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!

Alafair Beret

Autumn is just around the corner and hats are back!

I am so happy about that because I just LOVE to design and knit hats! They are always a satisfying and quick projects: in a few hours you have a statement piece for your outfit, just like that!

This new design will probably take a bit more time that hats I usually design, because it is made with fingering yarn and in Japanese lace pattern!
A lot of knitters (just like me) adore Japanese lace, but terrified about that "work every round" pattern. So the good news is that in my new design you have to deal just only with Right Side rows (aka rounds) which make life a bit easier.
Still, this project will require a lot of attention. This is definitely not a mindless TV-knitting. But the result is worth it.
So without further ado, let me present an Alafair Beret!
It is available on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy.
If you are making a purchase through Ravelry, you will get an automatic 20% discount.
Enjoy and happy knitting!

P.S. Now you know what this post was about:)

El Jardin Top

Some time ago, when I was accumulated the home renovation ideas, I bought a wonderful book, which I fell in love once I saw it. This book is called "Casa San Miguel".
I never had a chance to travel to this beautiful Mexican town yet, but when I am turning the pages of this book, I feel like I am there.
And my new summer top design was totally inspired by this book and this town.
And here it is, my El Jardin Top:

As usual, it is available on Ravelry, Craftsy and Etsy!

Byzantium Top

For quite sometime I was day dreaming about something... something, you know, arabesque.
There were some bizarre pictures and whimsical kaleidoscopic patterns appeared and disappeared in my mind.
So one day I took my notebook and started to draw. Once the drawing was done, the design itself was developed within a few days. I, once again, was inspired by wonderful Barbara Walker's book "Knitting from Top Down" and this time I chose the kimono-shaped variation of top-down sweater.
The result is effortless and super-easy to knit roomy summer top with eye-catching textured arabesque pattern in the middle of the front.

The pattern can be found under the name Byzantium Top on Ravelry (don't miss out $1 discount by July 26th!), Etsy, Craftsy and Patternfish!

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).

I'm feeling quite guilty that I abandoned my blog for almost 2 months. Today I'll be a good girl and will tell what I was busy with all these weeks.

First, I am happy to introduce my very first top-down raglan pattern: Rye Field Pullover. Knitted in Anzula Sebastian, it became one of my favorite projects at the moment. I took the inspiration in I. Shishkin's picture "A Rye Field", which many of Russian students are very familiar with.

Once I saw this lace pattern I couldn't take the idea of rye ears off my head. So when I made the swatch of the pattern with this particular yarn color, this project's destiny was defined.

Pattern can be found on Ravelry, Etsy, Craftsy and Patternfish.



The other design called Distant Lights Top and this is my first summer knit pattern. Yes, there is a life of aspiring designer – so many things happened for the first time!:)
Distant Lights is super-fast project you could bring on the vacation as a project and in a few days actually wear it! Pullover is worked in the round from the lower edge to the underarms, then the front and back are worked separately back and forth. Shoulders sewn together using Kitchener stitch or 3-Needle Bind-Off. 

Pattern also available on Ravelry, Etsy, Craftsy and Patternfish.
And there is $1 discount on Distant Lights available exclusively on Ravelry until the end of May 2015.

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. 

Special promotion!

I hope you guys having a nice Holidays and happy to tell you that special Holiday promotion in my Ravelry store going on till January 10th 2015:

All patterns

Buy 2 get 1 Free!

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.

These two adorable hats already listed in my shop:

Deja Vu and Red Wine 

Free pattern: Simplest Slouchy Hat

I found these two babies a few days ago and immediately decided to knit a couple of hats with them. 

But, the thing is I almost haven't knit hats before. Actually, there were two: one for me and one for my husband. Long time ago. 
So I wanted to start with a really simple design. More than that, beautiful kettle-dyed yarn like Malabrigo Worsted looks the best in stockinette stitch. Or reverse stockinette! 
In two days I had two slouchy hats. One more slouchy than the other. Both of them can fit average adult head.

If you new to hats or feel a little rusty (or both, like me), here is the simplest design ever.

For one hat you will need:

1 skein of Malabrigo Worsted
1 pair of size US 8 (5mm) circular needles 16'' long.
1 pair of size US 6 (4mm) circular needles 16'' long.
1 set of double-point needles size US 8 (5mm)
1 marker
1 tapestry needle

Gauge: 18 sts x 30 r  = 4'' in stockinette stitch on larger needles.

Instructions:

With smaller circ. needles cast on 88 sts with long-tail method. Join in round. Place marker for beginning of the round.
Work in K2 P2 rib for 2''. Change to larger needles and work in stockinette stitch for 5'' for shorter version or 7'' for longer.

Decreasing rounds:
Change to double-point needles when the stitches become too tight for circular needles.

Round 1: *K9, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: *K8, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: *K7, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 6: Knit
Round 7: *K6, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 8: Knit
Round 9: *K5, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 10: Knit
Round 11: *K4, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 12: *K3, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 13: *K2, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.
Round 14: *K1, K2tog*; rep from * to * to end of round.

Cut yarn, leaving appr. 6'' tail and pull through remaining live stitches and tie off. Weave in ends. 
Voila!
Oh, and you will have enough yarn left to make a pompom, if you wish.

It is pretty easy knitting and hats are very versatile, you can wear them on both sides. In fact, I prefer the wrong side! 

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.