Eileen

Easy Stay-On Bib Download

 Posted by at 9:15 pm
Jun 212012
 

I have had several people email me today saying that they weren’t able to download the Pattern for the Easy Stay-On Bib.

As far as I could possibly make out, there wasn’t a problem with the file download – it was downloaded over 2000 times yesterday without incident.  I also had some people test it for me to be absolutely sure.

However, as I’m unsure if people are unaware that they are supposed to click the logo button on the top left to get the download – I have made a new, clearer download button.  I have also removed the old pattern file and re-uploaded it to the site, just in case there was a problem with the file.

So – the pattern is definitely good to go – BUT, I have the printed rights to it only, not the online publishing rights which are still owned by About.com.  So if you want the pattern, you must download it for yourself – the pattern page gives information about gauge and materials used, but I cannot re-publish this pattern online.  You have to click the download button and get it for yourself – and if nothing happens when you click, please turn off your pop-up blocker!

 

 

Athena

 Posted by at 4:27 pm
Jun 202012
 

I’ve been quiet on the blog-side, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy!

After a couple of pressing deadlines for a pattern booklet publication and a yarn company design – I have time to breathe again now and self-publish Athena.

The yarn – Mia from Tahki Yarns – is absolutely to-die-for.  Although it’s a simple knit, the unusual construction keeps it interesting.  It’s knit seamlessly in the round, with cabled gussets up the sides and at the shoulders joining the pieces together.

I Want To Marry German Short Rows

 Posted by at 9:17 pm
Apr 182012
 

In the dark days prior to learning about the über-ingenious German Short Rows (see what I just did there??), I used to wrap and turn with the best of them.  Usually my short rows looked OK… more or less… but I hated the bulk I would invariably get when picking up all those wrapped stitches.

Well, then I learned German Short Rows, and I’ll never, ever, ever, ever, EVER go back to wrapping (or pinning, for that matter) – I mean  NOT EVER.  I believe the method has a few other names, including “Double Stitch Short Rows”, but there isn’t really that much info out there on them that I came across.

Of course, for all I know they could be known as “Timbuctoo Short Rows” and there could be a gazillion You Tube tutorials, and I just wasn’t searching under the correct name.  But to me they will always be German Short Rows – the name just conjures up a precision, ingenuity and elegant simplicity that is certainly evident in this technique.  If so, one more tutorial isn’t going to end the world.

In any event, there wasn’t a lot on the technique, and there especially wasn’t a lot on doing a double set of these short rows to make a short row heel (my favourite type of heel to make when the rare urge hits me to make socks), as opposed to single sets to make darts or shape shoulders.

Anyway, as I have a new design using this technique, I thought it best to have instructions on site, as it were – so the tutorial on this technique is now up, under the Tutorials tab.

Here’s a wee sneak peak of an eye-catching bag, appropriately called the Over The Rainbow Bag – watch out for the pattern release over the next week or so.

German Short Rows

 

I Can See You!

 Posted by at 1:24 pm
Feb 142012
 

I love all the tracking tools that are available with blogs these days!  I can see the ISPs of people who visit my site and purchase my patterns, if they were referred from another site, what they googled to get to me, as well as the usual numbering stats. It’s all very fascinating – especially seeing where people are located, through their ISPs.

Right now I’m using KStats, and in the last week or so the more noticeable visitors have been a subversive soul in China who downloaded my Occupy Wall Street hat pattern at 4am Beijing time, a flurry of Russian interest in Christmas patterns, someone in South Korea taking on a spot of Aran knitting, and several Australians learning to cable without a cable needle.

What it all adds up to is how beloved and universal our craft is. And for someone who works from home – alone – the thought of all of us the world over repeating the same motions with yarn and needles, is oddly comforting.

Jan 312012
 

Hello All, and belated Happy New Year!

I’ve been hard at work with one deadline looming and one that has almost sailed by (hopefully I can catch it before it gets too far), but I wanted to take some time to add a new technique tutorial.

You’ll find it under the Tutorials tab (handily enough) and it shows you how to make cables without the use of a cable needle.  I try to focus on video tutorials these days but this seemed to lend itself better to pics, as you need both hands on the knitting for this – which makes it hard to click on pause or rewind!