Moving Announcement

The day has finally come to announce that my blog has moved to Wordpress, where it's now integrated into my entire website. Lots of features and content, and everything in one place. Please come follow me to The Knitting Vortex at:


www.jenniferdassau.com

A New Winner

Since I haven't heard from the Grand Prize winner, I've had to pull another number; it's #44, kerryspins.

Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't provide a way for me contact a commenter if there's no contact info in their linked profile; another reason I'm moving to WordPress soon.
Prizes will be coming from the always inspiring and very generous Knitcircus  - congratulations!

Knitcircus Giveaway Winners!

Who doesn't love a giveaway? Of the 59 comments (not including deletions or duplicates), the true Random Number Generator has provided 10, 40 and 26 as our winners, shown in this screenshot:

And without further ado, the first winner of a Knitcircus Fall 2011 Pattern Collection is #10, Stormmoon.

The second Pattern Collection winner is #40, miraling.

And the grand prize winner of a Knitcircus subscription is #26, Blue Llama.


The lucky winners will receive their prizes from the very generous and always inspiring Knitcircus magazine. Please contact me with your email address, using my contact email info on the bar above, or Twitter or Ravelry.

Congratulations, and Knit On!

Ruckle - and a Giveaway

The Fall 2011 Knitcircus Magazine is now live, full of beautiful designs including my Ruckle hat.

Ruckle is a soft, scrunchy hat with folds or puckers knit into the body. Cast on provisionally, it features a clean, turned-hem brim, ruckled main body with alternating tucks around the circumference, and a 10 section spiral decrease crown.
For a closer look at the Tuck technique, you can watch my video tutorial.

To celebrate, I'm having a giveaway with 3 prizes, courtesy of Knitcircus! I will be giving away two Pattern Collections - which include patterns for every design in the Fall 2011 Knitcircus - and a grand prize of one Subscription (one year/five issues of Knitcircus).

Just leave a comment to this post before 12:00 midnight Eastern US standard time on August 31, 2011. Comments will be numbered in the order in which they appear, and a Random Number Generator will determine the three winners.

I'll announce the winners here on September 1, so please check back then.

Meanwhile, we can all think about what to knit first!

Sneak Peek - Ruckle

On wednesday August 24, the Fall 2011 issue of Knitcircus Magazine will be released. Among the articles, interviews and patterns will be one of my designs:

The Knitcircus blog shows a few other lovely things that will be featured. Only 2 more days!

Sailing To Byzantium

I'm proud to announce the release of Sailing To Byzantium, an ebook collection of six hand knitting designs inspired by the art and architecture of ancient Constantinople.

When Malabrigo Yarn invited me to be part of their Freelance Pattern Project for August, I was of course delighted - my favorite yarns! I was assigned the theme of Old Architecture, and the stoney colors of older buildings. A bit of research lead one thing to another, and I found myself enthralled by the turbulent history and striking architecture of Byzantium.

For over 1000 years, the Byzantine Empire stood as a symbol of Christian power in the eastern half of what had once been the Roman Empire, symbolizing a final link to the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans.

Renamed Constantinople in 330 AD by Constantine I, the ancient city of Byzantium remained a center of wealth and power despite its fall to the western knights of the Fourth Crusade in 1203. The future of the city changed forever in 1453, when it was besieged by Sultan Mehmet II and the Ottoman Turks, overrun, and reborn as Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

A city of ancient Roman stonework, early Christian domes, towering Islamic minarets and intricate Ottoman tile and mosaics, Byzantium now stands for a dream of splendor and beauty straddling Europe and Asia Minor.

Byzantine architecture is notable for its stacked shapes; minarets towering over domes, above arches and blocks. The repeating geometric motifs create a strong visual effect, in warm tones of sandstone, clay, stone and lead. The geometry is enhanced by decorative elements of repeating carved mosaics and tiles, often in warm reds and bright azure.

Sailing To Byzantium is also a poem by William Butler Yeats, which represents the metaphorical journey of a man pursuing his own version of eternal life as well as his conception of paradise.
Literature, Art, Architecture and Yarn . . .

Sailing To Byzantium includes three slipstitch colorwork accessories, the Sofya Cowl:

Minaret Hat:

and Lattice Mittens:

Also the Mosaic Socks, knit top-down with heel flap and gusset:

And two shawls, the crescent Selimiye:

and the sideways Iznik:

See more pictures on Ravelry, where they're available individually, and as the collection. 

Utsukushii

It's been secret for a while, but finally I can share my Utsukushii Wrap, which is this week's free featured design in the Classic Elite Yarns Web-Letter.

Utsukushii is a long, rectangular stole knit in Classic Elite Yarns Silky Alpaca Lace. It's cast on at one end and knit with a Japanese Feather lace border on each side of the central stockinette panel. For my prototype I used almost all 880 yards of 2 balls of yarn, which made a nice wrap that blocks to about 22" wide and 64" long.

