Hayden Inspiration

I never set out to become a designer or design a knitting pattern. My Ravelry queue is 6 pages long and I was more than content to knit the abundance of patterns I have lined up for myself. But something changed. I have 3 boys that are not babies or toddlers any longer. When they see me knitting things for myself they ask when I am going to knit them a sweater or a hat or a scarf. I kind of shied away from knitting things for them when they were very little because they just grew so fast that they would grow out of a sweater in a matter of weeks. But now that they are all of ages when they can wear my hand knits for at least a year I started searching for patterns for them. Problem is that there is an abundance of cute patterns for girls out there but for boys - not so much. I need knits that are going to be stylish, rough and tumble, and versatile because that is my boys in a nutshell. All three of them are into sports and they are hard playing, active kids. I need sweaters and accessories that are going to survive them!

Enter Hayden. I couldn't find a pattern that I had in mind that I wanted to knit for one of my boys. I thought, I have been at this knitting thing for over 11 years now, why not just make your own pattern? I got this, right? I knew what I wanted - something classic and traditional yet something that a boy can wear out to play in and still maintain his cred on the playground. I have always loved a classic cable and rib crew neck so after knitting up a swatch and loving it, that's what I went for.

My son loves it. He always asks to wear it when he is chilly. He has worn it a lot and so far it hasn't pilled and it still looks great. Truth be told, I am more than a little jealous of this sweater and I might just have to make a pattern for women too - so I can knit it in multiple colors for myself! This sweater would be just as great for girls knit up in pretty colors and I think it would work in a worsted weight cotton too for wear all year round.

New Pattern: Hayden

I am so very excited to announce the release of my first pattern, Hayden.

Hayden is a classic cable and rib crew neck for children. This cozy pullover is worked flat with an all over cable and rib pattern. Each size has its own set of instructions to ensure that the 4 stitch rib is directly in the center of the front, back, and each of the sleeves. The neck band is picked up after seaming and worked in the round. I designed this sweater with my son in mind but it would work equally as well for a girl.

Specifications:

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Lake Ice Heather

Needles: US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Gauge: 23 stitches and 28 rows to 4inches/10 cm. in cable and rib pattern with US 7 needles after blocking

Notions: Cable needle, stitch holders, stitch markers, blunt tapestry needle

Sizes: To fit ages 2 (4, 6, 8, 10) years

Finished Measurements: Chest: 24 (26, 28, 30, 32) inches

You can purchase this pattern on Ravelry here. Thanks so much!!

Finished: Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks

A few years ago, my oldest son gave me 2 skeins of a beautiful variegated blue sock yarn for Christmas. A few days later, I found both of those skeins on the floor in a jumble - they were a total mess. My mischievous dog got ahold of them, ripped off and chewed up the ball bands and left the yarn completely tangled up. I picked up the skeins-no-longer and put them away and my dog got a firm finger shaking with a "naughty dog!!" I was super upset about the yarn. Needless to say, I was looking through my stash recently and came across that messed up yarn and decided to untangle it, wind it up, and knit some socks. Surprisingly it didn't take too long to straighten out.

The pattern is Diagonal Cross-Rib Socks by Ann Bud from the book Favorite Socks from Interweave. The Yarn is Koigu KPPPM but I have no idea what color it is because the ball bands were destroyed. I used size US 2 needles.

I tried to choose a pattern that would offset the pooling with the variegated yarn and I think this does a pretty good job of that. I like how the socks feature different leaning stitches for a mirrored effect. The yarn is very soft and comfortable but I have to say that the socks stretch out of shape after one wear and then they are really loose. I like a nice tight fitting sock so this kind of annoys me. Other than that, the color is beautiful and my son did a great job picking it out. I'm so glad I finally got to use it.

