Outlander MKAL 2015 – It’s Happening!

I am so excited to announce that I will be hosting another Outlander MKAL with Jimmy Beans Wool! This time, it will begin with the premiere of the second half of season 1 of Outlander on Starz, which I am sure we are all super excited to watch. I know I can’t wait!

In the beginning of Season 1, Claire’s journey begins when she steps through the standing stones at Craig Na Dun. The circle continues to play an important role in her story throughout the rest of the episodes, and of course it will continue to do so for the remainder of the story. For that reason, both the Lorna’s Laces limited edition color this month, as well as this mystery knit-a-long have been inspired by Craig Na Dun!

The shawl will be knit using 2 skeins of Shepherd Sock, and the pattern will be released over the course of 5 weeks, beginning with the premiere of the second half of season 1 of Outlander on April 4th.

I have included 2 different unblocked gauges,  1×1 ribbing and garter stitch. This will allow you to check your gauge in the the first few inches of clue 1 to see if you are on track!  Gauge is not super important with this pattern, so no need to stress too much about it 🙂 Below is a pic of what the color looks like knitted up…gorgeous, right?!

Craigh na Dun garter stitch swatch.

You will need a US 4-40″ circular needle for the MKAL, though you can of course start with a shorter circular, or even straight needles, and just move to the long circular as the shawl grows. Also, in the course of designing the pattern, I found that I was much happier on a “grabbier ” (technical term, right?) needle, rather than a super slippery metal one. I was dying to try out the Knitter’s Pride Marblz, mostly because they are so pretty. They were the perfect mix of smooth and a little grabby, plus a tip that is pointy, but not too much so. Plus, the size 4 is hot pink, so how can you go wrong!?

 

Everything you need for the MKAL, plus some of my favorite extras!

I hope you all join me and Jimmy Beans Wool for the MKAL, you can find an active, fun and friendly community in the JBW group on Ravelry. Happy knitting!

Outlander MKAL

I am so excited to announce that I am going to be hosting a mystery knit-a-long inspired by the novel and TV show Outlander!

Outlander MKAL

I have been a pretty huge Outlander fan ever since I discovered the books about 10 years ago. So of course, when I heard there was going to be a TV show I was ridiculously excited, and immediately began designing a pattern inspired by two of my favorite literary characters, Claire and Jaime. The Jimmy Beans Wool limited edition colors, dyed by Lorna’s Laces, were created with my input, specifically to represent them! However, the design will look lovely in any color combination, as long as there is a fair bit of contrast between the two. The swatch below shows how the Lorna’s colors knit up together!

Outlander MKAL

The design is a two color shawl of intermediate difficulty. Knit in sport weight wool yarn, it will be super warm and snuggly, even for the harsh Scottish highland weather! You’ll have to join in on the fun to learn more!

You can purchase the pattern for $3 on Ravelry. At the end of the MKAL the price will go up to $6 so get it now! Also, if you want to use the gorgeous Lorna’s Laces colors you can purchase those from Jimmy Beans Wool beginning July 31st. You will need 2 skeins of each color.

Patterns, Patterns, Everywhere!

I’ve had a flood of published patterns lately, both in print and self published so I wanted to do a quick run down of them for you all!

First, a couple of months ago, the Zealana Luxuria Air Chunky booklet came out. I designed the Diagonal Mitts, which are fingerless mitts with a twisted stitch design traveling across the hand. The Air Chunky yarn from Zealana is absolutely amazing and a dream to work with! It is chunky weight, but somehow still light as a feather, as the name suggests, haha! The Australian possum (nothing like the American opossum!) is an incredibly soft fiber and working with it was truly a joy!