As I say in my description,

Utsukushii means lovely or beautiful in Japanese, and this lovely stole knit in Silky Alpaca Lace features a Japanese Feather lace pattern framing simple Stockinette panels. The lace undulates gently from side to side, creating a feeling of lightness and movement. Knit at a large gauge, and generous enough to enfold you comfortably, Utsukushii is a warm yet weightless wrap that lends any occasion a touch of loveliness.

Some of CEY's lovely phototgraphs:

The backstory is that when I was asked if I would like to do something for the Web-Letter, I of course said yes - the weekly Letter always has something great, from accessories to home dec to sweaters. And it has 30,000 subscribers! But 880 yards of laceweight takes a bit of time to knit, so I had to move steadily along.

As it turns out, I bound off and blocked just before Worldwide Knit In Public day back in June, so I brought the wrap to Princeton where I met my knitterly friends. They liked it, so I cajoled them into modeling.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and I learned some stuff, too. 1) I can wear alpaca next to my skin. 2) The Japanese kanji or character for utsukushii looks like this:

And 3) I can pronounce it, because I listened to the audio file on this site.

Lace and learning, what more could one desire?

FO Friday

Not alot of blogging this month, but much knitting . . . some of which I can show.
One such piece is my design that, as it turns out, pays homage to Little Red Riding Hood. 

The Escallop Beaded Capelet:

The perceptive may notice that there are Escallop Mitts, as well - cleverly worn here by my favorite model in such a way as to disguise her need for a manicure.

I didn't really think hoods were my sort of thing, but I am completely in love with this one! The question remains whether to put a little pompom on the pointy little hood top.

 

And since we're talking frivolity here, let's see a closeup of those poms:

 

These will be coming soon for test knitting; meanwhile you can see the project pages on Ravelry, for capelet and mitts.

WIP Wednesday - Razor Bolero

I've been quietly, madly knitting away on a few things, including the revitalized Razor Bolero; a re-gauged, re-yarned and graded cropped cardi.

This was a one-off, one-size (mine) design I put out there, with the inspired name Razor Boob-Olero.

Now, thanks to the KnitPicks Independent Designer Partnership Program, it will be re-released in Gloss DK, and a full size range.

Here it is in my favorite color:

Look for the pattern in late summer or early fall.

Oenophilia

Oenophile: noun, a person who enjoys wines, usually as a connoisseur.
And since everything is connected, today's post has inspired my Twitter Word of the Day. Follow me all summer, as we expand our vocabulary.

It's wine and jazz season chez nous; and some like-minded friends invited us to indulge those passions at Alba Vineyard, where the Eric Mintel Quartet was performing.

 

We sat under the arbor for the music and picnicing, but also had a lovely wine tasting inside. Alba is an award winning winery in a beautiful location in Finesville, NJ.

 

My favorite wines were the Gewurtztraminer, Pinot Noir, and a fabulous ice wine made from apples, called Forbidden.

WIP Wednesday 6/22

In the ongoing tribute to Byzantium, one Mosaic sock is now complete. I love how the Azules and Botticelli Red go together.

Steampunk continues apace, with the capelet edging beginning to look good.

And the garden has been progressing nicely, too. An Asiatic lily has managed to avoid becoming deer food by cleverly blooming amidst the Russian Sage.

Garden surprise of the day is this giant toadstool - about 5" diameter - thanks to all the rain we've been getting.

Ladies Who Lunch

The school year draws ever closer to its end, which means that my Woolly Mama friends and I need to get ourselves out to lunch before being overrun by children all day long. This season we chose The Lovin' Oven, a delicious local place with great food, although perhaps an unfortunate name. Things we ate included steak sandwich, spinach panini and huevos rancheros; all excellent.

No actual knitting took place; it was hot, and we were hungry. But here we are, five knitters and one fine jewelry maker. You can also see Buddha in the background.

Incidentally, no fine jewelry was made either, but if you'd like to see Caroline's lovely work, check out New Hope Beading on Etsy.

Camp Out

Another busy weekend, featuring Girl Scout camping in the Poconos. It's amazing how much stuff one has to bring for 2 overnights in a cabin; sleeping bag, towels, snacks, fan in case it's hot, heater in case it's cold - which it was, but sadly I didn't . . .  lots of socks.

We've been going to this place for 6 years, and it's very nice. Especially cabin #29.

Especially at night.

And most especially when Kate gets arty with the camera.

 

  

The camp features nice cabins, a boathouse, and a main hall with a deck where the girls exiled the extraneous moms.

 

While my Scout was mastering the rock climbing wall,

I got a whack of my lace stole knit.

Thus, we returned home exhausted, to be greeted by the boys of the household who were also exhausted after their own Cub Scout camp out.

Memorialized

Everyone chez moi was busy with projects over the Memorial Day weekend. In knitterly happenings, the steampunk-inspired Escallop Mitts are done. Inadvertently, I knit one S/M, and one M/L, but that does make a size evaluation easier when grading. (It's the right one which is larger).

 

Not that bigger is necessarily better, but DH's project involved ripping part of the side deck off the house.

Then it was off with the Cub Scouts to march in the Memorial Day parade.

Luckily for us all, he replaced the deck just in time for our friends to arrive for a party.