The Nordlándda Collection: Moen Cowl

It is super cold in my kitchen today here in London, even though the sun is shining. And I'm wishing I had my Moen Cowl samples to keep me warm! Sadly, they are all enjoying themselves at A Yarn Story in Bath for the #AYSWinterCablesKAL, so I'm just going to have to find something else to wrap up in (sobs quietly).

Moen is a super snuggly cowl that uses some of my favourite things all in one project: tubular cast on and bind off for perfectly matching edges, loads of cables that add interest but aren't too difficult to work without a cable needle, and chunky yarn that means the project zips right along! The pattern includes two sizes: a cozy, close fitting version that is perfect for wearing with your winter coat, and a longer, infinity cowl size that can be doubled up for extra warmth, or worn across your shoulders like a shawl.

Moen as hood...

The cable pattern used in this cowl is a bit different: in addition to cable crosses, it also uses some wrapped stitches at the top and bottom of the main cable for extra interest.

In fact, I enjoy this cowl so much that I'm using if for a project class at A Yarn Story on Sunday, 29th November, from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm. In the class, we'll cover the tubular cast on and bind off (if you are as OCD as I am about your edges matching), working cables from charts and cabling without a cable needle. If you'd like to join us, you can sign up here. The cost of the class includes materials for the small version of the cowl, and I'll have plenty of yarn for swatching and practicing the techniques. I hope to see you then, but I've got to dig out a sweater and make some tea!

Note: If you are in Europe and would like to purchase one of the patterns from the collection without paying VAT, please go to the Nordlándda page and be sure to include your Ravelry ID (if you have one) when you check out. The pattern will be emailed to you and put into your Ravelry library. Thank you!

The Nordlándda Collection: Fauske and Rosta

Above photos copyright 2015 The Fibre Co. & Tommy Martin

Today I want to talk about two pieces from the Nordlándda Collection that share a common edging - the wonderful, occasionally fiddley, applied i-cord edge. Rosta is one of the simpler pieces in the collection, with a wide panel of stockinette bordered by two loose cables, while Fauske is one of the more complex, with an intricate cable border and an expanding and contracting panel of a smaller, very traditional cable motif, but both use an applied i-cord to generate a tidy edging that won't roll or curl when you're finished.

There are a couple of tricks for getting a nice i-cord edge that lies flat. First off, for both of these pieces, the i-cord is made by slipping the last three stitches of every row. On the right side rows, the last three stitches are slipped purlwise with the yarn in back, and on the wrong side rows, the stitches are slipped purlwise with the yarn in front. In both cases, you want the yarn to be on the right side of the fabric for working the start of the next row.

The other tip is to keep the i-cord stitches a little bit loose as you are knitting, Because the i-cord is only worked every other row on each edge, if you work those stitches tightly, the i-cord will be shorter then the rest of the piece, and your finished item won't lie flat when it's blocked. Be careful to leave a little extra slack in those three edge stitches, and you should end up with a beautiful finished edge.

Please come join us in the A Yarn Story #AYSWInterCablesKAL on Ravelry - Carmen has some gorgeous prizes lined up, and we'd love to see your take on the Nordlándda Collection!

Note: If you are in Europe and would like to purchase one of the patterns from the collection without paying VAT, please go to the Nordlándda page and be sure to include your Ravelry ID (if you have one) when you check out. The pattern will be emailed to you and put into your Ravelry library. Thank you!

Festiwool recap

Well, it's been a bit of a crazy weekend around here, what with Nordládda going live and heading up to Festiwool on Saturday! Allison and I were on the road before 7:00 am on our way to Hitchin, and we made it there in good time.

Stall is ready to go!

After a somewhat hectic set-up (poor Alli didn't get her breakfast until after the show opened!), we were ready to go! I hadn't been to Festiwool before, and was really happy with the space: it was bright, airy and well lit, even though the day was grey and overcast. We were right next to Third Vault Yarns, and I was very entertained to find that, just like designers, two dyers can come up with the same idea independently.

On the left, Porpoise Fur Holly Walk on Romney; on the right, Third Vault Yarns The Magpie on superwash Merino Aran weight squooshtastic yarn.

It was really lovely to see some familiar faces from Fibre-East, and to meet some Fibre Club members who are having fun with their club parcels! Thank you all for stopping by, and well done to those of you who were insistent that you really didn't need another hobby (but you do, come on, you know you do!)

There will be a big update on Saturday, 21 November at 10:00 am London time with lots of woolly goodness, including last month and this month's Phat Fiber colourways, and some new holiday-themed colours just in time for December. Happy spinning!

Nordlándda

Today is the launch of my new collection of accessoried, Nordlándda, from The FIbre Company. I'm going to be blogging about each of the pieces from the collection over the next few weeks, but I wanted to show them all to you as a whole.

By the time this post goes live, the patterns will all be available on Ravelry. I'll get them up shortly over here. In the meantime, I hope you like them! If you're interested, A Yarn Story is kicking off their #AYSWInterCablesKAL with this collection today, so come on over and join in!

ETA: the patterns are now up on the website, so if you'd like to purchase them without paying VAT, head over here! If you include your Ravelry ID with your order, I will gift you a pattern for your library in addition to email you the pdf. Thanks!

The Klee Collection

It's always fun to see patterns that I've tech edited released into the wild. The most recent of these is The Klee Collection by Renée Callahan of East London Knit. I tech edited two of the patterns in the collection - the Angelus Novus cardigan and the Twilight Flowers pullover.

Angelus Novus, which starts as a garter tab cast on

Editing Renee's patterns is always fun because she uses very interesting and unexpected constructions. I'm very impressed with the way her brain works, and while her patterns can be challenging to edit because she creates shapes in such interesting ways, they are never boring! I imagine the same is true for knitting them...

Twilight Flowers

In addition to the three sweaters in the collection, there are three accessories, each picking up on a motif from one of the sweaters. I am particularly enamoured of the Twilight Flowers Mitts, which uses the same eyelet pattern from the pullover to form a panel down the back of the hand. So gorgeous.

Twilight Flowers Mitts

Many, many congratulations to Renée for a fantastic collection - I'm going to dig up some yarn and cast on ASAP!