Moments 24/19

Happy Saturday! I am continuing my moments collection with sharing my zip line adventures that I was lucky to participate in. When we got an email at work inviting us to try this activity, I said yes immediately – I am not really into extreme sports/activities, but since recently I promised myself to say “yes” to new things and opportunities. At the end of the day it is always better to do something rather than step away because of the fears holding you.

Though we ended up being absolutely exhausted walking up and down the hills from station to station with all the equipment, the views were so worth it. Looking at these photos right now I still can’t believe I actually crossed these canyons flying in the air attached to the cord – what an experience! So grateful for this opportunity and that all went smoothly.

As for my knitting, it was mainly happening on my computer screen – putting together the draft and preparing it for the test knitters and my technical editor. So looking forward to sharing it with you!

Have a wonderful weekend and collect those moments!

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By Alina| 2019-06-15T07:16:23+00:00 June 15th, 2019|Moments|0 Comments

How To Knit Jogless Color Stripes In The Round

Awhile ago when I was writing Reindeer pattern that featured textured stripes on the sleeves, I wrote a step-by-step tutorial on how to avoid that jog that is created when changing the stitch patterns when knitting in the round. Today I want to show you the same method, the only difference would be instead of changing the stitch pattern, we are changing the color, which actually is much easier.

I started this pullover randomly, when craving for just knitting something straightforward and simple. I picked up these squishy yarn balls from DROPS and just cast on. Those are actually leftovers from the projects I knit for my book, Add One Stitch Knitting. DROPS was so kind offering their yarn to work with and I remember all the joy I felt when I received those in the mail. I knew that someday I would love to mix them and make something fun to knit and easy to wear.

So, the pullover is featuring wide stripes and if you have ever knitted stripes in the round, you know there is a jog created when changing colors. You can of course ignore it, as the change usually happens where the side “seam” is supposed to be, it is hardly noticeable, hence it is not usually even mentioned in the patterns. But if you are very detail oriented and it does bother you, here is a quick and easy fix to this problem.

How To Knit Jogless Color Stripes In The Round

To enlarge the photo, click on it.

: You have finished the section with color A

: Start knitting the next rnd as usual with color B

: You have knitted one rnd with color B, remove the marker

: Find the first st of the rnd BELOW

: Insert the needle into the st one rnd BELOW

: Knit this stitch, slipping the first st of the rnd off the needle

: Basically we pulled one st up to minimize the jog between the rnds

: Now place the BOR marker back on the needle. Continue working as established.

The result – nearly invisible transition between the colors.

I hope you will find this tutorial helpful and use it in your projects.

have a wonderful start of the new week!

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By Alina| 2019-06-10T08:19:32+00:00 June 10th, 2019|Free Patterns and Tutorials|2 Comments

Moments 23/19

Knitting is so intertwined into my life that it is hard to imagine one without another. Knitting taught me to enjoy simple joys and small moments and see the world through the filter of colors, textures and appreciation of life in all its diversity. Because of knitting I started paying attention to all the little details and because of this blog I learned how to see the beauty in ordinary routines. I wanted to create a Moments album series for a long time, something that I will come back to years after and remember the place, the taste, the feeling I was savouring at that very moment and of course the current knit that was on my needles at that time. And just like that the first entry is in – Moments of week 23, 2019.

I hope you will have a wonderful weekend full of moments to remember!

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Guadalajara. City’s Diary

For the last 6 months I have been working non-stop, 6 days a week, often with over hours. To say that it affected my creativity in knitting is to say nothing, at one point I did feel like I’ve lost it, but as soon as the workload got lighter, I felt this familiar urge of feeling stitches forming in my hands and woke up inspired and with new ideas. I am so grateful to you for keeping supporting me and knitting my patterns, I will never get tired of repeating it – it means so much to me, thank you!

I also had more time to get out of my routine and combine some short business trips with fun adventures. I had to go to Guadalajara for a day last month, but got some extra days off and spent quiet 3 days wandering in the city. Love this kind of short getaways – a nice fresh restart, not too long to get you out of your work routine, but enough to fill you up with energy and new emotions.

Guadalajara left an impression of a green, diverse and way too tiring city – great for a 2 day escape, not so much for living, at least for me.

The historical center boasts majestic buildings and amazing museums with very interesting art installations. Mexico is very welcoming to new, young and upcoming artists.

After the crazy traffic and noisy streets I was craving for a peaceful place to walk around and clear the head. Bosque Los Colomos is a famous park in Guadalajara attracting thousands of visitors every day. I have a soft spot for city parks – there is just something about this oasis in the midst of the chaos. Save this location if you ever find yourself in this part of the world – definitely worth a ride there! I wish I had more time – this place is perfect for a small picnic with fresh berries (watch out for the squirrels!), a book, knitting and a blissful nap under a large tree, listening to birds.

I hope you enjoyed this walk with me! Have a great start of the week!