[Garter ridge Shawl by Rachel Roden] from Knit Noro 1 2 3 Skeins, published by Sixth&Spring Books. Photography by Rose Callahan and text copyright © 2014 by Sixth&Spring Books. Used by permission

Next, I am honored to be included in Knit Noro 1.2.3 Skeins! The next in the Knit Noro series, this book focuses on projects that use either 1, 2 or 3 skeins. For that reason, most of the projects are accessories, including mine, the Garter Ridge Shawl, which uses 3 skeins. Knit in Noro Ayatori, the yarn is super soft with the usual gorgeous color transitions. Added bonus: this yarn is on sale at JBW right now because it is discontinued!

Modicum Hat – Mojito Mint Green

On the independent publishing side of things, I just released the Modicum Hat pattern. This stranded colorwork hat was designed specifically to go with the Madelinetosh DK Tea Cakes available at Jimmy Beans Wool. It uses the same stitch pattern as the Modicum Mitts I designed earlier this year and would coordinate well as a matching set! It’s a great intro to stranded color work, and looks much more complicate than it actually is, I promise!

And finally, I also published the Scalloped Edge Dish Cloth! I knit this cotton dishcloth last summer, but I just finally got around to writing the pattern and

Scalloped Edge Dish Cloth

publishing it! It uses 3 colors of worsted weight cotton yarn and is essentially just striped linen stitch with a scalloped border. It is very simple and makes a really cute wash cloth or dish cloth! It is free right now, and will be on sale for $3.00 after the fourth. Happy 4th of July everyone!

 

Unraveled Fingering – Cerise

Well that about wraps it up! Don’t forget to check out my Etsy shop, UnraveledDesignsYarn, to see my new line of hand dyed yarn. I will be releasing colors in the next couple weeks so stay tuned for those!

Ripple Effect Shawl

My latest design, the Ripple Effect Shawl, is now available!

Ripple Effect Shawl

Two alternating solid colors are striped together, with feather and fan lace sections in a third, coordinating variegated color. The garter and lace sections get larger as the shawl grows, a bit like ripples on the water. Hence the name Ripple Effect!

Ripple Effect Shawl

This long crescent shaped shawl can be worn draped cozily across the shoulders or wrapped scarf-like around the neck. The garter stitch stripes are super squishy and cozy, while the lace sections add a bit of airiness and drape. In fingering weight yarn, it is the perfect light- weight spring accessory!

Knit in Madelinetosh Dandelion, the linen adds a lovely drape to the yarn, as well as a slightly tweedy look. Tosh Merino Light would also be a great yarn choice! The sample is knit in Hosta Blue, Cousteau and Seawash. I purposely choose a variegated yarn that matched well with the two solids, however for a higher contrast look try using 3 solids for an equally lovely effect. Stay tuned for some other color combinations I’ve come up with in the next couple days!

Madelinetosh Dandelion Bouquet

Have you seen the yarn bouquets from Jimmy Beans Wool? If you purchase one of the Madelinetosh Dandelion or Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light bouquets from Jimmy Beans, a copy of the Ripple Effect Shawl pattern will be included!

The pattern is $6.00 and available to download on Ravelry here.

Wedding Knitting, Part 2

Last winter, shortly after getting engaged, I decided that in addition to knitting a highly complicated beaded shawl for myself, I was also going to knit a small shawl for each bridesmaid and the flower girl. In January, 9 months away from the wedding this seemed totally feasible. And it really should have been easy had I not continued getting distracted by other knitting projects. By February I had chosen the Traveling Woman (with an extra repeat of chart A), and bought Hand Maiden Sea Silk yarn in ivory to match the yarn I bought for my shawl. I cranked out the first two over the next few months, but then the distractions set in. I figured I still had plenty of time to finish them…

And then some months went by and I knit these projects instead:

Twisted Flower socks, HIgh Tides shawl and Seeta fingerless mitts

The adorable flower girl showing off her mini shawl

But finally in August I refocused and by early September I finished the fourth shawl. I had a small ball of leftover yarn from each shawl, and those four combined made a tiny version of the Traveling Woman for the flower girl. Of course, I didn’t finish it until a few days before the wedding, but in my defense it was only because I was focusing on my shawl.

