Party Dress

Today I feel lighter -- not physically, mentally. There have been many new things happening in my life which I will share when I can sort it all out in my head, but until then, the new thing that I can share is this ~ Jamberry. It's a little girl's dress, designed in sizes from 12 months to 6 years.

This time around I am going to see about having it tech edited as well as test knit. I'd like to streamline the process once I get the ball rolling on coming out with more self-published patterns.

There was something about this yarn, Vigna by Trendsetter Yarns. When I saw it at Gotta Knit this August, I immediately envisioned the dress. Even though I don't have a little girl who could wear it, I had to make it. I'm hoping to have it ready for publication by the end of the month, just in time for the winter party season.

Exotic Wood and Chinaberry, a New Pattern

When I was a girl, my dad worked as a machinist in a lumberyard in the Bronx. He used to come home smelling of sawdust. I loved that smell -- maybe it was dad, maybe it was the wood.

Every once in a while he would bring home a special bag. Inside would be small blocks of the exotic hardwoods that the lumberyard handled. There would be babinga, ebony, mahogany and teak. There were so many, I could never keep track, but it was a great lesson in geography because he used to tell us where each tree grew, and we would find it in the atlas. I don't think he ever brought home any wood from the Chinaberry tree, but it sounds exotic enough that he would have. It grows in China (of course), as well as Australia and India. The tree yields small purple or yellow flowers that look like bells. These bells remind me of the lace on my newest pattern, Chinaberry.

This pattern took some time to develop. I wanted to take the leap into self-publishing and I had some ideas, sketched out. I decided on one. Chinaberry started out as this sketch:
As you can see, it was originally meant to be sleeveless, and it still may have an incarnation as that, but for this piece I wanted sleeves. After the pattern was written and the prototype was knit (see post from July 25th), I had some lovely women test knit the pattern. A huge thank you to Deb (jstdt3t), Liz (oddlizard), Rose (rosejulia1), Connie (faeriesandpixies), Louise (louiseclsc171260) and Elly (iknitcupcakes) for the many, many hours they took to not only knit the pattern, but find my errors and keep me grounded in reality. Without their support and encouragement, I'm not sure I'd ever have had the courage to self-publish.

Then, of course, came the pattern layout. I'd been working on parts of the design layout all summer. I knew what I wanted my patterns to look like, but it took me the better part of this month to tweak it down to what I envisioned.

Yesterday, my husband and I took a ride to the beach on the Long Island Sound near where we live for the photoshoot with out new camera. The day was fantastic for late September -- 80's and sunny (and just a little bit sad because you know you won't be getting many more like it). I love the light in the autumn. Although my hair leaves much to be desired (appointment next week, Nicole, are you listening?), I think the pictures were wonderful. So, thanks Joe for being so supportive.

Chinaberry is an elegant, easy-to-wear, three-season lace pullover in five sizes (S, M, L, 1X, 2X). It features set-in sleeves, high jewel neck and center front placket. Simple lace adorns the yoke, cuffs and bottom band. All pieces are knit flat, bottom up and seamed. The pattern is written in table format for ease in following directions.

It's available to download now through Ravelry.

Penmanship Cowl

As an elementary school teacher, the end of August is always a sad and exciting time. Sad because summer is truly the best season of all for me. I love everything about it including this summer's sweltering temperatures. I know that autumn is coming, bit by bit, tiptoeing into our evenings. It's also exciting because I get to begin a new year, with plenty of eager minds to enjoy -- a fresh start, just as the earth is rounding its way toward its final quarter spin around the sun.

In honor of the beginning of school, I have a new (free) pattern on Ravelry - the Penmanship Cowl.

In 4th grade I had what was then known as an "open" classroom. Two teachers, 50 kids, and a huge physical space. I didn't like it, but I liked Mrs. Falsone. She taught us penmanship. By the 4th grade we were eager to write in "script." The curlicues of the cables reminded me of those curved lines we looped all over the page. The openwork is reminiscent of the dots that filled the paper showing you where you were to begin and end each letter and word.