First pattern of the year – Mikela Hat!

I hope you guys had a very merry Holidays!

Since it's winter in its midst, cold days are here and you may found that in all this rush of Christmas knitting you have forgot to make one big roomy and cozy hat for yourself!

My new pattern, Mikela Hat, has been made for these occasions! You will need just a couple hours of spare time and a skein of aran weight yarn.

Pattern is $1 off all week long – until January 10th.
Happy knitting!

Vicinity Pullover

All right, there is officially summer and it is a time to knit summer tops, light pullovers, breezy tanks and many more quick and nice things to wear in hot mid-day or chilly twilight hours.
Well, here is my addition to plethora of summer knits – my brand-new design: Vicinity Pullover.
It is a top-down seamless pullover, worked in round. It is designed to be pretty oversized, at least 6'' of positive ease to make it very comfortable to wear these summer days.
Before I actually sat and started to draw the sketch and work on my swatches, I asked myself: "How would I describe the perfect summer top...for me?" Yes, that is my usual selfish approach to knitting design. And the list of features was like that:
– Oversized fit
– Drapey fabric
– Cables (yes, I don't want to abandon them even at summer:))
– Deep neckline
– Since I want it to be oversized, but don't want to look like a huge square in it with my D-bust, sleeves should be quite narrow. And short!
Well, once I was done with this list, the production itself was matter of days.
I was really happy with my sample and was so excited to see how this design would look when my lovely testers will start working on their projects. And results were beyond my wildest dreams. Every single project was so beautiful! Seriously, I was clapping my hands every time I saw the FO's pictures.
Here, you can judge for yourself: projects.

And as a special treat for my fellow knitters, I'm offering $1 discount on Vicinity Pullover pattern on Ravelry until June 21st (US PT).

Giralda Sweater

Well, the spring is here and hat time is seems to be over.
So now I'm back to the much missed sweater design. Although this one may look winter-ish, it actually may be worn by chilly spring mornings and evenings.
Happy to introduce the Giralda Sweater!

This is my first top-down seamless sweater with somewhat unusual construction. I choose for this design the Saddle-Yoke: the variation of Saddle when it's made quite wide and part of this saddle works as a yoke on the back.

It may sounds complicated, but in fact, it's very easy to perform.
The cable pattern was inspired by Giralda tower of the Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. Yes, same as my Giralda Hat!

The pattern exists in 6 sizes – from XS to XL and in two languages: English and Russian.

As usually, pattern available on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.

ChromeAwesome Hat

You never know where the inspiration will come from. Being so fond of cable projects and designs, I started to see the cable crossings everywhere. This time there were chromosomes! These crucial parts of every living thing happened to be the key element of my new hat design: ChromeAwesome Hat.
Despite of my love to the complex cables and braids, I wanted to design a hat which may be a great introduction to the cable knitting in round for the beginners.
This hat design features just a few cable crossings, nothing too complicated, but overall impression is very nice and attractive even for the experienced cable knitter.
Also there are both written instructions and charts for knitters who prefer either one of the methods.
Pattern available in English and Russian.
So grab your circular needles and/or dpns and enjoy!
You can find pattern on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.
For those who don't have time to knit, but in need of perfect soft and toasty beanie, already made (by me!) hat can be found in my Etsy shop. 

New Designs

Just like all of us, I had a busiest couple of months at the end of the year. I found that I absolutely love designing hats and this very enjoyable work kept me occupied for a few weeks. And I am happy to show you the outcome. I like all of them!
Also I was blessed to work with most observant and helpful tester I met on Ravelry in "Free pattern testers" group. I am infinitely grateful for all their hard work and attention to details. They inspire me constantly to make something new.

It was very unusual but all these designs there was no struggling finding the proper name. Names just popped out in my head or the initial inspiration was very obvious and descriptive.

This hat was inspired by beautiful timeless Moorish architecture. The flowing lines of front decor on Sevilla's Giralda tower found their incarnation on my Giralda Hat.

First, Lance Hat was designed for worsted weight yarn, but I decided to make the bulky version, too. I just love how cables are popping when worked in bulky yarn.
Beige hat with pompom is bulky weight design and blue one made of worsted weight yarn.

I always loved the lattice design variations on cabled hats but I was looking for something a bit different then usual cable crossings. That's how Hearty Hat was born. I made two of them for test: red in Malabrigo worsted and orange in Cascade Yarns Pacific and seriously don't know which one I like better. It's absolutely impossible to decide.

There is a park in my neighborhood: Leo Carrillo Ranch park, the former San-Diego residence of 50s Hollywood actor Leo Carrillo. It is a pretty place, carefully preserved reflection of Californian Mexican style, somewhat rustic but beautiful. We love to walk there and watch the hundreds of peacocks that inhabit this friendly facility. So all these fences and peacock tails became an inspiration for the Carrillo Hat design:

One morning I woke up with a thought: "why not to go CRAZY with cables?" Yes, I think about cables all the time, sometimes I dream about it, too. So here is my Cablefest Hat with cables forming a merry-go-round on it.

