I would like to announce the launch of my first pattern in Ravelry!
I have been knitting since 2010, and I started making baby sweaters and cardigans that came out of my head without following any pattern. At that time I tried to take some notes, but I did know how to record instructions so I would be able to reproduce those small garments afterwards. I didn’t have a knitting library and all the stitches I was using were the ones that my mother or grandmother taught me when I was a little girl. Under my repertoire I had the stockinette, reverse stockinette, garter and seed stitch. I knew how to knit basic cables and lace, but that was pretty much it.
After exhausting my repertoire I decided to buy a stitches dictionary, my first knitting book ever; a small book in French called “Points de Tricot” by Mary Webb. The original version was written in English, the title is “Knitting Stitches.” I started using this book as a reference for new stitches, and I was able to write down what I was doing. However, I was far from imagining myself publishing my patterns and I didn’t even know that Ravelry existed. Four years have passed and today I am publishing my first pattern.
Everything started when I found in my stash a skein of hand spun yarn that I had since 2012. I liked the bright colours of this little skein, however I did not have enough yardage to knit a single piece only with it. I wanted to do a cowl long enough to cover my ears, so I combined my yarn with a commercial solid colour.
After choosing a solid color I started looking for a stitch pattern in my (by then extensive) knitting library. I wanted to try a new colourwork technique, and since I had heard a lot about mosaic knitting I decided to give it a try. I found in one of the Knitting Treasure books from Barbara G. Walker a stitch pattern that I liked and I started knitting the cowl.
I was thinking of writing the instructions down and publishing them, but I was not sure until I received a comment in Instagram by a fellow knitter about the finished cowl. She was asking me if I was going to sell the pattern. Well, only then I decided to do it, and I asked her if she would like to test the pattern. I am glad she accepted and she made a marvellous cowl.
I am so glad to announce that my first pattern, the T Cowl is now available to purchase in Ravelry. As a first time offer, I would like to run a promotion code, 25% off. Please put the word FIRSTTIME while you checkout. This promotion will run until April 30th at midnight (CET time.)
The pattern includes written instructions as well as chartered. You can choose to knit in sport or worsted weight; there are instructions for these two weights of yarn. You can use leftovers yarn and combine colours as you wish. In order to knit this pattern you need to know how to knit and purl in the round. How to slip a stitch, how to carry and change the yarn every two rounds because you do not need to cut the yarn. It is a very easy pattern.
Check out some pictures of the original finished T Cowl and the process of knitting it.
You can see two pictures of the back of the cowl right here; the first shows the yarn floats and the second the colour changes after you carry the yarn every two rows.
Last but not least, two pictures of other two cowls I knitted before sending the pattern to test. I wanted to calculate the yardage and weight I used for the orignal cowl. For this one I used only commercial yarn. Lang Yarns in their Mille Colori Baby and Adelboden, which I held double in order to obtain gauge.
Here below you can see a picture of me wearing the 3rd cowl, but in the worsted weight. In this case I inverted the colours, and instead of using the multicoloured/gradient yarn as CC, I used it as MC which gave me a different colour effect. I used Schoppel-Wolle Baby Alpaca and Reggae Ombre yarns.
As you can see, you can use whatever yarn your have and knit the size you want. The only thing that will change is the number of repeats you have to do.
I will be more that happy to help if you have any question about the pattern. I hope you enjoying this Cowl and I will be preparing the socks and gloves I have in mind with the same mosaic stitch!
That is all for this week. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy this post! Leave me any comment or suggestion if you like, and feel free to share this post with your friends and community. Also remember you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Ravelry, Tumblr, Flickr and Pinterest!