Soho shindig

Explicit Content Warning!!!

I had the great good fortune to attend Benjamin Wilson’s first off-piste (by which i mean non-sponsored) tutorial yesterday. The topic was “pornographic intarsia” which sounded hugely daring and exciting when I first read about it on Ben’s blog.
Ben is a character: I think, but I’m not sure (cos i didn’t ask) that he matched his contacts to his hair! A vision in turquoise. (pinched from his twitter feed).

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My friend and I escaped suburbia and walked along Oxford st towards soho. Things were quiet, morning after the gay pride day before, perhaps?
The workshop was held upstairs in the Soho Theatre, and Ben sorted us out with a very civilised drink and course notes upon entering. My eyes immediately lit on the last item in the table of contents and before Ben had managed to get the words “explicit warning” out, I had already revealed an intarsia chart for an erect phallus. Brilliant.

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Fab charts aside, the real value of this workshop was learning how to make any photo into an intarsia chart using gimp. Well worth the fee for that alone, but the craic was great and I enjoyed myself hugely.

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We also got to feel Ben’s knickers and see Ron Jeremy on a cushion cover.
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And I know it was an intarsia workshop, but I have to confess I didn’t do any… I like the bit of stranding I did though! Lovely colours.

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I’ll be keeping an eye on knityounexttuesday for future workshops. You should try one too.

Catchloops Update – And it’s also post #100!

Half the reason I don’t post as often as I should is that I feel like I must have pics every time I do. That’s another of the “golden rules” of blogging. 1) Post often, 2) Have pics 3) Be interesting. 3)’s kinda optional.

Of late, I’ve been working on a secret design for Knit Now 27; getting submissions together – can’t show you any pics of them either for much the same reason, and I have two designs in testing at the mo too. One of those (le sigh) is also secret, but the other is the Kaava Shawlette that I flashed the other day.

bottom_croppedThis is my first lace shawl and I’m going to release it just as soon as it’s tech-edited and tested. Could be as close as two weeks away or as much as a month, but either way looks like it’s going to be my next released pattern.

I’m stoked to say that the response to Kaava has been overwhelmingly good. The yarn is 100% blue-faced leicester, handdyed by a friend and member of The Harrow Knitters, Shamu Makes, who has a fab eye for colour. I made it originally to go with a purple dress, but actually, it looks gorgeous with turquoise. I blocked it really hard and it has graceful, flowing drape. The main stitch patterns in it are Stocking Stitch, Shower Stitch and Lacy Rib, and the crochet bind-off reminds me of castle crenels or cogs. Something very engineering-y, anyway :)

My next projects are lots and lots of proposals – sketching, swatching and specc’ing, but I do also has some more of my own patterns in the pipeline. I find it hard to prioritise my own patterns over everything else that needs to be done – any one out there want to be my drill sergeant?

I’m looking forward to the Summer holidays – I’ll be home in Dublin for a week in August, so I’d love to catch up with the Irish yarny world, aon sceal nua for me?

Hugs, and proud to get to post #100! (It’s the little accomplishments!)

x Elanor

 

 

 

 

 

Kaava Shawlette – Testers Needed!

Here’s a shawlette that’s a little bit of a challenge, but in manageable doses.

Moody, arty shot follows:

Kaava Shawlette
Kaava Shawlette (Moody shot!)

The Kaava shawlette is knit flat, top-down, starting with a garter st tab CO. Then there are three featured sts: st st, shower st (a double-sided lace) and Lacy Rib (which is a super simple one-sided lace). Then a crochet bind-off gives the shawl edge the appearance of a clockwork cog.

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I’m looking for testers now, so drop by the Free Pattern Testers group if you’re interested! I’ll put a link here when the request is approved.

Win, win, win! “In the Loop” goodies and Knit Now 22!

Competition time!

To celebrate my first published pattern, I’m having a giveaway!

Win yarn, needles and a copy of Knit Now 22!

In the Loop Cowl
Josephine Anderson for BOSS models is wearing my latest pattern “In the Loop”. This cowl features a funky 3D stitch pattern that creates leaning holes and loops, all without  breaking the yarn. It’s knit with Wendy Roam Fusion and the pattern is available in Knit Now 22  – which goes on sale May 30th.  Photos by Dan Walmsley and reproduced here with kind permission from Practical Publishing.

All you have to do is comment below describing or linking to your favourite 3D or innovative stitch pattern. Leave me a way to get back in touch! (i.e. don’t be anonymous!)

Yarn and Needles and Mag!
Win yarn and needles to make my “In the Loop” cowl from Knit Now 22.

The prize is a ball of Wendy Roam 4 ply, Knitpro 100cm circular needles, size 2.75mm and a copy of Knit Now 22, which goes on sale on May 30th.

The competition is open to residents in the UK and Ireland. I reserve the right to add further competition caveats and rules as I go along.

Also, thought you should know, I made and frogged a small (tiny) tension swatch with the first few yards of the yarn. Soz!

Zebra Chevrons on the flat

By popular demand, here are the instructions for working Zebra Chevrons on the flat.

Zebra Chevron Swatch
Zebra Chevron Swatch

Previously, I gave the instructions for working it in the round.

With colour A, CO 24 sts

Row 1: With colour A, [k2, sl1] 8 times.

Row 2:  With colour A, [sl1, p2] 8 times.
Row 3: With colour B, [sl1, k2] 3 times, sl1, k3, [sl1, k2] 3 times, sl1, k1.

Row 4: With colour B, p1, sl1, [p2, sl1] 3 times, p3, sl1, [p2, sl1] 3 times.
Row 5: With A, k1, sl1, [k2, sl1] 3 times, k1, sl1, [k2, sl1] 3 times, k2.

Row 6: With A, p2, [sl1, p2] 3 times, sl1, p1, [sl1, p2] 3 times, sl1, p1.
Row 7: With B, repeat Row 1.

Row 8: With B, repeat Row 2.

Row 9: With A, repeat Row 3.

Row 10: With A, repeat Row 4.
Row 11: With B, repeat Row 5.

Row 12: With B, repeat Row 6.

 

Repeat Rows 1-12 for length desired.

Let me know how it works for you!