Oh gosh, stuff has been piling up.  First, for Portlanders, I’m teaching a class on my sideways edge cast-on, and sideways bind-off (used in Betiko and Wild is the Wind), at Twisted on Tuesday November 29th.  See all Twisted class info here.  If you like the idea of the technique, but can’t wrap your head around it, here’s your chance for some hands-on help!

Complete info from the Twisted schedule:

Sideways edge cast-on and bind-off workshop
$30 With Lee Meredith
Learn how to knit a sideways edging (perfect for a brim or cuff) while casting on stitches along the edge at the same time, avoiding the need to pick up stitches or sew seams later.  Then learn the reverse – add a knitted on sideways edge to a piece while binding off the stitches at the same time.
Date/Time: Tuesday, Nov 29, 5-8pm
Materials:  Any yarn of your choice (a weight that you like working with best, something smooth and easy to work with), needles sized to match – a circular needle is recommended (everything will be worked flat, but the flexible cord will make it easier to see what’s happening), and a stitch marker.

So that’s that, now onto non-Portland-specific stuff.  A couple things from awhile back that never made it to the blog (till now!)…  I was interviewed for the Knit Picks podcast, for their ebooks episode, about Game Knitting and also about how I started designing, etc.

I also did a blog interview over on je suis une monstre – head over there to read all about how I quit my day job to be a designer, my design process, and lots more…

Tara of Blonde Chicken finished her Betiko knit-a-long and blogged the gorgeous finished Betikos – love them all!

And now to let you know what I’m currently up to – I know the next Remixed pattern, Freewheelin’, is supposed to be due soon, but it’s taking more redesigning and reknitting than planned… The yellow bulky sample which was supposed to be the final (or close to final) version of the pattern just wasn’t good enough and I ended up working out yet another new update (I’ve redesigned this pattern so many times, ohmygoodness the hours I’ve spent, sigh).  So then I tried a super bulky sample of the new version…

…and I’m super happy with it!  So now I’m on the final step of knitting up a worsted-ish weight sample, my last test and my main sample piece, and when that’s done the pattern will go out to testers and then finally out to Remixers.  So that’s what’s going on there.  This pattern really got away from me and took on a life of its own… the other Remixed patterns I’m in the beginning stages on should be quicker, fingers crossed.

And lastly, a heads up that I’m planning on starting another round of twitter trivia soon!  If you follow me on twitter, look out for daily trivia questions for a chance to win a pattern coupon code each day!  Yay!

My heater’s turned on and I’m wearing a wool sweater as I write this, which means, of course, the time for lots of knit accessories is here!  So I bring you a fun new pattern – Flippable!  (on ravelry)

This is super beginner-friendly (you only need to know how to knit, purl, cast-on, and bind-off!) but it’s totally an enjoyable quick knit for the experienced knitter as well.  It will work with any weight yarn, from sock to bulky, and depending on what yarn(s) you choose and how you stripe (or not), you can get all kinds of cool designs, many of which look like stranded colorwork!

The easy slip-stitch pattern is identical on both sides, making the finished squishy, stretchy, warm buttoning cowl wearable in tons of different ways!

For ultimate beginner-knitter non-intimidation, you can make one without the buttonholes if you want, and close it up with a shawl pin or brooch, etc:

The pattern pdf is 10 pages long, with every detail you may need about techniques used and all the different color patterns shown in all the sample pieces.  The actual pattern itself is on 2 photo-less pages for easy printing.

That above piece shows a few simple striping patterns, and how the stitch pattern can look like stranded colorwork, but reversible.  Below is a 3-yarn striping pattern – grey and yellow strands of Imperial Yarn Columbia striped, and dots of a Knit Picks Chroma self-striping yarn (same yarn as the above piece), scattered throughout, adding blue and white accents to the grellow stripes:

I made a gradient version in Dream in Color Groovy bulky weight yarn (ohmygosh love this yarn!) – starting with the Strange Harvest colorway and Purple Rain dots, and ending with the opposite on the other side:

The sample below was made with an amazing yarn by Black Trillium – Moryx in aqua & gold, 60% merino, 40% silk, worsted weight.  The stitch pattern gave the natural pooling all kinds of awesome vertical striping!

And then I made a swatch in a variegated sock yarn – Black Trillium Merilon Sock light fingering weight in the Hazel colorway – to show how a yarn that’s maybe too crazy for a lot of stitch patterns can look really cool in this pattern!  Check out how the colors make bits of vertical stripes:

You can see lots more photos of all the sample cowls on ravelry, to see different ways it can be worn – aqua & gold, gradient, grellow, self-striping.

The pattern is $3, on ravelry or my website.  In case you’re wondering, this stand-alone pattern has been in the works for a long time, as I just needed to get all these sample pieces knit up, fitting them in between all the ebook projects.  Now that this is done, my full focus is on Remixed!  And, oh goodness, I am so excited about the patterns currently in the works!

My second Remixed pattern is out!  To all who pre-order the ebook, Wild is the Wind, a customizable, any-gauge hat:

Knit it with any weight yarn, fitted or beret style, slouchy or not, buttons or none, pointy or smooth-topped, custom fit to your head, worked top-down with a modular sideways brim.  (Here it is on Ravelry)

It’s not hard, but by the end you’ll be an expert at twisted stitches!  The body is simple and addictive (I could knit the swirly top part over and over and never get bored with it!) and while the brim is definitely trickier (or slower at least), testers have agreed that once you make it through one chart repeat it clicks and gets much quicker and easier as you continue on.

The custom stitch counts and measurements are calculated using your gauge (which is measured directly on the hat after you’ve knit the top part), the brim design is charted, and the pattern includes photo tutorials for my favorite way of doing twisted stitches, detailed instructions for all steps, and a 3 page condensed printable pattern section with a black and white version of the chart.

Notes are included for adding slouch to either style of hat, so you can make a hat fitted in front and long and slouched in the back, or a smaller beret style, or pretty much whatever shape you want.  The garter stitch brim bottom is nice and stretchy for a well fitting brim.

My three samples were all knit with recycled yarns.  The grey is a strand of worsted-ish weight wool/rayon/angora/cashmere blend, in the beret style with a bit of slouch, no point, no buttons.  The blue is a merino/nylon blend worsted weight held triple stranded (using this method), fitted style with no point and buttons.  And the yellow is a spun recycled yarn I made – a wool reclaimed sweater yarn, an unknown green yarn, and 2 strands of thread, all plied together for around an aran weight – in the fitted style with a pointed top and buttons.

One note included in the pattern that I wanted to give more details about here – I mention that for the beret style you shouldn’t use yarn heavier than about a worsted weight.  Well, I learned that from first attempting to turn that super bulky blue into a beret and ending up with this:

Hah!  The brim is 10 stitches wide no matter what your gauge, so a heavier yarn equals a wider brim, and a heavy weight beret with a super wide brim equals ridiculous looking.  So that’s the thing about that.  But then I just frogged it all back to the top part and made it into a fitted style and the super bulky worked great for that.

My musical backdrop isn’t very visible in the hat photos, maybe it wasn’t a great idea, kinda pointlessly busy, but oh well.  I’m trying different music-themed backgrounds for all the Remixed patterns… but I may end up just reshooting everything together for the final ebook, we’ll see.  Anyway, this is the background for my Wild is the Wind hats:

A big thanks to my test knitters for all their help with this one!  Check out their versions in the ravelry projects to see more style options – slouch, different weights, contrasting color brim, etc.  I really love how the design turned out, and I’m super happy with the final pattern – I hope some of you have fun knitting it!  Yay!