Tag: brioche

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New pattern release :: Loro wrap!!

My new pattern, Loro wrap, is now available on Ravelry and knitgraffiti.com!! Be sure to use coupon code LORO at checkout to receive a 15% discount through Sunday, July 15, 2018 at midnight CT!!

Explore color with stripes and chevrons! Loro is a lightweight, drapey rectangular wrap knit on the bias, transitioning from garter stitch stripes to dimensional two-color brioche chevrons. I love garter stitch and brioche together in one accessory: they create almost the same amount of squish! This shawl pattern is named after my favorite Pinback song, Loro. It is a magical, flowing melody, full of waves of notes, rhythms, and vocals.

This is a fabulous pattern if you are wanting to just dip your toes into brioche knitting!  With mostly garter stitch, lots of stripes and a little bit of brioche, this wrap is sure to keep you entertained!!

This was a very fun collaboration with Nicole of Hue Loco yarns!!  She creates these beautiful little 50 gram sets of yarns, and I fell in love with her Bird Watching set.  After receiving her yarns, it took a little while for them to tell me what they wanted to be!  Then I thought of this fun idea of creating brioche chevron stripes with garter stitch in between, where the garter blends in with the brioche.  I also just LOVE three color garter stitch stripes.  I cast this on and seriously could not put it down….which explains the length!!  This beauty is 113 inches / 287 cm long!!!  [insert big eyes emoji]  But it is very narrow for a wrap, so it’s more like a scarf that can be easily wrapped around the neck multiple times.  We all need a little extra drama in our life sometimes, right??  Maybe just in our knitwear.  🙂

A closer look at the yarn I used in this design.

 

Here is a photo showing my favorite way to style this wrap, with all the colors and textures showing.  I love to layer it in a way where all sections of colors can be showcased!!

I hope you enjoy, and please let me know if you have any questions!!  xx Lesley.

 

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New blog series :: All about the process!

For awhile now, I have been wanting to broaden my blog to something more than announcements about new pattern releases. I think I may have found that NEW thing!!  I am going to take you through my designing journey, specifically for my newest journey in designing a garment for a collection I hope to release this fall / winter.

Well, this first began when I received a copy of the book, Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. As soon as I saw this new publication, I KNEW I needed to get my hands on it!  I have had the second version of this book (published in 2002) for as long as I’ve been knitting – over 12 years!  It has been such an amazing resource for me, especially when I was first beginning to design my own knitwear.  I learned different cast on and bind off techniques, as well as how to measure my gauge swatch, and use it to calculate yardage in garment design…just to name a few! It is really the ultimate guidebook to knitting!

Upon opening the book, I noticed that a lot of the core information was the same.  But how much they have added has made this book even more valuable to me!  I immediately turned to the section called “Designing Sweaters” on page 203.  This has been an area of my design portfolio that I feel is lacking, and I have been wanting to take my knit design to the next level. I have designed and published a few garments (Midnight Madness, To The Flame, Starlight Adventure, Primono), but they were all created using unusual modular techniques that were pure experiments for me. I would love to design garments using more traditional techniques, but keeping them interesting and fun at the same time! I can’t even tell you how many books I have in my library about sweater design…..Ok, it’s like 5…but that feels like a lot!  For some reason, it was all feeling a bit overwhelming to me: taking an idea, a thought, a sketch, and turning it into a sweater that is simple yet engaging to knit, and something you never want to take off.  This book has it all in one place!!

The first step of my journey: Finding the yarn and sketching out my ideas. Using the yarn I’ve shown in the photo above and below, I want to design a new sweater to be part of a new collection. Because of the climate where I live, I chose this single-ply fingering weight base to create a lightweight sweater or cardigan that I can wear year-round.  Shown below are Hedgehog Fibres Skinny Singles in colors Concrete (I have 3 skeins total which will compose the main body of the sweater), and one skein each of a Potluck color (which are one of a kind color ways that may not be repeated again), Kimono, and Pucker.

The Concrete color way is absolutely perfect for this collection (I will tell you more about that later), and I planned the rest of the sweater around this color way.  I love the bits of purple and blue in there!! You can see a little peek at my sketch that I’m working on.  At this point, I’m still unsure if I want to create a cardigan or a pullover, but I know that I want it to be worked from the top down, with one-color brioche chevron stripes along the yoke, alternating the brighter colored single skeins.  If I go with a cardigan, I think I will stick with a simple raglan shaping, and if I go with a pullover, I will go with a more circular yoke design.  If you look at the sketches, you can see a bit more of the rest of the collection I’m putting together!  I’m starting with the sweater, because it’s the most difficult and time-consuming of the pieces.

Here is a closer look at my sketch, and a bit of the information covered in this section of Vogue Knitting!!  This was my original sketch for a cardigan with raglan style shaping for the arms and shoulders.  I may end up going this route because I wear cardigans way more than pullovers.  I live in Southern Texas, and I feel like I’m always putting on and taking off layers!

I am still in the very beginning stages of this design, and want to bring you along with me every step of the way.  I will be learning so much, and I hope that you will learn something too!  Next step will be winding up the yarn and casting on a swatch or two.  I am thinking that I will swatch for both versions, to see which I like the best.  Look for a new post after I have completed the swatches, and maybe you can help me make a final decision!! 

Thank you so much for following along with me!!  Please feel free to comment with any questions, and feel free to let me know if you have a preference between cardigans and pullovers!