The bridesmaids with their shawls

Anyway, the knitting all went smoothly and the only hitch I ran into was that one of the skeins was a drastically different color then the other 3, even though it was the same color way. It is hand painted so variety is only to be expected, but this was significantly darker with more color variation then the others. I decided to give that one to my sister, the maid of honor, and play it off as if it was on purpose so she would stand out. On the flower girl shawl, I used the different yarn for the end and since it was darker it looked like I faded it on purpose. The effect was actually pretty cool! All in all, the girls seemed to like their gifts, so the work was worth it in the end. And hopefully they will be able to wear them outside of the wedding as well!

The Cassidy Cardigan so far

Now that the craziness of wedding knitting is over, all I want to do is knit the opposite of lace! I still love shawls, and will certainly come back to them but right now I need something different. So what is the opposite of lace you might ask? How about a worsted weight cardigan that is covered in cables and hooded? Enter the Cassidy cardigan by Bonne Marie Burns. Still complicated, because I love interesting knitting, but completely different, and that is what I want! I swatched today and will be beginning my Cassidy shortly in the lovely light gray yarn from Miss Babs that I picked up at Sock Summit. I can’t wait!

Wedding Knitting, Part 1

Last Saturday, the big day was finally here. Chris and I got married and it was fabulous! We did it right on the beach at Lake Tahoe, and it was one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen. We kept it fairly small with just family and close friends which was exactly what we wanted.

Chris and I during the toast

I wish I could say that the days leading up to the wedding were completely stress free, but they definitely were not. And it was all my fault too. Everything with the caterer, and the venue and the florist, and all those things people usually have a problem with were perfect. My mom was especially wonderful and made sure that everything looked just the way we envisioned it would. However, my penchant for procrastination almost caused me to not finish my wedding shawl. I was up until 2:30 am the day of the wedding blocking it…fortunately it dried quick and everything turned out fine. I do want to re-block it at some point because I was definitely cutting corners and I want to make the edge decoration a little more even and nice looking. Of course, only me or another knitter would notice something like that!

I actually wore my shawl for a little bit!

Overall, I feel as though I have created my personal Holy Grail of knitting. I got serious about knitting 4 years ago, and about 2.5 years ago I found Ravelry. Aeolian was one of the first patterns I fell in love with, but it was way above my skill level. I knew I would make it eventually though. When I got engaged, I knew I had to make a shawl, and I also knew it had to be Aeolian. I had advanced enough in my knitting that even though there were tons of new techniques (beads and nupps for starters!) I dove right in anyway. And then I put it down….for months, and months. I didn’t even progress past the first chart until a month before the wedding! Needless to say, it came down to the wire. I knit the final 46 row chart in around 4 days which must be a record or something! There were several painful moments, and lots of late nights, but it was totally worth it. It turned out beautiful and will be something really special to pass down to our future children.

Blocking at 2am

Here is some quick info about the shawl. I knit it in Handmaiden Lace Silk, and the colorway is ivory. Since the skein was 984 yards, I decided to fudge the size a little to maximize yardage. I ended up knitting a size exactly between the shawlette and shawl. In other words, I did the yucca chart 8 times, the agave chart 2 times and then followed the rest of the charts as written. I never counted the stitches but it should have been around 750 by the end. I ended up with a large, but delicate and lovely shawl and I am so proud of myself for finishing it! I didn’t even make a mistake that required going back more then a few stitches.

Ta Da!

You may be wondering, what was so important that I put off knitting my incredibly complicated wedding shawl until the month before the wedding? There is a very good answer to that question (other then that I am crazy!), which you will have to check back to find out about!

Sock Summit Wrap-up

Yes, I know, Sock Summit was nearly a month ago, I just haven’t had a chance to get this post out. The weekend following Sock Summit I went to Chicago for a lovely bridal shower/bachelorette party. My family did such an amazing job and I had so much fun, but it has also contributed to my not being motivated to post. But finally, I’m back!