Work In Progress: Lace Yoke Sweater

There has been a lot of knitting going on here at Posh Knits!! I started knitting a new, and hopefully better fitting, version of the Lace Yoke Sweater I posted about a little while ago. I just love that sweater so much and I want it to be perfect. After carefully testing gauge and doing a little math, I think I am on the right path.

It has been a bit boring up to this point because it is just loads of stockinette stitch up until I get to the yoke where the fun stuff happens. I got the back done and finished up the front right in time to get a big project from Brooklyn Tweed. Needless to say, I had to put this down for about a month and a half so that I could meet my deadline.

Deadline behind me, I am ready to pick this up again and finish it. All that's left to be done are the sleeves and the yoke. Not too bad.

Sample Knit: Atlas

Yesss! Brooklyn Tweed just released their new collection, BT Yokes, and it is full of hand knit goodness. I just so happened to knit a sample for this collection, Atlas for women, designed by Jared Flood.

This was a fun sample to knit and I love how a fair isle yoked sweater comes together. The body is knit in the round to the underarms and then set aside while the arms are knit and then they are all knit together to form the yoke, which is where the fair isle knitting starts. The stranded knitting on this yoke is visually stunning but it can get complicated - some of the rounds require the use of three colors - but the end result is worth the work.

I love the color combination that Jared chose for this sample, Hayloft, Old World, and Fossil, but it would be really fun to play with other colors to knit your own unique Atlas. This sweater was knit in Brooklyn Tweed's yarn Shelter, which has an array of beautiful colors.

All photos in this post are used courtesy of Brooklyn Tweed.

Finished: Aidez

Catching up here.... I realized I hadn't ever blogged about the Aidez sweater I knit - 5 years ago!!! I wouldn't have believed it had been that long if I didn't look up the information on my Ravelry page. I seem to have finished this in March of 2012 - when the twins were 5 months old - so that explains everything right there.

I am glad I had enough sense to enter the details into Ravelry or I would not have remembered any of the information. The pattern is Aidez by Cirilia Rose. I knit this in Valley Yarns Northampton Bulky in the color Natural on size US 10 1/2 needles.

I am pretty sure I started knitting this when I was pregnant. I thought it would be a good sweater to wear because it was open in the front. I think because I was so big and uncomfortable being pregnant with twins, I didn't get very much knitting done and scrapped it until after they were born. I know it was a relatively quick knit because of the bulky yarn.

I really love the cables on this sweater - especially the seed wishbone cable and the ear of corn cable. They are very interesting and not your run-of-the-mill cables. I did switch out the two cables that ran on either side of the trellis cable on the back for the ear of corn cables. I felt like there were just too many different types of cables going on on this sweater. I also wanted to tie the front to the back so that the cables were consistent. Otherwise, it seemed like the front belonged to an entirely different sweater than the back.

I really like this sweater but I don't 100% love this sweater. The sleeves are an inch or two too short and the front panels aren't wide enough so that they meet in the front - which I think is part of the design. It is nice and warm but it is way too bulky to fit under a coat. So if I am wearing it in the house and it is freezing cold outside and I need to go out, I have to take it off and find another sweater to wear. It is perfect to wear as an outerwear piece on chilly days. All in all it has been a good sweater and I have gotten a lot of wear out of it.

Because I Have to Knit Something...

I just finished up a few projects and I have a few more I want to start next. The only problem is I didn't have the yarn for these projects and I didn't think to order any until I was sitting here empty handed. Sometimes I try to take a little break and maybe clean the house or organize a closet that got out of control but I can't go for too long without knitting anything. I know. It's just so hard. So while I am waiting for my new yarn to arrive, I cast on for the Sakura shawl because I have had the pattern and the yarn ready to go for some time now.

I just finished chart A (there are 4 charts) and the easiest part of the shawl - because it starts with 7 stitches and grows on either side of a center stitch ending with 367 stitches. So far so good.

I looked up the name "Sakura" and it means cherry blossom in Japanese. I think it is looking more like peacock feathers. Either way, the pattern is very pretty.