And this design was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth world. No geeky knitter can resist the temptation of this stories. So here is the Quendi Hat. "Quendi" is the name given by the Elves to their own kind. Since they are my favorite creatures of this legendarium, I could not pass by.

I hope you like them as much as I do!

The patterns available on Ravelry and Craftsy. The ready-to-wear hats you can find in my Etsy shop: IrmianDesidn.

New Hats

My hat addiction successfully continues and these babies found their way to my Etsy shop:

1. Pinky Swear

2. Cafe Melange Hat & Cowl set

For these two hats I used super soft alpaca blend yarns and my Simplest Slouchy Hat pattern.


3. Maera Hat 

I am especially proud of this design and once the test has been completed I will tell the more detailed story of it.

Blanca

I am happy to present my new design: Blanca Sweater.

Everything started with yarn, Knit Picks' Capra. Once I touched this beautiful, soft, cream colored ball I knew it's going to be cables.
In my head words "luxury" and "cream cashmere cabled sweater" are kept on the same shelf, so it was a quick decision. 
Combination of raglan and cables always looks very flattering, because raglan shape helps to avoid bulkiness at the shoulder area and soften the silhouette. 

Also I liked the idea of traveling cables, drawing nice frame and slimmering the look of somewhat boxy shape. 
As for sleeves I decided to place medallion cable along with two simple six-stitch ones on the textured canvas of reverse stockinette to emphasize the volume of arans. 
Doubled neck band always looks neat, especially in worsted weight yarn, so I added it as a final touch to this pullover.

Pattern is available for download on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.

Behold! BT Fall 14

Is there any person in the world who wouldn't like this genius designs? 
Finally it's here: Brooklyn Tweed's Fall 2014 look book. 

Love, love, love everything in it! 

But my favorite design is Ondawa. There is everything I like in this design: oversize fit, 3/4 length sleeves, cables and tweed. Recipe for perfection. 
Isn't it gorgeous? 

How I spent my summer holidays

Do you remember those essays we had to write in school?  These bittersweet memories of passed days of freedom, joy and sunshine... 
Ok, enough with nostalgia. My summer this year was nothing but productive. Maybe I spent more time in my studio than outdoors, but I really like the outcome.
First project I'm done with in june was Route 1. 

There was some time spent on this sweater when we where traveling in Nor Cal, so it will always remind me of that beautiful landscapes:

Next one was Platinum Ingot, my first top-down cardigan, which I was little bit intimidated of at the beginning, but everything went surprisingly smooth.

 Then I finally started on Bailiwick. For some time I wanted to knit a modern version of traditional Guernsey sweater and this one was a love at first sight. Done in few days, it is immediately became one of my very favorite items.

Next project in my queue was Brooklyn Tweed's (Carol Feller's, to be absolutely accurate) Pente. Neither my husband nor my best friend weren't excited about this design at first, but when they saw the finished cardigan, they liked it! (Or were too polite to tell the bitter truth, haha). Anyway, I adore it and had so much fun knitting it.

Then I started to focus on my own designs and there was three of them I made back to back:

Glenelly, Vireo and Russian Doll. 

And it seems like designing the sweaters is my thing! I really enjoying this process, so I hope there will be more :).

Vireo

My husband and I both enjoying the birdwatching. We put some feeders and baths in our back yard and now watching birds making use of all this attractions.
One of them we were able to recognize was Plumbeous Vireo: small sparrow-like bird.

Although it is not most exotic-looking bird, it captured my attention because of elegant coloring of it's feathers. I was inspired by sophisticated combination of white chest and grey wings and back.
So here is my newest design: Vireo.

It features white cabled panels on front and back and grey horizontal ribbed sleeves and sides. This combination of colors and textures helps to create slimmer silhouette, flattering any figure.

Pattern for this design available on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.

Glenelly

   Some time ago I found this beautiful yarn: Bamboo Ewe by Debbie Stoller. Really nice mix of wool and bamboo with wonderful sheen looks luxurious and inspirational (especially for the price!).
   It took about two years before I decided on project for this yarn. Non of designs I found were good enough and, eventually, Glenelly has come to life.

   Aran weight called for... arans, duh! And blue color and shine reminded me of water, of river. River it is, said I, and christened the project Glenelly, after Irish river.

   I always find very attractive combination of raglan sleeves, oversize fit and cables. And my project features all of the above.
   For back and sleeves I choose textured pattern, because it makes the perfect canvas for cables. This pattern looks like seed stitch, but all the RS rows are knitted, which makes it easier to knit for me as a combined continental knitter.

   I made this design in 4 sizes: XS/S, M, L, XL and you can find it on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy. Enjoy!