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Knitwear Review. Milan/Paris FW, Fall/Winter 2019

A little bit later than it should have been done, but here it is – the last knitwear review from the fashion weeks fall/winter 2019, Milan/Paris. These two cities are always interesting to watch in the terms of knitwear, as the designers usually come up with innovative, but still wearable pieces. London and New York tend to be much more crazy in their design approach.

Monochrome total knitwear look is definitely “a thing” – Christian Wijnants, Aalto, Agnona and Max Mara, all played with this tendency in different variations.

Skirt + sweater look keeps transitioning from one season to another, just changing its form a little bit. If in previous seasons we saw classic, feminine and romantic looks, this time the combinations are more bold with knitwear taking sharp edges and distorted forms in the collections of Issey Miyake, Jacquemus, Chloe, Chanel, Alberta Ferretti, Luisa Beccaria, Philosophy di Lorenzo and Fendi.

One of the most beautiful knitwear pieces, in my opinion, was seen on the runway of Genny – soft as a cloud white dress gradually transitioning to a more transparent look as it flows towards the floor.

Men’s knitwear was especially interesting to look at – Bottega Veneta showed us out of ordinary knitwear, with innovative approach. Unusual shapes, cut outs and combination of fabric created quiet dramatic looks.

The overexaggerated forms, almost knitwear sculptures, could be seen on the runways of Anrealage, Isabel Marant and Arthur Arbesser.

Sparkle. Bottega Veneta and Ermanno Scervino added some spark to their sweaters.

Altuzarra used quiet an innovative technique in its knitwear – if you look closely the knitwear fabric gradually “disappears” into the usual fabric, with its pattern fading away. I would suggest that is done with the help of felting – creates very interesting effect!

I hope you enjoyed this review and found something interesting for yourself! Have a wonderful Sunday!

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By Alina| 2019-04-14T06:27:31+00:00 April 14th, 2019|Knitwear Review Fashion Weeks|0 Comments

Eugenia. Cable Sweater Pattern

Eugenia sweater was published 8 a.m. London time – to celebrate the first day of Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2019. Eugenia sweater was created in collaboration with Moeke Yarns that will be hosted by Cross and Woods yarn store at EYF. If you are lucky enough to be in this part of the world, make sure to visit their stand, where you will find not only natural colors of Moeke, but also a batch of Elena yarn dyed with plants!

You will also be able to see the whole Moeke knitwear collection prepared for this event – Eugenia, Mariora and Aurica sweaters knit by our wonderful test knitters! We call them Romanian beauties – all the names we used for the sweaters are traditional Romanian names, but Eugenia has a very special meaning to me. This is the name of my dear Granny Eugenia, back in Russia. She is the one who taught me to knit and made me fell in love with this craft that has so much meaning in my life right now!

But before I came up with the name for the publication, this sweater draft was saved in my computer as “Puzzle”. I wanted to create the image made of pieces that are intertwined together, but also easy enough to knit. You start with the cables, creating the asymmetrical line with the use of short rows, “break down” the sweater in half with the use of icord cable bind off and then continue in the mix of different ribbing stitches – each element is easy to knit, but when put together create a visual effect of the complicated puzzle.

The sweater is knit with pretty generous ease – at least 10″, but Moeke creates such an amazing fabric drape that the sweater easily “flows” around the body without creating the bulky feeling. Make sure to block the sweater after you are done – it will make a huge difference in the fabric!

Details. This sweater is like a mini collection of different techniques that you are discovering as you are making your way up to the neckline. I had self doubts of how the final piece will look like and I am so happy that it turned out exactly as it is. It took me months to put it together, but it was definitely worth it adding it to The Gift Of Knitting designs collection.

General Pattern Information

CONSTRUCTION

Eugenia sweater is knit bottom up in the round, creating cable rich fabric with the asymmetric cut produced with the help of short rows. Then this part is bound off with the cable bind off, the stitches are picked up from the cable bind off and the sweater is divided for front and back to be worked flat in a new stitch pattern. The sleeves are knit in the round top down in a simple 1×1 ribbing.

DESIGN DETAILS

Texture

The sweater features numerous textures that create the effect of the puzzle pieces put together. The sweater starts with the fabric covered in simple cables, the cable bind off is added to visually break the sweater in two parts and then the mix of different ribbing stitches is added.

Sleeves

Sleeves are knit in the round top down. The length is adjustable.

Neckline

The neckline is a simple shaping free boatneck. The pattern gives the tips how to make it wider/narrower according to your taste.

Sizing

The sweater is graded for 8 sizes with approximately 11” of ease. The sample is shown in size Small with 11″ of ease.

B O D Y S I Z E S:

XS 31¨ (78 cm)
S 34¨ (86 cm)
M 37¨ (94 cm)
L 40¨ (101.5 cm)
XL 43¨ (109 cm)
2XL 46¨ (117 cm)
3XL 50¨ (127 cm)
4XL 52¨ (132 cm)