Sock Summit 2011, was my very first knitting or fiber related conference and it was completely amazing! I have never been in one place with so many knitters before which was exciting in itself. Throw in the Marketplace and the classes on top of that and it was mind-blowing.

The Marketplace was fabulous. I have never seen so much beautiful yarn in one place and I definitely maxed out my budget! I prefer to look at as I bought a future sweater, three potential pairs of socks and a possible shawlette! The booth I kept going back to and ultimately bought the most yarn from was Miss Babs. Her color ways are gorgeous and the yarn is soft and luxurious. I got a sweaters worth of worsted and two skeins of sock yarns from there. I also was interested in trying the Sanguine Gryphon yarn so I picked up a skein of Skinny Bugga. The final item (not pictured) was an impulse buy on the last day. It is a GORGEOUS skein of lace weight yarn from Jill Draper. I can’t wait to make a small shawl from it!

Sock Summit Booty (Sorry about photo quality!)

I also picked up several things that I had heard about but wanted to purchase in person rather than online. The first is Soak, a soap specifically for washing hand knits and other delicate items. I also picked up some Heel, a foot lotion made by the same company in the cucumber scent which smells wonderful. The second thing I had heard about is the Lo-Lo Bar from the Bar-Maids Company. As soon as I touched it I knew I had to have one! I leaves your skin moisturized, but not greasy, unlike other lotion bars I have tried. Finally I bought a much-needed small project bag that will be perfect for traveling. It is from Slipped Stitch Studios and is absolutely adorable! I was in desperate need of a cable needle for my current project so I decided to try the Lantern Moon style. It’s probably no surprise that I love these too! All in all, if all I had done was attend the marketplace I would have felt the trip was worth it.

But, that is not all I did! I also signed up for three classes. Lately, I have been very interested in learning how to design my own knitting patterns. I have so many ideas floating around in my head but I am not always sure how to execute them. All of my classes were geared toward learning how to do just that. The first class, Choosing Among Choices with Laurel Coombs, turned out to be way below my skill level, but I still learned a few new techniques, which is always good! The second, Story Socks with Deb Accuardi, was a very free flowing class that takes your personal experiences and turns them into a sock pattern. It was very inspiring and I love the personal touch Deb brings to all her designs. The third, Designing off the Cuff with Anne Hanson, was the most informative class that I took. She focused on designing socks with stitch patterns that you personally like for yourself. With her input I feel ready to begin a pair of socks using a lacy stitch pattern that I have completely fallen in love with. I can’t wait to get started!

Viridescent Fingerless Mitts

In knitting news, I signed up for another test knit and have since finished it. The Viridescent fingerless mitts grabbed my attention because the have a very interesting cable pattern up the center and that is really appealing to me right now. I am using Madelinetosh Sport in a subtly variegated green colorway that is gorgeous! The only problem is the yarn is a little heavy for the gauge the pattern calls for. Next time I will go for fingering weight yarn! Definitely watch for this pattern though. It is really a great knit!

Now that those are done, I have completely refocused all of my energy on wedding knitting. The big day is fast approaching (September 17th). I made progress on both my wedding shawl and the secret project that I am working on. I know this is the first I have mentioned of the secret project, and I promise full disclosure after the wedding since they are gifts. There that’s all I am saying! My Wedding Aeolian is coming along slowly but surely. I have a feeling it is going to be blocking the night before the wedding, if I finish at all….fingers crossed!

Twisted flowers twisted wrong!

I haven’t been knitting nearly as much as I would like lately, which is partly because work has been really tough and also because I ran into a snag with one of my projects. My company works 10 hours each day of an 8-day session and that means that some days I end up hiking 7 or 8 miles. As you can imagine, I am usually quite exhausted in the evening. I always try and get at least a bit of knitting time in though!