 

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New pattern release :: Primono!

I am so excited to share my newest pattern with you all!! Introducing Primono (Primrose Yarn Co. + Kimono)!!  This pattern is available both on Ravelry and knitgraffiti.com!  Receive a 20% discount using coupon code PRIMONO at checkout through Friday, September 8 at midnight CT.

Primono has been an idea of mine for almost one year, when I sketched it out last fall of 2017. I wanted to create a kimino-style robe that I could wear comfortably around the house, but something that was also stylish enough to be worn out on the town as a jacket! I was totally inspired by the fashion craze of wearing kimonos and robes as jackets, and the women who are wearing them around New York are just so fabulous. I knew I wanted it to be a modular construction, to keep it exciting.  And I really wanted to used different stitch patterns to ensure that it fit nicely on my body.

Originally, I wasn’t even thinking of using two-color brioche!  I was afraid that it would stretch out too much and just be really heavy.  But using Primrose Yarn Co.’s Sophia MCN fingering weight yarn actually kept it very lightweight!  I knew two-color brioche would give it an extra depth, and so I paired it with the slip-stitch honeycomb pattern for the waistband and collar.  This really helped give it some extra stability and cinched in at the waist!  The modular construction makes it SUPER fun to knit, and even though it is a rather large piece, the knitting just flies by as you’re constantly itching to get to the next section!

I wanted to add a modern touch to a classic kimono-style cardigan, so I created this brioche stitch pattern to bloom out of the waistband.  The pattern is carried up the back for added depth of interest.

Be sure to check out all of my amazing test knitters’ glorious projects!!  There were so many different color combos used.  And with the pattern being available in 7 different sizes, you are sure to find your ideal fit.  I decided I wanted 8″ / 20cm of positive ease, so I knit the size 46″ bust for myself.  I actually measured my own robe to ensure that this fit exactly the way I wanted!!  You can read more on the pattern page, and if you have any more questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment here.

I hope you enjoy my newest pattern, and thank you for reading!!

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New pattern release :: Organic Angles hat!

I am so so excited to finally share my newest brioche hat pattern with you, Organic Angles!  You can find this pattern on Ravelry, as well as my webshop.  Receive a 20% discount using coupon code ANGLES through midnight CT tonight!

When Laurie from Feel Good Yarn Co. approached me to design a new brioche hat with her SilverSpun® yarn, I knew I wanted to create something totally different. I had this idea to use brioche increases and decreases to create interesting angles in the fabric.  Boy, was I surprised by the end result!  One side ended up pulling down, which the other side pulled up!  The asymmetry was much more drastic than I had anticipated, so I knew I had to come up with a plan to even out the hat for wearability.  That’s where the garter stitch striped short rows came in. Brioche really does have a mind of its own!

While visiting my family in Michigan this past summer, I was lucky enough to enlist the help of my super talented brother photographer, Peter Mowry!  He took some gorgeous photos, and really helped to showcase my new design.

If you’d like a chance to win an Organic Angles kit of your own, be sure to check out Wooly Ventures Maker Spotlight post about me and my newest pattern! She’s hosting an awesome giveaway, and Laurie from FGYCo. has generously offered yarn as part of a kit for the Grand Prize!!

Thank you to all for your amazing support, and I hope you enjoy my newest pattern!

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New pattern release :: Madness & This is Madness e-book!

This is mad, darling, mad!!  Now available on Ravelry and knitgraffiti.com :: Madness is a reversible hat with a dramatic brioche motif, surrounded by two-color garter stitch stripes and a deep two-color brioche brim. Inspired by Art Deco and the flapper styles of the 1920’s, this hat is sure to make an impression wherever you go! And using 2 skeins of bulky yarn, this hat knits up in no time. You can find this pattern on its own, or as part of This is Madness e-book!  The e-book includes this hat pattern, as well as 3 of my already published patterns: Pink Madness, Midnight Madness, and Deco Mug Mat. You can steal it for $14!! You can also find the e-book on Ravelry, here.

I had SO much fun with this design :: from the Art Deco concept, to the bulky yarn that knits up so quickly, to choosing my outfit and styling.  But first, let’s talk about the yarn.  I have been collaborating with We Are Knitters for awhile now, and love working with them.  Their yarn is high quality, and they are super nice to work with.  Plus, they have so many amazing kits on their website, what’s not to love?  I wanted to try their Petite Wool, since I knew it would be a bit easier to work with, and 2 contrasting skeins would make a beautiful brioche hat!   Even though it’s a rather bulky yarn, I was surprised by how lightweight it was. The sample shown here was knit using colors Pearl Grey as the Main Color, and Wine as the Contrast Color, but they have loads of beautiful color combinations to choose from!  The single-ply and softness create a gorgeous stitch definition, especially with the texture changes from two-color brioche to two-color garter stitch.

Main Side of hat
Contrast side of hat

The design motif found on one side of this hat can also be found on two of my other brioche patterns: Pink Madness and Deco Mug Mat!  If you really want to go a little mad, you can get my entire This is Madness e-book, which also includes Midnight Madness, a stellar brioche and garter cape that will be the statement piece of your wardrobe!

 

 

 

 

I am also running an introductory offer through the weekend on Ravelry :: receive a 20% discount on Madness pattern by itself by using coupon code MAD !  The pattern is also discounted on my website automatically, offer ends on Thursday, March 16th at midnight Eastern.

Happy briocheing, friends!