1-4 of Baby Honeycomb Cable & Rib pattern once.  Place 2 mkr B’s, one each at the border of the cable and Stockinette Stitch sections of the body (one mkr near the left shoulder and one mkr near the right shoulder).  Work the following short rows:
Row 1 (RS): Work in patt to 2nd mkr B, sl mkr, wrap next st, turn.
Row 2 (WS): Work in patt to mkr B, sl mkr, wrap next st, turn.
Rows 3/4: Work in patt until 5 sts before mkr B, wrap next st, turn.
Rows 5/6: Work in patt until 10 sts before mkr B, wrap next st, turn.
Rows 7/8: Work in patt until 15 sts before mkr B, wrap next st, turn.
Work in patt to end of row, working wrapped sts together with wraps, removing mkr B.
Next rnd: Work in patt, working wrapped sts together with wraps, removing 2nd mkr B.
Work rnds 3-4 of Baby Honeycomb Cable & Rib patt.
Work rnds 1-4 of Baby Honeycomb Cable & Rib patt.  Bind off in patt.

For those of you who haven’t bought yarn yet, the revised amounts are as follows:
Approximately 250 (280, 320, 370, 420, 470, 520) g worsted weight yarn
Shown in Fiber Fiend Yumm (100% fine wool; 250 yd / 229 m per 125g skein); color: Into the Fire; 2 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5) skeins, 500 (750, 750, 750, 1000, 1000, 1250) yd / 460 (690, 690, 690, 915, 915, 1145) m

I can’t wait to see some of your finished shrugs on Ravelry!

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I just wanted to let you all know that I finally spent some time updating my website. The homepage now has all of my published patterns listed (there are now pages for all the patterns and the menu sidebar has been updated too). I updated the Free Patterns webpage. I also updated my blog sidebar. I haven’t yet added Esmerelda (Ravelry link), but I will soon, after I release the 8th and final pattern instructions.  I also hope to add my other inventory to the site sometime soon…

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A Happy Halloween to one and all! (The pumpkin on the right is mine…)

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I’m proud to present my first pattern in-print, Multnomah Falls.  Here’s a link to the preview on the Yarn Forward website, where you can see one of the amazing photographs from the magazine.  Here’s the Ravelry link.

This long-sleeved sweater with alternating cascading waterfall-like cables and dropped stitches has unique construction. The body is worked bottom-up with 1 by 1 ribbing that gracefully leads into meandering flowing cables. The top of the sweater has a square neck with 1 by 1 ribbing along the neckline and the sleeves are knit starting out with matching 1 by 1 ribbing that flows into alternating cascading waterfall cables and dropped stitches. The sleeves are worked bottom-up in the round until the underarm, and are bell-shaped, worked evenly until the upper arm increases. They are then worked back and forth, across the upper back, like a shrug, and grafted together at the center back, after the appropriate stitches are dropped. When binding off stitches for the neckline, armholes, and just before grafting the sleeve join at the center upper back, the center stitch of each reverse stockinette stitch section between cable panels is dropped, creating an open airy garment. The stitches on either side of the dropped stitches are twisted on every round, creating a nice crisp edge on either side of each dropped stitch.

And here are a select few of the 209 photographs R took of me on the beach and in the Eucalyptus forest (plus bonus photos of the dogs!) right off of the beach in Watsonville, just south of Santa Cruz.  My parents happened to be in town just before I had to mail the sweater to the UK, and they thought it would be nice to go to the beach one day with the dogs, so we went.  It was blisteringly hot in the South Bay that day, so it was nice to escape from the heat, but it was freezing cold on the beach, so it really was too much of a change, because we got a late start and by the time we got to the beach, we could see the fog rolling in.  It was super windy, as you can see in many of the photos, and combined with the fog, it made for a brutal damp cold.  We ate our picnic lunch in the shelter of the Eucalyptus grove, took a brisk walk on the beach with the dogs, and took some quick photos.