I was moving right along with my twisted flower socks from Knit. Sock. Love. and then disaster struck. I cruised through the first half of the pattern repeat and then a couple rows into the twisted stitch section I miss-crossed a cable somewhere. I honestly don’t even know exactly what I did wrong, however I do know that I made fixing it as complicated as possible! When I realized that I had gone wrong somewhere I decided to drop the affected stitches and then pick them back up correctly. I thought this would be easier than tinking back several rows to fix the problem…I was soooooo wrong. Correctly twisting the stitches that I had purposely dropped proved to be nearly impossible and though I finally fixed it, it was incredibly frustrating and took over an hour. I was so focused on correctly crossing the cables that I didn’t twist some of the knit stitches. Fortunately it really isn’t that noticeable. I just finished the first repeat and I am hoping not to have any mistakes the second time around. And if I do, I now know that tinking back is a much better way to fix it!

My wedding shawl has been taking a backseat to the socks for the last few days, but I have every intention of focusing on it for the rest of my time in Eureka, Nevada. Tonight, I am not going to bed until I knit at least one repeat!

The other thing that has been taking away time from my knitting is the novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I heard it was a good movie so I bought the ebook for my iPad and promptly devoured it in just a few days. It is a truly excellent book, and I highly recommend it! It takes place partially in the present with the main character Jacob, an old man in a nursing home. The rest of the story consists of flashbacks to when Jacob was a young man working on a circus in the 1930’s. It is well written and the story is very engaging with surprising twists, heart breaking loss and, of course, a love story. If your looking for something to read I definitely suggest this novel!

Well I am off to work on my shawl…hopefully I reach my goal!

Knitting on the Road

Yesterday, I left Reno at about 7:30 am, heading for a small town in central Nevada called Eureka. I will be working on an archaeological survey near that town for the next eight days, and then I will return to Reno for a two week vacation. Normally the schedule would be to work eight days in a row and then have 6 days off before returning to work. My fiancé Chris and I have some vacation plans to go first to the Oregon coast and then to Las Vegas so we are taking an extended break between work sessions.

All of this means that I won’t be spending much time at home over the next few weeks so of course I have to plan my knitting accordingly. Fortunately after we get back from Eureka we will have a day at home, and then another day in between the next two trips. This way I only have to plan for one trip at a time. For me, planning for travel knitting is not extremely difficult, however it does require some forethought.

Generally speaking, I like to have one large and/or complicated project on the needles and several smaller projects, with at least one that is largely stockinette for those days when I just don’t have the brain space for something more complicated. Right now I am working on my Wedding Aeolian which certainly fits the large and complicated bill! I am really loving it, however, it is NOT good for car knitting. The beading makes it just a little too difficult! For an evening sitting around after work it is perfect. My wedding is September 17th and I would like to be done by early September so I better get a move on since I am still on the first (yucca) chart!

I am also working on Cookie A.’s Twisted Flower from Knit. Sock. Love. Can I just say I. Love. This. Pattern. It is complicated, but intuitive. My Twisted Flower is in hot pink malabrigo sock yarn so it is pure awesomeness! Unfortunately, it is not ideal for knitting on bumpy, curvy roads because the twisted stitches sections are a little complicated, but I worked through it slowly but surely.

I don’t currently have any other projects on the needles, however, when I was packing I threw in a few extra fingering weight/sock yarn skeins. I have found that if I have my knit picks interchangeable needles set, a skein of fingering weight yarn and access to the internet I can almost always find something that strikes my fancy if my current projects aren’t doing it for me. I also have some yarn that was supposed to be socks for my fiancé. I knit the first one and it went horribly wrong. He has very wide feet, and somehow I made the width for my size foot (women’s 7). Oops! This was a few months ago and I haven’t had the heart to rip back yet, but I think I am just about ready to give these another try. They are easy toe up vanilla socks so once I get my gauge straightened out it should be easy going and finally I will have a good car project on the needles!

Well these projects (and possible future projects!) should get me through the next 8 days, after that we will see what grabs my attention for our trip to the Oregon coast!