Here’s my mom attempting to cover up with a tiny towel during lunch. She remembered she also had a blanket in the car at some point during lunch, so she swapped them…

Here are some photos of Helix during lunch. It was very dusty and dust and dead grass clung to him. He’s kind of like a large mobile dust mop…

Here’s my parents’ dog Herta:

And here’s Mojo, looking at me off-screen, standing juuust out of reach…

Here you can see how windy it was, even sheltered by the Eucalyptus…

Here I am twirling around in the Eucalyptus grove…

When we headed to the beach, my mom had Helix’s leash and Herta’s leash and my dad had Mojo and Tek’s leashes. Somehow Helix got very tangled in his leash…

And here are some more photos of Multnomah Falls, on the beach:

I wanted to show that the sweater goes well with both a skirt and jeans, so I changed from my skirt into my jeans on the beach.  R continued to take photos, as he thought this was amusing…

Apparently, my parents’ dog Tek thought this was interesting as well… Here’s a closer look at Tek:

Here I am in jeans on the beach:

I will leave you with a photo of Mojo on the beach:

You can see more photos of Multnomah Falls on flickr here.

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For those of you waiting for Part 7, it’s a quick one!  I finished my Esmerelda earlier this week, so I’ll be posting the last instructions, Part 8, sometime soon!

Part 7: Right Sleeve Trim
Work sleeve trim as for Part 5.

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For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, Part 5 can be found here, and here are links to Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, and Part 1. You can find all of the instructions together on Ravelry in the Fiber Fiends group here. And you can find photos of my Esmerelda-in-progress on flickr here.

Now, on to Part 6, the Right Sleeve!

Right Sleeve

Place 20 (28, 27, 36, 34, 43, 42) held sts onto DPNs. Pick up and knit 31 (28, 34, 33, 40, 38, 44) sts. Knit 8 (4, 5, 17, 18, 14, 15) held sts in stockinette stitch. Place mkr, work Centered Cables pattern once, place mkr. Work remaining sts on holder in stockinette stitch. Rearrange 51 (56, 61, 69, 74, 81, 86) sts evenly onto DPNs.

Rnd 1: Work in pattern as established.

Rnd 2: K until mkr, m1R, sl mkr, work Centered Cables pattern, sl mkr, ssk, k to end of rnd.

Work Rnd 1 and Rnd 2 alternately. Decrease every 12th (10th, 10th, 8th, 8th, 7th, 6th) rnd 7 (10, 9, 13, 13, 16, 19) times. Sizes 30 (38, 42, 50): Decrease 1 st every 12th (10th, 8th, 7th) rnd once. 36 (36, 42, 42, 48, 48, 48) sts.

Decrease Rnd: K until 2 sts before mkr, k2tog, work in patt until 2nd mkr, sl mkr, ssk if on Rnd 2, ssk third and fourth sts after mkr, k to end of rnd.

All Sizes: Work in pattern until sleeve measures 17.25 (17.5, 17.75, 18.25, 19.25, 19.75, 20.25)” / 44 (44.5, 45, 46.5, 49, 50, 51.5) cm, or 1″ / 2.5 cm less than desired length, rearranging sts on DPNs as necessary.

Here’s a photo of my Esmerelda (Ravelry pattern link) through Part 7.

You can find more photos on flickr here.

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The Corsica pattern errata has just been updated both at FiberFiend.com and on Ravelry. If you purchased the pattern as a Ravelry download you should have automatically received a link to download the updated version.

In other news, be on the lookout for Esmerelda Part 6, the Right Sleeve, in the next few days!  I just worked the last decrease on my sample’s right sleeve, so hopefully I’ll get in a photo to show you as well.

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Aaaaaaand the winner is…….Jeanine Militello! (Who apparently has a Husky who looks remarkably like Siena.) She chose Corsica (Ravelry link) as her favorite pattern. Random.org picked number 6 (I took R out of the running)! Thank you to those of you who became fans of my Facebook page and entered the contest. Look for more pattern giveaways here on my blog, on Facebook, in the Ravelry Fiber Fiends Group, and on Twitter in the future!

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